Di-Rect is a Dutch band, consisting of Jamie Westland (drums), Frans 'Spike' van Zoest (guitar), Bas van Wageningen (bass guitar), Paul Jan Bakker (guitar) and Marcel Veenendaal (vocals). The band originally started with Tim Akkerman, who was lead singer for ten years, but Akkerman left the band in March 2009 and was succeeded in November that year by Marcel Veenendaal. At the same time as Veenendaal joined, keyboardist Vince van Reeken also joined the band. Van Reeken left the band in early 2016 to focus more on producing and writing songs for other bands. After years of supporting Di-Rect on live tours, Paul Jan Bakker officially joined the band in 2016. Di-Rect originally comes from The Hague.
Di-Rect was founded in 1999 by Jamie's father (Dick Westland) and Dennis van Hoorn, drummer for Najib Amhali and former employee of Rock Palace. The four teenagers, aged between 15 and 19, immediately clicked. They released a demo with five tracks, including Just the way I do. In The Hague, traditionally known as a rock city, they quickly attracted attention and gained nationwide recognition through opening acts for Kane.
3FM DJ Rob Stenders got hold of this demo in 2000 and the band was soon offered a record contract.
On 12 March 2009, Tim Akkerman announced that he was leaving Di-Rect to focus on his solo career. His last performance with the band was on 10 April at the Luxor Theatre in Rotterdam.
The search for a successor was broadcast by BNN (Who is Di-Rect?). After a knockout competition, Marcel Veenendaal was finally chosen as the new singer by Di-Rect on 8 November.
The band-signed "Rolling with the punches" hangs in De Platenbar.
On 4 July 2020, Di-Rect won a gold record for the first time in seven years. During their performance at De Pier in Scheveningen, the band was surprised with the gold record for the single Soldier On, which topped the Airplay Charts for two months.
Source: Wikipedia Photo: Richard Broekhuijzen
