“I tried to set boundaries, but I think it was in vain. I continued to believe that we could salvage the situation, but that turned out to be hopeless. I am convinced that Jente will reinvent the band”, with those words Sarah Pepels announced her departure from Portland. And lead singer Jente Pironet has indeed lost no time: three weeks after Pepels’ exit, Nina Kortekaas was on stage as a new singer and pianist with Portland in Club K in Kalmthout.
“Portland needs a female voice, so we had to rearrange the band,” says frontman Jente Pironet at Radar on Studio Brussels. “We definitely didn’t want ‘Who will be the next Sarah?’ organize, but expand the band. We played try-outs and Nina emerged as a new singer and pianist.” Kortekaas herself also performs with her own work and a four-piece band, Noa Lee.
LOOK. The artists of ‘Love for music’ come together to watch the first episode
