Mr. Blue Sky (Nijmegen/Utrecht), live on air.
Recorded: Decemberr 11th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Hitmachine/Dead Man’s Waltz/Switch.
Note: Punkrocking young women, showcasing their musicality during this show. As their guitarist couldn’t make, they showed up with the three of them, bringing along two acoustic guitars (one serving as bass, as they didn’t have an acoustic bass), a harmonica and a glockenspiel. Despite some sounds being picked up by mikes unintended, they played a lovely, humorous set of songs. Unfortunately the last song didn’t come out the way they intended. On their way home, they also discovered Gouda’s meter maids (m/f) gave them an early Christmas present. A pricy one…
donderdag 17 december 2009
donderdag 26 november 2009
The Suburbs, October 15th 1999.
Suburbs (Den Haag/Voorburg), live on air.
Recorded: October 15th 1999. Studio 1 & editorial room.
Tracks: Rollercoaster/Slow-Motion Suicide/Labyrinth/Land Of The Lunatics/City Lights/Fearless.
Note:After doing an Instore across the market, to promote their then brandnew album ‘Land Of The Lunatics’, they carried their stuff to the other side and performed live in the show. At that time Studio 2 wasn’t constructed the way it is now, so I had to use loads of extended cables and alternative channeling to get a less than descent sound on air. Being helped out by a collegue-technician, I ran to and from the band and the studio, to lay more cables, re-up mikes and doing an interview. Everybody involved still work on a revenge for this very … ehhh … experimental setup.
Recorded: October 15th 1999. Studio 1 & editorial room.
Tracks: Rollercoaster/Slow-Motion Suicide/Labyrinth/Land Of The Lunatics/City Lights/Fearless.
Note:After doing an Instore across the market, to promote their then brandnew album ‘Land Of The Lunatics’, they carried their stuff to the other side and performed live in the show. At that time Studio 2 wasn’t constructed the way it is now, so I had to use loads of extended cables and alternative channeling to get a less than descent sound on air. Being helped out by a collegue-technician, I ran to and from the band and the studio, to lay more cables, re-up mikes and doing an interview. Everybody involved still work on a revenge for this very … ehhh … experimental setup.
Scent Of Incense, May 26th 2000.
Scent Of Incense (Gouda/Waddinxveen), live on air.
Recorded: May 26th 2000. Studio 2.
Tracks: Suits Us 9Part, Soundcheck)/Suits Us/Judy/Addition.
Note: First live performance from the newly constructed Studio 2. To promote their gig during ‘Lentepop’-festival the next day, singer Jessica Polderman visited the studio for a short interview and some acoustic songs. Which went far less problematic than their electified set the next day.
Recorded: May 26th 2000. Studio 2.
Tracks: Suits Us 9Part, Soundcheck)/Suits Us/Judy/Addition.
Note: First live performance from the newly constructed Studio 2. To promote their gig during ‘Lentepop’-festival the next day, singer Jessica Polderman visited the studio for a short interview and some acoustic songs. Which went far less problematic than their electified set the next day.
Feverdream, March 2nd 2001.
Feverdream (Rotterdam/Spijkenisse), live on air.
Recorded: March 2nd 2001. Studio 2.
Tracks: Last Dance/Better Not To Love/Memories/ Four Times Lucky Seven Makes A Man The Man/Red VS Blue.
Note: Claiming it was impossible to play acoustic, this set was delayed for about two years. After performing ‘Lucky Seven’ live on national radio, proved he could and we settled an interview for this day. The band was inbetween records at this stage, playing lots of gigs in Holland and abroad. Thre out of five songs singer Rene van Lien performed during the show remain unreleased. ‘Lucky Seven’ later made it on an EP, while ‘Red VS Blue’ got it’s electrified release on their 2000 self-released debut-CD.
Recorded: March 2nd 2001. Studio 2.
Tracks: Last Dance/Better Not To Love/Memories/ Four Times Lucky Seven Makes A Man The Man/Red VS Blue.
Note: Claiming it was impossible to play acoustic, this set was delayed for about two years. After performing ‘Lucky Seven’ live on national radio, proved he could and we settled an interview for this day. The band was inbetween records at this stage, playing lots of gigs in Holland and abroad. Thre out of five songs singer Rene van Lien performed during the show remain unreleased. ‘Lucky Seven’ later made it on an EP, while ‘Red VS Blue’ got it’s electrified release on their 2000 self-released debut-CD.
Pim Leidelmeijer, April 6th 2001.
Pim Leidelmeijer (Gouda), live on air.
Recorded: April 6th 2001. Studio 2.
Tracks: Heel De Wereld Stil (Part, Soundcheck)/De Stilte/Heel De Wereld Stil.
Note: Inbetween ‘Spil’ and ‘’Squat!’ frontman Pim Leidelmeijer recorded two Dutch languaged Singer-Songwriter-EP’s. He came to the studio to promote his second, playing two tracks live.
Recorded: April 6th 2001. Studio 2.
Tracks: Heel De Wereld Stil (Part, Soundcheck)/De Stilte/Heel De Wereld Stil.
Note: Inbetween ‘Spil’ and ‘’Squat!’ frontman Pim Leidelmeijer recorded two Dutch languaged Singer-Songwriter-EP’s. He came to the studio to promote his second, playing two tracks live.
Mint, April 13th 2001.
Mint (Gouda/Utrecht/Bath), live on air.
Recorded: April 13th 2001. Studio 2.
Tracks: On Your Own/Members In Water/Rain.
Note: ‘Gem’-singer Maurits Westerik started his musical career with local band ‘Mint’. Between 1999- 2003, they played several gigs, released two self-recorded CD’s and a videoclip. After sessionning their guitar-teacher that same morning, I did an interview and live-session with Maurits, Edwin Bol and Bram van Welie that evening.
Recorded: April 13th 2001. Studio 2.
Tracks: On Your Own/Members In Water/Rain.
Note: ‘Gem’-singer Maurits Westerik started his musical career with local band ‘Mint’. Between 1999- 2003, they played several gigs, released two self-recorded CD’s and a videoclip. After sessionning their guitar-teacher that same morning, I did an interview and live-session with Maurits, Edwin Bol and Bram van Welie that evening.
Gather Roses, July 6th 2001.
Gather Roses (Groningen/Gouda), live on air.
Recorded: July 6th 2001.
Tracks: Crack/Slave.
Note: After losing touch for some years, I reconnected with former band-mate Roos Galjaard and invited her to come to the studio for an interview. Initially invited former bass-player Tycho Hoogstraten to join in for a short reunion-set as well, but he declined. So we changed plans and turned it into an interview on Roos’ new band ‘Gather Roses’, who was on the virge of releasing a new CD. To spice things up, she also recorded two old ‘Accidental Coitus-s’ songs: ‘Slave’ was co-written by Roos and me, while ‘Crack’ was penned for the bigger part by Tycho. This set made her appear at ‘De Goudse afrekening’ in december of that year.
Recorded: July 6th 2001.
Tracks: Crack/Slave.
Note: After losing touch for some years, I reconnected with former band-mate Roos Galjaard and invited her to come to the studio for an interview. Initially invited former bass-player Tycho Hoogstraten to join in for a short reunion-set as well, but he declined. So we changed plans and turned it into an interview on Roos’ new band ‘Gather Roses’, who was on the virge of releasing a new CD. To spice things up, she also recorded two old ‘Accidental Coitus-s’ songs: ‘Slave’ was co-written by Roos and me, while ‘Crack’ was penned for the bigger part by Tycho. This set made her appear at ‘De Goudse afrekening’ in december of that year.
Mondo Bizarro, May 12th 2002.
Mondo Bizarro (Pijnacker), live on air.
Recorded: May 12th 2002. Studio 2 & editor room.
Tracks: R.A.M.O.N.E.S (Soundcheck)/Intro/Rockaway Beach/Glad To See You Go/Californian Sun/Der KKK Took Mein Mädchen Away/Pet Cemetery/Rock’n’Roll High School/R.A.M.O.N.E.S. (Heideroosjes-cover)/Judy Is A Punk/Any Way You Want It/I Wanna Be Sedated/Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue/Beat On The Brat/Blitzkrieg Bop/Outro.
Note: Great, hilarious ‘Ramones’ coveract by Marcel and Menno Bizarro, two guys who dressed up like the Ramones used to do when perform. Instead of standard backline, they used an acoustic 12-stringged guitar and a tambourine instead, making the set more than just hilarious. They performed throughout the country and beyond, meeting De Dee ramone somewhewre on the road.
This night Menno had a bad cough, so his input vocally was quite limited. Which didn’t harm the set anyway! The soundcheck recording was send to punkband ‘De Heideroosjes’ and got the band invited to perform during the festive 12,5 years party, thrown at ‘Melkweg’ Amsterdam later that year.
Recorded: May 12th 2002. Studio 2 & editor room.
Tracks: R.A.M.O.N.E.S (Soundcheck)/Intro/Rockaway Beach/Glad To See You Go/Californian Sun/Der KKK Took Mein Mädchen Away/Pet Cemetery/Rock’n’Roll High School/R.A.M.O.N.E.S. (Heideroosjes-cover)/Judy Is A Punk/Any Way You Want It/I Wanna Be Sedated/Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue/Beat On The Brat/Blitzkrieg Bop/Outro.
Note: Great, hilarious ‘Ramones’ coveract by Marcel and Menno Bizarro, two guys who dressed up like the Ramones used to do when perform. Instead of standard backline, they used an acoustic 12-stringged guitar and a tambourine instead, making the set more than just hilarious. They performed throughout the country and beyond, meeting De Dee ramone somewhewre on the road.
This night Menno had a bad cough, so his input vocally was quite limited. Which didn’t harm the set anyway! The soundcheck recording was send to punkband ‘De Heideroosjes’ and got the band invited to perform during the festive 12,5 years party, thrown at ‘Melkweg’ Amsterdam later that year.
Eefje de Visser, November 8th 2002.
Eefje (Gouda/Moordrecht), live on air.
Recorded: November 8th 2002. Studio 2.
Tracks: Jeldican (Based on a poem by Leo Vroman)/Things I Do/Vrede (Based on a poem by Leo Vroman)/In My World.
Note: a very young Eefje de Visser appeared in my show for her first ever radio-performance. She was so incredibly nervous for the occasion, we pre-recorded her songs and interview and edited them together for broadcasting an hour later. All this time Eefje lay on a friends lap, curled up. She survived though, as she made it to the finals of national ‘Grote Prijs Van Nederland’, which she won December 12th 2009.
Recorded: November 8th 2002. Studio 2.
Tracks: Jeldican (Based on a poem by Leo Vroman)/Things I Do/Vrede (Based on a poem by Leo Vroman)/In My World.
Note: a very young Eefje de Visser appeared in my show for her first ever radio-performance. She was so incredibly nervous for the occasion, we pre-recorded her songs and interview and edited them together for broadcasting an hour later. All this time Eefje lay on a friends lap, curled up. She survived though, as she made it to the finals of national ‘Grote Prijs Van Nederland’, which she won December 12th 2009.
Moonstar, December 6th 2002.
Moonstar (Gouda/Zoetermeer), live on air.
Recorded: December 6th 2002. Studio 2.
Tracks: A Brand New Day/In Love/You (For A Princess)/Into The Sky.(br>
Note:After ‘Mint’ broke up, Edwin Bol played in shortlived ‘New Acoustics’ inspired ‘Moonstar’, showcasing his songwriting skills. Guerilla-performances during summer at the terraccess of Gouda market square, gave them enough attention to be asked to play ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ that year. To promote this gig, they dropped by the show for an interview and a short acoustic set.
Recorded: December 6th 2002. Studio 2.
Tracks: A Brand New Day/In Love/You (For A Princess)/Into The Sky.(br>
Note:After ‘Mint’ broke up, Edwin Bol played in shortlived ‘New Acoustics’ inspired ‘Moonstar’, showcasing his songwriting skills. Guerilla-performances during summer at the terraccess of Gouda market square, gave them enough attention to be asked to play ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ that year. To promote this gig, they dropped by the show for an interview and a short acoustic set.
Ammocave, January 24th 2003.
Ammocave (Gouda/Zoetermeer/Utrecht), live on air.
Recorded: January 24th 2003. Studio 2.
Tracks: Across The River (Part, soundcheck)/Skin & Bones/One Of A Kind/Across The River.
Note: Named after the ammunitionbunker they started their rehearsals, this Gouda/Zoetermeer band played hardrock in their highest definition. Not having recent recordings, the band decided to play live acoustic during an episode of ‘Doorgeplugd’. As the singer was late, the rest of the band prepared to play without him, but 15 seconds before the interview started, he turned up! During ‘One Of A Kind’ the guitarist, using a D.I., had switched off the channel to this device, ruining the first part of the song.
Recorded: January 24th 2003. Studio 2.
Tracks: Across The River (Part, soundcheck)/Skin & Bones/One Of A Kind/Across The River.
Note: Named after the ammunitionbunker they started their rehearsals, this Gouda/Zoetermeer band played hardrock in their highest definition. Not having recent recordings, the band decided to play live acoustic during an episode of ‘Doorgeplugd’. As the singer was late, the rest of the band prepared to play without him, but 15 seconds before the interview started, he turned up! During ‘One Of A Kind’ the guitarist, using a D.I., had switched off the channel to this device, ruining the first part of the song.
Clockwork, March 13th 2003.
Clockwork (Gouda/Reeuwijk), live on air.
Recorded: March 14th 2003. Studio 2 & editor room.
Tracks: Knives & Lovers/Everybody Has A Suitcase/Moxy/Ready/Something For Someone/Las Vegas.
Note: one of very few livesets the band ever played. Consisted of members from the former Gouda grunge-scene’s bands ‘Lame Art’, ‘Angel of the Underground’ and ‘Annual Women Conference’. The drummer forgot about the show and was told to get his ass in the studio asap. Which he did, taking a djembé along. The set was nice, though slightly loose. Soon after, the band dissolved due to various holidays.
Recorded: March 14th 2003. Studio 2 & editor room.
Tracks: Knives & Lovers/Everybody Has A Suitcase/Moxy/Ready/Something For Someone/Las Vegas.
Note: one of very few livesets the band ever played. Consisted of members from the former Gouda grunge-scene’s bands ‘Lame Art’, ‘Angel of the Underground’ and ‘Annual Women Conference’. The drummer forgot about the show and was told to get his ass in the studio asap. Which he did, taking a djembé along. The set was nice, though slightly loose. Soon after, the band dissolved due to various holidays.
Squat!, August 29th 2003
Squat! (Gouda/Zoetermeer), live on air.
Recorded: August 29th 2003. Studio 2.
Tracks: Presence/Fool Of Fools.
Note: Alternative rockband, inspired by a.o. ‘Massive Attack’ anfd a whole range of other names, performed two tracks inbetween an interview promoting their first demo. All members came from different bands, which hit the local scene in the past decade somehow. This show paved the way to their appearance during ‘De Goudse Afrekening’, in december of the same year.
Recorded: August 29th 2003. Studio 2.
Tracks: Presence/Fool Of Fools.
Note: Alternative rockband, inspired by a.o. ‘Massive Attack’ anfd a whole range of other names, performed two tracks inbetween an interview promoting their first demo. All members came from different bands, which hit the local scene in the past decade somehow. This show paved the way to their appearance during ‘De Goudse Afrekening’, in december of the same year.
Squat!, August 29th 2003
Squat! (Gouda/Zoetermeer), live on air.
Recorded: August 29th 2003. Studio 2.
Tracks: Presence/Fool Of Fools.
Note: Alternative rockband, inspired by a.o. ‘Massive Attack’ anfd a whole range of other names, performed two tracks inbetween an interview promoting their first demo. All members came from different bands, which hit the local scene in the past decade somehow. This show paved the way to their appearance during ‘De Goudse Afrekening’, in december of the same year.
Recorded: August 29th 2003. Studio 2.
Tracks: Presence/Fool Of Fools.
Note: Alternative rockband, inspired by a.o. ‘Massive Attack’ anfd a whole range of other names, performed two tracks inbetween an interview promoting their first demo. All members came from different bands, which hit the local scene in the past decade somehow. This show paved the way to their appearance during ‘De Goudse Afrekening’, in december of the same year.
Amie Maranth, October 3rd 2003.
Amie Maranth (Gouda), live on air.
Recorded: October 3rd 2003. Studio 2.
Tracks: Warming Sun/Little Signs/A Moment In Time.
Note: Riene Batelaan a.k.a. Amie Maranth a.k.a. Pienn, is a very talented and awarded Singer-Songwriter from Gouda, which I got to know, when managing her brother’s band ‘Lame Art’. After meeting her during a summer market in Gouda center, I invited her to drop by for an interview and some beautifull songs.
Recorded: October 3rd 2003. Studio 2.
Tracks: Warming Sun/Little Signs/A Moment In Time.
Note: Riene Batelaan a.k.a. Amie Maranth a.k.a. Pienn, is a very talented and awarded Singer-Songwriter from Gouda, which I got to know, when managing her brother’s band ‘Lame Art’. After meeting her during a summer market in Gouda center, I invited her to drop by for an interview and some beautifull songs.
Desiree Coumans, December 12th 2003.
Desiree Coumans (Gouda), live on air.
Recorded: December 12th 2003. Studio 2.
Tracks: Born Loser/Verblind Verstand/Broke My Heart Twice/Fake Love/I Gave My World/Heel Diep Van Binnen/Buren.
Note: Being blown away by her performance during a contest we recorded for the radio two months earlier, I immediately invited her to come to the studio. Which she did, as soon as she heard she was to perform ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ that year as well. Bringing teacher/guitarist John de Heij and backing singer Tyshanti de Jonge with her, she played a setlist of songs she wrote with John and some he wrote.
During the show, her father was videotaping everything and accidentally switched of the left channel of the studio compressor, causing paet of the performance to be recorded on the left channel only.
Recorded: December 12th 2003. Studio 2.
Tracks: Born Loser/Verblind Verstand/Broke My Heart Twice/Fake Love/I Gave My World/Heel Diep Van Binnen/Buren.
Note: Being blown away by her performance during a contest we recorded for the radio two months earlier, I immediately invited her to come to the studio. Which she did, as soon as she heard she was to perform ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ that year as well. Bringing teacher/guitarist John de Heij and backing singer Tyshanti de Jonge with her, she played a setlist of songs she wrote with John and some he wrote.
During the show, her father was videotaping everything and accidentally switched of the left channel of the studio compressor, causing paet of the performance to be recorded on the left channel only.
Mondo Bizarro, February 24th 2004.
Mondo Bizarro (Pijnacker/Delft), live on air).
Recorded: February 24th 2004. Studio 2 & editor room.
Tracks: Swallow My Pride (Soundcheck)/Intro/Rockaway Beach/Glad To See You Go/Do You Remember Rock’n’Roll Radio/Endless Vacation/Swallow My Pride/Californian Sun/Sheena Is A Punk Rocker/Rock’n’Roll High School/She’s The One/Creeping Family/Der Viking Jugend Hat Mein Mädchen Entführt/Beat On The Brat/Do You Wanna Dance/Pet Cemetery/I Wanna Be Sedated/Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue/Blitzkrieg BopJudy Is A Punk.
Note: To celebrate my 250th show, Menno and Marcel Bizarro glady returned to the studio, to do another set of ‘Ramones’ covers on 12 string acoustic guitar and tambourine, in front of a small audience.
Recorded: February 24th 2004. Studio 2 & editor room.
Tracks: Swallow My Pride (Soundcheck)/Intro/Rockaway Beach/Glad To See You Go/Do You Remember Rock’n’Roll Radio/Endless Vacation/Swallow My Pride/Californian Sun/Sheena Is A Punk Rocker/Rock’n’Roll High School/She’s The One/Creeping Family/Der Viking Jugend Hat Mein Mädchen Entführt/Beat On The Brat/Do You Wanna Dance/Pet Cemetery/I Wanna Be Sedated/Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue/Blitzkrieg BopJudy Is A Punk.
Note: To celebrate my 250th show, Menno and Marcel Bizarro glady returned to the studio, to do another set of ‘Ramones’ covers on 12 string acoustic guitar and tambourine, in front of a small audience.
Nhoa, April 16th 2004.
Nhoa (Gouda/Bodegraven/Zoetermeer/Utrecht/Amsterdam), live on air.
Recorded: April 16th 2004. Studio 2.
Tracks: Back Pocket/As I Plea/Nothing In Return.
Note:To promote their second EP, this Gouda-Zoetermeer-Utrecht based rockband came to the studio to play live acoustic inbetween chatter. It got them booked for ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ later that year.
Recorded: April 16th 2004. Studio 2.
Tracks: Back Pocket/As I Plea/Nothing In Return.
Note:To promote their second EP, this Gouda-Zoetermeer-Utrecht based rockband came to the studio to play live acoustic inbetween chatter. It got them booked for ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ later that year.
Desiree Coumans, June 6th 2004.
Desiree Coumans (Gouda), live on air.
Recorded: June 6th 2004. Studio 2.
Tracks: Fake Love/I Gave My World.
Note:Recorded on a sunday afternoon during a summer special dedicated to ‘Local Girl Power’, Desiree Coumans and John de Heij performed this short set at the start of a double bill with Eefje.
Recorded: June 6th 2004. Studio 2.
Tracks: Fake Love/I Gave My World.
Note:Recorded on a sunday afternoon during a summer special dedicated to ‘Local Girl Power’, Desiree Coumans and John de Heij performed this short set at the start of a double bill with Eefje.
Eefje de Visser, June 6th 2004.
Eefje (Moordrecht/Tilburg), live on air.
Recorded: June 6th 2004. Studio 2.
Tracks: Too Far.
Note:Recorded on a sunday afternoon during a summer special dedicated to ‘Local Girl Power’, Eefje performed this song solo, prior to her performance with Desiree Coumans, now known as ‘Nona’.
Recorded: June 6th 2004. Studio 2.
Tracks: Too Far.
Note:Recorded on a sunday afternoon during a summer special dedicated to ‘Local Girl Power’, Eefje performed this song solo, prior to her performance with Desiree Coumans, now known as ‘Nona’.
Eefje de Visser & Desiree Coumans, June 6th 2004.
Eefje & Desiree (Gouda/Moordrecht/Tilburg), live on air.
Recorded: June 6th 2004. Studio 2.
Tracks: Close Your Eyes/Living Your Life/Untitled.
Note:Recorded on a sunday afternoon during a summer special dedicated to ‘Local Girl Power’, Eefje and Desiree Coumans performed these three songs Eefje wrote for the occasion. It got them on 2003’s ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ later that year.
Recorded: June 6th 2004. Studio 2.
Tracks: Close Your Eyes/Living Your Life/Untitled.
Note:Recorded on a sunday afternoon during a summer special dedicated to ‘Local Girl Power’, Eefje and Desiree Coumans performed these three songs Eefje wrote for the occasion. It got them on 2003’s ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ later that year.
Meilof, August 6th 2004.
Meilof (Gouda/Leiden), live on air.
Recorded: August 6th 2004. Studio 2.
Tracks: Meneer Brel/Oblomov/Man Van De Wereld/Floep!.
Note: Gouda-Leiden based artfull singer-songwriter popband came to the studio to promote their second CD. One of the final performances of their drummer, who was asked to leave few weeks later. As she came in late, tensions were to be sensed already. The session itself was great though.
Recorded: August 6th 2004. Studio 2.
Tracks: Meneer Brel/Oblomov/Man Van De Wereld/Floep!.
Note: Gouda-Leiden based artfull singer-songwriter popband came to the studio to promote their second CD. One of the final performances of their drummer, who was asked to leave few weeks later. As she came in late, tensions were to be sensed already. The session itself was great though.
Velvet Lane, January 27th 2006.
Velvet Lane (Gouda/Haastrecht/Rotterdam/Waddinxveen), live on air.
Recorded: January 27th 2006. Studio 2.
Tracks: Get By/Nothing To Say/Sane Insanity.
Note: Local rockband dropped by during an edition of ‘Doorgeplugd’ to play some songs live during the interview. They were still inbetween recordings and wanted to play some new stuff. Which happened in a slightly loose and euphoric performance.
Recorded: January 27th 2006. Studio 2.
Tracks: Get By/Nothing To Say/Sane Insanity.
Note: Local rockband dropped by during an edition of ‘Doorgeplugd’ to play some songs live during the interview. They were still inbetween recordings and wanted to play some new stuff. Which happened in a slightly loose and euphoric performance.
Eilean Eggs, March 17th 2006.
Eilean Eggs (Delft), live on air.
Recorded: March 17th 2006. Studio 2.
Tracks: Recepte Réconstruee.
Note: A guy from a local CD-store made Avant-Gardistic Ambient music in his time off. Intrigued I convinced him to appear in my show this day, bringing along a collegue from their ‘Para Noir’ collective. This track was played/constructed live, during the interview, lasting 10’27”.
Recorded: March 17th 2006. Studio 2.
Tracks: Recepte Réconstruee.
Note: A guy from a local CD-store made Avant-Gardistic Ambient music in his time off. Intrigued I convinced him to appear in my show this day, bringing along a collegue from their ‘Para Noir’ collective. This track was played/constructed live, during the interview, lasting 10’27”.
Gem, March 31st 2006 (Maurits solo).
Gem (Utrecht), live on air.
Recorded: March 31st 2006. Studio 2.
Tracks: The Subterranean Parade/Someone/True Story.
Note: Knowing singer Maurits Westerik from his previous local band ‘Mint’, made it very easy to invite him to drop by the studio right before the band played local club ‘So What’. Filling in old fans what happened inbetween ‘Mint’s final performance and the release of their second Cd and playing some songs acoustic for the occasion. Plus airing a brand new song, he wrote the day before and remains unreleased ever since.
Recorded: March 31st 2006. Studio 2.
Tracks: The Subterranean Parade/Someone/True Story.
Note: Knowing singer Maurits Westerik from his previous local band ‘Mint’, made it very easy to invite him to drop by the studio right before the band played local club ‘So What’. Filling in old fans what happened inbetween ‘Mint’s final performance and the release of their second Cd and playing some songs acoustic for the occasion. Plus airing a brand new song, he wrote the day before and remains unreleased ever since.
Noblesse, December 8th 2006.
Noblesse (Den Haag/Tel Aviv), live on air.
Recorded: December 8th 2006. Studio 2.
