Get-Stas! - And Don’t Lose It

(CD 2009, 53.37, Own Production)

The tracks:
  1- Breathe(4:40)
  2- Dangerzone(4:56)
  3- Daily Life(5:19)
  4- Catgirl(4:22)
  5- Set Me Free(5:29)
  6- Priscilla(4:18)
  7- It Makes Me Feel Alone(5:09)
  8- True love(5:03)
  9- War Ghosts(6:16)
10- Red Shoes(3:03)
11- Garden Of Eden(5:02)

Get-Stas! Website        samples       


In 2009, four guys of the Dutch band ‘with the strange name’ Get-Stas! recorded their first full-length album named And Don’t Lose It. The members of Get-Stas! are vocalist Martin Stone and three brothers: Marc (guitars, keyboards), Twan (bass guitar) and Bas van der Heyden (drums). On stage they got help on keyboards from their friend Pim van de Neut.  

The album opens with I Breathe, a modern up-tempo rock song with a catchy melody and nice guitar licks. Dangerzone rocks as well with a guitar sound equal to The Edge (U2). This time the vocals aren’t convincing, sounding a bit whining. Daily Life also contains the guitar sound of The Edge, but the vocals are much better now. The first ballad is Catgirl, another song influenced by an early U2-song from the Boy-era, with a continuous duel between v ocals and guitar. Set Me Free is again a fine ballad, emotionally sung and with very strong guitar work by Marc van der Heyden. The drums and the pumping bass are both doing what they’re supposed to do. Priscilla is a radio-friendly pop music tune rather than a rock song. However, it’s not good enough to rock me off my chair. I think they used this song as a kind of resting point just in the middle of the eleven tracks. It Makes Me Feel Alone is a mediocre song barely saved by the excellent guitar playing of Marc. Thunderstorms and beautiful guitar and synth waves are the beginning of True Love, a love song slightly in the vein of Chris Isaak and The Bo Deans. For me, this song with its tension and passionate vocals is the highlight of the album.

Although the musical performances of the individual band members are more than average, I couldn’t appreciate the forced vocal parts in War Ghosts. Fortunately, the up-tempo song Red Shoes is way better. Again the boys have listened well to U2 and Van Halen, but the vocal qualities of Martin Stone are the weakest part here. Final song Garden Of Eden is an almost 5-minute musical adventure and a good example of the rock sound of Get-Stas!.

And Don’t Lose It certainly isn’t a bad start for a new and young band. Get-Stas! play modern rock just the way I like it and this means rock with balls, fine guitar licks and a clear production. In my opinion, the best songs are True Love, Daily Life, Set Me Free, and Garden Of Eden. If I may say so: more variation in their musical style and paying more attention to the lyrics will make Get-Stas! more interesting for the rest of the world. And please, don’t lean too much on the fantastic guitar work of Marc van der Heyden... 

 *** Cor Smeets (edited by Peter Willemsen)

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