sTORM & ontij
Storm & Ontij is a band from The Hague in the Netherlands and the core members are Dirk Alberti and Wouter Pronk who write the songs, do the recording and production, play all the instruments and perform the vocals. Storm & Ontij originates from the bands The Strumblers, a coverband, and Crazy Like A Fox (CLAF), a band performing the music that was composed by Wouter and Dirk. Listen to CLAF on the MUSIC page and you will hear an outstanding band. In 2019 Wouter and Dirk issued their first CD as Storm & Ontij, and performed in different settings.
The music of Storm & Ontij cannot be captured in one genre, direction or style, they play old and new blues, rock, cheerful pop, melancholy ballads, and driving funk, but they are also not afraid of a Dutch sing-along or a French chanson. The band is constantly looking for the perfect pop song, rocker or blues ballad.
Storm & Ontij performed and performs in various settings: as a full blown rock band, as an acoustic duo and as an acoustic band including two mandolin players from AMATI, the local mandolin orchestra. Some highlights: "Now is the time of night" was selected for the Masterclass Popradar, song of the year 2018. Both the debut album and the second album received a positive 3-star *** review in the Dutch music magazine HEAVEN - 'love for timeless music' (heavenmagazine.nl)
The music of Storm & Ontij ticks multiple boxes when it comes to music styles on REAL AND IMPERFECT, although rock, blues and pop are the main ingredients. Fine music without frills ***
Joop van Rossem, music magazine HEAVEN, #1 January 2022
Storm & Ontij
On 30 July 1897 a journalist of the newspaper NRC Handelsblad visited the 36 meters high lighthouse of Scheveningen. He climbed the 158 steps to the top and met the keeper, a thin and pale but friendly man with the appearance of a train driver. He told the journalist that thanks to the strenght of the iron that was made in Birmingham, the lighthouse would survive times of 'Storm & Ontij'. Well, he was right because the lighthouse is still standing strong today.
In the poem "Song" from 1897 by the Dutch poet Helene Swarth the first two sentences are: "I am a wild seagull, gliding in Storm & Ontij".
There is a popular novel with the title "Bij Storm en Ontij" by a Dutch pulp fiction writer Gerda van Wageningen. It deals with a love story in a Search and Rescue Company at sea.
Ontij is an old Dutch word from the 19th century which is not used anymore. Storm & Ontij is an expression to describe dangerous and ominous times, that in one way or another, are always connected to the weather and the sea. Not strange for a Dutch expression. In 2016 we wrote the song "Bij storm & ontij", a song about Scheveningen and its cafe's, beaches, seaside, sunsets and people, a safe place in times of Storm & Ontij. We liked the name (and the song) a lot, many people did actually. It was the start of our cooperation as Storm & Ontij.