When announcing your comeback, you wanted to be careful not to have to say too much…
Thomas Acda (56): “That absolutely did not work.” Paul de Munnik (53): “Well, I don’t have to do anything…” Acda: “I was just going to play. I hang up my guitar, Paul starts playing the piano. But it does not work like that. Last week we had rehearsals and there were thirty people walking around us in that studio. A kind of hurricane of people. We then look at each other, think: what on earth is going on here?, but then we are just Thomas and Paul. Let’s have fun. And as long as we do that, it’s fun.”
You haven’t been a duo for eight years, is working together now essentially different than in the first period?
De Munnik: “We have moved with the times and now work more closely with different producers and co-writers. For our new album we worked with JB Meijers (guitarist/producer, ed.) and our regular accompanist David Middelhoff, but also with Leon Palmen and Arno Krabman (songwriters/producers, ed.). There is certainly a difference. When we have an idea for a song, with JB and David we are just that band that tries something out. If we have an idea with Leon and Arno, they are already in the computer and immediately come up with a bass loop and a beat. The songs we made with them sound more like today, probably more suitable for radio.”
Acda: “We have reaped the benefits of their working method, but it should not go too far. If they came with a house beat, we would say no.”
For the shows in the Ziggo Dome, do you mainly fall back on your old work?
Acda: “If you have been away for so long and return, people want to hear about it. Then we don’t first play unknown work for half an hour and then do what people come for. Moreover, they haven’t even had time to get to know our new work yet.”
De Munnik: “There is something special going on with the visitors. We expected a kind of Top 2000 audience, but a surprising number of young people came. They couldn’t have actually seen us before, because they were only about ten years old when we said goodbye. They probably heard our music in the car with their parents on the way to France.”
Acda: “The fact that young people want to come to us is hopeful. I think what we have experienced since we got back together is a feast of surprises. With six Ziggo Dome. Afterwards I say: why didn’t we do nine?”
Why not?
De Munnik: “Maybe we can do even more next year. Let’s see how you like it first. Although we have played at festivals, we have never given our own show in a venue of this size. I think Carré was our largest room.”
Acda: “We practiced with The Streamers in the Gelredome last weekend. Compared to that, the Ziggo Dome is not too bad.”
Eight year break
In March this year, Thomas Acda and Paul de Munnik announced that they are back as Acda and de Munnik. The two met in 1989 at the Art Academy and made their first theater program in 1995. Acda and de Munnik were a hit with the general public and had hits like Not or never been, It’s raining sun rays, When the fire is out in The Captain part II.
Their collaboration ended in 2015, De Munnik thought it was a nice thing. Both musicians did solo work and other projects, including their participation in the musician collective The Streamers. Their comeback led to six sold-out shows in the Ziggo Dome, the last three of which are in December. Their new album AEDM will be released on Thursday evening, right before the first concert.
The post first appeared on www.parool.nl