THE WERFBAND 

The Fourth Shape is a Brick

Amsterdam has its Concertgebouworkest which is famous across the world, but it also possesses this other music association a little less known that is THE WERFBAND as I like to call Nits sometimes. In the work of Nits lots of houses, buildings of all sorts – factories, a launderette, a barbershop, the Eiffel Tower, an eating house … – and homes make an appearance, but the most fundamental one to their musical existence was certainly the much missed De Werf. De Werf was like their garden shed or “atelier” – as Richard Robert called it in the French episode of Eric Facon’s podcast Dial Nits – which housed all their work materials like a builder’s workshop or hangar. The nature of this musical setting where much of their creativity took shape was of course closely related to their “materialist” attitude or approach in making music as craftsmen in their dedicated workspace with all sorts of tools as musical instruments (including things like stones and cooking pots). Moreover this theme of “houses” appeared quite early on in their oeuvre. It was there right from the start as if Nits had laid out the plans and sketches for an architectural construction of music from the beginning: their music would be a place or a space where you can live in, where you can live your life. Already on their first album, the song “Fantasies and Factories” – note the word of a building in the title – spoke of this melancholy of a place in the world, a place of shelter where fantasy can be lived and experienced. What else was De Werf if not a factory of music fantasy? As it turned out every musical fantasy would be possible there. In addition their early album titles reflect this dialogue with the surrounding material world and places of shelter. I’m thinking of “Tent”, “New Flat” and “Work” (referring to some sort of handiwork – remember the saw on the front cover, handiwork but then done by sophisticated men in a suit according to that same cover) which are the home to songs with titles like “Different Kitchen”, “His First Object”, “Tables & Chairs”, “Office at Night”, “Statue”, Bungalow”, “Buildings”, “Empty Room”. The words “room” and “walls”, “doors” and “windows” are also quite prominent in the writing of Hofstede. In the song – with the very remarkable title – “His First Object”, the lyrics suggest a somewhat claustrophobic experience of a closed-off space: “his first object – had to protect – locked behind doors”. Some of the Michiel Peters songs of that time like “Buildings” have this same feeling of being confined or imprisoned in an alienating, suffocating place, but later on the houses would open up, the doors would unlock and they’d be places that mostly hold and protect memories and lots of cherished things. Now and then the images of a nightmare would flare up again, of houses with no windows or no doors like in the song “Bricklayer” or “The Concrete House” where Henk was inspired by the work of the artist Rachel Whiteread who made an imprint of a house with the inside of an entire home, cast in concrete. But most of the time houses and buildings became friendly places, just like De Werf was. All this could perhaps be linked to the fact that the Hofstede family was in the building trade and young Henk grew up in this world and was very familiar with the notion and skill of building houses and the materials it involved. Furthermore all sorts of objects live in the Nits songs, not only artistic ones but also everyday things. Houses hold a collection of all these things, they seem to be one of Nits’ favourite places to take inspiration from in their lyrics and in their way of making music and constructing songs. And we all know how Nits like to hang around in museums and get inspired for their music. 

All this is part of a phenomenological attitude that they have made theirs through their work, where the traditional distinction between object and subject has been lifted. Nits live in a world amidst their things. Their way of being is a being-in-the-world, a being towards and with things. These are an integrated part of a world, of their world, in the way some phenomenologists theorised this. “Doing the dishes” – I always loved the title – is another phenomenological instance in their work, which also refers to a homey situation, which De Werf also harboured: it was their second home! The song “Kitchen” – a quiet favourite of mine – that was omitted from the 2008 album in fact really belonged there. As did the “foundational” song “Bricklayer “ which was left out of the album Malpensa. Nits can hardly be separated from the material constructions (let’s not forget their many stage designs involving curious constructions and configurations) and objects they surrounded themselves with in their music life: who can not think of The Bauhaus Chair when pondering about Nits, or of the “Soap Bubble Box” …. there are so many examples. Their work has been a dialogue with the material world – which of course includes nature first and foremost, but that is the topic of yet another story. And with time, the theme of the house only grew stronger; it became intertwined with a personal history, with family. And I think it is just wonderful how Nits created this nest in beauty, homeliness and cosiness without losing their sense of adventure. What a place to hang out!
The fourth shape is a brick.

Joke Roelandt, April 2024