Biography

Rattling Steel saw the light of day in 2022 after Wouter and Jo had decided the time was right to take their two-men cover band project out of the broom cupboard and on to the next level. Out with the backing tracks, in with the real musicians! At a concert at Wouter’s music school, a bass player (Tim) and singer were recruited. Soon after, Karel, an old-time friend of Wouter’s, joined the foursome to handle the drums. The musical glue seemed to stick and soon the first covers thrashed the rehearsal room.

Initially, Wouter and Jo had thought of covering songs by bands of the more extreme old-school metal genre, such as Metallica, Pantera, Megadeth, Venom or even old Mayhem, Sodom and Destruction. The other band members, however, had somewhat other musical preferences, so the concept had to be revisited. Already at an early stage, punk rock, thrash metal, modern day metal such as Five Finger Death Punch alternated seemingly flawlessly. Even though the rehearsals were a lot of fun, after a while some of the band members no longer felt comfortable playing such a variety of genres. The majority preferred heavy metal with a focus on the “old-school” concept, and so 80s heavy metal songs – think Iron Maiden, Saxon and Motörhead – were added to the setlist. This new direction, however, meant parting ways with the singer, whose musical direction and ambitions pointed to a different path, and the start of a long search for a successor.

A few auditions later, old hand Benny enters the story; the starting point for rehearsing new songs and shaping the setlist. And now Rattling Steel is ready to conquer the world and rock everybody’s spikes off!