DI-RECT is taking a five-month break. For the first time in 25 years, the band is pausing its joint planning and “the schedule is locked,” drummer Jamie Westland said in an interview on Radio 538 on Monday.
According to Westland, the band members will go their own way in the coming period. “Eventually, we will look each other up again after the summer,” he said. “We are also looking forward to making new music again.”
The temporary stop follows shortly after three sold-out shows at De Kuip, with which DI-RECT closed the era of pop concerts in the stadium last weekend. The concerts attracted a total of around 145,000 visitors.
The Hague-based rock band was founded in 1999 and consisted of Frans ‘Spike’ van Zoest, Bas van Wageningen, Jamie Westland and Tim Akkerman. In 2009, Akkerman left the band and Marcel Veenendaal became the new lead singer via a television program.