Chabliz

We start our bio with a small selection of (press) reviews:
“I’m touched that you included the piece I wrote. It is impossible to sing, I’ve been told — and Petra de Winter just smokes in her hot performance!”
— Van Dyke Parks

“(…) In any case, the music sounds dark and leans toward a lighter version of Within Temptation — not least because of Petra de Winter’s occasional operatic vocals. On Straight Stories, the band pulls open a drawer of melancholy filled with exciting melodies. The highlight is, without a doubt, the cover ‘Breakfast’ — The Associates’ version already brought tears, but Chabliz’s rendition adds emotional weight. In a good way, it takes your breath away. Keep tissues at hand. Beyond that, Straight Stories is simply a strong album, a black hole that somehow makes you happy.”
— Hans van der Maas, OOR.

“Petra de Winter provides a refreshing sound amidst all the prefab singers and anonymous American Songbook interpreters. The frontwoman of the quartet Chabliz has a vocal range of four octaves. Operatic at hurricane strength, crackling like a witch’s cackle, or dark brown and sensually low: Chabliz’s oeuvre of ‘pop noir’ lends itself well to De Winter’s almost limitless expression. (…) In the best songs, accordion, piano, bass, and drums do most of the work. The vocal fireworks from De Winter don’t need many more instruments. Chabliz will be performing throughout the Netherlands in the coming months.”
— Edo Dijksterhuis, NRC Handelsblad

“On this CD, singer/composer Petra de Winter is as agile as a gothic witch, a Celtic elf, and a whole range of other archetypal feminine figures. Her voice is remarkably well-controlled, and that’s essential, as she employs a wide variety of singing styles and techniques. (…) A special CD on which Petra de Winter showcases her vocal, performance, and composition skills in an impressive way.”
— RakenDra Smit, Muziekwereld

“(…) The tone of the record is indeed gloomy, but at the same time, very beautiful. Petra de Winter often sings in the lower registers with her flexible voice, but at times she reaches chilling heights. (…)”
— Jan Didden, Festivalinfo

“(…) The somewhat bizarre and somewhat classical ‘Nightporter’ by Chabliz is (…) a beautiful song in which singer Petra de Winter alternates between classical and raw vocal styles, with a vibe reminiscent of Child in Time by Deep Purple and a gothic feel.”
— Jeroen Thijssen, VPRO 3voor12

“(…) It’s a pity that not all the material is original. (…) However, if the intention was to draw extra attention to their own compositions, then that trick certainly worked — because ‘Nightporter’ truly shines when Petra de Winter performs her own work.”
— Hans Piët, AD / De Haagsche Courant

“Chabliz is a Dutch group of musicians centered around the promising singer Petra de Winter. Petra’s vocal range — four octaves, as proudly reported on the website — is impressive. And indeed: this lady can sing. It’s especially impactful live, I can assure you. (…)”
— Cees Bronsveld, Heaven

“(…) The band is highly skilled. Petra de Winter’s beautiful voice, the sophisticated arrangements, and the musicians’ mastery of their instruments all contribute to something truly special.”
— Fret

About Chabliz:
Adventurous pop-noir and artpop band from Holland with enchanting female vocalist with a whopping four octave vocal range. Four released albums: among them a live album and the studio album Nightporter, for several years distributed by record label Coast to Coast. Both got a lot of positive press reviews in the Dutch and international media. To watch some reviews, visit our reviews page. The third album, ‘Straight Stories,‘ was released in the autumn of 2017. A single and an EP followed in 2021. In October 2022 the new album Heroes and Foes was released. A new EP followed in the summer of 2023. A new music video was released in May 2024. They received beautiful reviews. Chabliz is recording a new EP right now, in 2025.
The first track on the 3rd, Straight Stories album is recorded with featuring artist Fay Lovsky on theremin and singing saw. Chabliz took up influences from dreampop, rock, opera and gothic jazz. They won the Public Award of the Delft Fringe Festival (category ‘music’). In 2016 the band was invited to play in New York City, USA, and performed four concerts there, one of them at the Real Radio Show.
Chabliz also performed on several occasions in Bucharest, Romania, on the Europafest Festival, Jeunesses Musicales, in several big theatres, in the Hardrockcafé and a television show. This trio plays piano, synthesizers, double bass, vocals and, sometimes, drums and guitar. They’ve been compared to ‘New Romantic’ and artpop bands (Bat For Lashes, My Brightest Diamond, Beach House, Kate Bush, Nina Hagen, David Bowie, London Grammar, Ute Lemper, Nico, Lydia Lunch and Nick Cave). Two bandmembers are also influenced by Joy Division. Between 2013 and 2024 the band released several (live) video’s on You Tube.

The band gave many concerts in Holland and abroad, in all kinds of venues. During the corona crisis Chabliz gave several livestream concerts.

The lion’s share of Chabliz’s repertoire consists of original, self-written compositions. About a fifth of the repertoire also includes sometimes very adventurous reinterpretations of existing songs beloved by the band — covers that are often so transformed they can hardly be called covers anymore. The original compositions cover all sorts of subjects, sometimes with a Lynchian touch. Danger, threat, and darkness are recurring themes. Sometimes a song is about (auto)biographical matters, sometimes about a film the band members saw, or a book they read. Sometimes it’s about a dream they had at night.

Who
Singer-songwriter Petra de Winter signed a solo record deal with major Roadrunner-Arcade (CNR). She performed at stages all over the world, including London, Copenhagen and Tunisia. In Holland she was a guest of Paul de Leeuw at his popular national TV show. Petra has also worked with other Dutch musicians and producers, such as Holger Schwedt, Leendert Haaksma, Nicko Christiansen (Nicko C), Arie Spaans (Suburbs, Naked), Cor Gout (Tresspassers W), Daniel Derks (ex-de Dijk), Hans Eijkenaar, Michel van Schie, Shell Schellekens, Mick Paauwe, Bobby Jacobs and Tjeerd van Zanen. She was the leadsinger of musical theatre group “Danse Macabre”. Petra studied at the DJAM and the Royal Conservatory. She also does studio work (vocals) for producers in several studios, and she is singer-songwriter and coproducer in the Copenhagen- based band “Olsen Winter”. She sometimes sang vocal lines for the Croatian group “Far Go Traders” too , and she produces her own songs.
Double bass player Marcel Peters has performed four times on the North Sea Jazz Festival. He also accompanied jazz vocalist Faye Claassen and Mariska Veres (of Shocking Blue fame). He also plays the bass in the Woodstreet Bigband, and in several other jazz- and folk formations.
Pianist-keyboardist and multi instrumentalist Pim van Riezen had some small hits with several house songs on the Rave Records label. He studied music technology and conducting at the faculty of Art, Media and Technology of the Utrecht School of the Arts. Pim plays pop, classic organ and jazz piano. His extra speciality is recording, mixing and producing. He loves vintage synthesizers and uses them in Chabliz too. Pim also sings in a classic choir. Pim has taken up a leading role in getting the self-produced Straight Stories and Heroes and Foes albums off the ground.