Name: De Staat
Members: Torre Florim, Jop van Summeren, Vedran Mircetic, Tim van Delft, Rocco Hueting
Interviewee: Torre Florim

Nationality: Dutch
Occupation: Singer, songwriter, producer, guitarist
Current release: De Staat have just released a trilogy of colour-coded releases: Red, Blue, and Yellow.  

If you enjoyed this interview with De Staat and would like to find out more about the band, visit their official website. They are also on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.


For an even deeper dive, we recommend our interview with De Staat about production, technology, and creativity.



What I find so fascinating about De Staat is the element of surprise. Your recent colour trilogy is another act of creative freedom.

The longer we’ve been a band, the harder it becomes to make something that truly excites me. And it is very important to stay excited, I think.

A big part of staying excited about making music, is implementing new ideas and different styles of music. And not being afraid to cross some borders. I’ve always liked bands that change a lot over time, although still being recognisable as themselves. Queen, for instance, has been exactly that.

Splitting ourselves up in Red, Yellow and Blue, has forced me to be more extreme in my songwriting, which is a lot of fun to do, but I hope, also to listen to as a fan.

So it's both extremely personal and an all-encompassing artistic world?

Let's put it this way: I’ve always viewed De Staat as something that can contain almost all of my creative ideas. Most people see a band as a group that mostly makes music, but what I love about being in a band is that it can contain almost all art forms.

It’s composing, lyric writing, music production, mixing, live performance, stage design, lighting design, visuals, choreography, fashion, photos, artwork, video. There is so much to consider, and so much to have a vision on as an artist. And if you want, you can work with other artists (directors, graphic artists, set designers) on the various forms, or be DIY.

And I love doing a lot of it myself.

Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

Musically I sometimes start with going through playlists of songs I saved: each song usually has something interesting about it. It could be anything, a beat, a way of singing, a weird sound. That can be a starting point for me, I don’t have one in my head already.

When an idea or something interesting comes to mind I usually note it down immediately. I have different notes in different categories on my phone, where I can pull from when I get the time to work on something.

What about lyrics?

I’m way slower with them than when I write music.

I like to write about all kinds of things, but it has to be something I’m a little obsessed with. Often times I see patterns in something: media, politics, society, relationships. When I feel there’s an interesting perspective to follow I brainstorm on it until something sticks.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work?

It’s always a combination of both. After a busy year of touring, I love going into the studio to just do stuff. That’s a precious time because you don’t have any deadline yet, or any dot on the horizon.

After making tracks for a couple of months, usually a pattern emerges. Or some concepts have crossed my mind. It’s just a matter of time until one concept really sticks. I continue writing and usually I automatically write towards that concept. That concept then becomes an obsession. Then it’s just a matter of really diving into it, and creating the best material for it.

But I must say, often times there are just some great songs that don’t necessarily fit into that concept, and I will not hesitate to release those as well. The concept is important, but not that important.

When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

Music comes fast, but I’m a very slow lyric writer.

When I produce music I usually sing random stuff. After the music feels good, the big puzzle begins. Some of the improvised words stick, and I use them, sometimes I start over. The vibe of the song informs me what the feeling of the lyrics should be.

It’s definitely not the most efficient way of song writing, but it’s how I do it.

Your live shows are intense and thrilling and a world of their own, not just a rehash of the studio albums. What's your approach to performing live?

It’s a complex and fun puzzle. There are many dimensions to a live show, and we try to use all elements. It should be musically diverse, visually diverse within the confounds of a certain concept.

I like to spread out our more well known songs throughout the set. Always start the show with a new song. Spread out the songs where I just sing - and not play guitar - throughout the set. Some songs have a very specific lighting design or visual. Others have a choreography. Think about tempo and songs in certain keys. Use the specific room or stage to your advantage. Does the crowd know who we are, or not?

There’s a lot of elements like that to play with. I could write a book on it. In the end we just make a show that we’d like to see.

How does the integration of electronics work in the live setting?

We have a lot of different instruments we use, from analog synths to digital amps. Samplers we play with our feet.

We are very keen on not using click tracks or live tracks in the show though. Everything you hear is played by us in the moment. Because that is the point. It’s a live show. When I see a band, and there’s a tambourine coming out of the speakers, and I see nobody playing a tambourine? That’s such a buzz kill to me. We are a 5 piece live band, that should be the reason to come see us, and experience something different every show.

That doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a live show with tracks. But you do have bring something extra to mitigate that.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I think I’m mostly into ‘creating worlds’, it can be songs, mixes and live shows, but in another lifetime it could have easily been films, games or architecture. I think it’s all the same muscle, the same part of your brain.

I don’t know if making a good cup of coffee fits in there, but hey, maybe I should try roasting some beans to find out.