It is the place where in 1987 the song In The Dutch Mountains was recorded, The Nits’ biggest hit and has long been a permanent fixture in the annual Top 2000. The Werf Studio was the name of the space located in a former gym in Sloterdijk that The Nits had rented from the municipality of Amsterdam for so long.
“But De Werf was much more than just our studio,” says Henk Hofstede (68), singer and guitarist of the group. “It was also our practice room. Our instruments were stored there and our archive was located there. The Werf was our laboratory.”
Little left to save
The fire service received an initial report about the fire at 11:18 a.m. Monday morning. It soon became clear that there was little that could be saved in the building. Hofstede: “There were bums around De Werf. It is probable that a fire lit by them has spilled over to De Werf.”
The fire service confirms that the fire started outside, but is awaiting further investigation.
The former gymnasium in which De Werf was located originally belonged to a school, which burned down in the 1970s. Hofstede: “At the end of the seventies, there was talk of the Popmuziek Nederland Foundation building a studio in the space. That didn’t happen, but bands like The Dutch, The Tapes and The Nits did rehearse. In the end, only we are left.”
Since the early eighties, The Nits have recorded almost all their albums in De Werf. On Monday, Henk Hofstede and other members of the group saw the space burn down with their own eyes. “Everything, everything, everything is gone,” says Hofstede. “I have lost a few nice guitars myself, including the Fender Jazzmaster that I used to play on.”
