Groningen electronic rock duo Velocity Made Good share the exhilarating title track from their upcoming EP ‘Big Breakers’, due October 16th.
The track is rooted in personal reflection for drummer Wytse Dijkstra, who channels a long standing struggle with self doubt and the feeling of being surrounded by better musicians. Rather than pushing those emotions aside, the band confronts them directly, turning insecurity into momentum, turning inner turmoil into pulsing, high-octane electronic music comparable to The Prodigy.
‘Big Breakers’ introduces vocals for the first time in VMG’s catalogue, with production handled by Josh Baxter of PVA. The sessions took place in an abandoned school in Groningen, a setting that shaped the sound as much as the performances themselves. Analogue synthesisers were pushed through oversized amplifiers, then re-amped to capture the physical movement of the room, turning the building itself into part of the recording process.
The band describe how studio limitations became a defining strength. Monitoring was pushed to extreme volumes from the outset, creating a sense of disorientation that gradually settled into a core aesthetic. What might have been restraint elsewhere instead became impact, giving the record a tactile intensity that leans into physicality as much as composition.
The directness of ‘Big Breakers’ is captured in the band’s own words: “Big Breakers is a breakbeat assault through analogue synths and overdriven amplifiers — about making peace with insecurity, and refusing to let it get in the way of the joy of playing. “
The EP itself was forged in that same Groningen school environment, continuing a creative approach that treats space as an instrument. The result is a body of work that feels less like a traditional studio project and more like a recorded live event, shaped by volume, air, and pressure.
Velocity Made Good began as a reaction to personal and creative collapse. Synth player and vocalist Thomas Venema had recently experienced a breakup, while the duo’s previous band had ended. A planned trip to the Frisian island of Vlieland became a turning point. On the ferry back to the mainland, the idea for something new began to take form. Weeks later, they were recording on a sailing boat, microphones fixed to the mast and modular synths stored below deck. That early material became their debut EP, and the influence of the sea has remained a constant presence in their work since.
Musically, the band draw from a wide lineage. The drive and weight of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple sits alongside the precision and club informed energy of LCD Soundsystem and The Chemical Brothers. The collision of those influences has shaped a live identity built on escalation, where the boundary between electronic performance and rock show dissolves in real time.
After touring paused, the band found themselves questioning what came next, from the validity of their sound to whether there was still something to say. The answer arrived unexpectedly at Paradigm festival in Groningen, where both members reached the same conclusion at the same moment: they were a rock band.
As Josh Baxter puts it: “The releases before were about you as musicians. This EP is your statement as artists.”
