Gig review: DOUBLE CREAM (Dawn Brothers and DeWolff) – EKKO, Utrech, September 29 2022

Suburban Records

Here’s a quick algebra test – if X is 3 and Y is 4 how does X+Y+7 kilos of brass equal cream to the power of two?

Well, I don’t know much about geography or trigonometry but I do know that if 3 = the raw, psych-rock power of Dutch Uber-rockers DeWolff and if 4 = the “beyond-their-years” sensitivity of Americana tune-meisters, The Dawn Brothers, then adding sax, trombone and trumpet whips up a serving of soul cream fresh from Memphis via New Orleans……Double Cream, in fact (oh yeah, and the boys on brass do backing vocals – naturally).

Now, if someone told you that Al Green, Otis Redding and James Brown were raising kids with Gladys, Aretha and The Supremes and that those kids had grown up in the Dutch Delta listening to CSN, the Byrds, Deep Purple and the Black Crowes, you’d have to wonder how those kids turned out. But fear not – the kids are alright. Cream rises to the top.

The question is how DeWolff – traditional purveyors of huge-riff, blues-based monster-rock became the soulful “DeWolff of Beale Street” and how the hyper-talented, southern swamp-dwelling Dawn Brothers became drivers of a steamin’ soul train?

Well, call it the kinship of one soul, dual heart-beats, going Dutch, even double Dutch but they call it Double Cream and for two nights in Rotterdam and Utrecht, they drove that train right back to the ‘50s and ‘60s. With passion a-plenty, dance-your-ass-off tunes, and the innocence-of-the-times lyrics, Double Cream played the entirety of their self-titled collaboration album to wildly enthusiastic crowds.

If you closed your eyes, you’d swear you were back in a Stax Records all-star review show when it was one-time, two-time, three-time…..SOUL time !! Bas Van Holt of the Dawn Brothers has a voice which will bring sweet tears of joy to your eyes one minute and then cream-whip you up to testify, celestify, identify and verify the next. DeWolff’s Pablo van de Poel, soul brother-in-crime on vocals and guitar, subtlety-personified as he sneaks in the occasional but delicious blues lick.

But really the show is everything two-fold – both band’s drummers (one of whom also plays guitar…..I mean – come on…..talent from a fire hose!), both band’s keyboards players, new Dawn Brothers bassist – Tammo Deuling – looking for all the world like a sharp-dressed, funky soul-Viking. And those three horny brass-blowers providing all that is essential to the essence of soul – the low end, the high end, the warmth, the drama…..did I mention they do also backing vocals?

How ridiculously good can ten young men sound playing 70-year old soul music? Well, they were flamingly, proclaimingly, entertainingly great. Every song a self-penned tribute to that golden era of soul but refreshingly fresh……like fresh cream.

Old soul men obviously don’t die, they simply get re-born, re-booted, re-suited and rejuvenated into Double Cream….retro soul at its very best.

Their dreamy, double-creamy album is out now and will transport you back to a time when love was an innocent hang by the lake, “Southern California” beckoned the good life, the local “Loverman” strutted his stuff looking for his “Thunderchild”.

So, “Man Up !” and “Let Me Tell You About My Baby” from “Alabama Small Town”………

So good, so right – I got Double Cream.

Review by Mark “Mad Dog” Shaw

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)