Tracks: Sound The Alarm/Map Your Face/State Of Mind/Emotion Vacation.
Note: Dutch-Israelian Indierock-trio from The Hague came to the studio to play an acoustic set, being selected to play the final edition of ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ two weeks later. As the bass was an electric one and not having an amp available, they adjusted a regular speaker and turned it into a bass-speaker just for the session.
Recorded: December 8th 2006. Studio 2.
Tracks: Sound The Alarm/Map Your Face/State Of Mind/Emotion Vacation.
Note: Dutch-Israelian Indierock-trio from The Hague came to the studio to play an acoustic set, being selected to play the final edition of ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ two weeks later. As the bass was an electric one and not having an amp available, they adjusted a regular speaker and turned it into a bass-speaker just for the session.
Taurus & Pisces, December 15th 2006.
Taurus & Pisces (Gouda/Groningen), live on air.
Recorded: December 15th 2006. Studio 2.
Tracks: Politics/Say My Name.
Note: Being selected to play annual ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ meant coming to the show for an interview and a (semi-) acoustic set. Gouda-Groningen based duo T&P did, telling about their plans to evolve from acoustic duo into a full blown band with projections etc. A brief glimpse was to be seen a week later, when they were scheduled to perform ‘So What’ during what turned out to be the final edition of ‘De Goudse Afrekening’.
Alas for them fever struck and they had to cancel. Leaving their plans to mature, untill 2008.
Recorded: December 15th 2006. Studio 2.
Tracks: Politics/Say My Name.
Note: Being selected to play annual ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ meant coming to the show for an interview and a (semi-) acoustic set. Gouda-Groningen based duo T&P did, telling about their plans to evolve from acoustic duo into a full blown band with projections etc. A brief glimpse was to be seen a week later, when they were scheduled to perform ‘So What’ during what turned out to be the final edition of ‘De Goudse Afrekening’.
Alas for them fever struck and they had to cancel. Leaving their plans to mature, untill 2008.
Rob Klerkx (Moke), March 23rd 2007.
Rob Klerkx (Amsterdam), live on air.
Recorded: March 23rd 2007. Studio 2.
Tracks: Contented Heart/Pills/She Said/The Muse.
Note: Rob Klerkx used to drum in ‘Supersub’ and now plays drums in bands like ‘Paulusma’, ‘KGB’ and ofcourse ‘Moke’. After releasing his 2006 EP ‘New Roads’, I contacted him and he proposed to drop by for an interview plus acooustic liveset. Jaromir Fernig joined him on electric guitar, making me stumble over his name.
Recorded: March 23rd 2007. Studio 2.
Tracks: Contented Heart/Pills/She Said/The Muse.
Note: Rob Klerkx used to drum in ‘Supersub’ and now plays drums in bands like ‘Paulusma’, ‘KGB’ and ofcourse ‘Moke’. After releasing his 2006 EP ‘New Roads’, I contacted him and he proposed to drop by for an interview plus acooustic liveset. Jaromir Fernig joined him on electric guitar, making me stumble over his name.
Project Mikka, May 18th 2007.
Project Mikka (Amsterdam/Utrecht/Bodegraven), live on air.
Recorded: May 18th 2007. Studio 2.
Track: Love Is A Red Dress.
Note: As the band turned up to late for a liveshow the week before (Arriving at the studio 15 minutes after finishing broadcasting!), we did a session, to be aired the next week. Singer Mikka came back to do an additional interview and to re-perform this coverversion, as she was dissatisfied with the version she did the week before.
Recorded: May 18th 2007. Studio 2.
Track: Love Is A Red Dress.
Note: As the band turned up to late for a liveshow the week before (Arriving at the studio 15 minutes after finishing broadcasting!), we did a session, to be aired the next week. Singer Mikka came back to do an additional interview and to re-perform this coverversion, as she was dissatisfied with the version she did the week before.
The Mondegreens, June 1st 2007.
The Mondegreens (Gouda/Moordrecht/Bodegraven), live on air.
Recorded: June 1st 2007. Studio 2.
Tracks: So/The Pain You Cause/Raindrops/The Smiling Soldier/Satisfied Mind (Jeff Buckley-cover)/The Museum/The Wrong.
Note: Local jumpy Punkrockband played an extended set inbetween chatting, as we found out there was more air-time lefty, than CD’s I could play. Even though they were tired and hadn’t practised in weeks, the set went alright.
Recorded: June 1st 2007. Studio 2.
Tracks: So/The Pain You Cause/Raindrops/The Smiling Soldier/Satisfied Mind (Jeff Buckley-cover)/The Museum/The Wrong.
Note: Local jumpy Punkrockband played an extended set inbetween chatting, as we found out there was more air-time lefty, than CD’s I could play. Even though they were tired and hadn’t practised in weeks, the set went alright.
The Weak & The Strong, June 15th 2007.
The Weak & The Strong (Rotterdam), live on air.
Recorded: June 15th 2007. Studio 2.
Tracks: Trapped/One Hundred And Twenty Seven/Released/Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash-cover)/Sundown.
Note: ‘Cradle’-singer Johan did his solo-project live on air, with this intriguing set. He nearly missed the show, as he got stuck in traffic.
Recorded: June 15th 2007. Studio 2.
Tracks: Trapped/One Hundred And Twenty Seven/Released/Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash-cover)/Sundown.
Note: ‘Cradle’-singer Johan did his solo-project live on air, with this intriguing set. He nearly missed the show, as he got stuck in traffic.
Tokyo-A-Gogo!, July 13th 2007.
Tokyo-A-Gogo!(Rotterdam/Utrecht/Dusseldorf/Antwerpen), live on air.
Recorded: July 13th 2007. Studio 2.
Tracks: How To Conquer The World And Other Stuff/Lolita Dancing/No 13 Baby (Pixies-cover)/Tokyo Calling.
Note: Got in touch with this Alternative rockband from Rotterdam through the father of the singer and guitarist, who was a client of mine. After writing a mock-review, I got re-installed as a reviewer with popmagazine ‘Live-XS’ and the review got printed. So the band decided to drop by for an interview and live-set, monitored by their father, who listened online.
Recorded: July 13th 2007. Studio 2.
Tracks: How To Conquer The World And Other Stuff/Lolita Dancing/No 13 Baby (Pixies-cover)/Tokyo Calling.
Note: Got in touch with this Alternative rockband from Rotterdam through the father of the singer and guitarist, who was a client of mine. After writing a mock-review, I got re-installed as a reviewer with popmagazine ‘Live-XS’ and the review got printed. So the band decided to drop by for an interview and live-set, monitored by their father, who listened online.
Vera, January 11th 2008.
Vera (Rotterdam), live on air.
Recorded: January 11th 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: Probably/Bathroom Door/Bedtime Worries.
Note: Vera Juhrend approached me through ‘MySpace’ and sort of invited herself to the show. She brought along bassplayer Peter Jessen and did a very nice session. During ‘Bedtime Worries’, she forgot her lines, but it ended up very well. Vera is backed by Peter’s other band ‘Trio Raskolnokov’, which also features former ‘Spasmodique’-singer Mark Ritsema.
Recorded: January 11th 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: Probably/Bathroom Door/Bedtime Worries.
Note: Vera Juhrend approached me through ‘MySpace’ and sort of invited herself to the show. She brought along bassplayer Peter Jessen and did a very nice session. During ‘Bedtime Worries’, she forgot her lines, but it ended up very well. Vera is backed by Peter’s other band ‘Trio Raskolnokov’, which also features former ‘Spasmodique’-singer Mark Ritsema.
Katbite, April 11th 2008.
Katbite (Den Haag/Hamburg), live on air.
Recorded: April 11th 2008. Studio 2.
Track: Cocaine Max/Day In, Day Out/Limerance/The Voice.
Note: After reading her colleague Vera visited the show, New Zealandian Catherine Leese inmvited herself to the show and brought percussionist Jeroen van der Zeeuw along. Having released both her second album and a brandnew EP, she played tracks from both. The EP was still unreleased, so I included it in the bunch of reviews I had to deliver the week after. Causing Katbite to become ‘Local Hero’, meaning several showcase-gigs in bigger venues, like ‘Paradiso’ Amsterdam.
Recorded: April 11th 2008. Studio 2.
Track: Cocaine Max/Day In, Day Out/Limerance/The Voice.
Note: After reading her colleague Vera visited the show, New Zealandian Catherine Leese inmvited herself to the show and brought percussionist Jeroen van der Zeeuw along. Having released both her second album and a brandnew EP, she played tracks from both. The EP was still unreleased, so I included it in the bunch of reviews I had to deliver the week after. Causing Katbite to become ‘Local Hero’, meaning several showcase-gigs in bigger venues, like ‘Paradiso’ Amsterdam.
Velvet Lane, May 24th 2008.
Velvet Lane (Gouda/Haastrecht/Rotterdam/Utrecht), live on air.
Recorded: May 24th 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: Paradise/Go Ahead/Old Faces/Get By.
Note: Local Pop/Rockband and regulars on the show, dropped by for an interview and some acoustic tracks, just to inform everybody about what they were up to lately.
Recorded: May 24th 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: Paradise/Go Ahead/Old Faces/Get By.
Note: Local Pop/Rockband and regulars on the show, dropped by for an interview and some acoustic tracks, just to inform everybody about what they were up to lately.
Tokyo-A-Gogo!, May 2nd 2008.
Tokyo-A-Gogo! (Rotterdam/Utrecht/Dusseldorf/Antwerpen), live on air.
Recorded: May 2nd 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: I Might Be Wrong (Radiohead-cover).
Note: Brothers Lal and Eric of this Alternative rockband from Rotterdam dropped by to tell all about their second demo and to perform this beautifull coverversion.
Recorded: May 2nd 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: I Might Be Wrong (Radiohead-cover).
Note: Brothers Lal and Eric of this Alternative rockband from Rotterdam dropped by to tell all about their second demo and to perform this beautifull coverversion.
That Band From Holland, June 20th 2008.
That Band From Holland (Rotterdam/Rockanje), live on air.
Recorded: June 20th 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: The Optimist/Morning Star/Traffic Jam 1/Traffic Jam 2/Gentle Use Of Elbows.
Note: Got in touch with this band after a tip from earlier guests ‘Tokyo-A-Gogo!’. The band arrived exited, after getting stuck in traffic. Inbetween a quite chaotic interview, they played three great tracks and played two Jams, they recorded on a watch(!) during the traffic-Jam, just to kill the time.
Recorded: June 20th 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: The Optimist/Morning Star/Traffic Jam 1/Traffic Jam 2/Gentle Use Of Elbows.
Note: Got in touch with this band after a tip from earlier guests ‘Tokyo-A-Gogo!’. The band arrived exited, after getting stuck in traffic. Inbetween a quite chaotic interview, they played three great tracks and played two Jams, they recorded on a watch(!) during the traffic-Jam, just to kill the time.
Pienn, July 4th 2008.
Pienn (Gouda), live on air.
Recorded: July 4th 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: Yellow Cab/Want You/Courage.
Note: Pienn a.k.a. Riene Batelaan a.k.a. Amie Maranth, is a very talented and awarded Singer-Songwriter from Gouda, which I got to know, when managing her brother’s band ‘Lame Art’. She turned up halfway the show with her brother Gijs Batelaan, who is a rising Jazz Guitarist in Holland. After Gijs struck a false chord, Pienn burst into laughter, destroying several attempts to sing ‘Courage’ and ‘want You’. Despite this, they concluded the set without further delay.
Recorded: July 4th 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: Yellow Cab/Want You/Courage.
Note: Pienn a.k.a. Riene Batelaan a.k.a. Amie Maranth, is a very talented and awarded Singer-Songwriter from Gouda, which I got to know, when managing her brother’s band ‘Lame Art’. She turned up halfway the show with her brother Gijs Batelaan, who is a rising Jazz Guitarist in Holland. After Gijs struck a false chord, Pienn burst into laughter, destroying several attempts to sing ‘Courage’ and ‘want You’. Despite this, they concluded the set without further delay.
Evacuaded, August 28th 2008.
Evacuaded (Gouda/Reeuwijk/Haastrecht), live on air.
Recorded: August 28th 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: Confused/ I Know.
Note: Local young rockband, connected to ‘Gouda Rockschool’. As part of ‘Doorgeplugd’ and running up to their performance during ‘Spieringpop’-festival two weeks later, they dropped by for a pre-recorded appearance the night before. Not having a demo yet, they played these two songs. Not being too good in English, they made several mistakes in grammar and in words. Hence the name of the band.
Recorded: August 28th 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: Confused/ I Know.
Note: Local young rockband, connected to ‘Gouda Rockschool’. As part of ‘Doorgeplugd’ and running up to their performance during ‘Spieringpop’-festival two weeks later, they dropped by for a pre-recorded appearance the night before. Not having a demo yet, they played these two songs. Not being too good in English, they made several mistakes in grammar and in words. Hence the name of the band.
Rob Klerkx (Moke), September 26th 2008.
Rob Klerkx (Amsterdam), live on air.
Recorded: September 26th 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: She Said/Incomplete/Medicine.
Note: Rob Klerkx of ‘Supersub’, ‘Paulusma’, ‘KGB’ and ‘Moke’-fame, returned with Jaromir for a second interview and liveset, to be broadcast few weeks later (as I was on holiday in India then). Speaking of the rise of ‘Moke’ and his planned solo-CD, he played several new tracks during a very relaxed set.
Recorded: September 26th 2008. Studio 2.
Tracks: She Said/Incomplete/Medicine.
Note: Rob Klerkx of ‘Supersub’, ‘Paulusma’, ‘KGB’ and ‘Moke’-fame, returned with Jaromir for a second interview and liveset, to be broadcast few weeks later (as I was on holiday in India then). Speaking of the rise of ‘Moke’ and his planned solo-CD, he played several new tracks during a very relaxed set.
St Polaroid, November 7th 2008.
St Polaroid (Rotterdam), live on air.
Recorded: November 7th 2008. Studio 2.
Track: Gone For A While/Islands/I Wish My Pencil Leaked Poems/Plans Are White/Summer Feels Good.
Note: Solo-project by ‘That Band From Holland’-singer. He played his set, during which his harmonica dropped while playing, which nearly ruined it.
Recorded: November 7th 2008. Studio 2.
Track: Gone For A While/Islands/I Wish My Pencil Leaked Poems/Plans Are White/Summer Feels Good.
Note: Solo-project by ‘That Band From Holland’-singer. He played his set, during which his harmonica dropped while playing, which nearly ruined it.
Burning Sensation, February 13th 2009.
Burning Sensation (Rotterdam area), live on air.
Recorded: February 13th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Did You Swallow/Irene/Drinking Again.
Note: Immature punkrock from Rotterdam area. As I was tired and not in the best of moods, I mixed the vocals in far too loud.
Recorded: February 13th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Did You Swallow/Irene/Drinking Again.
Note: Immature punkrock from Rotterdam area. As I was tired and not in the best of moods, I mixed the vocals in far too loud.
Rats On Rafts, April 10th 2009.
Rats On Rafts (Rotterdam/Hoek van Holland), live on air.
Recorded: April 10th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: (I Can’t Be) Bothered/Alone/My Only Friend.
Note: Stumbling upon this amazing young band, as I got to review their third demo, I immediately fell for their ‘Wire’ and ‘early ‘Fall’-like sound. Causing them to perform a legendary riotous gig in ‘Paradiso’, they agreed to play in my show. When the technicia of a simultaneously recorded program signalled me to lower the volumes, I could only decrease the singer’s mike by 15 decibels, as he came up with a timy megaphone!
Recorded: April 10th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: (I Can’t Be) Bothered/Alone/My Only Friend.
Note: Stumbling upon this amazing young band, as I got to review their third demo, I immediately fell for their ‘Wire’ and ‘early ‘Fall’-like sound. Causing them to perform a legendary riotous gig in ‘Paradiso’, they agreed to play in my show. When the technicia of a simultaneously recorded program signalled me to lower the volumes, I could only decrease the singer’s mike by 15 decibels, as he came up with a timy megaphone!
Agua de Annique, April 24th 2009
Agua de Annique (Nijmegen), live on air.
Recorded: April 24th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Sunny Side Up/Beautifull One/Yalin.
Note: Anneke van Giersbergen (former ‘The Gathering’) dropped by the studio for a very pleasant interview and some acoustic tracks, on her way to play local club ‘So What’ later that night. We pre-recorded the entire show live and aired it few hours later. Due to an error in the studio equipment, this session was recorded in mono, which is quite unfortunate, but hasn’t ruined the session in the end.
Recorded: April 24th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Sunny Side Up/Beautifull One/Yalin.
Note: Anneke van Giersbergen (former ‘The Gathering’) dropped by the studio for a very pleasant interview and some acoustic tracks, on her way to play local club ‘So What’ later that night. We pre-recorded the entire show live and aired it few hours later. Due to an error in the studio equipment, this session was recorded in mono, which is quite unfortunate, but hasn’t ruined the session in the end.
Vera, May 8th 2009.
Vera (Rotterdam), live on air.
Recorded: May 8th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Bedtime Worries/Bathroom Door/Not Lost.
Note: A musically developped Vera re-visited the show to promote her debut-CD, which was released in ‘Watt’ Rotterdam three days later with a gig with her backing band ‘Trio Raskolnikov’. Bassplayer Peter Jessen joined her in the studio for another interview and some livetracks. Again inviting themselves, as they liked the previous visit so much. (Blushing …)
Recorded: May 8th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Bedtime Worries/Bathroom Door/Not Lost.
Note: A musically developped Vera re-visited the show to promote her debut-CD, which was released in ‘Watt’ Rotterdam three days later with a gig with her backing band ‘Trio Raskolnikov’. Bassplayer Peter Jessen joined her in the studio for another interview and some livetracks. Again inviting themselves, as they liked the previous visit so much. (Blushing …)
That Band From Holland, June 20th 2009.
That Band From Holland (Rotterdam/Rockanje), live on air.
Recorded: June 20th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Mailorder Bride/Frank The Lifeguard # 2/Morning Star.
Note: After their slightly chaotic previous visit, this very musical and inventive band returned more sertiously, to promote their freshly released selftitled debut-album. Which promptly became ‘Local Hero’-album in the October issue of ‘Live-XS’ magazine.
Recorded: June 20th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Mailorder Bride/Frank The Lifeguard # 2/Morning Star.
Note: After their slightly chaotic previous visit, this very musical and inventive band returned more sertiously, to promote their freshly released selftitled debut-album. Which promptly became ‘Local Hero’-album in the October issue of ‘Live-XS’ magazine.
Kleinindustrie, July 17th 2009.
Kleinindustrie (Utrecht/Amsterdam), live on air.
Recorded: July 17th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Kapsalon ‘de Poolster’/Te Wapen/Hector Hernandez.
Note: Noise-inspired trio from the North-western parts of Holland played a very noisy electrified set, as they couldn’t perform their tracks acoustic. After some negotiations with a simultaneously recording program, everybody survived and no one got hurt.
Recorded: July 17th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Kapsalon ‘de Poolster’/Te Wapen/Hector Hernandez.
Note: Noise-inspired trio from the North-western parts of Holland played a very noisy electrified set, as they couldn’t perform their tracks acoustic. After some negotiations with a simultaneously recording program, everybody survived and no one got hurt.
Pony Pack, August 7th 2009.
Pony Pack (Amsterdam), live on air.
Recorded: August 7th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Painted Eye/Medicinal Mother/GSS/King Of Clubs/Tigh Bone/Bread And Circus/Samlee/TV Love/Philanderopist.
Note: Edinburgh/Amsterdam-based Punk/Grunge trio I met during a ‘Rats On Rafts’-party @ ‘Watt’ Rotterdam. Their music somehow reminded me of local band ‘Angel Of The Underground’, but much better executed. They played the longest set ever: 9 songs, buit very nice. They never did an acoustic thing before, so the guitrarist had to buy an acoustic 6-string especially for this show.
Recorded: August 7th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Painted Eye/Medicinal Mother/GSS/King Of Clubs/Tigh Bone/Bread And Circus/Samlee/TV Love/Philanderopist.
Note: Edinburgh/Amsterdam-based Punk/Grunge trio I met during a ‘Rats On Rafts’-party @ ‘Watt’ Rotterdam. Their music somehow reminded me of local band ‘Angel Of The Underground’, but much better executed. They played the longest set ever: 9 songs, buit very nice. They never did an acoustic thing before, so the guitrarist had to buy an acoustic 6-string especially for this show.
Yoshimi, September 11th 2009
Yoshimi (Rotterdam), live on air.
Recorded: September 11th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Song For Suzy/Shelley Duvall/Season Song # 4/Boy.
Note: Slightly eccentric musician from Rotterdam, asked if he could be a guest, after labelmates ‘Rats On Rafts’ and ; Pony Pack’ visited me earlier. He brought some friends, to play 4 nice trtacks, inbetween a strange interview.
Recorded: September 11th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Song For Suzy/Shelley Duvall/Season Song # 4/Boy.
Note: Slightly eccentric musician from Rotterdam, asked if he could be a guest, after labelmates ‘Rats On Rafts’ and ; Pony Pack’ visited me earlier. He brought some friends, to play 4 nice trtacks, inbetween a strange interview.
Eefje, September 15th 2009
Eefje (Gouda/Utrecht), live on air.
Recorded: September 15th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: De Koek/Hartslag/In Het Gras/Ik Dacht Na.
Note: After more than seven years of songwriting, performing and re-inventing herself, local Singer-Songwriter felt confident enough to join national contest ‘Grote Prijs Van Nederland’ with her multi-layered and playfull Dutch lyrics. Three days after reaching the finals, she took my invitation and came to the studio for an interview and 4 acoustic songs, which were aired October 16th.
Recorded: September 15th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: De Koek/Hartslag/In Het Gras/Ik Dacht Na.
Note: After more than seven years of songwriting, performing and re-inventing herself, local Singer-Songwriter felt confident enough to join national contest ‘Grote Prijs Van Nederland’ with her multi-layered and playfull Dutch lyrics. Three days after reaching the finals, she took my invitation and came to the studio for an interview and 4 acoustic songs, which were aired October 16th.
Rob Klerkx (Moke), September 28th 2009.
Rob Klerkx (Amsterdam), live on air.
Recorded: September 28th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Home/City Burns/Unleash/City Burns (2).
Note: Almost exactly one year after his porevious visit Rob Klerkx of ‘Supersub’, ‘Paulusma’, ‘KGB’ and ‘Moke’-fame, returned to the studio with Jaromir for his third interview and liveset. As the show was scheduled for broadcasting October 23rd, he took the opportunity to re-record ‘City Burns’, being dissatisfied with the initial version. During the very relaxed interview he spoke about his June released album ‘Unleash’, his work with Jelle Paulusma and second ‘Moke’-album ‘The Long And Dangerous Sea’. One week after broadcast, he played an intense instore in Gouda, arranged this day.
Recorded: September 28th 2009. Studio 2.
Tracks: Home/City Burns/Unleash/City Burns (2).
Note: Almost exactly one year after his porevious visit Rob Klerkx of ‘Supersub’, ‘Paulusma’, ‘KGB’ and ‘Moke’-fame, returned to the studio with Jaromir for his third interview and liveset. As the show was scheduled for broadcasting October 23rd, he took the opportunity to re-record ‘City Burns’, being dissatisfied with the initial version. During the very relaxed interview he spoke about his June released album ‘Unleash’, his work with Jelle Paulusma and second ‘Moke’-album ‘The Long And Dangerous Sea’. One week after broadcast, he played an intense instore in Gouda, arranged this day.
woensdag 10 juni 2009
Lame Art - Acoustic Demo (1999)
Recorded: 23 oktober 1999. ‘Mos & Spetter’ Pianoshop, Waddinxveen.
Track: Landscape Underneath.
Note: 4-track recorded in 3 separate takes, to be used as a promo on local radio for their acoustic set later that year. And to convince the programmers of that live-show to put them on. Also used as pre-production for 2001 ‘Spanks Man’ demo. Features Michiel on vocal and piano, Mathias on guitar and vocal, Rinske on violin and Gijs on Djembe and guitar. All acoustic!
Track: Landscape Underneath.
Note: 4-track recorded in 3 separate takes, to be used as a promo on local radio for their acoustic set later that year. And to convince the programmers of that live-show to put them on. Also used as pre-production for 2001 ‘Spanks Man’ demo. Features Michiel on vocal and piano, Mathias on guitar and vocal, Rinske on violin and Gijs on Djembe and guitar. All acoustic!
Lame Art - Unreleased Demo (2000).
Recorded: January 7th & 28th 2000. Casimir Primary School, Gouda, by Ton Dekker & myself.
Mix: 13 & 28 january 2000.
Tracks: After The Bomb/Disfiction/True Love Regardless/Catch The Sun/Las Vegas/Duco’s Waking Nights/My Sister Dead In The Sea.
Note: The songs were recorded live on 8-track Minidisc recorder, with vocals overdubbed. The first mixes were rejected, as the vocals were mixed too loud. The second mix, with a vocal-overdub by Michiel, was better balanced, but rejected later as it didn’t capture the atmosphere. A second version of ‘My Sister’ was never mixed, as it broke down.
Mix: 13 & 28 january 2000.
Tracks: After The Bomb/Disfiction/True Love Regardless/Catch The Sun/Las Vegas/Duco’s Waking Nights/My Sister Dead In The Sea.
Note: The songs were recorded live on 8-track Minidisc recorder, with vocals overdubbed. The first mixes were rejected, as the vocals were mixed too loud. The second mix, with a vocal-overdub by Michiel, was better balanced, but rejected later as it didn’t capture the atmosphere. A second version of ‘My Sister’ was never mixed, as it broke down.
Lame Art - '4-Tracks' (Demo, 2001).
Note: with new material written, but no recordings available, the band asked me to make 4 track recordings in their rehearsal room. The first session was rejected, so a second one was done a month later. Several CD’s were burnt and send to stages and organisations, while the band used them to prepare for proper studio recordings.
Recorded: November 3rd 2000. ‘Plug Unit’, Reeuwijk.
Tracks: Got A Ticket To Ride?/Rush (As She Walked Through The Door)/Opened Or Closed/Your Song.
Note: Recorded on 4-track: first the backing-track and then, separately, the vocals. This first session was rejected and used to improve songs and performance. An additional session was recorded December 6th.
