The Damned and Dirty band photo

About the band

Biography

Formed in Zaandam, the Netherlands, in 2012 by singer–harmonica player Kevin de Harde and guitarist Micha Sprenger, The Damned and Dirty started as a lo-fi delta blues experiment, recorded in two days and released online for free. It won Best Dutch Blues Album that same year, then again in 2013, and again in 2014. What was meant to be a side project became the main thing.

Now a five-piece with Alexander van Meerten (drums), Dirk van Hoven (bass) and Tarah Ouwerkerk (backing vocals), the band anchors its delta-slide-and-harp foundation in Chicago shuffles, ragtime swing, and JJ Cale-style grooves. In 2024, they were named Best Blues Act at the Dutch Blues Awards — more than a decade in and still finding new corners to explore.

Alexander Dirk Tarah Micha Kevin

The group has reached audiences at the Bali Blues Festival, headlined the Farmhouse Blues Festival in Shropshire, and played a handful of club dates across the UK, France and Belgium.

Closer to home they packed Paradiso's Kleine Zaal for the Rolling Into Town release, returned to the main hall as support for Robert Cray and Mud Morganfield, premiered the EP Revelation at Patronaat, and have stood under the lights of Podium Victorie (incl. support for De Dijk), P60 (Amstelveen), De Vorstin (Hilversum) and P3 (Purmerend).

  • Dutch Blues Awards – Best Blues Act (2024), after more than a decade of live shows and six boundary-pushing studio albums.
  • Dutch Blues Awards – Best Blues Album (2012, 2013, 2014): first act to claim the honour three years running.
  • International highlights – Bali Blues Festival 2017 plus select club and festival appearances in the UK and France.
  • Collaboration – EP Revelation (2018) produced by Mario Goossens of Triggerfinger.
  • National radio – live sessions on Radio Veronica (Countdown Café, Giel Beelen), NPO Radio 2 (Roodshow, Muziekcafé), 3FM, and NPO Radio 1.

Six albums in, they keep finding new corners to explore: raw acoustic blues on The Damned and Dirty (2012), swampier on Sell Your Soul (2013), more jazz and ragtime on Rolling Into Town (2014), a full band with horns and violin on Hoodoo Down (2015), Mario Goossens from Triggerfinger behind the desk for the heavier Revelation EP (2018), and now Fading Sun coming May 2026, still seeing how far the blues will bend without breaking.

"A hard punch to the gut – rough, in-your-face and drenched in soul-and-blues."
— Blues Magazine