Tien Ton Vuist (which means Ten Ton Fist in Dutch), consists of Tijl, Stijn and Nikki. Tijl sings and plays a $80 dollar guitar. Stijn beats drums into the stratosphere and Nikki goes to war with a bass battle axe. Tijl and Nikki are actually lifelong friends and met when they were still kicking ass in boy scouts. Only after a few years and Tijl asking Nikki a hundred times for a jam, they started playing together. They made a debut EP and a bunch of singles for four years. The covid pandemic made them rethink the way they made music.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Kamil) Hey Tien Ton Vuist, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What strengths do you have that you believe make you a great musician?
Hey Kamil, thanks for having us! That’s a difficult question, haha. We often feel insecure when someone refers to us as musicians because we had no musical education whatsoever. Our bassist did some courses but a lot is self-taught through YouTube or other online video lessons. But I think our strength lies in the fact that each of us is a Jack-of-all-trades. We’re able to play the guitar and we know our way around a drum kit. Nikki knows a lot about recording and mixings, Stijn does too and he has a really creative mind in the studio. Tijl is a video expert and makes our video clips and handles social media posts. So we’re able to do it all DIY!
What first got you into music?
I guess for each one of us, that started with a different story. But it all happened when we were younger and it all started with drums. Our drummer got inspired by his late father who was a professional drummer. Our singer started playing the drums for fun with his brother and friends in a moldy garage and our bassist started drumming because his nephew lent his kit.
Your latest track is 'Tickets'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
The song is actually a newer version of a earlier release called ‘Ticket’. And that song is a sequel to ‘Best Plan Ever’. The three songs are about being so in love with someone that you want to kidnap him or here. And in ‘Ticket(s)’ that actually happens. Haha! Our lyrics don’t always make sense. Tijl just writes what comes to mind and if it matches the song than we just go for it! But ‘Tickets’ is also a celebration of our new member Stijn. A year ago Nikki played the drums, there was no bass in our setup. Covid made us reinvent our sound and we invited Stijn to drum instead of Nikki. Now our sonic range is bigger than ever!
Where do you see your musical career in 10 years?
Gosh… I hope we’re touring in Europe and we’re doing some big stages in 10 years! That would be awesome. We’d also like to produce some full albums. Now we release a lot of singles but we’re missing the material part like a LP or cd. I think there will be a lot more merchandise too, and more fans, and maybe a full time income too? Who knows… We’ll just keep on going! As long as our fans are satisfied and we’re having fun, we’re happy.
What would you say is your greatest strength as a band?
Our greatest strength is that we’re completely DIY. Our bassist has a recording studio and the necessary gear and our singer is a professional photographer. So we’re able to record, mix and produce our songs and videos with no budget and all the time in the world. That’s a luxury that many bands don’t have.
What is your proudest accomplishment as a band?
There’s not really a specific moment that we’re proud of. We’re always talking about the process we make. And we’re really proud that we still keep growing as a band. We are far from stagnant and we know that next year our songs will again be different and better.
What would you be doing right now, if it wasn’t for your music career?
Oh dayum… Well we all have daytime jobs as a youth worker, landscape architect and a high tech car engineer but I can’t imagine what life would be like if we were not making music after hours! I guess we’d find our way and meet at the pub and drink even more beer than we do now haha.
Tell me about your top performances.
In October we got the chance to perform again after a long time of lockdowns. We played at De Casino in Sint-Niklaas in Belgium. Playing with a great sound engineer and a PA system that can be heard far beyond the borders of our solar system, that’s the stuff! We just rocked our socks off that day! But we did other great shows too before covid. Although we played those with only a drummer and a guitarist, we performed like a band of ten. Especially Tijl, haha. When he’s on stage you better watch out and get out of the way!
What's the best piece of advice another musician ever gave you?
Play every show as if you’re playing at Wembley Stadium, even if the crowd is only five people. You gotta give your best, always!
What are your plans for next year? Do you have any productions ready to be released?
Yes! We’re recording a mini EP at the moment. ‘Tickets’ will be the fourth and last song on that EP. Next year in January or February we’re releasing one more single and after that you’ll be able to buy our mini EP! But even now we’re already writing more songs to release after the EP. We just keep on going baby!