The Meadow's Latest Single 'Friendly Reminder' Rocks the Alternative Scene

The Meadow, an alternative rock band from the Netherlands, resonates with those familiar with the allure of the night and those seeking purpose amidst chaos. Their music explores the complexities of the human mind, delving into nightmares, depression, aggression, and silent battles.

From electrifying rock anthems to tender ballads, their repertoire carries a profound message. The band fearlessly embraces the darker aspects of life, integrating them into their music in an embracing and transformative way.

They strive to give voice to untold stories and shed light on the shadows of human existence, creating a sanctuary for pain and struggle.

Dive into this Q&A interview to discover more about The Meadow and the incredible music they bring to life.

Who are the members in your band The Meadow?

The Meadow consist of Timo (vocals), Ruben (drums), Mitzy (bass) and Joran (guitar). We all met through a Facebook advert to form a local band. None of us knew each other before forming the band.

May I ask how you arrived at your band’s name? Give us the scoop.

Coming up with a band name was a difficult task for us. We had many brainstorm sessions to find the right band name for us. After a few weeks we thought we found the perfect name for us: Rephrased, and released our first single with that name. As time went by we discovered that actually no of us could really pronounce rephrased - we’re from the Netherlands so we’re non native English speakers.

When we decided to change the band name we thought of an image which described us and our sound. We pictured ourselves a meadow with all different kind of flowers representing all the band members different backgrounds and musical influences. So, The Meadow was born.

How long has the band been creating music together?

The band in its current form came together in May 2022. We starting writing our own songs and never did any covers. It was difficult at first to write music with people you didn’t know before, but as we grew closer together the writing became better and more efficient.

Are you signed to a label, or would you like to be?

We’re not signed to a label but we’d love to be! We do all the work ourselves now. We recorded and mixed our own tracks, do the photography and videos, marketing, creating artworks, bookings and so on.

We love to work together with a team on all these things so we can focus more on creating music.

What sets ‘The Meadow’ apart from other bands in the music industry?

Our music is honest and open and all very autobiographic. Our latest songs are about depression, alcohol abuse, anger disorder and suicidal thoughts to name a few.

We aim to tell untold stories and illuminate the shadows of the human existence. We want to create a haven where pain and struggle can be shared and where listeners find solace and connection knowing they’re not alone.

Tell Us about your new song “Friendly Reminder”. Is there meaning behind the title?

Friendly Reminder is about the on going alcohol abuse our society is facing. We felt people did not understand the choice not to drink when you’re at a party or other event. You always get the question why.

We heard some people say things like “let me pour a wine so I can really relax” or “let’s have a beer to get the party started”. We thought that’s weird and decided to write a song about it - a friendly reminder our normal is not sane.

How do you handle creative differences within the band when working on new music?

It doesn’t happen often that we have creative differences, but if we do we try to figure out which route will be the best for the song.

Do you create music for yourself or for fans?

When I’m writing and recording music I do it for myself. The songs we release are meaningful to me and the other band members. We do keep the style of the music constant to keep it more cohesive and understandable for the listeners. If we wouldn’t do that we’d probably gone several different directions.

When we practice for our live shows we make sure to keep the audience in mind and are really creating an entertaining show.

Is there one of your songs that fans seem to favor?

Friendly Reminder, which released the 10th of May, got 6k listens in 3 weeks, making it our most populair track!

How do you stay motivated and inspired to continue creating new music and evolving your sound?

Writing music is something from deep within us, we can’t simply stop writing new songs. We also make some small goals in the near future to keep us motivated. If we don’t have any goals - as we did when we just started - we tend to jam a lot and aren’t much productive.

Do you, or would you like to, perform live?

We are doing live shows for over a year now. We even played during a large showcase festival in the Netherlands called ESNS. It was an unforgettable experience.

What song, any song, do you think would be fun to perform live?

Playing Can’t Stop by The Red Hot Chili Peppers for an entire show.

What do you hope listeners will take away from your music or live performances?

I hope they feel they can be themselves. Our songs often go about deep and personal topics, I hope they can find some support if they recognise their situation in our lyrics.

Can you share a memorable moment or funny experience you experienced as a band?

We once played as an afterparty for a Pink Floyd tribute band at a theatre. When the tribute band was finished the audience would be led to the bar where we’ve setup to play. Unfortunately there was some communication error and the audience was led to another room instead of ours. Instead of playing for approximately 200 people we played for 20.

How do you engage with your fans and build a loyal following?

We are pretty active on Instagram! You can follow us by searching for: @The_meadow_band

How does The Meadow define success, and is there a legacy you hope to leave behind?

We don’t have the dream to tour the world or to get millions of streams (although the streams would be nice ;) )

For me The Meadow will be successful when we do a clubtour in The Netherlands and maybe Belgium and Germany. Would be doable right?

Lastly, can you tell us about any upcoming projects that fans can look forward to?

Absolutely! The last weeks we’ve been working on our debut EP which will be released the 2nd of August. The EP consist of 4 songs, which we consider our best songs yet!