Recorded: december 6th 2000. ‘Plug Unit’, Reeuwijk.
Tracks: Got A Ticket To Ride?/Rush (As She Walked Through The Door)/Your Song/Plans.
Note: Recorded on 4-track: first the backing-track and then, separately, the vocals. This session was done after the band decided to reject the results of a session done November 13th 2000. The tracks from this session were used as a promo to get some gigs and as pre-production for the ‘Spanks Man’ demo. Stubborn as the band was, they used a cassette-copy of these recordings to burn the promo-CD’s, rather than taking them off the digital master directly!
Recorded: November 3rd 2000. ‘Plug Unit’, Reeuwijk.
Tracks: Got A Ticket To Ride?/Rush (As She Walked Through The Door)/Opened Or Closed/Your Song.
Note: Recorded on 4-track: first the backing-track and then, separately, the vocals. This first session was rejected and used to improve songs and performance. An additional session was recorded December 6th.
Recorded: december 6th 2000. ‘Plug Unit’, Reeuwijk.
Tracks: Got A Ticket To Ride?/Rush (As She Walked Through The Door)/Your Song/Plans.
Note: Recorded on 4-track: first the backing-track and then, separately, the vocals. This session was done after the band decided to reject the results of a session done November 13th 2000. The tracks from this session were used as a promo to get some gigs and as pre-production for the ‘Spanks Man’ demo. Stubborn as the band was, they used a cassette-copy of these recordings to burn the promo-CD’s, rather than taking them off the digital master directly!
Angel of the Underground - Unreleased Demo (1998).
Recorded: January 26th 1998, ‘Popcollectief’ Gouda.
Unreleased.
Tracks: A Whole Lot More/Phonecall Song (A.k.a. Stormy Weather)/Happy Housewife Heroine/Riot Grrrl/Riot Amps
Note: quite relaxed session, which started by cleaning the separating window between the studio and the control room. Which took a while! ‘Stormy Weather’ was called ‘Phonecall Song’ at that time, as I managed to fuck up the vocal sound of that song during test-sessions taped October 10th 1997. During that same session ‘Riot Amps’ came to light during a jam. It was used as a showstopper for a short while. Right after this session singer Ilse was struck by Pfeiffer, giving her enough time to play the recordings and realise, the tracks needed more work. So these recordings were vaulted. Out-takes do exist, but info is currently not available.
Unreleased.
Tracks: A Whole Lot More/Phonecall Song (A.k.a. Stormy Weather)/Happy Housewife Heroine/Riot Grrrl/Riot Amps
Note: quite relaxed session, which started by cleaning the separating window between the studio and the control room. Which took a while! ‘Stormy Weather’ was called ‘Phonecall Song’ at that time, as I managed to fuck up the vocal sound of that song during test-sessions taped October 10th 1997. During that same session ‘Riot Amps’ came to light during a jam. It was used as a showstopper for a short while. Right after this session singer Ilse was struck by Pfeiffer, giving her enough time to play the recordings and realise, the tracks needed more work. So these recordings were vaulted. Out-takes do exist, but info is currently not available.
Lame Art - 'Lame Art' (Demo, 1998)
Recorded: June 24th 1998. ‘Popcollectief’ Gouda.
Released: Oktober 21st 1998.
Copies: 100 Cassettes, 10 CD’s*.
Tracks:Oblivion/Duco’s Waking Nights/The Only Ones That Try/Released/My Sister, Dead In The Sea/Buildings On Ashes.
Extra tracks CD:Parasites/Vicious/At The Forest/The Far Indies/Vicious (Ragga Man!)/Skindeep/Parasites (Live)/Buildings On Ashes (Live)/Released (Live)/Oblivion (Live)/Vicious (Live)/Crystal Clear*/Mindwar*.
Note: The demotracks were recorded live, to catch the right vibe. From several takes, the best ones were picked for the demo. The other session-tracks on the take are ‘one-takers’: to record the song for themselves. All tracks were recorded live through a mixer, during a killing, 8 hour session, on which I got worse and worse from flu, while singer Michiel drank some kind of witch-brew, to keep his sore throath under control. The live-tracks were recorded at ‘LVC’ Leiden, June 6th 1998 by ‘Popunie’, while the last two tracks come from a rehearsal-recording, made at their school October 10th 1997.
Session-info: Oblivion (Takes 1 (Breakdown) &2)/Duco’s Waking Nights (Takes 1-3/Only Ones That Try/Released (Takes 1-3)/My Sister Dead In The Sea (Takes 1-3)/Buildings On Ashes (Takes 1-3, last Breakdown)/ Parasites/Vicious/At The Forest/The Far Indies/Vicious (Ragga Man!)/Skindeep (Take 1 (Breakdown) & 2).
Released: Oktober 21st 1998.
Copies: 100 Cassettes, 10 CD’s*.
Tracks:Oblivion/Duco’s Waking Nights/The Only Ones That Try/Released/My Sister, Dead In The Sea/Buildings On Ashes.
Extra tracks CD:Parasites/Vicious/At The Forest/The Far Indies/Vicious (Ragga Man!)/Skindeep/Parasites (Live)/Buildings On Ashes (Live)/Released (Live)/Oblivion (Live)/Vicious (Live)/Crystal Clear*/Mindwar*.
Note: The demotracks were recorded live, to catch the right vibe. From several takes, the best ones were picked for the demo. The other session-tracks on the take are ‘one-takers’: to record the song for themselves. All tracks were recorded live through a mixer, during a killing, 8 hour session, on which I got worse and worse from flu, while singer Michiel drank some kind of witch-brew, to keep his sore throath under control. The live-tracks were recorded at ‘LVC’ Leiden, June 6th 1998 by ‘Popunie’, while the last two tracks come from a rehearsal-recording, made at their school October 10th 1997.
Session-info: Oblivion (Takes 1 (Breakdown) &2)/Duco’s Waking Nights (Takes 1-3/Only Ones That Try/Released (Takes 1-3)/My Sister Dead In The Sea (Takes 1-3)/Buildings On Ashes (Takes 1-3, last Breakdown)/ Parasites/Vicious/At The Forest/The Far Indies/Vicious (Ragga Man!)/Skindeep (Take 1 (Breakdown) & 2).
Annual Women Conference - Unreleased Demo (1998)
Recorded: June 5th 1998, ‘Popcollectief’ Gouda.
Unreleased.
Tracks:Vanity/Havana/Reefer/Teen Nation.
Note: Recorded live onto Minidisc, using a very old mixing desk during an 8 hour session, of which only two hours were used. The band took lengthy breaks in parts for lunch and spent much time talking. Initial idea was to put backing vocals over ‘Havana’ (by Ilse of ‘Angel of the Underground’), by feeding the track back to the mixing desk, using a portable minidisc-player.. After recording, it was discovered, there was no way we could get the sound of the portable minidisc player back into the mixing desk, so the backing vocals were abandonned. Internal tensions caused the band to split, leaving this demo unreleased.
Session-info: Vanity (Instr)/Vanity (Takes 1-3)/Reefer (Instr)/Reefer (Takes 1-3)/Havana (Instr)/Havana (Takes 1-3)/Teen Nation (Takes 1-5).
Unreleased.
Tracks:Vanity/Havana/Reefer/Teen Nation.
Note: Recorded live onto Minidisc, using a very old mixing desk during an 8 hour session, of which only two hours were used. The band took lengthy breaks in parts for lunch and spent much time talking. Initial idea was to put backing vocals over ‘Havana’ (by Ilse of ‘Angel of the Underground’), by feeding the track back to the mixing desk, using a portable minidisc-player.. After recording, it was discovered, there was no way we could get the sound of the portable minidisc player back into the mixing desk, so the backing vocals were abandonned. Internal tensions caused the band to split, leaving this demo unreleased.
Session-info: Vanity (Instr)/Vanity (Takes 1-3)/Reefer (Instr)/Reefer (Takes 1-3)/Havana (Instr)/Havana (Takes 1-3)/Teen Nation (Takes 1-5).
Angel of the Underground - Pre-Production Demo (1998)
Recorded: October 13th 1998, ‘Plug Unit’ Reeuwijk.
Not released.
Tracks: Miss Understood/Sister, Sister/Happy Housewife Heroine/The 2Of U/The Muse.
Note: recorded to serve as pre-production demos for their proper demosession at ‘Excess Studios’ in Rotterdam on November 14th/15th 1998. Recorded live on cassette, using a Marantz recorder and two mikes. A copy was send to ‘Spijkers Met Koppen’ on 3FM, in an attempt to surprise the bassplayer on her birthday. This never happened.
Not released.
Tracks: Miss Understood/Sister, Sister/Happy Housewife Heroine/The 2Of U/The Muse.
Note: recorded to serve as pre-production demos for their proper demosession at ‘Excess Studios’ in Rotterdam on November 14th/15th 1998. Recorded live on cassette, using a Marantz recorder and two mikes. A copy was send to ‘Spijkers Met Koppen’ on 3FM, in an attempt to surprise the bassplayer on her birthday. This never happened.
Co-9 - Back Against The Wall (Demo, 1999).
Recorded: October 17th 1998, ‘Popcollectief’ Gouda.
Released: December 1998.
Copies: 200 tapes (Approx).
Tracks: Intro/Back Against The Wall/Disagree/It’s On Yourself/Did It To Me/Axept The Difference/Lies.
Note: recorded live onto minidisc. Initial idea was to use a splitter at the guitar and feed the sound through two different amplifiers, which, miked separately, created a bigger sound than using one guitar only. After setting the switches, a loud crackle came from the sperakers. This was the sound of the very old mixing desk breaking down, resulting in perfect mono to come from it since. As everything was set to go, the band proceeded with the session, of which no further out-takes have been saved.
Released: December 1998.
Copies: 200 tapes (Approx).
Tracks: Intro/Back Against The Wall/Disagree/It’s On Yourself/Did It To Me/Axept The Difference/Lies.
Note: recorded live onto minidisc. Initial idea was to use a splitter at the guitar and feed the sound through two different amplifiers, which, miked separately, created a bigger sound than using one guitar only. After setting the switches, a loud crackle came from the sperakers. This was the sound of the very old mixing desk breaking down, resulting in perfect mono to come from it since. As everything was set to go, the band proceeded with the session, of which no further out-takes have been saved.
Angel of the Underground – Angel of the Underground' (Demo, 1998)
Recorded November 14th & 15th 1998, ‘Excess Studios’ Rotterdam, by Dennis Leidelmeijer.
Released; December 23rd 1998.
Copies: 250 tapes.
Tracks: The 2 Of U/The Muse/Miss Understood/A Whole Lot More/Sister, Sister.
Note: recorded and mixed in two days by Dennis Leidelmeijer, Hans Pieters, the band and myself. First experiences in a professional 24 track studio. ‘Sister, Sister’ basic track was recorded, but as it needed more work than the rest of the tracks, was left unused. Afterwards the multitrack got re-used, wiping the track without being mixed.
Session-info: The 2 Of U/The Muse/Miss Understood/A Whole Lot More/Sister, Sister.
Released; December 23rd 1998.
Copies: 250 tapes.
Tracks: The 2 Of U/The Muse/Miss Understood/A Whole Lot More/Sister, Sister.
Note: recorded and mixed in two days by Dennis Leidelmeijer, Hans Pieters, the band and myself. First experiences in a professional 24 track studio. ‘Sister, Sister’ basic track was recorded, but as it needed more work than the rest of the tracks, was left unused. Afterwards the multitrack got re-used, wiping the track without being mixed.
Session-info: The 2 Of U/The Muse/Miss Understood/A Whole Lot More/Sister, Sister.
Rinske van Popta - School Audition Demo (1999)
Note: ’Lame Art’ bassplayer and singer Rinske wanted to enter a school in Hilversum, which trained people in the fields of Music, Production and Management. To get there, she needed a demo and asked me to help her making one. I agreed and we set to work between December 14th 1998 – January 11th 1999. We recorded at the radio studio, my place and her bedroom, to produce three different tracks: a studio, a sampled and an improvised one. After these sessions a live recording of ‘Smart’, a band she doubled with, was added to the demo and send in. She made it and started her education september 1999, dropping out 10 months later, as she got fed up with 4 months of producing Sinusses on a computer.
Recorded: December 14th 1998, ‘Gouwestad Radio’ Studio 1, Gouda.
Track: Catch The Sun (Acoustic).
Note: after recording the basics of the song on a reel taperecorder, this was fed through the mixing desk again, with Rinske adding a second guitarline. This was recorded onto minidisc. The undubbed version has survived as well.
Recorded: December 16th 1998 – January 8th 1999, Leo’s appartment, Gouda.
Track: Silly Mix.
Note: a simple, but effective cut’n’paste piece of work, adding various samples and rhythms to a full track. Masterminded by Rinske and engineered and produced by Leo. It wasn’t great, but enough to convince the teachers.
recorded: January 11h 1999, Home recording, Gouda.
Track: Jembé Jam.
Note: recorded live in her bedroom, with help from her friend Lenneke on Djembé. Initial idea, using flutes, was abandonned as they couldn’t stop laughing. Two takes were taped, after which a big crack was discovered in the ceiling of the livingroom.
Recorded: December 14th 1998, ‘Gouwestad Radio’ Studio 1, Gouda.
Track: Catch The Sun (Acoustic).
Note: after recording the basics of the song on a reel taperecorder, this was fed through the mixing desk again, with Rinske adding a second guitarline. This was recorded onto minidisc. The undubbed version has survived as well.
Recorded: December 16th 1998 – January 8th 1999, Leo’s appartment, Gouda.
Track: Silly Mix.
Note: a simple, but effective cut’n’paste piece of work, adding various samples and rhythms to a full track. Masterminded by Rinske and engineered and produced by Leo. It wasn’t great, but enough to convince the teachers.
recorded: January 11h 1999, Home recording, Gouda.
Track: Jembé Jam.
Note: recorded live in her bedroom, with help from her friend Lenneke on Djembé. Initial idea, using flutes, was abandonned as they couldn’t stop laughing. Two takes were taped, after which a big crack was discovered in the ceiling of the livingroom.
Elysium - 'Error To Emptiness' (Demo, 2000)
Recorded: November 2nd 1999.
Released: Januari 1st 2000.
Copies: unknown amount of self produced CD’s.
Tracks: Atlantis/Sniper/Silence/Unrevealed/Stranger’s End/A Thousand ShaRves (47368).
Note: struck by the demo I recorded with ‘Lame Art’ the previous year, ‘Elysium’ was very eager to record with me. The demo was recorded live onto minidisc. As the mixing desk was mono after internal breakdowns, I found the subchannels still intact. I made the mix using these subchannels and connecting their outputs through a 4 track Tascam recorder for the stereo mix, which was then fed to a minidisc recorder. The session was intense and withdrawn at the same time. Various out-takes were recorded, but none of them ended up in my archive, unfortunately.
Released: Januari 1st 2000.
Copies: unknown amount of self produced CD’s.
Tracks: Atlantis/Sniper/Silence/Unrevealed/Stranger’s End/A Thousand ShaRves (47368).
Note: struck by the demo I recorded with ‘Lame Art’ the previous year, ‘Elysium’ was very eager to record with me. The demo was recorded live onto minidisc. As the mixing desk was mono after internal breakdowns, I found the subchannels still intact. I made the mix using these subchannels and connecting their outputs through a 4 track Tascam recorder for the stereo mix, which was then fed to a minidisc recorder. The session was intense and withdrawn at the same time. Various out-takes were recorded, but none of them ended up in my archive, unfortunately.
vrijdag 5 juni 2009
Athena - 'Melkweg' Amsterdam, February 20th 2007.
Athena (Istanbul/Fethiye/London), 2 track recorded.
‘Melkweg’ Amsterdam, February 20th 2007.
Tracks: Intro/5 Karis/Kime Ne/Easy Man/Unknown/Yasamak Var Ya/Tarlaya Ektim Sogan/Yorulmak Olmaz/Holigan/Ask Mesk Yok/Tam Zamani Simdi/I Love Mud On My Face/Catal Yürek/Kayip/Bak Takilmana (Guitar breakdown)/"Broken Amp Dub"/Masum Kalamayiz/Opücük/Skalonga/For Real/Audience.
Note: after the interview, the singer was so stunned about the recorder I used (a very beaten up Marantz cassetterecorder), he immediately offered me the chance to record the gig as well. Not in for declining such an offer, I accepted, but changed the recorder for a Minidisc recorder I brought along, preparing for the ‘Coco Rosie’-interview, scheduled for the next day (I still hadn’t bought an iPod or MP3 player). Before the gig, the MD-recorder was plugged onto the soundboard, enabling me to make the recording. I missed the encore, as I had to leave before that to catch the last train home.
‘Melkweg’ Amsterdam, February 20th 2007.
Tracks: Intro/5 Karis/Kime Ne/Easy Man/Unknown/Yasamak Var Ya/Tarlaya Ektim Sogan/Yorulmak Olmaz/Holigan/Ask Mesk Yok/Tam Zamani Simdi/I Love Mud On My Face/Catal Yürek/Kayip/Bak Takilmana (Guitar breakdown)/"Broken Amp Dub"/Masum Kalamayiz/Opücük/Skalonga/For Real/Audience.
Note: after the interview, the singer was so stunned about the recorder I used (a very beaten up Marantz cassetterecorder), he immediately offered me the chance to record the gig as well. Not in for declining such an offer, I accepted, but changed the recorder for a Minidisc recorder I brought along, preparing for the ‘Coco Rosie’-interview, scheduled for the next day (I still hadn’t bought an iPod or MP3 player). Before the gig, the MD-recorder was plugged onto the soundboard, enabling me to make the recording. I missed the encore, as I had to leave before that to catch the last train home.
Zowiso - 'Paradiso' Amsterdam, 1985.
Zowiso (Wormer), rough 2 track mixdown from 8-track recording.
'Paradiso' Amsterdam, 1986 (Date unknown).
Tracks: New Present Day Offers/FAO Show/Furniture/Stiffy Smile/Hello Soldiers, Welcome Back!/Mailbox/The Truth Lies Midways//Right To Justice/Bruises/Blacks Prison/Stopera/.
Notes: Blazing performance by this band in very good quality. Sent to me by singer John Hollander as musical accompanion to a biography broadcasted on 'Zowiso' in 1998.Not commercially available, as far as I know. Only John can change that!!
'Paradiso' Amsterdam, 1986 (Date unknown).
Tracks: New Present Day Offers/FAO Show/Furniture/Stiffy Smile/Hello Soldiers, Welcome Back!/Mailbox/The Truth Lies Midways//Right To Justice/Bruises/Blacks Prison/Stopera/.
Notes: Blazing performance by this band in very good quality. Sent to me by singer John Hollander as musical accompanion to a biography broadcasted on 'Zowiso' in 1998.Not commercially available, as far as I know. Only John can change that!!
Zowiso - 'Paradiso' Amsterdam, December 1984.
Zowiso (Wormer), 2-track recorded.
’Paradiso’ Amsterdam, December 1984 (Exact date unknown).
Tracks: The Happy End/The Gift/Christmas Intermission/New Present Day Offers/Stiffy Smile.
Notes: left channel is soundboard-signal, right channel venue-mike. When combined they give a well-balanced live-sound in mono. Sent to me by singer John Hollander as musical accompanion to a biography broadcasted on 'Zowiso' in 1998.Not commercially available, as far as I know. Only John can change that!!
’Paradiso’ Amsterdam, December 1984 (Exact date unknown).
Tracks: The Happy End/The Gift/Christmas Intermission/New Present Day Offers/Stiffy Smile.
Notes: left channel is soundboard-signal, right channel venue-mike. When combined they give a well-balanced live-sound in mono. Sent to me by singer John Hollander as musical accompanion to a biography broadcasted on 'Zowiso' in 1998.Not commercially available, as far as I know. Only John can change that!!
Rondos - 'Larenkamp' Rotterdam, January 28th 1980.
Rondos (Rotterdam), 2-track recorded.
January 28th 1980, Larenkamp, Rotterdam.
Tracks: A Black & White Statement/Progress/I Got No Time/Colour TV/Contrast/System/Anarchy/Countdown/Syphillips/ B-52 Pilot/Soldiers/We Don't Need No Speed/A Waltz/Vivisection/City Of Fear/I Don't Like The Rastaman/Peace Dillemma.
Note: supplied by former drummer Wim ter Weele. Not used untill this date, apart from ‘Progress’. I could have had very pleasant trips abroad, when taken offered amounts of money from bootleggers. Which I refuse standard!
January 28th 1980, Larenkamp, Rotterdam.
Tracks: A Black & White Statement/Progress/I Got No Time/Colour TV/Contrast/System/Anarchy/Countdown/Syphillips/ B-52 Pilot/Soldiers/We Don't Need No Speed/A Waltz/Vivisection/City Of Fear/I Don't Like The Rastaman/Peace Dillemma.
Note: supplied by former drummer Wim ter Weele. Not used untill this date, apart from ‘Progress’. I could have had very pleasant trips abroad, when taken offered amounts of money from bootleggers. Which I refuse standard!
Rondos - 'Qbus' Schiedam, 1979.
Rondos (Rotterdam), 2-track recorded.’Q-bus' Schiedam, 1979 (Date unknown).
Tracks: Russians Are Coming/Throwing Bricks/King Kong's Penis/Nothing To Lose/Loser/B-52 Pilot/Berlin/Give Us A Peace/??/??/Who Killed John F.?/Fascist Dreams.
Note: supplied by former drummer Wim ter Weele. Not used untill this date, as it never came to be broadcasted, but was considered several times. This recording might be a slightly reworked portion of the live-set released on the 2009 box, as tracklist and intermnitted recording are quite the same.
Tracks: Russians Are Coming/Throwing Bricks/King Kong's Penis/Nothing To Lose/Loser/B-52 Pilot/Berlin/Give Us A Peace/??/??/Who Killed John F.?/Fascist Dreams.
Note: supplied by former drummer Wim ter Weele. Not used untill this date, as it never came to be broadcasted, but was considered several times. This recording might be a slightly reworked portion of the live-set released on the 2009 box, as tracklist and intermnitted recording are quite the same.
The Chops (Reunion gig) - 'Oosterpoort' Groningen, March 7th 1992
The Chops (Groningen/Leeuwarden), 2-track recorded.
Saturday March 7th 1992, 'Oosterpoort' Groningen.
Tracks: Saturday Night/Poesje Is Dood/ Drank/various unknown titles.
Notes: reunion-gig during the 'Back To The 70s'-festival. One week later a second gig was played by 'The Chops' in 'Vera' Groningen for free on suggestion of singer Speedy, so the people on welfare could enjoy seeing them again as well! Tape supplied for a 'Speedy 20 years on stage'-special by former bassplayer Johan Vergonet.
Saturday March 7th 1992, 'Oosterpoort' Groningen.
Tracks: Saturday Night/Poesje Is Dood/ Drank/various unknown titles.
Notes: reunion-gig during the 'Back To The 70s'-festival. One week later a second gig was played by 'The Chops' in 'Vera' Groningen for free on suggestion of singer Speedy, so the people on welfare could enjoy seeing them again as well! Tape supplied for a 'Speedy 20 years on stage'-special by former bassplayer Johan Vergonet.
Boegies - 'So What' Gouda, May 18th 1990.
Boegies (Groningen/Roden), 2-track recorded.
Friday May 18th 1990, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Intro (Mayo-Let's Go Intro-Zwynen By Candlelight)/He Joh, Toe Nou Joh/Free French Fries/Jannes v.d. Wal Lied/Dikke Tamme/Old Smokey/Time To Die/Spokje/Burst/De Dorpsgek/It's Too Late/Chaoska/Floorpizza/Summer/Wy Zyn Zwyn/Koud Bier/Pogo 65+/Darr-ling/Eggs On Bacon/Leap The Ditches/Don't Do It (Behind My Back)/Cakes & Ale/Nietschegonje. Encore: Piepke, Moart'n, Dougel, Maak/Mien Schoefmoat Is Vot/Meh/He Joh, Toe Nou Joh/Penose Punx/Mooie Boom/Elke Punk Viert ook Het Kerstfeest/Zoeplap/Lallend Ten Onder.
Notes: Soundboard-recording given to me by guitarist Mark Tilstra for being such a dedicated fan (and bringing along a bottle of fine 'Moskovskaya' wodka). Despite 'The Rolling Stones'playing in nearby Rotterdam, the venue was packed! Part of the gig was disturbed by some very annoying skinheads, which later on gave birth to some 'heroic stories on fights'. There wasn't a single one! Most of the 200 people present were too eager to see the gig, while the rest was too scared to fight. Marcello from 'So What' convinced the three skins to leave the club peacefully by plain talking. This incident explains the extended encore the band gave this evening.
Friday May 18th 1990, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Intro (Mayo-Let's Go Intro-Zwynen By Candlelight)/He Joh, Toe Nou Joh/Free French Fries/Jannes v.d. Wal Lied/Dikke Tamme/Old Smokey/Time To Die/Spokje/Burst/De Dorpsgek/It's Too Late/Chaoska/Floorpizza/Summer/Wy Zyn Zwyn/Koud Bier/Pogo 65+/Darr-ling/Eggs On Bacon/Leap The Ditches/Don't Do It (Behind My Back)/Cakes & Ale/Nietschegonje. Encore: Piepke, Moart'n, Dougel, Maak/Mien Schoefmoat Is Vot/Meh/He Joh, Toe Nou Joh/Penose Punx/Mooie Boom/Elke Punk Viert ook Het Kerstfeest/Zoeplap/Lallend Ten Onder.
Notes: Soundboard-recording given to me by guitarist Mark Tilstra for being such a dedicated fan (and bringing along a bottle of fine 'Moskovskaya' wodka). Despite 'The Rolling Stones'playing in nearby Rotterdam, the venue was packed! Part of the gig was disturbed by some very annoying skinheads, which later on gave birth to some 'heroic stories on fights'. There wasn't a single one! Most of the 200 people present were too eager to see the gig, while the rest was too scared to fight. Marcello from 'So What' convinced the three skins to leave the club peacefully by plain talking. This incident explains the extended encore the band gave this evening.
The 1-2-5 - 'So What' Gouda, December 30th 2003.
The 1-2-5 (Gouda/Leiden/Amsterdam), 4-track recorded.
