Julia Driessen
on XK-3c
Julia Driessen was born in Amsterdam in 1997. She grew up in a small village near Amsterdam where she met her first bandmembers. At the age of 14, Julia started to play piano in a local rock coverband: The Southern Locals. When they started to play songs of Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, Julia discovered the Hammond organ.
In this band, her nickname was Juulz, a reference to Jools Holland.
Julia’s first hammond organ was a XB1. A year later, she bought the XK1 because of the waterfall keys. The improved technology of the sound and the touch of the keys helped her to develop her skills on the Hammond organ. She learned to use the percussion-technique, which is commonly used in funk music.
In 2014, Juulz went to many jamsessions in the neighborhood. There she got in touch with a lot of musicians, from whom she learned very much. She was asked to play with the band Blues Dog. They played on several stages with a good reputation, such as the North Sea Jazz Club in Amsterdam and the Vorstin in Hilversum. They also joined the Dutch Blues Challenge. She played the keys in Blues Dog from October 2014 until May 2016.
In 2015 Julia also established a band with friends, Meet the Funkers. As the name says, they played mainly funk. With this band, Julia had a lot of fun. They did approximately 15 shows a year. They also recorded a few demo’s, including an own song, at Julia’s home studio, which sounded great.
When Julia was playing in Blues Dog and Meet the Funkers, she began to miss the Rock. In may 2016 she saw and advertisement of a rock band, Uncle Jimmy. This band was looking for a Hammond player. Julia didn’t hesitate and decided to join the auditions, not much later she became a part of the band. Now, then they have a show almost every week. Not only in the Netherlands but also many gigs in Germany.
Since the endorsement with Hammond in october 2016, Julia plays on a Hammond XK-3c with the lower keyboard (XLK-3) and the wooden stand. This organ sounds amazing. And because of the tube in the XK-3c, it is perfect for Rock. The Hammond also looks fantastic, and that’s important because in Uncle Jimmy, the Hammond is a big part of the show.
Besides making music, Julia is studying Medicine at the University of Amsterdam.