Roundabouts: release their debut single, “Outta Your Mind.”

I believe that the main raison d’être for this magazine, apart from providing entertaining features and reviews on modern music, is the promotion of hot new artists that we really believe deserve an audience. There is something about them that smacks of ability, and we see something that we want to promote and get behind. This is one such example. Benny came across the debut single for these Netherlands based rockers and noted them as a band he wanted to know more about, so here we are!

For this band, you add the purity, energy and fierceness of bands like Airbourne, AC/DC and Halestorm into the mix and it starts to bear a striking resemblance to this soon-to-be powerhouse in the rock scene. Their debut performance was in April 2023, and a lot has happened since then. The first single with the music video “Outta Your Mind” was released on March 15, 2024. In addition to the single release, a significant number of shows have already been booked, including 2 at Paaspop, at Zeeltje Rock with, Vandenberg, Jett Rebel, Wild Romance and more, but also great club shows in Burgerweeshuis Deventer, among others.

Roundabouts are:

Felicity van der Smissen- Lead Vocals

Loudy Joseph- Lead Guitar

Robin van de Wetering- Rhythm Guitar

Peter Prangsma- Bass

Jorick Lubbers (23) – Drums

We set out to find out more, and in this interview, we spoke to Robin van de Wetering, the rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the band. We began by asking about the background of the band and the journey that they took to make this single.

Robin: Me and Loudy (lead guitar) are lifelong friends and obviously hang out together regularly. Most of the time, the things we do are centered around music. Jamming for fun, visiting concerts and festivals, stuff like that. Loudy always had a lot of cool riffs in his head, and I always got very excited when I heard them. On top of that, he was basically in the process of making music in his home studio every single time I came over to his house. I kept thinking to myself, “What a shame nothing is happening with this right now, this guy should be on a stage!” Not long after, we started talking about starting a band again, since we did play some music together (mostly rock covers) when we were teenagers. Then Peter (a lifelong friend as well) joined shortly after on bass, and after a few months of auditions, we found Jorick on drums. We did not have a singer yet, but we started working on the foundation of Roundabouts in a more focused way. A question was: How will we define our sound? What type of singer do we need to not become just another typical rock band? Which gear and equipment do we need to achieve that classic rock & roll) sound combined with the more modern hard rock sound? With work, we found our sound and selected the right gear. But there was still something missing to fully flesh it out. Then, by chance, we connected with Felicity at a music festival. Her energy and chemistry with us and her powerhouse vocals made her an easy pick to become our singer! Her looks are definitely a plus too! She formally joined a little over a year ago, and we believe that her vocals are a very refreshing take on the genre!

We think so too, and note her KISS T-shirt in the video lol. Mark (our editor) is a big KISS fan, so he would approve! From the single, the sound is hard rock for 2024.

Robin: We always had a no-nonsense approach in mind. Straightforward, hard rock & roll, with a lot of energy, passion and enthusiasm, which comes really naturally to us. We believe we achieved that quite well, and you can feel all that when you check out our debut single! Of course, it took a lot of time, money and effort to build-up a band, fanbase, to write songs, record demo’s, book shows, build-up our social media, shoot a music video, etc. But all the efforts are starting to pay off, we’ve built up quite some momentum right now!

“Outta Your Mind” sounds like confident melodic hard rock, a great starter. What is the background to this one? It certainly pulled Benny from our team to recommend this piece.

Robin: First of all, thanks for the nice words!!! We are so glad you like it! It’s the very first track we bring out to the world, which is very exciting in every way! We had 2 demo tracks, which both rocked, but were not really taken into consideration for the EP we are working on. We did always think both tracks had cool vibes and ideas, even though they were quite different from each other. When we started working on “Outta Your Mind,” we kind of had a hybrid between these 2 tracks in mind. In the process, the track changed a lot over time. Even when we thought we had a final version, we changed a lot again. We dissected it fully and analyzed it in an almost surgical manner into a powerful single that grabs you from start to finish! We do still include a longer bridge part in the live version to really get the audience going. Felicity takes that moment to join the audience and get them moving where the bridge kicks in, always a really cool moment!

If one swallow does not make a summer, to quote Aristotle of all people, then one single does not make a band! Are there more recording plans for 2024?

Robin: For sure! The second single, “The Other Side,” has already been recorded, and we are drawing out a music video for it right now. It’s going to be a banger! It will be a little slower and punchier, with a very catchy sing along chorus and cool catchphrase that will stick with you. After this track, we will record 3 other tracks too, which will then become a full EP. We expect to release the EP “It’s Time to Rock & Roll” around October since we will be quite busy playing live shows during the summer season.

Songwriting always interests us. Do you have a principal songwriter in the band, or does everyone chip in?

Robin: Yes, we do. As already mentioned, Loudy is full of ideas and music, always coming up with awesome riffs. He also writes the drum tracks and melodies from home. A creative genius, if you ask me really. He’s definitely the principal songwriter. From the riffs, I try to chip in as much as I can. We talk a lot about what feeling we want the song to give to the listener, after which I start writing a theme and the lyrics for all the EP tracks. I did help with arranging the songs to make them work as a whole, working on the melody and flow of vocals, and, of course, stuff for my own rhythm guitar parts. It really is all in the details, and right now, the way we work together on it functions really well. Felicity does not have a typical (hard) rock background, and she brings in her own flair, which I think is really cool and unexpected at times. She also came up with the catchy chorus hook for “Outta Your Mind!” But to circle back, the main writer and composer is definitely Loudy, without a doubt. He’s always making music and learning in the process. He also mixed our tracks! We try to do as much as possible ourselves since we have a clear idea of how we want our music to sound!

Robin has already mentioned live performances, and will we be seeing you on the live scene at all in 24?

Robin: YEAH! We’ve got some very cool shows lined up for the coming season, playing the same stage as great bands such as Vandenberg, but also festivals where UK acts like Bad Nerves and Hot Milk will be playing. We have 14 shows lined up so far. We hope and expect that this might double towards the end of the year. We only played 7 shows last year, which was our first year. Right now, all scheduled shows are all in the Netherlands and were all booked before we actually released our first song. We hope it explodes from here on out and will be able to come your way someday!

Absolutely. The UK is only a step over the water, and it would be great to see you guys at some festivals, perhaps! A fun question next, what was the last album you listened to from beginning to end, and did you enjoy it?

Robin: Megalomanium by Eclipse, and I enjoyed it! It wasn’t my first playthrough, obviously. It’s an album that plays seamlessly back to back and is over before you know it (in a good way). I love the way they combine catchy melodies with big riffs but also include typical rock & roll riffs, like we did with the main Outta Your Mind riff. If you like melodic rock, I can highly recommend this Swedish band!

And last of all, which musician do you most admire and why…

Robin: Wow, That’s a really tough question, and it depends on which day you ask me, and in what mood I am. As a Thin Lizzy fan, I absolutely love Phil Lynott. His style, his charisma, his songwriting, epic all around! But for now, I will go for Dave Grohl, even though I am not a Foo Fighters fan. I love the way Dave Grohl rocks HARD, and is an extremely nice guy at the same time. The way he evolved throughout the years, experiencing all these ups and downs, and still comes across as a genuinely nice and humble guy and really earns respect, especially in this day and age!

And there we are, everybody. As a single review (the YouTube is below) this one kicks my ass into 2024, throw some early Led Zeppelin in the pot with The Bombpops, Starcrawler and some acid, and you get this! That is a great vocal performance, and the music is tight and rocking.

You can stream the single here. And please do!

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