Simon Napier-Bell

Amsterdam Rock Exchange is a production house spawned from two years of Covid.Two old friends in Amsterdam decided to write some songs together. They were Richard Molenaar, once a budding rock musician who then became a businessman, and Evert Abbing, one of the Netherlands' top record producers. Many of the songs they wrote were in the style of classic rock, so they focused on these and asked some of their musician friends to help take them a step further. First, they asked the celebrated Dutch drummer Hans Eijkenaar to replace their programmed drums with some world-class rock drumming. Then they bought in one of the Netherlands' great guitarists, Arnold van Dongen. As the tracks got better, more friends were contacted, and Richard and Evert were nothing if not well-connected. Three more of their friends joined in - Rhino Edwards and Richie Malone from Status Quo, and Paul Hirsh formerly the keyboard player with Chris Rea.When Covid arrived and locked everyone down, Richard decided to spend some time taking the tracks further. He contacted another old friend, British rock manager Simon Napier-Bell. Simon thought that what they’d created ‘just for fun‘ was far too good to be left on the shelf. He worked with Richard and Evert to create lyrics that matched the quality of the music; then they contacted Dutch rock singer Marijn Slager. He loved the songs and wanted to do vocals for them. By then there was a vast number of tracks, overdubs and alternative takes. A fresh pair of ears was needed, so they tasked British producer James Kenosha with distilling it into a finished album. He achieved it brilliantly and the end result is Rock Perfect – an album of classic rock from Amsterdam Rock Exchange.From there, a new production company emerged. Firstly, British singer Tori McKew was signed to re-sing one of the songs as a dance track, Destiny, which in March this year hit Number Ten in the Music Week Club Dance chart. She then recorded another of the songs, Rain, as a follow-up single. Next, Dutch singer HRTMN joined in. He recorded and released Magnificent, another song from the same production team and songwriters, but this time not from the album, and not rock. Now Amsterdam Rock Exchange are planning auditions in the Netherlands for contemporary artists of all sorts for their roster – pop, rock, fusion and dance.So from Covid and lockdown, Amsterdam Rock Exchange has emerged. An Anglo-Dutch production centre for contemporary popular music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.