Asked about influences, Sas replies; when I hear Jeff Beck play it starts to itch. He plays with such simplicity and at the same time with such fanaticism. Unbelieveable. I am a real Jimi Hendrix fan too. He has not yet been surpassed. Stevie Ray Vaughan I think is fantastic, but the difference between him and Jimi is that if you were to hear him every night you will notice there are only minor differences in his playing. Whilst Jimi could be stumbling over his strings one night and the next night be so brilliant that you would seriously consider selling all your gear. Jimi knew no boundaries. When he was doing Hey Joe, his mind was already busy with totally different things. What he wanted to do with Miles Davis I think is fascinating. I am a real Miles Davis fan. He is the Jimi of the Jazz world. When I was just 16 I saw Buddy Guy. He played with great dynamics. Dynamics, in my opinion, are one of the most important tools in music; a quiet song with a strong bridge or a loud song with a very quiet bridge. And of course Rory Gallagher, my greatest hero. I had the privilege and honour of playing with his band 3 times. The Allman Brothers Band is fantastic too. Once they get started, there is no stopping them. Just like us.

Born and raised in the Southwest of The Netherlands in 1970, music played an ever increasing role in my life. In my younger years my parents put me in an after-school music education class. And in my teens I started studying the piano for a few years, learning the basics of the instrument and ‘making music’ in general.
In those years I also started playing drums in the local brassband, which was both a musical as a social thing.

Drums fascinated me from a very young age. Although being a kind of “frustrated guitarist”, playing drums seemed natural as I had the tendency to bang on all kind of things and surfaces, driving everyone in my neighbourhood crazy.
I started with just one little Chinese tom with the rawhide skins tacked on the drum.
Later on my parents got me a real snaredrum with a stand and a little cheap cymbal for my birthday. For which I’m forever grateful because my drumming journey started there and then.

Taking no lessons but playing along to songs on the radio, records and music I (very) slowly progressed. And every birthday I got something to expand what would become my first drumset. First a hi-hat, then an old marching bassdrum with a crappy pedal and so on.
Untill they finally gave me a 5-piece drumkit, brand Maya in shiny blue.

Fastforward a couple of years, I began playing in all kinds of (cover)bands ranging from bigband-style to hardrock. Still my drum-education consisted of reading all sorts of music related magazines, visiting a lot of concerts and festivals. Buying a lot cd’s for playing along to and, ofcourse, the playing in bands.

My musical influences are very diverse, ranging from classical to jazz, though my heart belongs to old-school R&B, R&R, Blues and (Hard)Rock. The music I love to play!
Drumming influences are however from all musical styles. From Vinnie Colauita to Hal Blaine. And Billy Cobham to Earl Palmer. D.J. Fontana, Benny Greb but also Dutch guys like Hans Eijkenaar, Pierre van der Linden and Marijn van den Berg, to name just a few. All of them such musical and adventurous players who showed me “the way”.