There’s this funny Dutch phrase that goes “mijn ei kwijt kunnen”, which quite clumsily translates to “unloading my egg”; it more or less means having an environment or activity where all your feelings, creativity and energy can unshackle as you see fit. For the past 10 years, Willem Smit’s eggs found their baskets within Personal Trainer, the restlessly creative Dutch indie rock stalwarts who have gradually risen up from Amsterdam’s grassroots scenes to touring the world as part of the roster of distinguished record label Bella Union. One of Smit’s bigger decisions with the recording of their new album Human Assholes was to make the acoustic guitar the starting point. And even more importantly, pen the songs in a physical room with the rest of the band instead of cutting and pasting stuff behind a screen. In their early days the group had a regularly rotating cast of musicians on stage and an eye for the ridiculous, becoming the first band to perform for 24 hours straight in Paradiso. 2022 saw the release of their self-released debut LP Big Love Blanket, followed by 2024’s Still Willing. “Ripe with casually confident songwriting that bursts with spirit and enthusiasm.” Pitchfork “Full of craft and invention.” MOJO “Fabulously eclectic... “ UNCUT Presented by Puschen, Rolling Stone, MusikBlog & ByteFM. This is an 16+ event