Tuesday December 30th 2003, ''So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Heaven & Hell/Daddy Died On Saturday/Heartfull Of Soul/Leavin’ Here/Substitute/Your Body, Not Your Soul/Till The End Of The Day/I Can’t Explain/I'm A Boy/Amazing Journey/Sparks/Why Don’t You/You’re Gonna Miss Me/So Long/Rumble On Mersey Square/Shakin' All Over.
Notes: started in 1989, from the ashes of recently revived ‘The Unexplained. The band played 1965 Garagebeat-inspired songs, which were put out on several 7”s and a vinyl-album. This night hoewever, they played loads of ‘Who’-covers, as they were in the middle of a European tour, performing ‘Tommy’ in a set, inspired by the ‘Live At Leeds’ album. The gig started unannounced and unplanned, making me miss the start of ‘Heaven And Hell’. As the liveshow had two more records scheduled, the liveset was already started, when it was put on air. Due to a problem, the PA was switched to MONO-sound, making the two venue-mikes adding a slight stereo-feel to the recordings.
Tuesday December 30th 2003, ''So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Heaven & Hell/Daddy Died On Saturday/Heartfull Of Soul/Leavin’ Here/Substitute/Your Body, Not Your Soul/Till The End Of The Day/I Can’t Explain/I'm A Boy/Amazing Journey/Sparks/Why Don’t You/You’re Gonna Miss Me/So Long/Rumble On Mersey Square/Shakin' All Over.
Notes: started in 1989, from the ashes of recently revived ‘The Unexplained. The band played 1965 Garagebeat-inspired songs, which were put out on several 7”s and a vinyl-album. This night hoewever, they played loads of ‘Who’-covers, as they were in the middle of a European tour, performing ‘Tommy’ in a set, inspired by the ‘Live At Leeds’ album. The gig started unannounced and unplanned, making me miss the start of ‘Heaven And Hell’. As the liveshow had two more records scheduled, the liveset was already started, when it was put on air. Due to a problem, the PA was switched to MONO-sound, making the two venue-mikes adding a slight stereo-feel to the recordings.
Yam - 'So What' Gouda, December 30th 2003.
Yam (Gouda/Woerden/Utrecht), 4-track recorded.
Tuesday December 30th 2003, ''So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Oh My God/Hometown/Unknown/Yeah/Unknown/Unknown/Unknown/Unknown.
Note: great liveband, who somewhow failed to connect with the audience that night. Promising band, who never made it in the end. Due to a problem, the PA was switched to MONO-sound, making the two venue-mikes adding a slight stereo-feel to the recordings.
Tuesday December 30th 2003, ''So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Oh My God/Hometown/Unknown/Yeah/Unknown/Unknown/Unknown/Unknown.
Note: great liveband, who somewhow failed to connect with the audience that night. Promising band, who never made it in the end. Due to a problem, the PA was switched to MONO-sound, making the two venue-mikes adding a slight stereo-feel to the recordings.
Desiree Coumans - 'So What' Gouda, December 30th 2003.
Desiree Coumans (Gouda), 4-track recorded.
Tuesday December 30th 2003, ''So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Born Loser/I Gave My World/You Broke My Heart Twice/Verblind Verstand/Fake Love/Died Chase.
Note: As Desiree sang, Tyshanti de Jonge provided backing vocals and John de Heij played guitar while providing more backing vocals. Due to a technical problem, the PA was switched to MONO-sound, making the two venue-mikes adding a slight stereo-feel to the recordings.
Tuesday December 30th 2003, ''So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Born Loser/I Gave My World/You Broke My Heart Twice/Verblind Verstand/Fake Love/Died Chase.
Note: As Desiree sang, Tyshanti de Jonge provided backing vocals and John de Heij played guitar while providing more backing vocals. Due to a technical problem, the PA was switched to MONO-sound, making the two venue-mikes adding a slight stereo-feel to the recordings.
Goudse Courant Music Live Awards - 'Goudse Schouwburg', October 9th 2003.
Goudsche Courant Music Live Awards 2003 (Gouda, Waddinxveen/Schoonhoven), 4-track and 24-track Recorded.
Thursday October 9th 2003, 'Schouwburg' Gouda.
Tracks: Huisband-Pick Up The Pieces/Mix-Dance explosion/Maarten Overdijk & Michiel v Gijzel-Your Song/Tabitha & Co-Johanna/Sanne van Tongerloo-Sounds Of Spain Tango Terrific+The Matador/Mr Brands-Rap/Sanne Spaans, Xandra Roukes & Huisband-Nine To Five/Da Girlzz-La Leçon Du Danse/Martijn & Jasper Schutte-Zelfs Je Naam Is Mooi/Temporary-Good Girl/Tyshanti de Jonge & Huisband-Break Down The Wall/Huisband-Pick Up The Pieces (2)/Rianne Buurman & Sandrine Gütz-Tom Waits/Teun van den Heuvel & Laura Vos-Muggendans+Arabisch Liedje/Maud Verhoef & Yvonne Streng- O Mare Tu/Suzanne Pince van der AA-Ik Zing Dit lied Voor Jou Alleen/Beat Your VOHAMIVO-Beat Your VOHAMIVO/Anique & Co-One Flight Down/Virgin-So Exited/Desiree Coumans-Died Chase+Love/John de Heij-Liedje/Exit-Everybody Needs Somebody/Huisband & Rest-Celebration (2 parts).
Notes: This was a regional musical contest for students from secondary schools in the area, organized as part of promotional activities to boost up the amount of readers for regional daily newspaper de 'Goudsche Courant'. Acts from 6 schools sang, danced or played classical music to win a prize. 'Temporary' won.
Initial recordings were made and mixed on 4-tracks for broadcast purposes, but as there was anti-phasis and other distorting noise, theatre-technician Dennis van Driel was asked to provide us his 24-tracks recorded 'works' for further broadcasting purposes. These were first aired Friday November 21st by 'Going Underground' and 'Why You', skipping the dance-acts, as these simply don't have any succes on radio, unfortunately.
Of the 4-track recordings only 'Temporary' and 'Desiree Coumans' survived, as the recordings provided by Dennis made the others not interesting enough to be kept and the Minidisc was erased. A tape-copy of these recordings however is in possesion of the editorial crew of the 'Goudsche Courant', as it was 'flash-crashed' onto their desks October 10th as 'on the cuff'-mix runthrough, 'for quick listening only'!
Thursday October 9th 2003, 'Schouwburg' Gouda.
Tracks: Huisband-Pick Up The Pieces/Mix-Dance explosion/Maarten Overdijk & Michiel v Gijzel-Your Song/Tabitha & Co-Johanna/Sanne van Tongerloo-Sounds Of Spain Tango Terrific+The Matador/Mr Brands-Rap/Sanne Spaans, Xandra Roukes & Huisband-Nine To Five/Da Girlzz-La Leçon Du Danse/Martijn & Jasper Schutte-Zelfs Je Naam Is Mooi/Temporary-Good Girl/Tyshanti de Jonge & Huisband-Break Down The Wall/Huisband-Pick Up The Pieces (2)/Rianne Buurman & Sandrine Gütz-Tom Waits/Teun van den Heuvel & Laura Vos-Muggendans+Arabisch Liedje/Maud Verhoef & Yvonne Streng- O Mare Tu/Suzanne Pince van der AA-Ik Zing Dit lied Voor Jou Alleen/Beat Your VOHAMIVO-Beat Your VOHAMIVO/Anique & Co-One Flight Down/Virgin-So Exited/Desiree Coumans-Died Chase+Love/John de Heij-Liedje/Exit-Everybody Needs Somebody/Huisband & Rest-Celebration (2 parts).
Notes: This was a regional musical contest for students from secondary schools in the area, organized as part of promotional activities to boost up the amount of readers for regional daily newspaper de 'Goudsche Courant'. Acts from 6 schools sang, danced or played classical music to win a prize. 'Temporary' won.
Initial recordings were made and mixed on 4-tracks for broadcast purposes, but as there was anti-phasis and other distorting noise, theatre-technician Dennis van Driel was asked to provide us his 24-tracks recorded 'works' for further broadcasting purposes. These were first aired Friday November 21st by 'Going Underground' and 'Why You', skipping the dance-acts, as these simply don't have any succes on radio, unfortunately.
Of the 4-track recordings only 'Temporary' and 'Desiree Coumans' survived, as the recordings provided by Dennis made the others not interesting enough to be kept and the Minidisc was erased. A tape-copy of these recordings however is in possesion of the editorial crew of the 'Goudsche Courant', as it was 'flash-crashed' onto their desks October 10th as 'on the cuff'-mix runthrough, 'for quick listening only'!
George Baker - 'So What' Gouda, April 18th 2003.
George Baker (Waddinxveen), 4-track recorded.
Friday April 18th 2003, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Una Paloma Blance, Santa Lucia By Night, Little Green Bag and others.
Note: at the last moment the soundman of George Baker installed his own equipment, bypassing the venue's PA-system, so the whole gig was recorded through two mikes in the hall, making a lesser quality. Left in the vault, untill decision was to be made on broadcasting. The tapes somehow got accidentally wiped.
Friday April 18th 2003, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Una Paloma Blance, Santa Lucia By Night, Little Green Bag and others.
Note: at the last moment the soundman of George Baker installed his own equipment, bypassing the venue's PA-system, so the whole gig was recorded through two mikes in the hall, making a lesser quality. Left in the vault, untill decision was to be made on broadcasting. The tapes somehow got accidentally wiped.
Moonstar - 'So What' Gouda, December 27th 2002.
Moonstar (Gouda/Zoetermeer), 4-track recorded.
Friday December 27th 2002, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: Scared/A Brand New Day/Gasoline For Your Life/Into The Sky/"Tuning up"/In Love/You (For A Princess)/Politiks (‘Coldplay’)/Unknown/Trash (Suede)/Bohemian Like You (Dandy Warhols).
Note: new band from former ‘Mint’-drummer Edwin Bol. Very promising, they screwed up the gig by not playing at their best and doing covers for the second part of the set. Split up after listening back these recordings, though that wasn’t the underlying cause.
Friday December 27th 2002, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: Scared/A Brand New Day/Gasoline For Your Life/Into The Sky/"Tuning up"/In Love/You (For A Princess)/Politiks (‘Coldplay’)/Unknown/Trash (Suede)/Bohemian Like You (Dandy Warhols).
Note: new band from former ‘Mint’-drummer Edwin Bol. Very promising, they screwed up the gig by not playing at their best and doing covers for the second part of the set. Split up after listening back these recordings, though that wasn’t the underlying cause.
Darling Rooster - 'So What' Gouda, December 27th 2002.
Darling Rooster (Gouda/Moordrecht/Haastrecht), 4-track recorded.
Friday December 27th 2002, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: The Great Clean Up/Easy Come, Easy Go/Monkey Cabbage/Hide & Seek/Carpe Diem/Rock 'n' Roll/Spirits Of Rhythm/Sweet Old Blues.
Note: the Bluesrock with a twist didn’t work extremely well this night, for unclear reasons.
Friday December 27th 2002, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: The Great Clean Up/Easy Come, Easy Go/Monkey Cabbage/Hide & Seek/Carpe Diem/Rock 'n' Roll/Spirits Of Rhythm/Sweet Old Blues.
Note: the Bluesrock with a twist didn’t work extremely well this night, for unclear reasons.
Rapiconen - 'So What' Gouda, December 27th 2002.
Rapiconen (Gouda), 4-track recorded.
Friday December 27th 2002, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: Intro/A-Capella Freestyle/Het Ergste (Rapiconen)/Camouflage/Freestyle/Over Negers & Blanken/Garage-Freestyle/Outro.
Note: local collective with Oscar X (‘Onderhonden’), Neo, Manu, Gregg and Buddah Bless, popping up from the underground. Slightly tame gig, as Oscar had flu and came right out of bed. After several projects, Manu is now drawing great attention nationwide.
Friday December 27th 2002, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: Intro/A-Capella Freestyle/Het Ergste (Rapiconen)/Camouflage/Freestyle/Over Negers & Blanken/Garage-Freestyle/Outro.
Note: local collective with Oscar X (‘Onderhonden’), Neo, Manu, Gregg and Buddah Bless, popping up from the underground. Slightly tame gig, as Oscar had flu and came right out of bed. After several projects, Manu is now drawing great attention nationwide.
Jammah Tammah - 'So What' Gouda, June 7th 2002.
Jammah Tammah (Groningen/Leeuwarden/Amsterdam), 4-track recorded.
Friday June 7th 2002, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Music In The Air Tonight/Smell/Het Kozakkenlied/Frankenstein/De Stoomtram/Whatever Happened/Liquor Wars/Look Around/Double D. T./The Candysong/Slowdown Injection/Zigeunerpunk/De Schokkers/Kop Van Jut/Riddim Have You Gone Mad?/Mambo City/Push It Up/’Speluh!’/Kicks Of Red/Where Is The Sun/Unknown/Al Capone (Part).
Note: final tour, with 5 dates left to play. It was hot, but great! The band enjoyed themselves possibly even more than the festive audience, leading to some silly intermissions near the end. As the band hit the stage, I had to run to my equipment, missed a step and landed flat on my face in front of the stage.
Friday June 7th 2002, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Music In The Air Tonight/Smell/Het Kozakkenlied/Frankenstein/De Stoomtram/Whatever Happened/Liquor Wars/Look Around/Double D. T./The Candysong/Slowdown Injection/Zigeunerpunk/De Schokkers/Kop Van Jut/Riddim Have You Gone Mad?/Mambo City/Push It Up/’Speluh!’/Kicks Of Red/Where Is The Sun/Unknown/Al Capone (Part).
Note: final tour, with 5 dates left to play. It was hot, but great! The band enjoyed themselves possibly even more than the festive audience, leading to some silly intermissions near the end. As the band hit the stage, I had to run to my equipment, missed a step and landed flat on my face in front of the stage.
Sidekick Bob - 'De Gonz' Gouda, February 2nd 2002.
Sidekick Bob. (Pijnacker), 4-track recorded.
Saturday February 2nd 2002, 'De Gonz' Gouda.
Tracks: She/Trip Abroad/Short Attention Span/Fang/Bodies/I Don't Drink/A.D./Evil/Psychodelic Love Affair/I.C.U./No It Doesn't/Sauberhalten/Tokyo/SKB.
Note: part 3 of a triple bill with ‘Mondo Bizarro’ and ‘The Riplets’. Fast punkrock with a cynical smile.Saw them play several times since then. Great people!
Saturday February 2nd 2002, 'De Gonz' Gouda.
Tracks: She/Trip Abroad/Short Attention Span/Fang/Bodies/I Don't Drink/A.D./Evil/Psychodelic Love Affair/I.C.U./No It Doesn't/Sauberhalten/Tokyo/SKB.
Note: part 3 of a triple bill with ‘Mondo Bizarro’ and ‘The Riplets’. Fast punkrock with a cynical smile.Saw them play several times since then. Great people!
The Riplets - 'De Gonz' Gouda, February 2nd 2002.
The Riplets (Rotterdam), 4-track recorded.
Saturday February 2nd 2002, 'De Gonz' Gouda.
Tracks: I've Got Nothing/Hey Baby/5%/Take Us Away/Riplets Rock & Roll Beat/Silent Treatment/Sex On The Phone/Candy/Just Like You/Sick Of You/Slayer/I Wanna Be Your Girl/Porn In The USA/Bugs/Our Engine Is Running/Sheena Is A Punk Rocker.
Note: part 2 of a triple bill with ‘Mondo Bizarro’ and ‘Sidekick Bob’. Months before the recording and release of their debut-CD, a slightly loose trio played this fantastic gig. Too bad they quit!
Saturday February 2nd 2002, 'De Gonz' Gouda.
Tracks: I've Got Nothing/Hey Baby/5%/Take Us Away/Riplets Rock & Roll Beat/Silent Treatment/Sex On The Phone/Candy/Just Like You/Sick Of You/Slayer/I Wanna Be Your Girl/Porn In The USA/Bugs/Our Engine Is Running/Sheena Is A Punk Rocker.
Note: part 2 of a triple bill with ‘Mondo Bizarro’ and ‘Sidekick Bob’. Months before the recording and release of their debut-CD, a slightly loose trio played this fantastic gig. Too bad they quit!
Mondo Bizarro - 'De Gonz' Gouda, February 2nd 2002.
Mondo Bizarro (Pijnacker/Delft), 4-track recorded.
Saturday February 2nd 2002, 'De Gonz' Gouda.
Tracks: Pet Cemeter/Beat On The Brat.
Note: part one of a triple bill with ‘The Riplets’ and ‘Sidekick Bob’, playing the small Gouda venue the day our future king married. Hilarious, but great duo, playing ‘The Ramones’ on acoustic 12-string, tambourine and dressed up as The Ramones used to do, while gigging. Didn’t bring enough tapes, so taped two tracks only.
Saturday February 2nd 2002, 'De Gonz' Gouda.
Tracks: Pet Cemeter/Beat On The Brat.
Note: part one of a triple bill with ‘The Riplets’ and ‘Sidekick Bob’, playing the small Gouda venue the day our future king married. Hilarious, but great duo, playing ‘The Ramones’ on acoustic 12-string, tambourine and dressed up as The Ramones used to do, while gigging. Didn’t bring enough tapes, so taped two tracks only.
Mint - 'So What' Gouda, December 28th 2001.
Mint (Gouda/Londen), 4-track recorded.
Friday December 28th 2001, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Tell Me What's New/Missionairy Girl/Members In Water/On Your Own/Where Have I Been?/Wrong Come Along/Caroline/Just Another Daytime/When The Day Is Over/("Audience")/Unknown/Rain, Rain/Unknown.
Note: emotionally loaded gig, as few weeks before Mariëlla de Geus, musician and frequently visiting the club, was murdered. ‘Rain’ was dedicated to her, during this explosive gig. Which started peculiar; after announcing the band, they hit the stage, realised the had forgotten a harmonica and left for the dressing room again. The bottle of whiskey they drank before the gig, wasn’t the cause, they repeatedly expressed afterwards! Before the gig ended, the live broadcast was over and the radioset got dismatled. At the end you literally hear the plugd being pulled out off my recorder! Final gig for this band as a trio, as members of ‘Sway’ came to this gig to try and convince singer Maurits to join them. Maurits auditionned, but was deemed ‘not good enough’. ‘Mint’-drummer Edwin auditionned too and made it. This fuelled internal tensions, making Edwin to leave soon after. ‘Mint’ continued as an acoustic duo for several gigs, playing their final one April 30th 2002.
Friday December 28th 2001, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Tell Me What's New/Missionairy Girl/Members In Water/On Your Own/Where Have I Been?/Wrong Come Along/Caroline/Just Another Daytime/When The Day Is Over/("Audience")/Unknown/Rain, Rain/Unknown.
Note: emotionally loaded gig, as few weeks before Mariëlla de Geus, musician and frequently visiting the club, was murdered. ‘Rain’ was dedicated to her, during this explosive gig. Which started peculiar; after announcing the band, they hit the stage, realised the had forgotten a harmonica and left for the dressing room again. The bottle of whiskey they drank before the gig, wasn’t the cause, they repeatedly expressed afterwards! Before the gig ended, the live broadcast was over and the radioset got dismatled. At the end you literally hear the plugd being pulled out off my recorder! Final gig for this band as a trio, as members of ‘Sway’ came to this gig to try and convince singer Maurits to join them. Maurits auditionned, but was deemed ‘not good enough’. ‘Mint’-drummer Edwin auditionned too and made it. This fuelled internal tensions, making Edwin to leave soon after. ‘Mint’ continued as an acoustic duo for several gigs, playing their final one April 30th 2002.
Collin - 'So What' Gouda, December 28th 2001.
Collin (Gouda/Haastrecht/Reeuwijk), 4-track recorded.
Friday December 28th 2001, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Inside out/Seven/All These Years/Vaporized/Filter/Nothing to say.
Note: unlike the rest of the bands, this band was not picked by the organising crew, but nevertheless did a great gig. Despite false chorusses, which caused a line-up change later on. The band rocks on, naming themselves ‘Velvet Lane’.
Friday December 28th 2001, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Inside out/Seven/All These Years/Vaporized/Filter/Nothing to say.
Note: unlike the rest of the bands, this band was not picked by the organising crew, but nevertheless did a great gig. Despite false chorusses, which caused a line-up change later on. The band rocks on, naming themselves ‘Velvet Lane’.
Gather Roses - 'So What' Gouda, December 28th 2001.
Roos Galjaard/Gather Roses (Groningen), 4-track recorded.
Friday December 28th 2001, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Nimawa/I Wonder/Together/The Fate In Which We Drown/Hymn/I Can't Stay My Love.
Note: former bandmate returned during a liveshow as Singer/Songwriter, doing a great job.
Friday December 28th 2001, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Nimawa/I Wonder/Together/The Fate In Which We Drown/Hymn/I Can't Stay My Love.
Note: former bandmate returned during a liveshow as Singer/Songwriter, doing a great job.
Mambo Kurt - 'So What' Gouda, October 13th 2001.
Mambo Kurt (Germany), 4-track recorded.
Saturday October 13th 2001, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Intro/Sunshine Of My Life/I Was Made For Loving You//The Bad Fire, Water Burn Touch-medley (Bloodhound Gang)/Just Can't Get Enough/Nothing Candles Like Comparing Titanic 2 U In The Wind (Medley)/Ein Bischen Frieden/Highway To Hell/Come As You Are/You're My Heart, You're My Soul/Engel/Musik/The Final Countdown/Jump!/Born To Make You Happy.
Note: as part of the ‘Oktoberfeste’, this German Hammond-wizzard was invited to play. The venue was packed with partying people, making it a great event. The mikes used to pick up the venue-sound weren't functionning, so only the soundboard-track was recorded, missing part of the fun that was going on. After mixing, the tape got lost for months, finally resurfacing april 2003.
Saturday October 13th 2001, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Intro/Sunshine Of My Life/I Was Made For Loving You/
Note: as part of the ‘Oktoberfeste’, this German Hammond-wizzard was invited to play. The venue was packed with partying people, making it a great event. The mikes used to pick up the venue-sound weren't functionning, so only the soundboard-track was recorded, missing part of the fun that was going on. After mixing, the tape got lost for months, finally resurfacing april 2003.
Orange Sonic Boom-Panty Sunshine Boys - 'Sczi' Den Haag, September 7th 2001.
Orange Sonic Boom-Panty Sunshine Boys (Amsterdam/The Hague, London), 4-track recorded.
Sunday September 7th 2001, 'Sczi-Bar' The Hague.
Tracks: C'mon Everybody/Search & Destroy.
Note: wrapping up the gig, all members of performing ‘Pantyboy’, ‘Sonic Boom Boys’ and ‘Orange Sunshine’ hit the stage to close a geat afternoon. Marked the singing debut of my friend Cor, slightly boozed up, during ‘Search & Destroy’.
Sunday September 7th 2001, 'Sczi-Bar' The Hague.
Tracks: C'mon Everybody/Search & Destroy.
Note: wrapping up the gig, all members of performing ‘Pantyboy’, ‘Sonic Boom Boys’ and ‘Orange Sunshine’ hit the stage to close a geat afternoon. Marked the singing debut of my friend Cor, slightly boozed up, during ‘Search & Destroy’.
Orange Sunshine - 'Sczi' Den Haag, September 7th 2001.
Orange Sunshine (The Hague), 4-track recorded.
Sunday September 7th 2001, 'Sczi-Bar' The Hague.
Tracks: Unknown/Got My Name (Written In The Kingdom).
Note: features Jonte Grante of 'Sonic Boom Boys' on drums. Sort of impromptu gig at the end of a double bill with ‘Pantyboy’ and ‘Sonic Boom Boys’, lasting 20 mins.
Sunday September 7th 2001, 'Sczi-Bar' The Hague.
Tracks: Unknown/Got My Name (Written In The Kingdom).
Note: features Jonte Grante of 'Sonic Boom Boys' on drums. Sort of impromptu gig at the end of a double bill with ‘Pantyboy’ and ‘Sonic Boom Boys’, lasting 20 mins.
Sonic Boom Boys - 'Sczi' Den Haag, September 7th 2001.
Sonic Boom Boys (London), 4-track recorded.
Sunday September 7th 2001, 'Sczi-Bar' The Hague.
Tracks: Cheap & Nasty Rock 'n' Roll/Dynamite Blues/Not The Only One/Don't Only Happen To Girls/Another State Of Mind/Going Under/Skull City/These Boots Are Made For Walking/Never Again/You Ain't No Star/Rocket Boy/Ain't Gonna Bring Us Down/Hand On Heart.
Note: double-billing with ‘Pantyboy’, the Londonners hit the squat-café during their final European tour. Soon after the band dissolved for several reasons. Before future plans to reünite could materialize, singer Geoff Starr died june 2005, after surviving the Tsunami on Phi Phi, december 26th 2004. The day of his funeral made history, as bombs went of in London in morning traffic.
Sunday September 7th 2001, 'Sczi-Bar' The Hague.
Tracks: Cheap & Nasty Rock 'n' Roll/Dynamite Blues/Not The Only One/Don't Only Happen To Girls/Another State Of Mind/Going Under/Skull City/These Boots Are Made For Walking/Never Again/You Ain't No Star/Rocket Boy/Ain't Gonna Bring Us Down/Hand On Heart.
Note: double-billing with ‘Pantyboy’, the Londonners hit the squat-café during their final European tour. Soon after the band dissolved for several reasons. Before future plans to reünite could materialize, singer Geoff Starr died june 2005, after surviving the Tsunami on Phi Phi, december 26th 2004. The day of his funeral made history, as bombs went of in London in morning traffic.
Pantyboy - 'Sczi' Den Haag, September 7th 2001.
Pantyboy (Amsterdam/Den Haag), 4-track recorded.
Sunday September 7th 2001, 'Sczi-Bar' The Hague.
Tracks: Out Of Space/'Amp-troubles'/You Should Die(?)/Motherfucker/Hot Wheels/Suburbia/Yin-Yang/Play The Game/Partysong/Poor Boy/Starfighter.
Note: afternoon double bill in squat-café. Both bands used the ‘Sonic Boom Boys’ backline for this gig. Turning up the bass-amp to it’s max, triggered the overload-security to be triggered, causing the sound to drop. Which was solved by turning the volumes down again. In exchange for access and recording, I had to play Deejay as well.
