A Touch Of Rob Kloet

Tomorrow the 16th of June it’s Rob Kloet’s birthday. Together with Henk Hofstede he has been with the band right from the start and never left Nits. As one of the core members, his influence and contribution to Nits can’t be overestimated. As well as being an iconic drummer and percussionist, his technical and practical, hands-on qualities and resourcefulness, his sense of fantasy when it comes to music and his ability to make the most delicate and surprising musical and rhythmical associations have made Nits stand out in the pop world.

He has never been just the rhythm-man, although this sounds rather like belittling the value of rhythm – which I most certainly don’t mean to insinuate, rather the contrary – the way Rob Kloet handles the rhythm in Nits songs has always been quite exquisite and innovative. He procures the music of Nits a time of mystery, suspense, storytelling and dreamy fantasy. He knows the whole range of timing which goes from heavy necessity and stubborn fate to the lightness and airiness of surprise and frivolity. Under his guidance the music moves with the nimbleness and light-footedness that became so typical of Nits.

He developed his drumming skills into a real act; watching him play – amidst an often unusual supply of drumming utensils – is always a feast of subtlety and discovery. His back perfectly straight, yet with a supple posture, he manages the drums in an elegant manner and with a remarkable agility. He has fine-tuned an impeccable balance behind the drums, of seriousness, humour and wit, he is very much aware of his duty vis-a-vis the whole of the music, yet he also knows how to add playful accents and how to guide the music in unexpected meanderings, making her take a different path. He provides playfulness as well as depth.

He can be hurried and insistent or lenient and patient, his beating of the drums uses the whole scale of emotional, subjective time. Rob Kloet can be the clock of objective time and the impersonator of all sorts of time-experiences that run from sterile obligation and automated strictness to an awareness that is both liberating and refreshing. His rhythm and the colours he produces have a soul, a soul of being-in-time. His drum colouring palette is one of a dreamy yet earthbound consciousness in time. His performances show a fine sense of the act of music as well as musical acting: he is always a jolly sight and a charismatic presence on stage.

The instruments he uses are his truthful and loyal companions. He adjusts them to the needs of the musical fantasies he has in mind. They are like tools he assembles with the greatest care. Amongst his arsenal of rather uncommon attributes are a red cooking pot (which he used in Nits’ funny little theatre piece The Eating House -where Joke Geraets was at the wheel of the car driving through the Dutch Mountains) and a giant, fluffy sort of drumstick knocking on the big drum, which I affectionately used to call “de pluimstaart”.

And they watch him! Robert Jan is in constant contact with him, one eye always keeping up with the movements of Rob and when Henk turns to him, Rob, more often than not, responds with a broad, reassuring smile. Rob’s rhythms are the backbone of the songs. His drums are a team player, hardly ever do they show an egoistic trait of character and when they do, they bring you a solo-performance that is stunning, skilful and a tribute to the song as a whole. They know just as well how to be quiet and retreat to the background where they humbly work their magic. But most of the time they are evidence of the relentless musical energy and spark of the imaginative drummer that is Rob Kloet.

This video was recorded on the occasion of De Uitmarkt in Amsterdam in 1996. I watched the whole concert from my parents’ home and during the months and years that followed it, I watched the recording numerous times, so that whenever I see an excerpt of it now, I have the impression that I was there that night in Amsterdam. The song “A Touch Of Henry Moore” brings out the figurative drummer in Rob Kloet, the hands-on-matter man who always has the bigger picture of the music in mind.

Happy Birthday, dear Rob!

Joke Roelandt, June 2023