Dear friends, here’s a personal message from drummer extraordinaire Pieter Hendriks.
“All good things come to an end. With that said I’m announcing my retirement as the drummer for Black Bottle Riot. After seven awesome years with great shows, tours and comradery I’ve entered a new phase in my life. It’s not possible to commit myself to playing live as much as needed to make this machine called Black Bottle Riot work, so that’s why the four of us agreed to look for a new drummer.
I want to thank Mike, Simon and Jaap for all the great memories. The endless hours spend in vans, studios, clubs, backstages and mainly all the great times at restaurants feasting on food, beer and whiskey. I love you like a family.
Before I was asked to join this band I was a big fan and that’s the way I’ll leave this band: as a fan. I wish the boys all the luck in the world with my replacement – which is going to be an amazing new chapter for this band.
Musically I’m going to focus on The Establishment, my other band with Jaap on guitar. Who knows what else will cross my path in time.
From the bottom of my heart I would like to take this moment to thank some amazing people I’ve worked with and became friends with during my time in Black Bottle Riot: the roadcrew Sebastiaan “si” Kemperman & David “Limbo” Stevens (Get to the chopper!), Bart & Suburban Records, Dikke Ivo, Jerome, Emiel El Pinguino, Roen Kutten, Vleeskind Ruben, Hanza, Svenlens, Rob Roadie, Ploom, Van Bijlevelt, Tuk, Skimp, Vicious Veltman, Frank “Tequila” Drank, Tim van Delft and the ladies from De Staat, Mioch, Weerts, Ivo “how do I tune down?” van Kempen, all the awesome people in the Nijmegen rockcity scene, (almost) all the bands we ever played with, all our fans and if I forgot to mention anybody; text me and I’ll buy you a beer during a future Black Bottle Riot show. Last but not least my girlfriend Jessica and our kids for your endless patience and support, I love you! PMA!”
Last chance to see Black Bottle Riot in this line-up: 27th December at Doornroosje, Nijmegen.
