Beans & Fatback

Beans & Fatback return after a decade with Hold Fast, a fierce, no-holds-barred record rooted in garage rock and post-punk grit. Led by longtime collaborators Onno Smit and Paul Willemsen, the Amsterdam-based band channels the chaotic energy of late ’70s New York, inspired by the haunting street photography of Joseph Rodriguez. Fueled by raw vocals, relentless grooves and snarling guitars, Hold Fast is a fever dream of an album—urgent, unpolished and undeniably alive.

Beans & Fatback return with their signature driving rock & roll sound, now fused with gritty garage rock—drawing inspiration from Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, New York Dolls, Eagles of Death Metal and Lou Reed. Hold Fast, the new album from the Amsterdam-based band led by Onno Smit and Paul Willemsen, is their first release in a decade. It’s a raw tribute to the unfiltered energy of New York’s late ’70s post-punk scene.

The band found inspiration for the album in Taxi – Journey Through My Windows, a book of photographs by Joseph Rodriguez. A former New York City taxi driver, Rodriguez captured the city’s chaotic pulse from behind the wheel between 1977 and 1987. His work, featured in outlets like National Geographic, TIME, and Der Spiegel, paints a grim portrait of a city on the edge. One of his images now graces the cover of Hold Fast.

But Hold Fast is no fireside record. It’s a musical fistfight, a fever dream, a rollercoaster that never lets up. The songs hit with unrelenting force. Raw vocals drag you into stories of temptation, loss and resilience, while unpolished guitars and pounding drums fuel a sonic cocktail that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. The title itself—Hold Fast—comes from the Dutch nautical phrase ‘houd vast’: a call to stay upright when everything around you spins. “When the world starts to collapse,” says frontman Onno Smit, “you have to hold fast to your values, your dreams—anything that keeps you human. And when the storm clears, you’ll still be standing. Weathered, but standing.”