Sunday September 7th 2001, 'Sczi-Bar' The Hague.
Tracks: Out Of Space/'Amp-troubles'/You Should Die(?)/Motherfucker/Hot Wheels/Suburbia/Yin-Yang/Play The Game/Partysong/Poor Boy/Starfighter.
Note: afternoon double bill in squat-café. Both bands used the ‘Sonic Boom Boys’ backline for this gig. Turning up the bass-amp to it’s max, triggered the overload-security to be triggered, causing the sound to drop. Which was solved by turning the volumes down again. In exchange for access and recording, I had to play Deejay as well.
'Vers Uit De Vest'-Festival - 'So What' Gouda, June 9th 2001.
'Vers Uit De Vest'-Festival, 4-track recorded.
Saturday June 9th 2001, 'So What' Gouda.
Indicate (Gouda, Haastrecht, Reeuwijk).
Tracks: Intro/Unknown/It’s Your World Too/Good Times For Us/Unknown/Still Unknown/Demon In Family/(‘Stretch Armstrong’ cover)/Unknown/The Luck/Indicate!/Difficult Sincerity.
Note: final hometown-gig of the band. Though slightly chaotic, the band played a great gig and had a party, playing home again. Guitarist Simon split his head, when he hit a stagelight in sheer enthusiasm. Had to be stitched up after the gig, which he finished with some Band Aids. Dissolved after short European tour in July 2001. Members later turned up in bands like ‘Malkovitch’ and ‘I Reject’.
Lame Art (Gouda/Waddinxveen/Reeuwijk).
Tracks: Coming soon.
Note: right after the release of their ‘Spanks Man’ EP, the band played a slightly experimental set, inspired hugely by ‘O.K. Computer’ of ‘Radiohead’. It turned out to be their final hometown-gig before reforming as 'Clockwork' in different line-up.
Mint (Gouda, Londen).
Tracks: Intro/Just Another Daytime/Rain/Caroline/Tell Me What's New/Monday To Monday/Members In Water/On Your Own/When The Day Is Over/Wrong Come Along/Where Have I Been.
Note: after the gig, the band was told by ‘indicate’ bassplayer, they sucked. Which the band heard, shrugging their shoulders afterwards. An unknown quantity of CD’s with these recordings were sold by the band. Which I never knew. Singer Maurits later became frontman of Utrecht based ‘Gem’.
Saturday June 9th 2001, 'So What' Gouda.
Indicate (Gouda, Haastrecht, Reeuwijk).
Tracks: Intro/Unknown/It’s Your World Too/Good Times For Us/Unknown/Still Unknown/Demon In Family/(‘Stretch Armstrong’ cover)/Unknown/The Luck/Indicate!/Difficult Sincerity.
Note: final hometown-gig of the band. Though slightly chaotic, the band played a great gig and had a party, playing home again. Guitarist Simon split his head, when he hit a stagelight in sheer enthusiasm. Had to be stitched up after the gig, which he finished with some Band Aids. Dissolved after short European tour in July 2001. Members later turned up in bands like ‘Malkovitch’ and ‘I Reject’.
Lame Art (Gouda/Waddinxveen/Reeuwijk).
Tracks: Coming soon.
Note: right after the release of their ‘Spanks Man’ EP, the band played a slightly experimental set, inspired hugely by ‘O.K. Computer’ of ‘Radiohead’. It turned out to be their final hometown-gig before reforming as 'Clockwork' in different line-up.
Mint (Gouda, Londen).
Tracks: Intro/Just Another Daytime/Rain/Caroline/Tell Me What's New/Monday To Monday/Members In Water/On Your Own/When The Day Is Over/Wrong Come Along/Where Have I Been.
Note: after the gig, the band was told by ‘indicate’ bassplayer, they sucked. Which the band heard, shrugging their shoulders afterwards. An unknown quantity of CD’s with these recordings were sold by the band. Which I never knew. Singer Maurits later became frontman of Utrecht based ‘Gem’.
'State-X'-Festival - 'Korzo Theatre' Den Haag, May 5th 2001.
'State-X'-festival.
Saturday May 5th 2001, 'Korzo' Theatre The Hague.
Note: this was the first edition of this Festival, few years before it merged with the ‘New Forms’ Festival. Organised by a.o. a former classmate, I joined in withy the fun to make recordings of ‘The Ex’ and ‘Feverdream’. Learnt a lot about hardware to be taken with me next time.
The Ex (Amsterdam/Wormer).
Tracks: Burnsome/Fistfull Of Feed/The Chair Needs Paint/Town Of Stone/Haydays/Oskar Beck/Submarines/Karaoke Blackout/Time Flies/River/Spruitjes/Stupid Competitions/Lump Sum Insomnia.
Note: due to a faulty cable from the PA, the recording is made in anti-phasis, which means that one signal is minus to the other. When played MONO, the soundboard-signal will vanish, leaving just the venue-sound, which is hollow. This was only discovered AFTER broadcasting.
Incense (Delft/Den Haag/Rotterdam).
Tracks: The whole set consisted of 38 minutes of improvisation in 3 parts.
Notes: as the organisation wasn't fully prepared for me making recordings, the necessary Soundboard-output wasn't available, leaving just two mikes in the back of the small hall available for recording. As the improvised pieces proved interesting, though not quite suitable for broadcasting-purposes, nothing will be done with them anyway, so no harm done. One small bit of the performance is missing though, due to the inevitable tape-change.
Saturday May 5th 2001, 'Korzo' Theatre The Hague.
Note: this was the first edition of this Festival, few years before it merged with the ‘New Forms’ Festival. Organised by a.o. a former classmate, I joined in withy the fun to make recordings of ‘The Ex’ and ‘Feverdream’. Learnt a lot about hardware to be taken with me next time.
The Ex (Amsterdam/Wormer).
Tracks: Burnsome/Fistfull Of Feed/The Chair Needs Paint/Town Of Stone/Haydays/Oskar Beck/Submarines/Karaoke Blackout/Time Flies/River/Spruitjes/Stupid Competitions/Lump Sum Insomnia.
Note: due to a faulty cable from the PA, the recording is made in anti-phasis, which means that one signal is minus to the other. When played MONO, the soundboard-signal will vanish, leaving just the venue-sound, which is hollow. This was only discovered AFTER broadcasting.
Incense (Delft/Den Haag/Rotterdam).
Tracks: The whole set consisted of 38 minutes of improvisation in 3 parts.
Notes: as the organisation wasn't fully prepared for me making recordings, the necessary Soundboard-output wasn't available, leaving just two mikes in the back of the small hall available for recording. As the improvised pieces proved interesting, though not quite suitable for broadcasting-purposes, nothing will be done with them anyway, so no harm done. One small bit of the performance is missing though, due to the inevitable tape-change.
Solbakken - 'So What' Gouda, March 2nd 2001.
Solbakken’ (Amsterdam), 4-track recorded.
Friday March 2nd 2001, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Former Ghostrider/Best Not To Play/Sunday Funeral/International Debt Collector/Low Comedy Campaign/Otcome The Blizzard/American Freerace/Worthy Of Nothing/Four Sundays Left/First Lesson/Our Saint/Inflict More Pain/Intellectual Friend/Nice To Be A Coward/Small Margin.
Note: amazing gig, which unfortunately drew little audience. Years later I got a slightly pissed email from singer Klaas, as I forgot to give him a copy of these recordings. He got several since then!
Friday March 2nd 2001, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Former Ghostrider/Best Not To Play/Sunday Funeral/International Debt Collector/Low Comedy Campaign/Otcome The Blizzard/American Freerace/Worthy Of Nothing/Four Sundays Left/First Lesson/Our Saint/Inflict More Pain/Intellectual Friend/Nice To Be A Coward/Small Margin.
Note: amazing gig, which unfortunately drew little audience. Years later I got a slightly pissed email from singer Klaas, as I forgot to give him a copy of these recordings. He got several since then!
Soda P - 'So What' Gouda, March 2nd 2001.
Soda P. (Amsterdam), 4-track recorded.
Friday March 2nd 2001, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Late Nite Neckers/Special/Battle Conditions/Idolize/”Tuning”/This Name Here/All Her Boox/Put A Fact On Record/Short Statement.
Note: inspiring gig in support of ‘Solbakken. Rene of ‘Feverdream’ came crashing in again and can be heard talking inbetween songs, as there wasn’t a lot of audience that night. It took a while to mix the complete gig, while some tracks got mixed especially for broadcast purposes.
Friday March 2nd 2001, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Late Nite Neckers/Special/Battle Conditions/Idolize/”Tuning”/This Name Here/All Her Boox/Put A Fact On Record/Short Statement.
Note: inspiring gig in support of ‘Solbakken. Rene of ‘Feverdream’ came crashing in again and can be heard talking inbetween songs, as there wasn’t a lot of audience that night. It took a while to mix the complete gig, while some tracks got mixed especially for broadcast purposes.
Zea - 'So What' Gouda, January 26th 2001.
Zea (Amsterdam), 4-track recorded.
Friday January 26th 2001, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: The Center O.K./Speaking Tune/Ofcourse It Hurts, It Always Does/Library Of Genes/They Grew Up Weird/It’s A Difficult Life/Rudy Inbetweenie/Rudy/Give Some Theatre/Kinship Is Like Glue/Kiss Kiss Revolution/Mountain Every Minute.
Note: double bill with labelmates ‘Seedling’. Still a five-piece band then, the intermissions between songs were stretched by the fact Arnold’s sampler needed some time to load data from floppy discs, that got switched inbetween songs. Very memorable night.
Friday January 26th 2001, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: The Center O.K./Speaking Tune/Ofcourse It Hurts, It Always Does/Library Of Genes/They Grew Up Weird/It’s A Difficult Life/Rudy Inbetweenie/Rudy/Give Some Theatre/Kinship Is Like Glue/Kiss Kiss Revolution/Mountain Every Minute.
Note: double bill with labelmates ‘Seedling’. Still a five-piece band then, the intermissions between songs were stretched by the fact Arnold’s sampler needed some time to load data from floppy discs, that got switched inbetween songs. Very memorable night.
Seedling - 'So What' Gouda, January 26th 2001.
Seedling (Amsterdam), 4-track recorded.
Friday January 26th 2001, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Sensational Vacuum Cool Baby, My Hips Go Woo//High On The Downside/27 Hours/Oxygen/Headnoise/This Is As Far As It Goes/Every Match Must Crash And Burn/Sick Boy Soundman/Malice/William, Tell Me.
Note: double bill with labelmates ‘Zea’, weeks before the release of their second CD ‘Elevator Tourist’. A very memorable night, with two great bands and a great atmosphere. Rene from ‘Feverdream’ made a crash-visit.
Friday January 26th 2001, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Sensational Vacuum Cool Baby, My Hips Go Woo//High On The Downside/27 Hours/Oxygen/Headnoise/This Is As Far As It Goes/Every Match Must Crash And Burn/Sick Boy Soundman/Malice/William, Tell Me.
Note: double bill with labelmates ‘Zea’, weeks before the release of their second CD ‘Elevator Tourist’. A very memorable night, with two great bands and a great atmosphere. Rene from ‘Feverdream’ made a crash-visit.
Living Leftovers - 'Gouwestad TV Studio' Gouda, January 15th 2001.
Living Leftovers (Gouda, Leiden, Alphen a/d Rijn, Ter Aar, Amsterdam), 2-track recorded.
Friday January 15th 2001, 'Gouwestad TV-studio' Gouda.
Tracks: Set 1: The Time Is Right/Why Don't You/I'm Going Away Now/No Time To Spare/I Only Did It 'cause I Felt So lonely/Never Around/One Step Closer To You/She's Bad/I'm Dissatisfied/Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White/Birth Struggle
Set 2: Hanging Around/999 Years/I'm In For A Game/Ballad of John B./Hang On Sloopy (Breakdown)/Hang On Sloopy/The Time Is Right/Gone & Left Me.
Note: special gig in local television-studio. The band performed two sets for a very small audience. This gig was organised especially for 'Going Underground' to be recorded for broadcasting. After 25 minutes 12 complaints about noise came from the neighbours, ending up with 38 in total. This record still stands, but showed the limitations of the studio at the same time.
Friday January 15th 2001, 'Gouwestad TV-studio' Gouda.
Tracks: Set 1: The Time Is Right/Why Don't You/I'm Going Away Now/No Time To Spare/I Only Did It 'cause I Felt So lonely/Never Around/One Step Closer To You/She's Bad/I'm Dissatisfied/Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White/Birth Struggle
Set 2: Hanging Around/999 Years/I'm In For A Game/Ballad of John B./Hang On Sloopy (Breakdown)/Hang On Sloopy/The Time Is Right/Gone & Left Me.
Note: special gig in local television-studio. The band performed two sets for a very small audience. This gig was organised especially for 'Going Underground' to be recorded for broadcasting. After 25 minutes 12 complaints about noise came from the neighbours, ending up with 38 in total. This record still stands, but showed the limitations of the studio at the same time.
Slice - 'So What' Gouda, December 29th 2000.
Slice (previously named 'Slice Of Merlin') (Gouda/Haastrecht, Bodegraven), 4-track recorded.
Friday December 29th 2000, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Intro/Angel/Unknown/Boring Day/If I Have/Horny/The Day/She's Wandering/The Lightest Is The Best Way/Circle Of Mills.
Note: very popular band, that made a comeback performance. Did that again a year later, when they released their last CD. And split up.
Friday December 29th 2000, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Intro/Angel/Unknown/Boring Day/If I Have/Horny/The Day/She's Wandering/The Lightest Is The Best Way/Circle Of Mills.
Note: very popular band, that made a comeback performance. Did that again a year later, when they released their last CD. And split up.
Scent Of Incense - 'So What' Gouda, December 29th 2000.
Scent Of Incense (Gouda), 4-track recorded.
Friday December 29th 2000, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Addition/Servant/Fantasy/Blue Bell/Suits Us/Dreaming/Perfect Girl/Day A Day Seas/Judy.
Note: final appearance of this poppy band, who split up about a year later.
Friday December 29th 2000, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Addition/Servant/Fantasy/Blue Bell/Suits Us/Dreaming/Perfect Girl/Day A Day Seas/Judy.
Note: final appearance of this poppy band, who split up about a year later.
Bad Wurm - 'So What' Gouda, December 29th 2000
Bad Wurm (Gouda/Rotterdam/Reeuwijk), 4-track recorded.
Friday December 29th 2000, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Mr. Lee/Broken Bass JamChristian Grandmother/Monstrueux Rarite/Mountains Of Zoom/Funfare Tragedy.
Note: even though the rest of the organising crew had heard their Cd before booking, they looked very disturbed throughout the gig. Which made mer laugh harder, making them look even more disturbed. The soundman never knew what hit him. The loudest and heaviest band ever programmed during the live-show.
Friday December 29th 2000, 'So What' Gouda, during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live-broadcast.
Tracks: Mr. Lee/Broken Bass JamChristian Grandmother/Monstrueux Rarite/Mountains Of Zoom/Funfare Tragedy.
Note: even though the rest of the organising crew had heard their Cd before booking, they looked very disturbed throughout the gig. Which made mer laugh harder, making them look even more disturbed. The soundman never knew what hit him. The loudest and heaviest band ever programmed during the live-show.
donderdag 4 juni 2009
Incense - 'So What' Gouda, November 17th 2000.
Incense (Delft/Den Haag/Rotterdam), 4-track recorded.
Friday November 17th 2000, 'So What' Gouda during the 'Popjachttoer 2000'.
Tracks: Point Of No Return/Too Far Gone/'Stemmen'/Static/Memo Stitch/Embrace/Starlet/Leaving The Misery/More Days To Come/ Go On (Incomplete).
Notes: two weeks before they won ‘The Grand Prize Of Holland’, the band performed in a package with ‘Venus Flytrap’ and ‘Hond’. the other two bands were recorded as well, but due to bad archiving at the time, the tapes got accidentally erased before being mixed down... .
Friday November 17th 2000, 'So What' Gouda during the 'Popjachttoer 2000'.
Tracks: Point Of No Return/Too Far Gone/'Stemmen'/Static/Memo Stitch/Embrace/Starlet/Leaving The Misery/More Days To Come/ Go On (Incomplete).
Notes: two weeks before they won ‘The Grand Prize Of Holland’, the band performed in a package with ‘Venus Flytrap’ and ‘Hond’. the other two bands were recorded as well, but due to bad archiving at the time, the tapes got accidentally erased before being mixed down... .
Han Bennink & Terrie Ex - 'Worm' Rotterdam, October 15th 2000.
Han Bennink & Terrie Ex (Amsterdam/Wormer), 2-track recorded.
Sunday October 15th 2000, 'Dodorama' store, Rotterdam.
Tracks: 14 unknown tracks.
Note: recorded by Philip of 'Dodorama' and licenced for broadcast quite exclusively to 'Going Underground'. Which up untill now has not happened... .
Sunday October 15th 2000, 'Dodorama' store, Rotterdam.
Tracks: 14 unknown tracks.
Note: recorded by Philip of 'Dodorama' and licenced for broadcast quite exclusively to 'Going Underground'. Which up untill now has not happened... .
Lava - 'ACU' Utrecht, October 5th 2000.
Lava (Hungary), 4-track recorded.
Thursday October 5th 2000, 'ACU' Utrecht.
Tracks: several tracks with unknown titles.
Note: the PA created a severe noise throughout the whole performance, making it impossible to broadcast the recordings. As no titles were available, the tape is vaulted without further information. A synchro-copy was made on Minidisc for the band. Most notable memories from the gig itself, were a guitarist showing of big and a girl handling light-effects (lights connected to a tubelight-starter) by hand, looking away.
Thursday October 5th 2000, 'ACU' Utrecht.
Tracks: several tracks with unknown titles.
Note: the PA created a severe noise throughout the whole performance, making it impossible to broadcast the recordings. As no titles were available, the tape is vaulted without further information. A synchro-copy was made on Minidisc for the band. Most notable memories from the gig itself, were a guitarist showing of big and a girl handling light-effects (lights connected to a tubelight-starter) by hand, looking away.
Incense - 'ACU' Utrecht, October 5th 2000.
Incense (Delft/Den Haag/Rotterdam), 4-track recorded.
Thursday October 5th 2000, 'ACU' Utrecht.
Tracks: Lucky/Last Day On Earth/Go On.
Note: the PA created a severe noise throughout the whole performance, making it impossible to broadcast most of the tracks recorded this evening. Only three survived, among which the first ever public performance of 'Lucky'. Got a ride back from the guys, getting an interesting inside look towards the roles inside the band. Interesting.
Thursday October 5th 2000, 'ACU' Utrecht.
Tracks: Lucky/Last Day On Earth/Go On.
Note: the PA created a severe noise throughout the whole performance, making it impossible to broadcast most of the tracks recorded this evening. Only three survived, among which the first ever public performance of 'Lucky'. Got a ride back from the guys, getting an interesting inside look towards the roles inside the band. Interesting.
Moor, McMichael & Heather - 'Worm' Rotterdam, September 29th 2000.
Moor, McMichael & Heather (Amsterdam/UK/USA), 2-track recorded.
Friday September 29th 2000, 'Dodorama' store, Rotterdam.
Tracks: 7 unknown tracks.
Note: side project of Andy Moor of ‘The Ex’. Recorded by Philip of 'Dodorama' and licenced for broadcast quite exclusively to 'Going Underground'. Which up untill now has not happened... .
Friday September 29th 2000, 'Dodorama' store, Rotterdam.
Tracks: 7 unknown tracks.
Note: side project of Andy Moor of ‘The Ex’. Recorded by Philip of 'Dodorama' and licenced for broadcast quite exclusively to 'Going Underground'. Which up untill now has not happened... .
Brezhnev - 'So What' Gouda, September 29th 2000.
Brezhnev (Amsterdam), 4-track recorded.
Friday September 29th 2000, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Baldwig/Suicide Suit/www.Bullshit/Big/Proud To Be Canadian/Atomic Rerun/TV-Satan/'Tuning Up'/Working Class/Stitched Up/District 72/Toilet Fuck/Spermbomb/Don't Hold Me Back/North America Sucks.
Note: slightly better quality in sound than support/double biller ‘Yawp’.
Friday September 29th 2000, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Baldwig/Suicide Suit/www.Bullshit/Big/Proud To Be Canadian/Atomic Rerun/TV-Satan/'Tuning Up'/Working Class/Stitched Up/District 72/Toilet Fuck/Spermbomb/Don't Hold Me Back/North America Sucks.
Note: slightly better quality in sound than support/double biller ‘Yawp’.
Yawp - 'So What' Gouda, September 29th 2000.
Yawp (Amsterdam), 4-track recorded.
Friday September 29th 2000, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Registers/Dope For Guns/Playground/Pinochet/The Storm/Below Zero Attitude/Kids On The Street/Unpredictable Mistake/Inhuman Atrocities/What Good?/I Don't Wanna Know!/For Our Show/Painfull Truth/In The City/Don't Think You're Right.
Note: the soundman of the venue couldn’t handle the punkrock from this ‘Brezhnev Rejects Band’ too well.
Friday September 29th 2000, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Registers/Dope For Guns/Playground/Pinochet/The Storm/Below Zero Attitude/Kids On The Street/Unpredictable Mistake/Inhuman Atrocities/What Good?/I Don't Wanna Know!/For Our Show/Painfull Truth/In The City/Don't Think You're Right.
Note: the soundman of the venue couldn’t handle the punkrock from this ‘Brezhnev Rejects Band’ too well.
Sonic Boom Boys - 'ACU' Utrecht, July 14th 2000.
Sonic Boom Boys (London), 4-track recorded.
Friday July 14th 2000, 'ACU' Utrecht.
Tracks: Cheap And Nasty Rock 'n' Roll/Rocket Boy.
Note: Soundcheck only, as I had a lift with 'Lobotomy', who performed earlier that night.
Friday July 14th 2000, 'ACU' Utrecht.
Tracks: Cheap And Nasty Rock 'n' Roll/Rocket Boy.
Note: Soundcheck only, as I had a lift with 'Lobotomy', who performed earlier that night.
Lobotomy - 'ACU' Utrecht, July 14th 2000.
Lobotomy (Den Haag), 4-track recorded.
Friday July 14th 2000, 'ACU' Utrecht.
Tracks: Mental Case/Speed/Dr. Slaughter.
Note: chaotic punkrockband. The complete gig was recorded, but due to the bad sound- and playing-quality, only the least worse tracks were saved. A tape of the complete gig was handed over to the drummer of the band however.
Friday July 14th 2000, 'ACU' Utrecht.
Tracks: Mental Case/Speed/Dr. Slaughter.
Note: chaotic punkrockband. The complete gig was recorded, but due to the bad sound- and playing-quality, only the least worse tracks were saved. A tape of the complete gig was handed over to the drummer of the band however.
'Moordrecht 2000'-Festival (Day 2) - Soccerclub Moordrecht, July 1st 2000.
'Moordrecht 2000' Festival (Day 2), 4-track recorded.
Saturday July 1st 2000, Soccerclub Moordrecht.
Note: as most of the bands played covers, I decided to tape the first 25 minutes of every gig only, except for the headliner on the second night, which I got complete. What these recordings have in common, is the lack of bass-sound. Several tracks from these recordings were used for the compilation-CD that was issued two months after the event. Copies of the recordings were also issued to the local radiostation in Moordrecht, but these seem to be gone since then.
Oeroeg (Moordrecht).
Tracks: Knock On Wood/Superstitious/Need Your Love So Bad/Julie July/Wishing/Walking By MyselfLike A Lady.
Note: coverband.
Capra (Moordrecht).
Tracks: Cinnamon Girl/Paint It Black/Still Believe/Memories/A Forest/Refugee(??/All Over(?).
Note: coverband, the worst one of the festival probably.
Licensed To Kill (Moordrecht/Gouda).
Tracks: Fool For Your Loving/Summer Of '69/Flirten Op De Dansvloer (Dancing In The Moonlight)/When The Lady Smiles/Enter Sandman/Vrij Spel (Allright Now).
Note: coverband, announced as the festival’s turnoff, but made quite a party with it’s false vocals! ‘Baby When You’re Gone’ got skipped, as the intended duet with ‘Scent Of Incense’-singer Jessica fell through due to a bad cold.
Just A Groove (Moordrecht/Utrecht/Amsterdam).
Tracks: Just A Groove/Love The One You're With/Carwash/Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now/Lady Marmalade (Voulez-Vouz Coucher Avec Moi?)/Rock Steady.
Note: another not too bad coverband.
Wicked Mickey (Moordrecht/Gouderak).
Tracks: Intro/Look Who's In The Sky(Breakdown)/Look Who's In The Sky/Suicide Killer/Walking Down The Street/Silence/Leave Me/Juice/High Prize To Pay (Part).
Note: funky rockers and asolute favourite with (especially female) youthfull audience. One of very few bands with own material. Definetely had potential, but split up few months later.
Travellin' Groove (Moordrecht/Utrecht/Vleuten).
Tracks: Laat Het Vanavond Gebeuren/Unknown/Mamma Said/Hold The Line/Pick Up The Pieces/So What!.
Note: semi-professional partybsand, playing Dance Classics. Singer/Guitarist Eric programmed the festival and edited and co-produced the compilation CD.
AJ.Mharyo (Den Haag/Moordrecht).
Tracks: Way To Heaven/Cold Turkey/Why Can't This Be Love/Colours/Calculation/This Gun Is For Hire/Killing In The Name Of/We Can't Go On/Burn.
Note: straight-on melodic hardrock, at the virge of break-through. Which never materialized.
Saturday July 1st 2000, Soccerclub Moordrecht.
Note: as most of the bands played covers, I decided to tape the first 25 minutes of every gig only, except for the headliner on the second night, which I got complete. What these recordings have in common, is the lack of bass-sound. Several tracks from these recordings were used for the compilation-CD that was issued two months after the event. Copies of the recordings were also issued to the local radiostation in Moordrecht, but these seem to be gone since then.
Oeroeg (Moordrecht).
Tracks: Knock On Wood/Superstitious/Need Your Love So Bad/Julie July/Wishing/Walking By MyselfLike A Lady.
Note: coverband.
Capra (Moordrecht).
Tracks: Cinnamon Girl/Paint It Black/Still Believe/Memories/A Forest/Refugee(??/All Over(?).
