The Legends, The Golden Boys, The Cult.

Somewhere around 2005, El Cantina was founded in the southern Dutch city of Tilburg. The band developed a repertoire that is stripped to the core of Rock 'n Roll. The often short, compact songs in which the guitar solos sound like they are being played with a hammer, follow each other at breakneck speed. Always played with refreshing honesty and almost childlike enthusiasm. The energy explodes from the stage. A band that sounds like a real band should sound. 

El Cantina was once tipped as `the best rock band you've never heard’. A description that, in all its simplicity, accurately reflects the character of the band. El Cantina, is constantly looking for the essence of rock.

Before Cantina, the brothers Paul and Marc van Rijswijk ravaged the southern Dutch stages for years with their raw guitars in bands such as Snake Blood and Majestic Scene. Drummer Ivo van Leeuwen has been hitting harder and harder on fewer and fewer drums for over more than 35 years. And bass player Clemens Bennink, after a life in jazz combos and big bands, was 'saved from jazz' by the other band members. El Cantina fits in the tradition of The Stooges, Neil Young, AC/DC and Motörhead, but is above all itself.

Guest musician on What about Me and Motor Running (2023) is Paul Zoontjens (The Kik) on keys

Line-up

Paul van Rijswijk guitar-vocals

Marc van Rijswijk guitar-vocals

Clemens Bennink bass

Ivo van Leeuwen drums