The Grand East

The Grand East’s music refers back to the ’60s and ’70s – the golden decades of rock – but you don’t have to come to the men for nostalgia. They draw from a wide range of styles, always looking for something new. The fixtures, however, are screeching guitar work, ferocious drumming and well-nigh roaring vocals. The Grand East is a festival band through and through. Nevertheless, a new album has been out since late last year: ‘Floor = Lava’.

The energetic five-piece surfaced at the Muziekgieterij studio in Maastricht last March. In a jiffy, the band recorded four songs there. And it’s a good thing there was glass between the band and the mixer, because otherwise we would have had to remove sweat from between the sliders.

After the session, Heaven editor Ludo Diels spoke to pizza chef, lumberjack and front man Arthur Akkermans, including about the break the band took. ‘We noticed we needed to step back for a while. Now we are ready to go again.’