The band 2nd Place Driver was founded in 2002 by guitar player Bart Dietvorst (ex Wealthy Beggar) and singer Rias Baarda, first as a (home-studio) project. Quickly there after it became a real band and after recording a first E.P. (2nd Place Driver, 2003) lots of gigs followed and a stunning live reputation was quickly established. This first release got airplay in The Netherlands and Belgium on radiostations such as 3FM, KINK FM and Studio Brussel and a bunch of great reviews in several media followed. Early 2004 a second E.P. (Leave E.P., 2004) was released and the story continued with again lots of media attention, airplay and gigs.
After those two E.P.s the official debut album followed in april 2005, entitled 1. This album was released in The Netherlands and Belgium by PiTAR. The album was received very well by fans and media and the first single Leave got airplay on radiostations like 3FM, KINK FM and Radio 2. The video for Leave got airplay on TV channels such as MTV and TMF. After this,
two radio singles followed and got more airplay.
The album draws attention and 2nd Place Driver gets an Essent Award for it. Essent is a big gas & electricity supplier in The Netherlands and gives this award to 10 promissing Dutch acts a year. As a result the band plays the Lowlands Festival (along with acts such as Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age), gets attention on MTV, a promobudget of 5.000,- and lots of
media attention.
In the meantime the band played more than 200 shows, mostly in The Netherlands, in clubs such as Paradiso, 013 and Milky Way and on festivals such as Lowlands, Eurosonic and Parkpop. The band played supports for bands like Soulwax, Racoon, Zornik and Maximo Park.
With a new bassplayer the band begins working on new material for a second album album entitled
'The Hungry Ones', released in October 2006. In September 2006 the first single/ videoclip of the
album 'My Mistake' is released. The album release show in 013, Tilburg [NL] is advanced by a lightning
gig right in front of the trainstation of Tilburg at 8 a.m. The band get's national presscoverage for this.
The album get's good reviews and in spring 2007 the band releases the 2nd single from the album, entitled
'Smile'. This song is also being used in the USA indiefilm 'Lakeside has no Lake' by Robert Benfer.
In summer 2007 the band signs a new record deal with Stacey Records. On this label the band will release their third album, entitled 'Full Speed Bare Naked' late 2007. The band departs for a tour to Afghanistan, playing for Dutch and international troups in Kandahar around Sylvester 2007-2008.
The band took a break during 2008 when Bart D went to Australia for a year and recorded an album with Broken Sun. In 2009 2PD regrouped with a new female singer (Roos Visser) and started working on a new sound and live set. The first new tracks were released on an EP entitled 'Big Mess EP' in March 2010. The band is playing liveshows again on a regular basis.
The music: Back to the future with electronic based retrorock. The music of 2nd Place Driver is like a knights move: one step back and 2 ahead: retrorock with electrobeats or Depeche Mode meets Nine Inch Nails meets Gwen Stefani. Gruesome and heartwarming at the same time.
References/ influences:
Soulwax, NIN, Gwen Stefani, Pearl Jam, Bowie, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, QOTSA
Bookings/ management:
www.moonlightdrive.nl
www.myspace.com/moonlightdriveconcerts
Press clips:
review '.1' 2005
FileUnder.nl
The songs grab you within the first 30 seconds and won't let you go after that. The perfectly produced songs can compete with the great
review '.1' 2005
Fret magazine
2ndPD makes their own distictive sound from a lot of different influences. It's a well produced album with strong compositions and good melodies
review '.1' 2005
BN De Stem (daily newspaper)
The album sounds good and surely is radiofriendly, lot's of commercial perspective. '.1' is a decent debut album
reviews gig Lowlands Festival
Live XS, Daily Paradise, Essend Awards.nl
The band books succes; the tent is really crowded and with strong songs 2ndPD can compete with the other festival acts (a.o. QOTSA, Foo Fighters, etc)
2ndPD shows why they got all the good media attention from
Good show and great songs. The band is really enjoying themselves and brings the pleasure on to the crowd
