Biography

Frans de Waard (1965) has been making music since 1984, initially under the name Kapotte Muziek. Over the years, he has also collaborated as Beequeen (with Freek Kinkelaar), Goem (with Roel Meelkop and Peter Duimelinks, both of whom are current members of Kapotte Muziek), Zebra (with Roel Meelkop), and through various solo projects including Freiband and Shifts, as well as under his own name. He worked for Staalplaat from 1992 to 2003 and has been a reviewer for his publication, Vital, now known solely as Vital Weekly, since 1986. This online music magazine has served as a source for underground music since 1995 and celebrated its 1000th issue in 2015. In February 2007, he performed several solo concerts as Goem|FDW in Japan as part of a package tour with Pan Sonic. Frans de Waard also enjoys performing sets of improvised music with available collaborators, as he has done alongside individuals such as Guiseppe Ielasi, Jaap Blonk, Howard Stelzer, Roel Meelkop, Andrew Liles, Radboud Mens, and even the mayor of his home city, Nijmegen. In 2008, filmmaker Harrie Timmermans created a short documentary about his work with Kapotte Muziek titled ‘What You See Is What You Hear’. He has conducted workshops and lectures at various venues, including Extrapool, the arts academy in Maastricht and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, as well as the Glinka Conservatorium in Moscow and Lithuania.

In 2009, he formed the duo The Tobacconists with Scott Foust. The following year, he collaborated with Wouter Jaspers to create the duo Ezdanitoff. Alongside Jos Smolders, he performed as WaSm in 2015 and 2016, and subsequently established a new duo with Sindre Bjerga called Tech Riders. In 2012, he added Modelbau to his extensive list of names, this time concentrating on all things lo-fi and noise-based. Currently, Modelbau remains his most prolific solo project.

Since 2007, he has frequently collaborated with Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree, primarily on albums but also in live performances.

In 2016, Timeless in France published his first book, an autobiography about life at Staalplaat titled ‘This Is Supposed to Be a Record Label’. In 2019, Frans de Waard relaunched Korm Plastics as a book publisher, beginning with a new edition of his Staalplaat memoir, followed by reprints of fanzines such as Neumusik, Nul Nul, and Vital, along with a translation of a Dutch-language book on Dutch music, as well as books about The Legendary Pink Dots and Broken Flag. In 2024, he released the best-selling ‘America’s Greatest Noise’, which focuses on RRRecords. By 2025, he ceased publication of Vital Weekly to concentrate solely on books and his music.

Frans de Waard has performed concerts in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, the UK, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, Canada, Japan, the United States, Russia, and Italy.