Note: coverband, the worst one of the festival probably.
Licensed To Kill (Moordrecht/Gouda).
Tracks: Fool For Your Loving/Summer Of '69/Flirten Op De Dansvloer (Dancing In The Moonlight)/When The Lady Smiles/Enter Sandman/Vrij Spel (Allright Now).
Note: coverband, announced as the festival’s turnoff, but made quite a party with it’s false vocals! ‘Baby When You’re Gone’ got skipped, as the intended duet with ‘Scent Of Incense’-singer Jessica fell through due to a bad cold.
Just A Groove (Moordrecht/Utrecht/Amsterdam).
Tracks: Just A Groove/Love The One You're With/Carwash/Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now/Lady Marmalade (Voulez-Vouz Coucher Avec Moi?)/Rock Steady.
Note: another not too bad coverband.
Wicked Mickey (Moordrecht/Gouderak).
Tracks: Intro/Look Who's In The Sky(Breakdown)/Look Who's In The Sky/Suicide Killer/Walking Down The Street/Silence/Leave Me/Juice/High Prize To Pay (Part).
Note: funky rockers and asolute favourite with (especially female) youthfull audience. One of very few bands with own material. Definetely had potential, but split up few months later.
Travellin' Groove (Moordrecht/Utrecht/Vleuten).
Tracks: Laat Het Vanavond Gebeuren/Unknown/Mamma Said/Hold The Line/Pick Up The Pieces/So What!.
Note: semi-professional partybsand, playing Dance Classics. Singer/Guitarist Eric programmed the festival and edited and co-produced the compilation CD.
AJ.Mharyo (Den Haag/Moordrecht).
Tracks: Way To Heaven/Cold Turkey/Why Can't This Be Love/Colours/Calculation/This Gun Is For Hire/Killing In The Name Of/We Can't Go On/Burn.
Note: straight-on melodic hardrock, at the virge of break-through. Which never materialized.
'Moordrecht 2000'-Festival (Day 1) - Soccerclub Moordrecht, June 30th 2000.
'Moordrecht 2000' Festival (Day 1), 4-track recorded.
Friday June 30th 2000, Soccerclub Moordrecht.
Note: as most of the bands played covers, I decided to tape the first 25 minutes of every gig only, except for the headliner on the second night, which I got complete. What these recordings have in common, is the lack of bass-sound. Several tracks from these recordings were used for the compilation-CD that was issued two months after the event. Copies of the recordings were also issued to the local radiostation in Moordrecht, but these seem to be gone since then.
Rockwool (Moordrecht).
Tracks: Unknown/Alles Of Niets/Harder Dan Ik Hebben Kan/Ugly/De Eenzaamheid/Run To You/De Kust..
Note: coverband.
Little Wing (Moordrecht/Gouda).
Tracks: Wasted/Fire/Gonna Get Back To You/Are You Gonna Go My Way/Steal Away/Holy Life/Frozen Rainbow/Snowblind.
Note: Rock coverband.
Elysium (Gouda/Reeuwijk/Moordrecht).
Tracks: A Strangers End/Face/Sniper/A Thousand Sharves (47368).
Note: last ever gig, as the band split up three months later.Guitarist Mariella de Geus broke 4 strings during 'Sniper', causing the band to improvise on last song. Mariella got murdered November 4th 2001, at the age of 20.
All Change (Moordrecht/Amsterdam).
Tracks: Kayleigh/Lucky/Drafted/100 Words.
Note: coverband.
Raw Fuzion (Moordrecht/Amsterdam).
Tracks: Raw Fusion/Man/New York Steps/Crazy/Feel Good/Make It Shorter.
Note: coverband, one of the more pleasant ones that night.
Friday June 30th 2000, Soccerclub Moordrecht.
Note: as most of the bands played covers, I decided to tape the first 25 minutes of every gig only, except for the headliner on the second night, which I got complete. What these recordings have in common, is the lack of bass-sound. Several tracks from these recordings were used for the compilation-CD that was issued two months after the event. Copies of the recordings were also issued to the local radiostation in Moordrecht, but these seem to be gone since then.
Rockwool (Moordrecht).
Tracks: Unknown/Alles Of Niets/Harder Dan Ik Hebben Kan/Ugly/De Eenzaamheid/Run To You/De Kust..
Note: coverband.
Little Wing (Moordrecht/Gouda).
Tracks: Wasted/Fire/Gonna Get Back To You/Are You Gonna Go My Way/Steal Away/Holy Life/Frozen Rainbow/Snowblind.
Note: Rock coverband.
Elysium (Gouda/Reeuwijk/Moordrecht).
Tracks: A Strangers End/Face/Sniper/A Thousand Sharves (47368).
Note: last ever gig, as the band split up three months later.Guitarist Mariella de Geus broke 4 strings during 'Sniper', causing the band to improvise on last song. Mariella got murdered November 4th 2001, at the age of 20.
All Change (Moordrecht/Amsterdam).
Tracks: Kayleigh/Lucky/Drafted/100 Words.
Note: coverband.
Raw Fuzion (Moordrecht/Amsterdam).
Tracks: Raw Fusion/Man/New York Steps/Crazy/Feel Good/Make It Shorter.
Note: coverband, one of the more pleasant ones that night.
'Lentepop 2000' Festival - Gouda, May 27th 2000.
Lentepop 2000'-festival, Gouda. 2-track recorded from 4-track premix-signal.
Saturday May 27th 2000, 'Lentepop 2000'-Festival Gouda.
Note: To capture most of the festival, a CD-recorded recorded the stereo pre-mix I made with my 4-track recorder directly onto CD’s. During the first songs the organiser, who owned the recorder, paused inbetween tracks. This resulted not only in intermitted recordings, but, as the guy was having conversations at the same time, missing parts of songs as well. Later on, he was too involved with other things, so the Cd was left running from end to start. After the festival, the CD’s vanished, untill summer 2003, whewn all but one (‘Aeolus’) re-appeared. They’re now in my archive.
Aqualung (Gouda/Reeuwijk/Haastrecht).
Tracks: Jesus Saved Me/Locomotive Breath/To Cry You A Song/Aqualung.
Note: Tribute to ‘Jethro Tull’ by local musicians.
Quip! (Gouda/Haastrecht).
Tracks: Try My Friends/Trap/<4 more unknown songs>.
Bad Wurm (Gouda).
Tracks: The Rib-Off/Christian Grandma/Monstertruck/Demon/Gunslinger/Mr Lee.
Note: slightly chaotic, but nevertheless quite intriguing performance by this ‘Blender-rock’group, blending various styles together to one specfic ‘cut-n-Paste’style.
Scent Of Incense (Gouda).
Tracks: Dreaming/Fantasy/Addition/Perfect Girl.
Note: this gig was cut short, as the band took their instruments on stage directly from the warm dressing room. As it was cold and windy, they de-tuned during the first two songs. After a 15 minute break, it was decided to play one more song. I thought I’d recorded the complete gig on 4-tracks on request of the band, but discovered it was also captured on CD.
3 AM (Gouda).
Tracks: Song/Fit For Life/Get To You/To Match Her/The Pain (?)/Why?/Hedonism/With Or Without.
Note: one of very few gigs by this band, which rose from the ashes of ‘After Dark’ and at that time freshly disbanded ‘Gandillion’.
Little Wing (Moordrecht/Gouda).
Tracks: Wasted/Fire/Get Back To You/Are You Gonna Go My Way?/Steal Away/Frozen Rainbow/Snowblind/Gangland/Breaking The Law.
Note: band from organising crew, playing covers and showing off on stage. Ironically this Cd got processed faulty in he recorder, so can’t be played in normal way.
Big Deal (Gouda/Reeuwijk).
Tracks: Hush/Party Town/No Mans Land/Right Here/Matopos/Don't Stop Me Now/Jump.
Note: coverband, managed by one of the organisers for a short while. Released a self-penned CD few years later.
Aces (Gouda).
Tracks: Intro/Death/Come Back/Walls Of Ebony/Master Of Puppets/Aces/Court Deny(?).
Note: Last gig with founding guitarist Edwin, who died Jan. 4th 2001 on complications of diabetes. The band didn’t know their gig got recorded, so were in quite a shock, when they got word from it.
Slang Dang (Gouda/Haasstrecht).
Tracks: Loser/Pretty Little Girl/Hey You Say/Small Place/ Mercy/Slang Dang Fever/Cafe/Hell Of A Party.
Note: the band had so much fun, they wanted to play along. The discussion and attempt they did, was captured as well.
Aeolus (Gouda/Haastrecht).
Tracks: Vicious Circle/Anonymous Embrace/Come Here My Love/Dust On The Mirror/Forbidden City
Note: Debut performance of this Prog Rock band. As the recording quality was way under the bands’ standards, they refused to release the recording master. Got a copy from their former singer in 2004, completing the set of recordings, plus this information.
Travis Walk (Gouda/Den Haag).
Tracks: Intro/Texas Flood/Get Me A Bug/Love Struck Baby/Little Lover Boy/600 Blues/Close To You.
Note: well oiled machine, playing stampin’ blues. Few years later the band played their final gig at the same festival, as the singer decided to dedicate all of his time to the career of his wife, Dutch pornstar Kim Holland.
Blind Justice (Gouda/Rotterdam).
Tracks: Intro/Bloed Uit Je Oren/In Equilibrium/Coming Home/Lost In All/Cage Of Fear/Life Is Bitter, Life Is Sweet/Short Jam 1/Pissed/Weasel/Short Jam 2/Make Me/Outro.
Note: Slightly overloaded recording, thus unfortunately unfit for broadcast. Last gig with drummer Andre Borgman, who went over to 'After Forever'. Seemingly last gig with their soundman as well, I understood later on, as he overloaded volumes at every gig.
Saturday May 27th 2000, 'Lentepop 2000'-Festival Gouda.
Note: To capture most of the festival, a CD-recorded recorded the stereo pre-mix I made with my 4-track recorder directly onto CD’s. During the first songs the organiser, who owned the recorder, paused inbetween tracks. This resulted not only in intermitted recordings, but, as the guy was having conversations at the same time, missing parts of songs as well. Later on, he was too involved with other things, so the Cd was left running from end to start. After the festival, the CD’s vanished, untill summer 2003, whewn all but one (‘Aeolus’) re-appeared. They’re now in my archive.
Aqualung (Gouda/Reeuwijk/Haastrecht).
Tracks: Jesus Saved Me/Locomotive Breath/To Cry You A Song/Aqualung.
Note: Tribute to ‘Jethro Tull’ by local musicians.
Quip! (Gouda/Haastrecht).
Tracks: Try My Friends/Trap/<4 more unknown songs>.
Bad Wurm (Gouda).
Tracks: The Rib-Off/Christian Grandma/Monstertruck/Demon/Gunslinger/Mr Lee.
Note: slightly chaotic, but nevertheless quite intriguing performance by this ‘Blender-rock’group, blending various styles together to one specfic ‘cut-n-Paste’style.
Scent Of Incense (Gouda).
Tracks: Dreaming/Fantasy/Addition/Perfect Girl.
Note: this gig was cut short, as the band took their instruments on stage directly from the warm dressing room. As it was cold and windy, they de-tuned during the first two songs. After a 15 minute break, it was decided to play one more song. I thought I’d recorded the complete gig on 4-tracks on request of the band, but discovered it was also captured on CD.
3 AM (Gouda).
Tracks: Song/Fit For Life/Get To You/To Match Her/The Pain (?)/Why?/Hedonism/With Or Without.
Note: one of very few gigs by this band, which rose from the ashes of ‘After Dark’ and at that time freshly disbanded ‘Gandillion’.
Little Wing (Moordrecht/Gouda).
Tracks: Wasted/Fire/Get Back To You/Are You Gonna Go My Way?/Steal Away/Frozen Rainbow/Snowblind/Gangland/Breaking The Law.
Note: band from organising crew, playing covers and showing off on stage. Ironically this Cd got processed faulty in he recorder, so can’t be played in normal way.
Big Deal (Gouda/Reeuwijk).
Tracks: Hush/Party Town/No Mans Land/Right Here/Matopos/Don't Stop Me Now/Jump.
Note: coverband, managed by one of the organisers for a short while. Released a self-penned CD few years later.
Aces (Gouda).
Tracks: Intro/Death/Come Back/Walls Of Ebony/Master Of Puppets/Aces/Court Deny(?).
Note: Last gig with founding guitarist Edwin, who died Jan. 4th 2001 on complications of diabetes. The band didn’t know their gig got recorded, so were in quite a shock, when they got word from it.
Slang Dang (Gouda/Haasstrecht).
Tracks: Loser/Pretty Little Girl/Hey You Say/Small Place/ Mercy/Slang Dang Fever/Cafe/Hell Of A Party.
Note: the band had so much fun, they wanted to play along. The discussion and attempt they did, was captured as well.
Aeolus (Gouda/Haastrecht).
Tracks: Vicious Circle/Anonymous Embrace/Come Here My Love/Dust On The Mirror/Forbidden City
Note: Debut performance of this Prog Rock band. As the recording quality was way under the bands’ standards, they refused to release the recording master. Got a copy from their former singer in 2004, completing the set of recordings, plus this information.
Travis Walk (Gouda/Den Haag).
Tracks: Intro/Texas Flood/Get Me A Bug/Love Struck Baby/Little Lover Boy/600 Blues/Close To You.
Note: well oiled machine, playing stampin’ blues. Few years later the band played their final gig at the same festival, as the singer decided to dedicate all of his time to the career of his wife, Dutch pornstar Kim Holland.
Blind Justice (Gouda/Rotterdam).
Tracks: Intro/Bloed Uit Je Oren/In Equilibrium/Coming Home/Lost In All/Cage Of Fear/Life Is Bitter, Life Is Sweet/Short Jam 1/Pissed/Weasel/Short Jam 2/Make Me/Outro.
Note: Slightly overloaded recording, thus unfortunately unfit for broadcast. Last gig with drummer Andre Borgman, who went over to 'After Forever'. Seemingly last gig with their soundman as well, I understood later on, as he overloaded volumes at every gig.
Osdorp Posse & Blind Justice - 'So What' Gouda, May 19th 2000.
Osdorp Posse (Amsterdam) & Blind Justice (Rotterdam/Gouda) 4-track recorded.
Friday May 19th 2000, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Soundcheck/ Geendagsvlieg/Chemoderniseerd/Bestrijdt Het Drugsbeleid/ O.P. ge-O.H./Hulp Met Eigen Gevaar/Wat ik Effe Kwijt Wou*.
Note: * Another tape running a bit too short, so this track is incomplete as well. The set itself got killed by overloaded signals from the BJ-soundman overpushing the volumes, though not as bad as the ‘solo’ set by BJ, earlier that night.
Friday May 19th 2000, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Soundcheck/ Geendagsvlieg/Chemoderniseerd/Bestrijdt Het Drugsbeleid/ O.P. ge-O.H./Hulp Met Eigen Gevaar/Wat ik Effe Kwijt Wou*.
Note: * Another tape running a bit too short, so this track is incomplete as well. The set itself got killed by overloaded signals from the BJ-soundman overpushing the volumes, though not as bad as the ‘solo’ set by BJ, earlier that night.
Osdorp Posse - 'So What' Gouda, May 19th 2000.
Osdorp Posse (Amsterdam), 4-track recorded.
Friday May 19th 2000, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Rammen & Beuken/Horen Of Voelen/Likken Doet Slikken/Platwalsen/Monsterfelijk/De Wet Van T.O.K.Y.O./ Origineel Amsterdams/Hyped/Op De Distip/Stijlpikkers/Rust & Ruimte/Beatbijters & Ouwe Koekhappers/ Vlijmscherp/Bloed Zien.
Note: a slightly tired or bored OP played a quite uninspired gig, with most of the songs cut short. Much to the disappointment of the fully loaded venue, who came to see them and co-headliners ‘Blind Justice’.
Friday May 19th 2000, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Rammen & Beuken/Horen Of Voelen/Likken Doet Slikken/Platwalsen/Monsterfelijk/De Wet Van T.O.K.Y.O./ Origineel Amsterdams/Hyped/Op De Distip/Stijlpikkers/Rust & Ruimte/Beatbijters & Ouwe Koekhappers/ Vlijmscherp/Bloed Zien.
Note: a slightly tired or bored OP played a quite uninspired gig, with most of the songs cut short. Much to the disappointment of the fully loaded venue, who came to see them and co-headliners ‘Blind Justice’.
Blind Justice - 'So What' Gouda, May 19th 2000.
Blind Justice (Gouda, Rotterdam), 4-track recorded.
Friday May 19th 2000, 'So What' Gouda.
Note: complete gig was recorded, but as the volumes were extremely loud (138 dB's at certain point), there was too much overload audible on the recording. This night, shared with Dutch Hiphop-crew 'Osdorp Posse', left many attendants with tweeking ears. One song was mixed and broadcasted once, before it was erased again, as agreed with the band. A tape copy was handed over to the band though, so perhaps I can convince trhe singer in digging it up for me one day. A very similar set was played one week later at the 'Lentepop 2000' Festival. See details overthere.
Friday May 19th 2000, 'So What' Gouda.
Note: complete gig was recorded, but as the volumes were extremely loud (138 dB's at certain point), there was too much overload audible on the recording. This night, shared with Dutch Hiphop-crew 'Osdorp Posse', left many attendants with tweeking ears. One song was mixed and broadcasted once, before it was erased again, as agreed with the band. A tape copy was handed over to the band though, so perhaps I can convince trhe singer in digging it up for me one day. A very similar set was played one week later at the 'Lentepop 2000' Festival. See details overthere.
Stratford Mercenairies - 'ACU' Utrecht, May 4th 2000.
Stratford Mercenairies (London), 4-track recorded.
Thursday May 4th 2000, 'ACU' Utrecht.
Tracks: New Kind Of Love/Too Much Too Little/Won't Get Me/Knuckle Under/Happy Hour/Your Time/Sunday Morning Neighbours/Down To You/Cheap Exitement/Stratford Blues/This Is Our World/'Speuluh!'/Knuckle Under/Cheap Exitement/Sunday Morning Neighbours/Do They Owe Us A Living?/ 'Speuluh! '2/Stratford Blues/No More Running*.
* partly recorded, as I ran out of tape again ...
Notes: without singer Steve Ignorant (stayed at home with a broken leg and disillusioned after US-tour) and Phil Barker (On tour with 'The Buzzcocks'). Mixed in the soon after dropped 'Spatial Mix'. Didn't work! Double bill with Czech band ‘Deverova Chyba’.
Thursday May 4th 2000, 'ACU' Utrecht.
Tracks: New Kind Of Love/Too Much Too Little/Won't Get Me/Knuckle Under/Happy Hour/Your Time/Sunday Morning Neighbours/Down To You/Cheap Exitement/Stratford Blues/This Is Our World/'Speuluh!'/Knuckle Under/Cheap Exitement/Sunday Morning Neighbours/Do They Owe Us A Living?/ 'Speuluh! '2/Stratford Blues/No More Running*.
* partly recorded, as I ran out of tape again ...
Notes: without singer Steve Ignorant (stayed at home with a broken leg and disillusioned after US-tour) and Phil Barker (On tour with 'The Buzzcocks'). Mixed in the soon after dropped 'Spatial Mix'. Didn't work! Double bill with Czech band ‘Deverova Chyba’.
Deverova Chyba - 'ACU' Utrecht, May 4th 2000.
Deverova Chyba (Czech Republic), 4-track recorded.
Thursday May 4th 2000, 'ACU' Utrecht.
Full set of unknown titles recorded and saved, when they double-billed with UK 'Stratford Mercenairies'.
Thursday May 4th 2000, 'ACU' Utrecht.
Full set of unknown titles recorded and saved, when they double-billed with UK 'Stratford Mercenairies'.
Kletka Red - 'Worm' Rotterdam, March 5th 2000.
Kletka Red (Amsterdam/Lithuania/USA/Australia), 2-track recorded.
Sunday March 5th 2000, 'Dodorama' store, Rotterdam.
Tracks: Wire/Mayo Pokolenije/The 8th Day/Give Me Your Doorstep, Donnerstag/Galician Dance/Fist Of Leg/Pardon, Grand Merci/Persecution Complex-Skimp/Kosiak Lubvie/Sirba/Who Created You?/Prizadujumal/Street Tune.
Note: recorded by Philip of 'Dodorama' and licenced for broadcast quite exclusively to 'Going Underground'.
Sunday March 5th 2000, 'Dodorama' store, Rotterdam.
Tracks: Wire/Mayo Pokolenije/The 8th Day/Give Me Your Doorstep, Donnerstag/Galician Dance/Fist Of Leg/Pardon, Grand Merci/Persecution Complex-Skimp/Kosiak Lubvie/Sirba/Who Created You?/Prizadujumal/Street Tune.
Note: recorded by Philip of 'Dodorama' and licenced for broadcast quite exclusively to 'Going Underground'.
Lame Art - 'So What' Gouda, January 7th 2000.
Lame Art (Gouda/Waddinxveen), 4-track recorded.
Friday January 7th 2000.
Tracks: Intro-tape/After The Bomb/True Love Regardless/Catch The Sun/Buildings On Ashes/New Substance Of Music/Vicious. Saved: Oblivion/Released/Buildings On Ashes/The Far Indies/At The Forest.
Note: after a full week of rehearsals and an attempted demosession on 8 tracks, they hit the stage witrh friends ‘Feverdream’. One of very few recordings missing in my archives. Probably in another stack of tapes somewhere ... .
Friday January 7th 2000.
Tracks: Intro-tape/After The Bomb/True Love Regardless/Catch The Sun/Buildings On Ashes/New Substance Of Music/Vicious. Saved: Oblivion/Released/Buildings On Ashes/The Far Indies/At The Forest.
Note: after a full week of rehearsals and an attempted demosession on 8 tracks, they hit the stage witrh friends ‘Feverdream’. One of very few recordings missing in my archives. Probably in another stack of tapes somewhere ... .
Feverdream - 'So What' Gouda, January 7th 2000.
Feverdream (Rotterdam), 4-track recorded.
Friday January 7th 2000, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Introsong/Cupid Wings/What Pedro Says/'Is The PA OFF??'/Attack Starter/Unknown/Unknown/Unknown/Unknown/Situation/Love Kicks Your Ass/Minimal/Did I Ask For Your Opinion/Conscious Unconsciously/Unknown/Poetry/Legging Lady/Digit Span Extended.
Note: after the third song the soundman took the guitars out of the soundboard, as the amplifiers were louder than the PA itself. As the recording was a mix of the soundboard-signal and two mikes in the venue, the rest of the recordings weren't of broadcast-quality and remain vaulted.
Friday January 7th 2000, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Introsong/Cupid Wings/What Pedro Says/'Is The PA OFF??'/Attack Starter/Unknown/Unknown/Unknown/Unknown/Situation/Love Kicks Your Ass/Minimal/Did I Ask For Your Opinion/Conscious Unconsciously/Unknown/Poetry/Legging Lady/Digit Span Extended.
Note: after the third song the soundman took the guitars out of the soundboard, as the amplifiers were louder than the PA itself. As the recording was a mix of the soundboard-signal and two mikes in the venue, the rest of the recordings weren't of broadcast-quality and remain vaulted.
Angel Of The Underground - 'So What' Gouda, December 28th 1999.
Angel of the Underground (Gouda/Moordrecht), 4-track recorded.
Tuesday December 28th 1999, 'So What' Gouda during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: Rubella (False Start)/Rubella/Tiny Skirt (False start)/Tiny Skirt/Medea & Me As A Lunatic/Miss Understood/ Fickle Souls/A Whole Lot More.
Note: the band played on, but the radio-setup was dismantled after the broadcast was over. Thus the rest wasn't recorded, unfortunately.
Tuesday December 28th 1999, 'So What' Gouda during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: Rubella (False Start)/Rubella/Tiny Skirt (False start)/Tiny Skirt/Medea & Me As A Lunatic/Miss Understood/ Fickle Souls/A Whole Lot More.
Note: the band played on, but the radio-setup was dismantled after the broadcast was over. Thus the rest wasn't recorded, unfortunately.
Smart - 'So What' Gouda, December 28th 1999.
Smart (Gouda/Zoetermeer), 4-track recorded.
Tuesday December 28th 1999, 'So What' Gouda during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: Jij Bestaat/Liever Niet/Wereld Van Verschil/Zweven Met Je Ogen Dicht.
Notes: The complete set was recorded but lost in time. Singer Niek Nieuwenhuijsen still owns the original 4-track tapes. In 2003, another, untitled track from the same gig, resurfaced on a forgotten Minidisc.
Tuesday December 28th 1999, 'So What' Gouda during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: Jij Bestaat/Liever Niet/Wereld Van Verschil/Zweven Met Je Ogen Dicht.
Notes: The complete set was recorded but lost in time. Singer Niek Nieuwenhuijsen still owns the original 4-track tapes. In 2003, another, untitled track from the same gig, resurfaced on a forgotten Minidisc.
Scent Of Incense - 'So What' Gouda, December 28th 1999.
Scent Of Incense (Gouda), 4-track recorded.
Tuesday December 28th 1999, 'So What' Gouda during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: Fantasy/Perfect Girl/Suits Us/Dreaming.
Note; fresh and poppy band I discovered during a recording session, which wrapped up a course run in a club house.
Tuesday December 28th 1999, 'So What' Gouda during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: Fantasy/Perfect Girl/Suits Us/Dreaming.
Note; fresh and poppy band I discovered during a recording session, which wrapped up a course run in a club house.
Lame Art - 'So What' Gouda, December 28th 1999.
Lame Art (Gouda/Waddinxveen), acoustic set, 4-track recorded.
Tuesday December 28th 1999, 'So What' Gouda during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: Your Natrium Son/Softly Socialized/True Love Regardless/Las Vegas/Landscape Underneath (Taste The Dream).
Note: after two electric sets, the band returned to do an acoustic set, with completely new songs. The venue was used to work with elements and DI’s and got a hard time miking the band. Which is audible, as it rained mikes throughout the gig. During 'Softly Socialized' the soundmen were so occupiewd, they left the vocals switched off, causing this track to be erased for being useless for radio.
Tuesday December 28th 1999, 'So What' Gouda during 'De Goudse Afrekening' live broadcast.
