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Biography

The Barstool Philosophers was founded in 1997 in Almelo, The Netherlands. The original members were Martin Kuipers (drums), René Kroon (keys), Ivo Poelman (guitar) and Mark Portier (bass, ex-Ulcerate Fester). At that time each member had his own band, but felt the need to (also) make music where there were no musical boundaries. So we started jamming and we all liked what came out of it. We felt a certain musical freedom. However, due to obligations to our other bands we..ve had a two year break. We came back together in 2001 because we still liked the material we played back then and we missed the vibe of playing together. We started to write new material and went searching for a singer. In 2002 Leon Brouwer (vocals) joined us. A guy with a great voice and a story to tell. This gave a new dimension to our songs which were initially instrumental. We liked the stuff that came out of this fusion and decided to write some more songs and to record them. Late 2004 Mark said goodbye and Bas Hoebink (former bassplayer of Symmetry) also joined the band. His awesome (fretless) bass-playing lifted our songs to a higher level. Early 2006 we recorded a song for a charity project called “Metsel een Dorp (SOS Child Villages)”. The song is called “Sunrise” and was written, recorded and produced within two weeks. After that we finished our debut-album “Sparrows”. Influences? All great bands/musicians who try to make a difference and life itself...