IJLAND STUDIO

After the old shipyards were abandoned years of demise and the neglect of empty buildings after WWII came to an end when Amsterdam’s famous squatting scene inhabited the building. Amongst them being many punk rockers -a scene that remains to set foot in the city to this day, with great venues such as OT301, OCCII and De Nieuwe Anita-, it was no suprise that a few of them started to build a studio in the basement with materials from the Salvation Army, amongst them many old matrasses that still hide behind the walls. Starting of in 1985 as Studio Zwembad (Swimmingpool), due to famous Amsterdam water issues, the famous Dutch punk act Raggende Manne formed the epicentre of punk rock in the Netherlands. The water issue got tackled, the place re-named to IJland Studio, and when word got out of an amazing drum sound things quickly moved forward to being a professional studio.

After working as Pavement’s live engineer for almost twenty years and still being alive, Remko Schouten settled in IJland in 2005. His name and network attracted many famous acts, but his influence was most significant when working with Dutch bands such as Bettie Serveert with whom he had a warm cultural marriage, boosting them into one of the few Dutch bands that granted succes in the U.S.A. Years of peak production with his companion Thomas Olivier followed, and by embracing the digital era whilst investing in good old analog attributes, IJland Studio succesfully survived its way into the next decade. Years of rock & roll resulted in the production of Stephen Malkmus’ Wig Out at Jagbags, but also the desperate need of a paint job and a new carpet. This lead to an all refurbished acoustically neutralised control room, which lead to the construction of a rock solid iso-booth within an upgraded recording studio and a fancy wooden floor, enhancing the already famous acoustics. Now the rise of a whole new generation of indie bands in Amsterdam and The Netherlands has lead to renewed attention to that obscure studio with that sound guy from Pavement. Well hey, it’s not just any studio, it’s IJland, and we’ve got stories to feed your music with.