Today, February 28th sees the release of the latest single ‘Devil’s In Town’ from the wonderfully monikered Silas J. Dirge. The single is the second release from his upcoming sophomore album and follows the rather wonderful murder ballad ‘Flowers On Her Grave’ a tale of death, vengeance and homicidal cows… Mr Dirge aka Jan Kooiker might be familiar to some readers from his time in alt-country act The Information. More about Silas J. Dirge follows:

Devil's in Town by Silas J. Dirge, released 28 February 2020 Forever I'll remember The scorching fires, the heat The world glowed like ember As demons roamed the streets My ravenous thirst for power When I saw the beings raid Made me, in my finest hour Shout 'fiend, I need your aid' When the devil's in town You'd better watch out When the devil's in town Beware, there ain't no way out A tapping at my front door And from the burning streets A shrieking 'What is it you crave for?'

Silas J. Dirge is the moniker adopted by songwriter Jan Kooiker. With mostly character-driven and story-based lyrics he explores subjects like death, religion and (lost) love while accompanying himself on a beat-up acoustic guitar. He is often aided by musician friends, with Harald de Ruiter as a returning contributor on guitar.

Silas J. Dirge's debut album Tales of Woe was released in December 2018. The album received good reviews and as well as getting added to numerous Spotify playlists its song On the Train of Aches was used as a soundtrack for the USA short film The Final Hour Of Roger Lawrence.

With his single Flowers On Her Grave (2019) Silas J. Dirge's writing has evolved into a somewhat less brooding direction, albeit still with unmistakable grim undertones.

Before releasing music under the name Silas J. Dirge, Jan Kooiker - together with Harald de Ruiter - played in alt-country band The Information from 2008 until its disbandment in 2015, having released 2 albums, 3 EP's and 1 single.