Track & Trace: Pim Mulders
“YES, I absolutely loved that as a kid. I really played those albums to death. Super virtuoso music, very different from what I already knew. Of course I wanted to learn how to play. Even though I requested this, my keyboard teacher decided on Britney Spears. This was the beginning of my rebellion. Only to discover years later, due to my mom’s Fiat Uno that had the Greatest Hits of the Backstreet Boys stuck into the cassette deck, how rock solid that kind of pop music can be. I’ve even been to a Backstreet Boys concert.
In grade four in Waalwijk I made a friend called Pieter. While my dad used to buy a Knuffelrock CD every once in a while, his dad would buy albums every week by YES, Jimi Hendrix, and The Beatles for me and Pieter to listen to. We started a band together. Later, at that same high school, I made the switch from keys to guitar. Earning money with music was the dream, so I went to the Rockacademie. My parents were skeptical, but I have since proven them wrong. And Pieter? He became a geography teacher. We are still friends.
For my internship, I joined a company that makes jingles for radio stations such as 3FM, BBC, and Q-music. It’s a challenge to make only one or ten seconds sound interesting. I have a love for crooners and christmas music, and I’m not ashamed of it. In music, I pay attention to melody, the hook, production or a specific element that I’ve never heard before. With music you can create anything you can think of, the sky is the limit. That’s what makes it so cool. Nerding around in the studio and figuring out how genres are put together so you can create that similar sound. Then, in the evening, performing with friends in my punk rock band Monomania. Punk rock is freedom, it gives me energy.
With some guys from other punk rock bands, we started the Dirty Daddies about twelve years ago; a cover band that plays the songs you want to hear when you’re out with friends. We play medleys according to a certain theme; classic rock, Dutch music, Dance and Hiphop. First verse, chorus, and straight into the next song, from Wolter Kroes to Bon Jovi and from Run DMC to Queen and Macklemore. We play about eighty to a hundred shows a year, right up to the AFAS Live. As a guitarist, it feels amazing to rock the stage and witness a crowd going wild. I don’t need to be in the spotlight; I prefer to be more on the sidelines, doing my own thing. Performing provides a nice contrast to working in an office or studio.
Listen to Pim’s favorite tracks:
