Photos by Eliot Leblanc-Hartmann
Ahead of their gig at The Marbrerie, where they played with Parisian groups Spanish Horses and Oh Non, I sat down backstage with Dutch brothers Ruben & Matthijs Pol to learn a little bit more about the New Wave / Post Punk band. This time on February 27th, they will be taking on La Station, headlining another important show early into their careers. Big things are in store Pol in 2025, so don’t miss your opportunity to see them in their rise. Purchase tickets for tomorrow’s show here, and read our interview with the boys below.
Let’s get to know Pol. Brothers who grew up in Holland?
Ruben: Mhmm. Correct!
Where specifically?
Ruben: It’s a small town. It’s 40 minutes from Amsterdam by car, it’s like a hundred thousand inhabitants, pretty suburban.
Mathijs: Small Dutch town.
And now you’re in Paris. How long have you been here?
Ruben: A year and four months.
What was the reason for the move?
Ruben: I mean, we love the city.
Agreed..
Matthijs: The atmosphere of the city is something we really resonate with. And next to that also, we both work in fashion as models, and of course Paris is very nice for that. So yeah, multiple reasons for work, but also just because we’re really resonated with the city and what it can offer.
What’s the music scene like where you are from, or even Amsterdam? I guess that would be the biggest city that you were closest to.
Matthijs: Let’s just say that our scene over there is not so big.
When you say “our scene”, is that music that sounds like yours or?
Ruben: Yeah, a little bit more alternative. I mean, there is an alternative scene, but it’s not really the kind of Post-Punk and New Wave that we are really into. So even fashion wise, because there’s fashion clients there… it was just not really the kind of area that we really resonated with a lot. And in Paris, it is something that we really connect with. Also, for just inspirational purposes, Paris is a city that we just constantly get inspired by. And not even just by the architecture and surroundings, we just.. it’s almost the air. Hanging around and the whole atmosphere is just something that we really feel that we thrive here a little more.
Matthijs: Also, and this is more of how we started our sound in general, was that we grew up in, again a small town, and we’ve always been making music, but it was never to the degree that we really made our own project. We were not really aware of how big the creative industry in general was. We didn’t really know anything about the fashion industry, barely anything about the music industry. When we started working in fashion that was the first moment where our eyes were opened to how big and endless the creative industry is, and that gave us such a rush, and it was kind of like an awakening. That happened in Paris. So we have that kind of connection with Paris as a city, the French language, and all of that kind of was like the birth of our creative journey, so to say.
How’s your French?
Matthijs: Yeah, trying. I’d been in school for like six years so I have a lot of stuff I can still use from back then.
Is that a reason you like to have some French words scattered here and there in your music?
Ruben: We do speak a little bit. It’s not that we are completely nonverbal in French. [laughs]
I’m certain you’re way better than me, so credit where credit is due.
Matthijs: And with the French language in general, the language on its own… I know it’s very melodic in a way.
It’s poetry.
Matthijs: And also a lot of our references from back then, and just in general, there are a lot of songs that have both English and French words that just work in a way that no other language can, and we think is very interesting.
When did you guys start playing music? When was the first time you picked up a guitar, how old were you?
Ruben: We’ve always been into music.
So at a really young age then?
Matthijs: Yeah, we were small.
Were you always playing together? Did you have a band before?
Ruben: I mean, when we were very very little, we always liked to play with “the brothers”, because we have one more brother. We always did these shows for our parents at home, and we were always busy doing creative stuff in that sense. But for both of us, it wasn’t really until we were a little bit older that we started to take it seriously. And then we also were like, “Okay, let’s kind of discover our own sound. Let’s discover writing songs.” All of that.
So your brother also plays music too then?
Matthijs: Yeah, he does.
Anybody else in your family? Mom, dad?
Ruben: No, mom and dad don’t. It kind of skipped a generation. There are some creative people in the family who did some cool stuff.
I saw Pol play back in June or July, sometime in the summer here at the same venue. And when you were playing, I noticed you switched your instruments, which I thought was so cool. I’d never seen that before. I was wondering, is there a reason for that? Is it for performance reasons or is it because you may know the song better on one instrument versus the other?
Matthijs: It’s just like the parts that people can play the best, you know, and that make the most sense.
So could you play it if you didn’t switch or… [laughs]
Ruben: Yeah, we could, we could.
It’s cool. I love the performance aspect of it. It looks cool on stage. I was like, ‘oh shit, they’re switching their guitars.’
Ruben: Yeah, it was more so that sometimes, you know, a vocal can be quite complicated. And then if you have a certain rhythm of the instrument and a different sort of rhythm of your vocal, you can really learn it, of course, but sometimes we were like, okay, what is most natural? And then we switched. But actually for, because the show has developed quite since, now we try to do a little bit more of like segments. I’ll start the guitar now and then after a few songs, we switch because before it was almost like every song, every other song.
Matthijs: That was a little bit too much back and forth.
Well, I love it. I think even if you master playing it without switching, it’s quite fun. Do you play any other instruments?
Matthijs: Yeah, we play a bit of drums, a bit of bass. It’s all just as skilled. I mean, we are in general, just not very skilled. With anything. [laughs]
I don’t want to hear that. Scratch that from the record.
Ruben: It’s true.
Matthijs: No, but it’s true. We’re not very good technical musicians.
I think that’s subjective. Also, music is more than about technical skill. It’s like the Meg White discourse. Meg White is not the most amazing drummer. But what is The White Stripes without Meg White? You know what I mean? To me, music talent as a technical skill, there’s so much more.
Matthijs: I love it. I don’t want to be a super trained musician. Because now you come to things and ideas that you wouldn’t get if you were…
Also, being able to see someone’s growth in music as they learn to become better musicians in their career is a cool thing, too. So, fuck the technical skill. But if you could learn a new instrument, what would it be?
Ruben: A violin, I think.
Matthijs: I was thinking about buying either a trumpet or a saxophone. A trumpet, yeah. A brass.
How has your music taste changed from when you were kids?
Ruben:I mean I wouldn’t really say it has. I mean yes, it has changed, but more so it has expanded. Because first— I mean I can only speak for myself, but also for him, we barely knew what was out. Then, when we discovered it, it was like… okay there is more. And then we both went off on these journeys just discovering more and more and more stuff. Of course we play New Wave and we like Post-Punk, maybe some Glam. But we both listen to a wide variety of things and we both send a lot of stuff to each other and we always just keep exploring because there’s so much.
Matthijs: I think it generates a thing that changes continuously for everybody like it’s something that is just a never-ending exploration.
How do you discover music? Is it through friends, do you like to use Spotify playlists?
Ruben: A lot through friends I would say. Yeah, Spotify playlists, all that stuff.
Matthijs: When I’m just browsing or if I look to find a certain artist and I look up more about him or her, and I’m finding all these links and I just keep clicking.
The rabbit hole.
Ruben: Exactly. Even a few times, to be very old-school, when I went to look for vinyl’s, you know they usually have a new section of not new music, but it just came in. I like to always go through that. I’m not a used vinyl collector, but I always try to look for things that appeal to me. Then if it’s not on Spotify, it’s like okay, well I can only really listen to this all on vinyl or sometimes it’s on YouTube.
Do you know the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’? My favorite thing is when I’m in a vinyl shop and I’m just like “what’s a cool cover?” I don’t know what the genre is, but if it’s a really cool cover I buy it. Most of the time the album actually is pretty fucking cool. I don’t think I’ve ever bought an album and I’m like “ugh.”
Ruben: But even if you’re wrong it’s just fun. Like one time I bought this cover, and it just looked so New Wave. I was like ‘it’s gonna sound like Gary Newman’ or whatever, and then it was almost like 70’s soul kind of stuff and I was like oh but why not it’s cool.
What’s your lyric writing process like? Do you both write?
Ruben: We’re really more music (melody) people. I mean, also words, I guess. But I don’t think it ever happened that one of us wrote lyrics and we’re like, OK, let’s build a song for this. It’s always we create music, and then it’s normally a bit random. I mean, sometimes lyrics can be a little bit random, but usually it evokes a certain feeling and automatically words appear. So we kind of try to find something like, “OK, what is this song saying?” We feel like we’re almost a tool through which the song is written.
Matthijs: I know it’s something I would love to learn more or like to do more with. It’s more like Ruben said, whenever we start to create and we start, I don’t know, with the guitar, start to make something, you have certain melodies in your head without words. Sometimes gibberish, certain sounds that are almost words. Then it starts to click. That’s usually how it goes.
Are there any musicians or bands in Paris or where you’re from that you can recommend to the people who read?
Ruben: Oh Non from Paris… Zilveren Bruiloft is very cool too.
Matthijs: Yeah, they’re a dutch band. Silver Wedding, is the translation.
What’s their sound? Like yours?
Matthijs: No, they sound a bit more, I don’t know, a bit more like The Cramps, or Gang of Four.
Ruben: What’s the one from Bilbao? Because they were so fucking sick.
Matthijs: Oh Wet Weasel. Yeah it’s basically like Talking Heads, and then also Sonic Sound which is like Argentinian kind of Talking Heads band and when they combine that and it’s really cool.
What does 2025 look like for you guys? Are you guys working on something?
Ruben & Matthijs: A big body of work, let’s just put it like that. And then not sure how exactly it’s going to turn out and when it will come, but yeah. And we’ll be playing some shows in France, Netherlands, and all around Europe.