Tracks: Your Natrium Son/Softly Socialized/True Love Regardless/Las Vegas/Landscape Underneath (Taste The Dream).
Note: after two electric sets, the band returned to do an acoustic set, with completely new songs. The venue was used to work with elements and DI’s and got a hard time miking the band. Which is audible, as it rained mikes throughout the gig. During 'Softly Socialized' the soundmen were so occupiewd, they left the vocals switched off, causing this track to be erased for being useless for radio.
De Kift - 'Worm' Rotterdam, December 1st 1999.
De Kift (Oostknollendam/Wormer/Alkmaar), 2-track recorded.
Wednesday December 1st 1999, 'Dodorama' store Rotterdam.
Tracks: Intro/AlmanakOrenmens/Kuiken/Uitpuilende Ogen/De Derde Cup/Muur, Muur/Oe/Moeder/De Zon/??/Grijpstuivers/Vleermuis/??/P./Bloed & Cider/De Dorpsboom/Rolfie/Biggenfarandole/Bierflessengroen/De Dakgoot/Links, Twee, Drie, Vier/Muur, Muur/Tabee.
Note: recorded by Marius van Kuijck of 'Dodorama' and licenced for broadcast quite exclusively to 'Going Underground', with permission from the band. ‘De Kift’ consists of former members from ‘Svätsox’, ‘Rondos’ and a local harmony.
Wednesday December 1st 1999, 'Dodorama' store Rotterdam.
Tracks: Intro/AlmanakOrenmens/Kuiken/Uitpuilende Ogen/De Derde Cup/Muur, Muur/Oe/Moeder/De Zon/??/Grijpstuivers/Vleermuis/??/P./Bloed & Cider/De Dorpsboom/Rolfie/Biggenfarandole/Bierflessengroen/De Dakgoot/Links, Twee, Drie, Vier/Muur, Muur/Tabee.
Note: recorded by Marius van Kuijck of 'Dodorama' and licenced for broadcast quite exclusively to 'Going Underground', with permission from the band. ‘De Kift’ consists of former members from ‘Svätsox’, ‘Rondos’ and a local harmony.
The Ex - 'Worm' Rotterdam, November 28th 1999.
The Ex (Amsterdam/Wormer), 2-track recorded.
Sunday, November 28th 1999, 'Dodorama' store, Rotterdam.
Tracks: Burnsome/Fistfull Of Feed/The Chair Needs Paint/Art Of Losing/River/Frenzy/Two Struck By The Moon/Tin Lid/Oskar Beck/Time Flies/Lump Sum Insomnia/Little Atlas Heavyweight/It's A Sin.
Note: recorded by Marius van Kuijck of 'Dodorama' and licenced for broadcast quite exclusively to 'Going Underground', with permission from the band. The setlist contained interesting working-titles like: Tortex, Nigeria, In 10, McSister, Kweetniet, Konya Kip.
Sunday, November 28th 1999, 'Dodorama' store, Rotterdam.
Tracks: Burnsome/Fistfull Of Feed/The Chair Needs Paint/Art Of Losing/River/Frenzy/Two Struck By The Moon/Tin Lid/Oskar Beck/Time Flies/Lump Sum Insomnia/Little Atlas Heavyweight/It's A Sin.
Note: recorded by Marius van Kuijck of 'Dodorama' and licenced for broadcast quite exclusively to 'Going Underground', with permission from the band. The setlist contained interesting working-titles like: Tortex, Nigeria, In 10, McSister, Kweetniet, Konya Kip.
Solex - 'So What' Gouda, November 26th 1999.
Solex (Amsterdam), 4-track recorded.
Friday November 26th 1999.
Tracks: Some Solex/When Solex Just Stood There/The Burglars Are Coming/Waking Up With Solex/That's What You Get With People Like That On Cruises Like These/Randy Constanza/Snappy & Cocky/One Louder Solex/Escargot/Solex In A Slipshod Style/Rolex By Solex/Oh Blimey!/Athens Ohio/Pick Up/Solex All Lickety Split/That'll Be $22.95/'We Want More'/Not Fade Away.
Notes: Final of 3-track recordings. Not the busiest gig, which was somkewhat withdrawn. Live-drumming provided by a former drummer of ‘Fatal Flowers’. While busy with the inevitable 'changing of the tapes', I missed the first notes of 'Pick Up'. Should try and arrange the damn artists to wait, untill this ego is ready to continue recording again, don't you think ???? Right!!
Friday November 26th 1999.
Tracks: Some Solex/When Solex Just Stood There/The Burglars Are Coming/Waking Up With Solex/That's What You Get With People Like That On Cruises Like These/Randy Constanza/Snappy & Cocky/One Louder Solex/Escargot/Solex In A Slipshod Style/Rolex By Solex/Oh Blimey!/Athens Ohio/Pick Up/Solex All Lickety Split/That'll Be $22.95/'We Want More'/Not Fade Away.
Notes: Final of 3-track recordings. Not the busiest gig, which was somkewhat withdrawn. Live-drumming provided by a former drummer of ‘Fatal Flowers’. While busy with the inevitable 'changing of the tapes', I missed the first notes of 'Pick Up'. Should try and arrange the damn artists to wait, untill this ego is ready to continue recording again, don't you think ???? Right!!
I Against I - 'So What' Gouda, November 19th 1999.
I Against I (Dordrecht), 4-track recorded.
Friday November 19th 1999, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Read & Weep/rest unknown.
Note: another 3-track-session, simultaneously copied onto Minidisc by another local radiostation ('Radio M' from Haastrecht), which was hosted by a future neighbour of mine, Mirjam. Again, the first 25 minutes recorded only. With no setlist available, hard to identify all tracks.
Friday November 19th 1999, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Read & Weep/rest unknown.
Note: another 3-track-session, simultaneously copied onto Minidisc by another local radiostation ('Radio M' from Haastrecht), which was hosted by a future neighbour of mine, Mirjam. Again, the first 25 minutes recorded only. With no setlist available, hard to identify all tracks.
Nosferatu - 'So What' Gouda, November 19th 1999.
Nosferato (Bodegraven/Alphen ad Rijn), 4-Track Recorded.
Friday November 19th 1999, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Change/What's Wrong With America/Heroine/African Song/Captain Me/Cure/Despair.
Note: another 3-track-session. The band played support to ‘I Against I’. They still exist, playing as ‘Spooner’.
Friday November 19th 1999, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Change/What's Wrong With America/Heroine/African Song/Captain Me/Cure/Despair.
Note: another 3-track-session. The band played support to ‘I Against I’. They still exist, playing as ‘Spooner’.
Sway - 'So What' Gouda, October 8th 1999.
Sway (Gouda, Utrecht, Vianen, 4-track recorded.
Friday October 8th 1999, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Good Times/Common/Been A Long Day/Vicious/Get Down/Who Are They?/Turn Around/Rental Wings/Come In Drunk*/Things You Said Today/Friends/Falling Down/Hear You Say/Jesus/About You.
Notes: *Incomplete, because I ran out of tape in the middle of the song (Ofcourse!). Because there was only one microphone-cable available, the venue-sound was recorded on one mono-track only. This turned out their final gig before they split up. In 2002 thet reünited, after causing local band ‘Mint’ to split over borrowing and rejecting members for additional guitar. After rejecting future ‘Gem’-singer Maurits Westerik, they hired drummer Edwin Bol, played one gig and split up forever!
Friday October 8th 1999, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Good Times/Common/Been A Long Day/Vicious/Get Down/Who Are They?/Turn Around/Rental Wings/Come In Drunk*/Things You Said Today/Friends/Falling Down/Hear You Say/Jesus/About You.
Notes: *Incomplete, because I ran out of tape in the middle of the song (Ofcourse!). Because there was only one microphone-cable available, the venue-sound was recorded on one mono-track only. This turned out their final gig before they split up. In 2002 thet reünited, after causing local band ‘Mint’ to split over borrowing and rejecting members for additional guitar. After rejecting future ‘Gem’-singer Maurits Westerik, they hired drummer Edwin Bol, played one gig and split up forever!
The Cords - 'Plaatboef' Gouda (Instore), June 11th 1999.
The Cords (Deventer/Enschede), 4-track recording.
Friday June 11th 1999, 'Plaatboef' Instore-gig Gouda.
Tracks: Hibernate/Snowball/Metropolis/24 Hours/Hey Susan.
Note: right before the start of the recording, keyboard-player Yuko Murata accidentally knocked over a bottle of beer, which poured into my recorder. After some 'Emergency-dwelling', the gig and recording went ahead. I managed to get everything recorded well, apart from some overloaded vocals at peaks. The machine still runs, but it took 3 months of extensive cleaning to have it online again. But another good thing is, that Yuko, Maz and I are still in touch on a musical base ever since.
Friday June 11th 1999, 'Plaatboef' Instore-gig Gouda.
Tracks: Hibernate/Snowball/Metropolis/24 Hours/Hey Susan.
Note: right before the start of the recording, keyboard-player Yuko Murata accidentally knocked over a bottle of beer, which poured into my recorder. After some 'Emergency-dwelling', the gig and recording went ahead. I managed to get everything recorded well, apart from some overloaded vocals at peaks. The machine still runs, but it took 3 months of extensive cleaning to have it online again. But another good thing is, that Yuko, Maz and I are still in touch on a musical base ever since.
Right Direction - 'So What' Gouda, May 14th 1999.
Right Direction (Maastricht), 4-track recording.
Friday May 17th 1999, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Spoke In A Wheel/Where Were You/Same Old-Johnny/My Last Bullit/I Got Your Number/Kids/Enemy/Army/Nur Die Besten Sterben Jung.
Note: for some particular reason (now unknown to me), I recorded the first 25 minutes only of several gigs. There wasn't any more room on the tapes I used, but initially didn't even bother to bring more ... .
Friday May 17th 1999, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Spoke In A Wheel/Where Were You/Same Old-Johnny/My Last Bullit/I Got Your Number/Kids/Enemy/Army/Nur Die Besten Sterben Jung.
Note: for some particular reason (now unknown to me), I recorded the first 25 minutes only of several gigs. There wasn't any more room on the tapes I used, but initially didn't even bother to bring more ... .
Indicate - 'So What' Gouda, May 17th 1999.
Indicate (Gouda/Haastrecht/Reeuwijk), 4-track recording.
Friday May 17th 1999, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Impulse/Pointing Finger/Fake Friend/Empty Words/Get Out/Difficult Sincerity/Ape/What Is Human?/T.M.I.M.N./ G.H.C.
Note: hardcoreband from local ‘Green Heart Core’-scene. Made a party where ever they went, making their gigs somewhat messy. Went in the studio right after this gig, recording their demo at night. Which came out quite well. Several members later moved on to bigger bands like ‘Malkovich’ and ‘I Reject’.
Friday May 17th 1999, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Impulse/Pointing Finger/Fake Friend/Empty Words/Get Out/Difficult Sincerity/Ape/What Is Human?/T.M.I.M.N./ G.H.C.
Note: hardcoreband from local ‘Green Heart Core’-scene. Made a party where ever they went, making their gigs somewhat messy. Went in the studio right after this gig, recording their demo at night. Which came out quite well. Several members later moved on to bigger bands like ‘Malkovich’ and ‘I Reject’.
Lame Art - 'Koornbeurs' Delft, April 14th 1999.
Lame Art (Gouda, Waddinxveen), 4-track recording.
Saturday April 14th 1999, 'Koornbeurs' Delft.
Tracks: The Far Indies/Released/Aim For The Brain/Oblivion/Duco's Waking Nights/Disfiction/Catch The Sun/The Only Ones That Try/Parasites/My Sister Dead In The Sea/At The Forest/Buildings On Ashes/New Substance Of Music/Vicious.
Note: Headlining this night, the band was in great shape, delivering one of their best gigs ever. This period is considered their peak. Having the original 4 track tapes stored in my archive, I remixed the gig for a better sound in 2008. Keeping the original mix on cassette in the archive as well, ofcourse.
Saturday April 14th 1999, 'Koornbeurs' Delft.
Tracks: The Far Indies/Released/Aim For The Brain/Oblivion/Duco's Waking Nights/Disfiction/Catch The Sun/The Only Ones That Try/Parasites/My Sister Dead In The Sea/At The Forest/Buildings On Ashes/New Substance Of Music/Vicious.
Note: Headlining this night, the band was in great shape, delivering one of their best gigs ever. This period is considered their peak. Having the original 4 track tapes stored in my archive, I remixed the gig for a better sound in 2008. Keeping the original mix on cassette in the archive as well, ofcourse.
Puz - 'Koornbeurs' Delft, April 14th 1999
Puz (Rotterdam/Nw Beijerland), 4-track recording.
Saturday April 14th 1999, 'Koornbeurs' Delft.
Tracks: Win Some, Lose Some/Sore Brains/Greed/3 Years/Explain The Way/All The Time/Girl In Pain/Best In The End/Shades/Life During Wartime.
Note: My first ever live-recordings using a 4 track cassetterecorder. As it was new to the venue as well, someone bluntly switched off the mike channels while recording. I made sure he never did this again. Listening back at the mix, I’d probably do it different now, but it’s okay.
Saturday April 14th 1999, 'Koornbeurs' Delft.
Tracks: Win Some, Lose Some/Sore Brains/Greed/3 Years/Explain The Way/All The Time/Girl In Pain/Best In The End/Shades/Life During Wartime.
Note: My first ever live-recordings using a 4 track cassetterecorder. As it was new to the venue as well, someone bluntly switched off the mike channels while recording. I made sure he never did this again. Listening back at the mix, I’d probably do it different now, but it’s okay.
maandag 1 juni 2009
'Doorgeplugd' Session 11: Deception.
Between September 2000 and December 2001, a set of sessions was recorded live and produced by John Radersma, owner of recording- and rehearsal studio ‘Plug Unit’ in Reeuwijk, Holland. As many bands rehearsed there, but not had the material yet to showcase themselves, these sessions were done and aired live.
Deception (Gouda, Leiden).
Recorded: December 14th 2001.
First Broadcast: December 21st 2001.
Tracks: I Wanna Be Me/Time Flies/The Gate/Torn In The Desert Of Oceans.
Note: used as a 'fine tune' for their sept 2003 released CD. This session was aired one week earlier than usual, due to the annual live broadcast 'De Goudse Afrekening' on intended day. Last of a series of sessions, as the studio began to take more and more time for John, to realise more sessions.
Deception (Gouda, Leiden).
Recorded: December 14th 2001.
First Broadcast: December 21st 2001.
Tracks: I Wanna Be Me/Time Flies/The Gate/Torn In The Desert Of Oceans.
Note: used as a 'fine tune' for their sept 2003 released CD. This session was aired one week earlier than usual, due to the annual live broadcast 'De Goudse Afrekening' on intended day. Last of a series of sessions, as the studio began to take more and more time for John, to realise more sessions.
'Doorgeplugd' Session 10: Prelude.
Between September 2000 and December 2001, a set of sessions was recorded live and produced by John Radersma, owner of recording- and rehearsal studio ‘Plug Unit’ in Reeuwijk, Holland. As many bands rehearsed there, but not had the material yet to showcase themselves, these sessions were done and aired live.
Prelude (Gouda, Reeuwijk).
Recorded: somewhere in November 2001, the interview at a later date, as the singer was ill that day.
First Broadcast: November 30th 2001.
Track: Socks/Instrumenta/WTC/Screwed.
Note: split up soon after the session was aired.
Prelude (Gouda, Reeuwijk).
Recorded: somewhere in November 2001, the interview at a later date, as the singer was ill that day.
First Broadcast: November 30th 2001.
Track: Socks/Instrumenta/WTC/Screwed.
Note: split up soon after the session was aired.
'Doorgeplugd' Session 9: Vuist!
Between September 2000 and December 2001, a set of sessions was recorded live and produced by John Radersma, owner of recording- and rehearsal studio ‘Plug Unit’ in Reeuwijk, Holland. As many bands rehearsed there, but not had the material yet to showcase themselves, these sessions were done and aired live.
Vuist! (Gouda, Moordrecht).
Recorded: October 21st 2001.
First broadcast: October 26th 2001.
Tracks: Images/160 (One Sixty)/The Calling (In My Head (Acoustic Version?!?).
Note: the interview was never broadcast due to family circumstances within the band. I briefly told what was said inbetween tracks during the show.
Vuist! (Gouda, Moordrecht).
Recorded: October 21st 2001.
First broadcast: October 26th 2001.
Tracks: Images/160 (One Sixty)/The Calling (In My Head (Acoustic Version?!?).
Note: the interview was never broadcast due to family circumstances within the band. I briefly told what was said inbetween tracks during the show.
'Doorgeplugd' Session 8: Aces.
Between September 2000 and December 2001, a set of sessions was recorded live and produced by John Radersma, owner of recording- and rehearsal studio ‘Plug Unit’ in Reeuwijk, Holland. As many bands rehearsed there, but not had the material yet to showcase themselves, these sessions were done and aired live.
Aces (Gouda).
Recorded: September 23rd 2001.
First Broadcast: September 28th 2001.
Track: Countdown To Destruction/Come Back/Don't Wanna Lose You (Acoustic Version)/Dreamland.
Notes: first recordings after the death of co-founding guitarist Edwin (Jan 2001) and the introduction of a new singer. This session was used as 'fine tune' for their December 2001 recorded, but never released 2nd CD.
Aces (Gouda).
Recorded: September 23rd 2001.
First Broadcast: September 28th 2001.
Track: Countdown To Destruction/Come Back/Don't Wanna Lose You (Acoustic Version)/Dreamland.
Notes: first recordings after the death of co-founding guitarist Edwin (Jan 2001) and the introduction of a new singer. This session was used as 'fine tune' for their December 2001 recorded, but never released 2nd CD.
'Doorgeplugd' Session 7: Quip!
Between September 2000 and December 2001, a set of sessions was recorded live and produced by John Radersma, owner of recording- and rehearsal studio ‘Plug Unit’ in Reeuwijk, Holland. As many bands rehearsed there, but not had the material yet to showcase themselves, these sessions were done and aired live.
Quip! (Gouda, Haastrecht).
Recorded April 22nd 2001.
Quip! (Gouda, Haastrecht).
Recorded April 22nd 2001.
First Broadcast: April 27th 2001.
Tracks: Try My Friends/Lost In Life/Blindfold Believers/Last Time Bright.
Note: remixed, this session was used for the promo 'Fata Orgasmus' by the band later that year.
'Doorgeplugd' Session 6: Lame Art.
Between September 2000 and December 2001, a set of sessions was recorded live and produced by John Radersma, owner of recording- and rehearsal studio ‘Plug Unit’ in Reeuwijk, Holland. As many bands rehearsed there, but not had the material yet to showcase themselves, these sessions were done and aired live.
Lame Art (Gouda/Waddinxveen).
Recorded: March 21st 2001.
First Broadcast: March 30th 2001.
Tracks: Opened Or Closed/Got A Ticket To Ride?/Rush (As She Walked Through The Room/Award Winners.
Notes: recorded during a 'fine-tune' for a gig the 24th, so no acoustic song this time.
Lame Art (Gouda/Waddinxveen).
Recorded: March 21st 2001.
First Broadcast: March 30th 2001.
Tracks: Opened Or Closed/Got A Ticket To Ride?/Rush (As She Walked Through The Room/Award Winners.
Notes: recorded during a 'fine-tune' for a gig the 24th, so no acoustic song this time.
'Doorgeplugd' Session 5: 3 AM.
Between September 2000 and December 2001, a set of sessions was recorded live and produced by John Radersma, owner of recording- and rehearsal studio ‘Plug Unit’ in Reeuwijk, Holland. As many bands rehearsed there, but not had the material yet to showcase themselves, these sessions were done and aired live.
3 AM (Gouda, Reeuwijk, Rotterdam).
Recorded: November 7th 2000 (Session), February 2001 (Interview).
First Broadcast: February 23rd 2001.
Tracks: To Match Her/With Or Without/Don't You Ever Turn Your Back On Me/Why? (Acoustic Version)/Song.
Note: initially recorded as a pre-production for a planned demo, this session was okay-ed to act as a 'Doorgeplugd'-session, with the interview taped days before the broadcast. Two weeks after this broadcast internal tensions burst and the band split up!
3 AM (Gouda, Reeuwijk, Rotterdam).
Recorded: November 7th 2000 (Session), February 2001 (Interview).
First Broadcast: February 23rd 2001.
Tracks: To Match Her/With Or Without/Don't You Ever Turn Your Back On Me/Why? (Acoustic Version)/Song.
Note: initially recorded as a pre-production for a planned demo, this session was okay-ed to act as a 'Doorgeplugd'-session, with the interview taped days before the broadcast. Two weeks after this broadcast internal tensions burst and the band split up!
'Doorgeplugd' Session 4: dEtestence.
Between September 2000 and December 2001, a set of sessions was recorded live and produced by John Radersma, owner of recording- and rehearsal studio ‘Plug Unit’ in Reeuwijk, Holland. As many bands rehearsed there, but not had the material yet to showcase themselves, these sessions were done and aired live.
dEtestence (Gouda/Stolwijk).
Recorded: January 16th 2001.
First Broadcast: January 26th 2001.
Tracks: Before I Lose It-Come On Over/Transfer Interrupted/Sorry For You/Miss Maggot (Acoustic).
Note: last session I attended while recorded. I simply ran out of time after that!
dEtestence (Gouda/Stolwijk).
Recorded: January 16th 2001.
First Broadcast: January 26th 2001.
Tracks: Before I Lose It-Come On Over/Transfer Interrupted/Sorry For You/Miss Maggot (Acoustic).
Note: last session I attended while recorded. I simply ran out of time after that!
'Doorgeplugd' Session 3: Slang Dang.
Between September 2000 and December 2001, a set of sessions was recorded live and produced by John Radersma, owner of recording- and rehearsal studio ‘Plug Unit’ in Reeuwijk, Holland. As many bands rehearsed there, but not had the material yet to showcase themselves, these sessions were done and aired live.
Slang Dang (Gouda).
Recorded: November 5th 2000.
First Broadcast: November 24th 2000.
Tracks: Eskimo/Hey You Say/Loser (Acoustic).
Note: although not the soberest people in the world when starting recording 'Loser', they succeeded in laying down one of the most memorable tracks of all sessions. Undoubtedly the most aired track of any session and regularly aired on other programs as well (With me present as a guest ofcourse!).
Slang Dang (Gouda).
Recorded: November 5th 2000.
First Broadcast: November 24th 2000.
Tracks: Eskimo/Hey You Say/Loser (Acoustic).
Note: although not the soberest people in the world when starting recording 'Loser', they succeeded in laying down one of the most memorable tracks of all sessions. Undoubtedly the most aired track of any session and regularly aired on other programs as well (With me present as a guest ofcourse!).
'Doorgeplugd' Session 2: Bad Wurm
Between September 2000 and December 2001, a set of sessions was recorded live and produced by John Radersma, owner of recording- and rehearsal studio ‘Plug Unit’ in Reeuwijk, Holland. As many bands rehearsed there, but not had the material yet to showcase themselves, these sessions were done and aired live.
Bad Wurm (Gouda).
Recorded: October 13th 2000.
First Broadcast: October 27th 2000.
Tracks: Mountains Of Zoom/Monstrueux Rarité/Monstertruck (Acoustic Version).
Note: One of only two sessions, of which the included interview was NOT broadcast. Due to technical problems, as some members of the band preferred to join in with the interview running around the studio and screaming both into the mike and against the walls on the other side of the room. Merely due to the happy and chaotic moods in the band and forcing them to perform acoustic, which they never did before!
Bad Wurm (Gouda).
Recorded: October 13th 2000.
First Broadcast: October 27th 2000.
Tracks: Mountains Of Zoom/Monstrueux Rarité/Monstertruck (Acoustic Version).
Note: One of only two sessions, of which the included interview was NOT broadcast. Due to technical problems, as some members of the band preferred to join in with the interview running around the studio and screaming both into the mike and against the walls on the other side of the room. Merely due to the happy and chaotic moods in the band and forcing them to perform acoustic, which they never did before!
'Doorgeplugd' Session 1: Collin
Between September 2000 and December 2001, a set of sessions was recorded live and produced by John Radersma, owner of recording- and rehearsal studio ‘Plug Unit’ in Reeuwijk, Holland. As many bands rehearsed there, but not had the material yet to showcase themselves, these sessions were done and aired live.
Collin (Gouda, Reeuwijk).
Recorded August 30th 2000.
First Broadcast: September 29th 2000.
Tracks: Sad/Swallow/Filter.
Note: Only the singer and guitarist were present during this acoustic session. 'Sad' is a rough mix-version of a session used for a low-profile promo. Members of the band '3 AM' were invited to act as audience, to give the session a bit of a' live'-feel. This idea was abandonned after this session and never used again. As was the intro they recorded for this broadcast, containing the words ‘Going Underground’ and ‘Doorgeplugd’.
Collin (Gouda, Reeuwijk).
Recorded August 30th 2000.
First Broadcast: September 29th 2000.
Tracks: Sad/Swallow/Filter.
Note: Only the singer and guitarist were present during this acoustic session. 'Sad' is a rough mix-version of a session used for a low-profile promo. Members of the band '3 AM' were invited to act as audience, to give the session a bit of a' live'-feel. This idea was abandonned after this session and never used again. As was the intro they recorded for this broadcast, containing the words ‘Going Underground’ and ‘Doorgeplugd’.
vrijdag 29 mei 2009
Interview with Mick Quinn (Supergrass) Nov 7th 2005, 'Melkweg' Amsterdam
This transcript has been published on www.strangeones.com in 2006.
Having just arrived and settled in our hotel room, my mobile went off: Mick, asking wether it was possible to come to 'The Melkweg' to do the interview now, instead of after the soundcheck. Twenty minutes later I had found my way to the dressing-room,got my borrowed old taperecorder running and blasted off with the interview...
Welcome to Holland.
Thank you
How was your trip to Amsterdam?
Well, I don't know. We've done it a lot of times, so we put on a DVD, drank a couple of bottles of red wine and I just remember waking up in the bottom of a ship and you feel like you're about to die, like you normally do. And that's when I went back to sleep and then I woke up and we were there. So pretty standard.
When did you leave England?
Ah, we set off at about 11 'o Clock last night. Yeah, tucked my daughter up in bed, went down the pub, had a few pints and then on the bus and then wake up here. Yeah.
