Doomed Confessionary: Eric Hazebroek (DiTCH)

Photos by Aidyn Hazebroek

DiTCH resides since 2010 in the city of The Hague, Netherlands. Roaming the venues, playing their heavy stoner rock with influences from the likes of Fu Manchu, Slo Burn, Lowrider, Sasquatch, Kyuss, Greenleaf and Wet Cactus. The band has captured the grooves, the wall-of-sound, and the desert vibes from these bands, but added quite some original and fresh twists to their music, without losing the consistency and catchiness.

The band just released their second full-length album »The Traveler« on February 14th, 2025 via Dark Skies Coming Recordings. »The Traveler« has turned out to be a heavy, groovy behemoth of an album, but also kept the core values of the band by being diverse, intense, and surprising. It makes the album original and attractive. Combining different approaches and different elements, not hiding away from bold decisions and interpretations that might not fall within the box or genre the band is mostly playing in, the album has become “one of a kind”. One that should appeal to a large group of listeners.

DiTCH are Douwe de Wilde (vocals, bass), Eric Hazebroek (guitars) and Alexander de Goede (drums).

Can you say a few words about your band?
DiTCH is a heavy stoner rock band from The Hague, The Netherlands. It started off as a few old friends, whom were playing in several other bands, getting together to play some KYUSS covers at a local stage for a National Holiday. The band enjoyed themselves so much that we start trying to write our own stuff. This resulted in our debut album back in 2013. The band changed a little, as our original singer and drummer left the band along the way. But, now a power trio, we are still going strong. 🙂 Second album was released on February 14th, 2025 and showcases what the band stands for today. Heavy, fuzzy guitars, roaring bass and thundering drums, with that recognizable sound and desert groove, but with a modern twist.

What was the biggest challenge for the band?
The biggest challenge is definitely to get our music to the people that (might) enjoy it. The amount of bands is huge these days and the chance that a band like us (without management and booker) drowns in the ocean of bands seeking attention is huge. We know our music is strong, and catchy, but when no one hears it the band will get nowhere new. But we’re not giving up. 🙂 We’re up for the challenge.

What can you be most proud of so far?
Proud, and just totally flabberghasted, we are about how an instrumental spacey song called »One Way Trip To The Sun« (from our debut album »Boca do Inferno«) went a bit viral online and generated millions of streams on YouTube and Spotify. We were really surprised when that happened, and all the comments we receive are heartwarming. We’re forever grateful for that.

What was your biggest regret?
I think my biggest regret is that I let procrestination get the better of me and that resulted in missed opportunities. Plus being too polite makes our travel longer than expected. Playing in DiTCH is definitely not something I regret. I enjoy every minute of it still.

What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
We had some awesome shows with some iconic bands in the last 10 years. All of them memorable. We had the chance to play with bands like 1000mods, Belzebong, The Grand Astoria, Monster Truck, Baardvader, Five Horse Johnson, a.o. We’r in it to play live. So most of the time we are having the time of our lives while being on stage…

What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
The biggest surprise right now is the return to the underground of bands that try to do their own thing; playing guitar, drums and bass… Technology has made it so much easier to work from home, to write new music, to spread it and send it. The only thing is the attendance from the fans has not kept up with the bands playing live. So things got easier and harder at the same time!

What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
I listen to a lot of different stuff. Mostly guitar orientated, of course. My current vinyl rotation is:
• Slomosa – »Tundra Rock«
• The Mars Volta – »Octahedron«
• Skraeckoedlan – »Vermillion Sky«
• Kyuss – »Blues For The Red Sun«
• Hangman’s Chair – »Saddiction«

What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Go to gigs, make friends, expand your network, get like-minded musicians in your band, write the best music you can, go full-out on stage, stay away from the hard stuff, don’t drink too much before showtime, be kind, be helpfull, enjoy yourself, don’t let the frustration get you.

What are your guilty pleasures?
Guilty pleasures…. Well, I don’t think I have anything to feel guilty of, but I can imagine that some of the people that know me from DiTCH might be a bit thrown off by my love for Depeche Mode or Duran Duran, for instance. 🙂 Or the fact that I do not smoke, I do not smoke up and I rarely drink alcohol. That must also be against expectations.

Can you say something more about current music scene in The Hague / Netherlands?
Our music scene overhere has suffered a huge blow by the pandemic. The attendance at gigs, and mostly at the local bands, has gone down to the extent that small venues are doubting putting on shows of smaller bands. The Netherlands has a lot of very good, clean venues, but they need to make money to make a return on the investments, so they book tribute bands, the trendy stuff, or dance events. And then there are too many bands competing for the same few spots.
It’s good to see that there are new young bands popping up again though. In some way things never change. 🙂

Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We are currently talking to several people about shows; in the Netherlands and in Europe. But nothing confirmed to the point that we can announce things yet. Furthermore, we’re open to any offers and talks, if anyone out there wants to book DiTCH for their festival or their venue. Let’s GO!

What are your plans for the future as a band?
Besides trying to play as many live shows as we can, we are currently planning our road to the recording of our 3rd album. 75% Of the songs are in existence and just need rehearsing and fine-tuning. After that we will attempt to write a few more before we book the studio for early 2026.

How can people best support your band?
In these times the best way to support a band, ours included, is to go to the shows and buy the merch. Buy our album (we’re offering it on heavy weight orange marbled vinyl, Digipack CD and Digital Download) or get one of our cool new shirts on Bandcamp. Another way is to spread the word. Tell your friends, your colleagues, your bandmates, anyone whom has a soft spot for heavy stoner rock. Let’s see how far we can push this. 😉

Do you have any message for your listeners?
Thank you for the opportunity of this interview, and to the listeners a big thank you for the support. We appreciate you all. Check out »The Traveler« and do drop us a line to let us know what you think.

Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well