This is another tour. Is it always difficult to have a first gig while you're on tour?
Well this one in particular, as Danny is not here on this tour. So we've got a stand-in drummer. And also Rob isn't on this tour, so we've got a stand-in keyboard player. So it's me and Gaz, carrying the flag of 'Supergrass' today, so it's gonna be interesting.
Any particular reason Danny and Rob are absent?
Well Bob has got some sort of personal stuff that he needed to sort out, so we sat down and talked about it and he's just gonna be missing for this tour. And Danny's got his baby on the way, so he wanted to be there for that, you know. So that's how it's worked out. We spent a bit of time rehearsing with our stand-ins. We've got Gaz' younger brother playing keyboards with us, which is quite interesting. Keeping it in the family! And we've got Loz Colburn on drums. He used to play for 'Ride' and me and Gaz played with him years ago and when we wanted a stand-in drummer, you can't exactly replace Danny, 'cause he's irreplaceable, but we thought it's kind of, you want to go with someone local, we don't want in some session guy that we've never met before and didn't have any affinity with, so we sort of looked locally. And ahh, he's got a different style, but it's interesting. And the set we're doing tonight is kind of loosely based on the acoustic tour we did in August. So it's not a classic 'Supergrass' gig in the way that it's kind of full of Rock and Roll, which I don't think we can compete with or to do properly without Danny, so it's kind of more in an acoustic vein and it works really well, you know. It lands itself a lot better to having a different drummer.
It's some sort of improvised setlist?
It's not improvised you know, as the set is really kinda based on the acoustic tour and we sat down and rehearsed that for three weeks, to get that acoustic tour into the shape it is. So the set's quite well thought out in the way that it works. We've got Satin Singh playing percussion on this tour as well, so I think it would be improvised in the way that, you know. We've got to make allowances for a different drummer. Charley's kinda got his own style on the keyboards as well. Which is different to Bob's, who's got a more strident and stuff and a bit more honky tonk and that works for some songs better than maybe Bobs' in a way, but you kinda let that in other ways but it's got a different kind of shape to it but I don't think it's kind of improvised. It's gonna be a good show.
And is the drummer the same one who replaced Danny in 1999?
No, we used Vinnie, Vincenzo Lamy to give him his full title and we kind of thought using Vinnie, but felt, for this tour in particular, Vinny is more a kind of a straight session drummer and we felt like we had to kind of coach him to speed up and slow down and put life into it, you know, which is kind of a standard thing with session musicians, but we felt just that Loz has got more of a natural feel for it. He'll put in fills you haven't asked him to put in and you open up and he puts in his personality and that's that more of what we're after.
You've just released your fifth album. Was it difficult to make a new one?
I don't know, you know. I mean, they're always quite separate from each other. Obviously we're the same people, so we approach some things in the same way, but we try not actually think about on how we went about the last time, we just try and change the process a bit, to keep it more interesting. We kind of done the 'Best Of', 'Supergrass is 10' in the mean time, so we had a lot of time to think of how we would progress from 'Life On Other Planets' to this record. And we did make that decision early on that we felt strong enough to go back and produce it ourselves, without using a producer. We didn't want to manipulate the sound in a way he had before with a producer and actually concentrate on the actual sounds and processing them and changing them. We kind of wanted to get closer to were we where on our demos, when we just played as a band in a room, and just try and make it sound more natural and sort of unforced. There's so many strands to make a record and we came to the decision that we didn't want to work in a proper studio persé, but we wanted to just buy studio equipment and set it up in a room and this gives you a whole range of sounds which are impossible to get in a studio. you kind of get this DIY effect. It's like a glorified demo, you know. When we used to make demos we'd put the bass amp in the toilet, put tea towels over the drumkit and stuff. And we wanted to do that, you know. We wanted not being too worried on making it technically sound brilliant, but interesting and unique. And that was fairly easy to do, you know. For a natural effect is involved as well. We got hold of Pom who did the engineering for it and he basically refurbishes studio equipment and he was telling us most of the residential studios in England have been closing down over the last five years, due to the advent of technology and people doing it in their own bedroom. So all these studio's are closing down and selling their equipment. So we are picking up all this equipment dirt cheap and just having it for ourselves and this just allows us to buy a nice radar system and to record the album very cheaply and we sort of borrowed Chris Difford's mixing desk from 'Heliocentric', which he just lend to us and we all have these connections to being able to have the gear cheap. So we just thought why don't we just get all the equipment together, find somewhere to set it up and just record in a really homemade environment. And there's no time constraints on that and you're not paying for studio fees, so you can take your time over it and being very relaxed and this worked brilliantly.
Is this a new approach you're gonna do with next albums as well?
Well, I don't know. You wanna change the process every time. I think if we try and go in and repeat exactly how we've done it before, we just end up with a similar record and that kind of creative death for us, you know. You want to keep yourself on your toes. And also I think in terms of the vibe to 'Road To Rouen', it's quite melancholic and quite reflective of some of the kind of personal upheavals we've had over the last couple of years, with Gaz' mom and lots ands lots of aspects to that. I think we've kind of moved on to that now, you, we want to explore something now, which I can't exactly put my finger on the way we're going musically. It's not were we were on 'Road To Rouen', we definitely, even if we're playing all of them live now, which is it's own kind of thing, I think. We're kind of starting to formulate an idea of where we're gonna go after that and it's not gonna be the same. When we've gone down and sat down and talked about it, that kind of dictates about how we're gonna go about it, wether we're gonna set up a new studio, or not. I can't really see us... I could see us use the same gear again, maybe with extra additions and stuff, but probably not in France again, because we've kind of, we've had half of it done in 'Life On Other Planets'. We've spent a lot of time writing in France and we spent all the time recording this time in France, so we move away from France and try a new envoronment, you know. But musically, it's gonna be more interesting.
Road To Rouen is on the whole a bit more eased down, a bit more than previous records. Is it a sign of the times? Are you all getting older?
I don't think it has to do with age. As I just said, it's a refelection. You know, we've had some really hard times. And also a reflection on the release of 'Supergrass Is 10', which contained all the singles. And at the back of that we kind of neglected all the other areas of Supergrass. If you look on our other records. Like 'I Should Coco' has got 'Sofa Of My Lethargy' on it. When you do release a 'Greatest Hits', you push all the hits in people's faces and that's what they perceive is the band. And that is a kind of an atomagh (??) to us, 'cause we wanna be heard like a three dimensional band and we don't wanna be known as the band who recorded 'Alright' or 'Pumping On Your Stereo', you know. However sort of arrogant that is. You like to make more out of it, so on this record we kind of resisted the temptation to go for the obvious tracks. There's touches of them, like I think 'Coffee In The Pot' is the closest we came to that. But it was a decision not to make that into a full song, put vocals on it and handclaps and use the usual glam-tricks to make it a big single. But just have it as a strange interlude within the record.And the overall feel of the record you know, we were quite. Obviously when we were recording it we were not kind of moping around or depresssed or anything, but we wanted to express the melancholia and the hard times we've had over the last couple of years. Gaz's mother's death affected him very heavy and Bob as well. Danny with all the tabloid stuff going on at the same time, created it's own kind of strangeness and frictions and stuff. I've been splitting up with my longtime partner for ten years over the last two years and this all kind of affected our overall mood. And we wanted to express this within the songs. And it felt just out of place to have blown up, happy songs over the top of that, as we didn't feel like it most of the time. But obviously some mornings we wake up and feel in a stupid mood and we wanna kind of do stuff. But we didn't want to have that represented on this record. It just didn't feel right to do that. So that's why. But next record who knows, you know! We've probably cheered up a bit.
How does the band write songs?
It depend on what song it is. Something like 'Coffee In The Pot' was written when we were trying to find the string sounds for 'Roxy'. We were working on the keyboard and Gazz hampered on this weird sample on his keyboard and we all thought 'Ah, that sounds amazing'. We just started playing and it got written in about twenty minutes. We just went with it for four hours and recorded the whole thing perfectly and just had that in the can and we went back to work on the string sample for 'Roxy'. And it was just this little gap of escape and it all got written just like that. But a song like 'Roxy', I think Gaz had that kicking around for almost two and a half years and he had this first section and he has written all the lyrics. And we realised this is just one set of chords and it used to go somewhere so we've played it around and then just cooked up a chorus for it . It had no melody for three quarters of the record and then eventually we'd get to the point: 'well you know, you have to sing this bit and you just play around and try and work out the melody for it and after about two days you come up with a really strong melody. And that about the two ends of the spectrum in terms of songwriting. It's always a mistake to think that Gaz writes the songs as Danny in particular is very good with chords and always comes up with really amazing chord structures. And somebody will write some good chords and somebody else will chuck a very good melody out of them. It's kind of a left field you know. Because I think if you're involved in your chord changes it makes it more difficult difficult for you to write a melody for it. But when somebody else is hearing them for the very first time, he might get instantly inspired and says 'Right, this is a melody that should be on that''. Bob comes up with very good chord changes as weel. He tends to be kind less upfront with it. More quiet. And for myself, I tend to come up with songs at the last minute. In fact I didn't on this record. I missed out. The closest thing I came on this was 'Sad Girl'. I worked on all the melodies on that. But on various songs you chuck different bits on and we always, always, always leave the lyrics to the last minute. And that's the hardest bit. To get actually try and get the words fit around as you've written the melodies with a specific vow sounds and then you try and breath meaning into the song. Which I think we did better on this album, than we've had before. So it's quite complex.
Who writes the lyrics?
Well, on this record it's mainly me and Gaz. We've spent a lot of time sitting around trying to get the lyrics written. It's an artform in itself. You kind of wanted to express the melancholy that we've been feeling, but not in a sort of self indulgent way. You don't wanna say 'I just wanna die' and it's all grimm. You just wanna sort of make it universal. The main thing is, I can actuially sit down and listen to the record and not getting solace out of it and it make me feel better. It's almost like Blues you know. You sing about hard times and it makes you feel better. That's kind of what we wanted to get over on this record. We spent probably about two months to write the lyrics and a lot of the inspiration was from just atmospheres and films we'd seen and books we'd read. You supposed to be totally about yourself or whatever. You're trying to conger up things that you've absorbed and things that you've seen around. It's quite a strange process.
And musical inspiration. What kind of music were you listening to, while writing and recording this album?
Ellioth Smith was quite an inspiration for this record. He commited suicide the year before. We knew he was quite a 'Supergrass' fan actually, which was quite strange. We've never spoken to him. We never met him. And I think Danny brought a copy of 'X/O', which is a really amazing record, that we'd never listened or heard carefully before and we came to listen to that a lot and that was very inspiring. Just the complexity. It reminded me a lot of 'in It for The Money' in strange ways. It's got the kind of very dark, very depressed lyrics, but very out music, you know. Very uplifting, although he's been doing it with very dark manners. But there's a whole lot of slew of other influences, I think. Gaz has been listening a lot to a musician called Michael Chapman, who used to play in 'Soft Machine' I think. And he released a solo album, somewhere in the early seventies or late sixties, with Mick Ronsson playing. 'Fully Qualified Survivor' [1970, LHD]. And that was a brilliant record! It was kind of the bridge before 'The Man Who Sold The World' by David Bowie. There is a very strange quality to it. It's got acoustic guitars, but with a really dirty sort of Rock band under it. A kind of acoustic Rock thing, which really interested us as it's got some very dark vibe. Very organic, sort of creepy. And we wanted to try and get some of that into the record. And what else did we listen to .. . 'The Tubes' with 'White Punks On Dope' and various things you've come along and you just think you might go for a bit of that. Nothing sort of classic. 'Pink Floyd' obviously is a reference point for us, as we've listened a lot to them, but I think that's something we used to listen to when we were about 18, 19. We don't really listen to it that much anymore. But because we used to get so stoned to it when we were younger, it became part to us in a weird kind of way. But at the same time I noticed that a lot of the reviews talked about 'Sad Girl' being very Beatles. And it really wasn't our intention at all! I was listeing to a lot of 'Bonzo Dog Doo Da Band', who do a lot of Beatles rip-offs. So it's kind of filtered through that. But it kind of surprised me when somebody came and said "Ah, it's The Beatles being ripped off again"! No, that wasn't our intention at all! It's just a coïncidence. So weird.
Don't you ever get tired, always being compared to 'The Beatles' or so?
Well, you couldn't get tired of being compared to that one, ofcourse! The Beatles have done quite some good stuff. I don't know. You can't really get tired of what people write in reviews, because it's their opinion. It's more difficult when reviews try to pigeon-hole you as people. It's strange. People take it how they want to. It's not really some thing you can take on board. I can only try to record records as un-selfconsciously as possible. I don't try and think about where influences are coming from or feel the influences are taking over the song, when they're just too apparent enough to just ripp somebody of holy. I worry on things like that. But beyond that you're just gonna express yourself and make music you enjoy making. And you get something out of that, so I can't really get tired of what people say about music. It's up to them. It's what amuses you.
You recorded RtR in France and then somebody else mixed it. Did you just hand over the tape and say 'make something out of it'?
We tried to yeah! That was the intention! We spoke to Pom, the engineer, with whom we've had a very close relationship with on this record. He sort of guided us through. Well, he didn't guided us through. But he was very every morning and kept us going. And we got in a conversation with him. I think we're always under some kind of pressure from the record company to get it mixed by some mixer so that we have huge commercial succes. And we usually sort of give in to them and then end up coming back with mixes that we will argue about and no one's happy with them and some people are happy with some parts, which goes back and forth. So this time we sort of said we were gonna pre-empty with them, grab a mixer that we want to use and you can fuck off, as that's what we're gonna do! So Pom suggested using Michael Ilbert. We spoke a lot about it with Pom. We like the sound of the records that were coming out of Sweden and Scandinavia and the whole 'production School' coming out of there. And this was from listening to stuff like Ron Sexsmith' 'Cobble stone Runway', which was recorded and mixed by a Swedish engineer. And also, strangely enough, things like 'The Cardigans'. I'm not a huge 'Cardigans'-fan, but i'm very big fan of their production-values, which is straight pop in a very interesting way. So we were kind of shopping around and he suggested Michael Ilbert. And at the beginning we were thinking of handing the tapes over and say 'Go on with it'. But as usual, being control freaks, we spoke on the phone to him, saying 'Can you please turn this bit up' and 'Do this on the other. But he was very accomodating and very relaxed about it. And this was quite strange, as we never met him face to face. We did this all over the phone, but at the end we felt like we really knew each other. It worked out quite well.
New single 'Low C' is out now. What's with 'Weeki Watchee'?
Who knows! We came round to do the video for the single and we had a lot more hands on control with the previous single, which was a bit of a fiasco actually. When we did the 'St Petersburg'-single, we actually wanted to fly over to St Petersburg and record the video wandering around in St Petersburg, but it kind of all fell through. So at the last minute we came up with the 'white room'-idea. It was a bit of a gamble to make a video like that, but it felt right for us, because we basically laid down what we wanted to do with that video. But I think the record company saw it as a not very interesting video and a bit of a failure, which I sort of disagree with. I don't think they've got the imagination to see that the next video could be different. They got a bit nervous and got Gath Jennings in to do this amazing, wacky 'Alright' video that everybody's gonna love. And we sat down with Garth Jennings and said: Ít's no point doing an 'Alright' video, as it's just going to be repeating ourselves. We're gonna look really stupid and it's not gonna work with this song. And he agreed and came up with this idea of working with the mermaids. Which he kind of pitched to the record company as 'It's gonna be quite wacky. The band is gonna be swimming around with mermaids. It's all gonna be amazing and Technicoloured etc'. And the record company said 'Good, good!! Big hit on hand'! And we just sat there and said that we were just gonna make some very weird video. We've seen a couple of Roman Copolla-videos, that were shot as documentaries and it's a lot more interesting. And the band are not in the front of the video. They're just part of the video and it's just a small element to it. And he just came back with this really strange video, which we all on the very first view were saying yeah, this is perfect. This is very interesting. Which is rare we all say at first view. And it IS a very strange video. People who've seen it, say it reflects the lyrics of the song and it represents the song as opposed to being a marketing tool. It's actually an artistic thing to do with the song. '. It was all Garth Jennings' baby and I think he did a really good job with it. It was left in and he came back and I watched it the very first time and said 'Yeah! That's brilliant'!
What was the fun part making that video?
Come on! We've had three days in Florida swimming round in this massive fresh water pool. Which is totally relaxed, very easy!
Was it hard to do the swimming bits?
Yeah, it was! I think Bob came out of it the worst. He just couldn't handle holding his breath that long. And obviously Danny, being Danny, was swimming like 50ft down and just waving and being very normal and stuff. But it was. It was quite easy for some of us, but not for all of us.
Now some questions from the early days on towards now. Did you ever expect that the demo you've recorded in 1994 would turn into a full album on a major label within 11 months.
No. No Way! When we started the band, we were playing in the King & Queen and stuff. Even when we recorded the record we didn't think this was gonna end up high in the charts and we were gonna be big contenders on the scene in England. I still find that difficult to come to terms with, you know, that you get mentioned in the same breath as 'Pulp' or, at that time, 'Pulp' or 'Blur' or anything, f***ing hell you know! We actually did something right, you know! So yeah, No! A big shocker! But it's good you know, 'cause we came to terms with it, well, up to a level. We made a record that people liked on our own terms and recorded it how we wanted to record it, so that's the way it's gonna go in the future. If you do it, how you wanna do it, then peiople are gonna like it. If you start feeling that you have to repeat something, or just cash in on the succes you've got before, then it might get into a formula and then you're f***ed, you know! It's not gonna work. so yeah, it was shocking!
But you came out quite alright.
Yeah, I think, we kind of kept our heads, you know. The key earlier on was Steven Spielberg, you know, we could have go on with the Steven Spielberg thing and it would have made us a lot of money. But, I think, would have really affected us as people, which could have been the end of our band, really. It would have been someone else's band after that, definitely!
Anything you did in the last 11 years you do regret, or simply don't regret at all?
I don't know, there's a few parts on records that I think you could have tried harder on that or some of the lyrics or, I don't know. There are parts of some songs that if you'd just taken this section out, it would have made song so much better or efficient. And maybe some things in terms of the videos or marketing we've done, or things that we've said in interviews. You know, I think it's not really how I felt at the time, or how I expressed that. It just ends up confusing people. It dilutes your message or what you're trying to do. But we aren't professionals. We've made mistakes and I think you just learn by them, but I'm fairly happy with the records we've made. It gets harder sometimes to push yourself, do something different and not repeat yourself. But that's the challenge we kinda like, you know. It's just been good for ten years.
Do you regret ever have written, played or recorded 'Alright'? Because on the previous album-tour, you sort of refused to play this song.
I don't really regret that song in the slightest. I think, when we wrote it, we really enjoyed writing it, but what hampers it, is the band is connected with it. It's 'The Supergrass Britpop Anthem' and you champion it, it feels like we using it to push ourselves, it feels like an advert sometimes. It just doesn't sit with our ethos of doing something different. We should start playing it at some point in the future, but it's difficult, because you think we might be using this to reinvigorate ourselves, the sales. And I kind of understand the point of view people coming to a gig and wanting to hear it. You kind of letting them down not playing it. If I were to see The Beatles and they didn't play 'Taxman' or something, I think you'd be really pissed off. Hopefully we can find a way of playing it in the future. That would be interesting. For me it's similar to 'Mansize Rooster'. When we play it now, it does feel kind of very dated. It feels like some band that we were years and years ago. But who knows we might find a way to re-arrange it and play it in a different kind of way and that can be more interesting and kind of updated. And the other bit is that people say it's about being young and stuff, but we wrote that song looking back at that time. I was in my mid twenties when we wrote that song and Gaz was 18 or so. But we're always thinking when we wrote that song: this is about when we were like 15 or 16 and first started to smoke and just have a good time, so it was always some sort of reflective song. It's not quite the sort of being dated in terms of us getting older. But it's a strange one. We should sort it out sometimes.
After touring for 'Supergrass' in 1999, there came remarks and rumours about things that were going wrong inside the band. what do you do now, to prevent such things happen inside the band?
On 'Supergrass' it was Danny who had quite a hard time on that point. He had a problem with the direction that record was taking. Which happens from time to time. We tended not to express it very well with each other. That kind of the upshot is, he wasn't there a lot of the time for the back of the record, which became a problem when we started doing interviews with it, because he didn't feel completely connected with the record. There were a number of things he said he wasn't completely happy with and that it hadn't worked for him. Which is probably correct. And on balance it did suffer from that as a record, as it isn't all three of us working at it. One of the main strengths as the band is when me and Gaz and Danny and to an extend Bob's as well are very connected with what we wanna do. We're all putting our input in and it makes a very strong record where it can get multi-dimensional, when it's just me and Gaz and Bob coming up with shorts. For me, there's still some regrets for that record, but going back and listening to it, it's just the sense of a weird sort of grandeur to that record, that kind of got lost, like a flawed grandeur. It didn't quite reach where it should have reached, but just the feeling that it's gonna reach that high, makes it an interesting record for me. There's some really strong bits on there.
And how do you keep the internal relations healthy after playing together for 11 years?
I don't know! It's all dynamics and stuff, like in any marriage. I think I've described mine and Danny's relationship before as a 'love-hate' relationship and it is exactly that, you know. Sometimes he just extremely pisses me off because he can be very selfish, even as a musician. But on other times he's just amazingly inspiring and he just makes me laugh my pants off, cause he's just so stupid. While with me and Gaz, we really respect each other musically. We tend not to have to talk about it being very empathetic and stuff. I just find Gaz very inspiring. There's always sorts of problems with Gaz in terms that he gets too stoned or gets kind of lazy and a bit strung out occasionally, but you just kick him up the ass and he get's on with it. But then again I can get quite hard headed and stuff. But I think that's the dynamics that have always been in the band. It just depends on when we get too tired to do the band anymore, get outside interests. You get distracted I guess, but the relationships inside the bands haven't really changed. We've gone on with it on the same level. I just remember I lent Danny £50 when we'd just started the band and he didn't give it back to me for about a year. This was just something, a part of that 'love-hate'-thing. He got away with it, because he just charmed my pants off. But it was £50 when we just had no money, you know. I'd buy a week's shopping. Me and Danny have always been like that, but we always come back in the end and say 'sorry' to each other. But you need frictions in bands as well. It's a good way to be. Yeah, it hasn't changed.
Did your decision to stop touring for long periods of time also affect your popularity?
Probably, I don't know! It's difficult to pin things down like why we've sold less records than 'I Should Coco' over a period of time. But I think that's pretty much untrue, as when your debut album comes out it's 'Really amazing! Brandnew! Never heard anything like it' and everyone wants to buy that record and they're kind of get used to what you're about. They get a bit lazy about selling things. People haven't bought this record as it's 'Just another Supergrass Record. I'll just buy the 'Kaiser Chiefs', as they've never heard anything like that before. But it just doesn't mean that their record is better than ours, it's just they're after novelty and this record was specifically made as not being a novelty, but just to express us as 'Here we are at this time'. Which is a self indulgent kind of risk, but that's who we are. We can't pretend to be anyone else. So that's just the way it is.
Why did it take until 'Life On Other Planets' for Rob, to get credited as a full member of the band?
That was tricky, as it had been a creeping thing with Bob. When we first started touring 'I Should Coco', is when Bob first started playing with us and at that point he had no musical input in the band. He primarily played the keys. But occasionally on soundcheckes, as I remember, he was playing these chords, just these four chords going round and we spent ages jamming it and that the became the chorus of 'Moving'. And we said 'You've written those chords. Let's give you a writing credit of that'. So on that record, he got a percentage of the writing. And it's kind of progressed over that. He played a lot random over the synths and came up with interesting syth-lines we just use all the time, all the occasional chord-tweeks here and there. And then we thought, you're there all the time. It just became a time-machine: Bob being there all the time in the studio, he's there all the time on the road with us, so we just got to a point where you'll split the money four ways and everyone's happy. Although you don't have the same huge production-credits, because Danny and me and Gaz probably spent more time on production, whereas Bob doesn't. But it kind of came to a point that we said you might as well start doing interviews and talk about what you're doing as well. And if he's doing interviews, we just split the cash in four ways and we're all doing the same amount of work. So that's how it worked out.
You've done all kinds of side-projects, like in 1999, playing with 'Dr John' on records. Are you still doing such things individually?
Not really. I think Danny has done most side-projects. He'd sort of recorded two albums with his wife Pearl. That's probably as Danny is living in London. He hangs out with a lot of musicians. I think he played drums on an 'Elvis Costello'B-side and he stepped in for 'Ash' at one point and played on a B-side for them. I think that's just his connection to London. He's very restless and he likes being constantly busy, so he's played a lot of things like that.
The 'Dr John'-thing kind of came along out of the blue. the record company said 'We signed Dr John and he's gonna do this huge collaboration-album. And because you're both on Parlophone, it makes life very easy if you wanna do it. And we thought 'fair enough'. How it gonna be to sort of sit down. It was just when we got there that we realized it was 'Dr. John' and, f***in' hell! We just sat down and started playing with him. And we'd seen him on 'Joolz Holland' two years before as we'd been on the same show with him. I remember meeting him at that time, saying 'I'd really like your band'. Which was a really nice compliment. So it's kind of easy to do that. But beyond that me and Gaz never really felt the need to do other things. Maybe as time goes on, we'd be more interested. But the ever tempering fact is that we have families, which I think a lot of other young bands don't have. And that's taken up a lot of our time, when we're not working. We just want to spent that time at home and just forgetting about the band. As it gives you a bit of space. I guess that's what other people go on to do other musical things, because they're unsatisfied with their own bands maybe, or they've got a lot of time on their hands. But I think we've put all our efforts into the music of this band and when we're not working with this band, we just not wanna be having anything to do with it. You just wanna get away from it. That's why.
Some future plans. You're now playing a set loosely based on the acoustic tour. Will there be more acoustic tours in future?
I don't know. I think at the end of that acoustic tour in August, we kind of felt it to be quite interesting. But we wanted to go back and play some more traditional Rock shows, as they're more vibrant and stuff. But it's been really interesting being on that acoustic tour. Just the way we've changed all the old songs and played them differently and just gave them new life. I just think we needed to do that after the 'Supergrass Is 10' tour. We really needed to not repeat what we've done before. So it has been interesting. But it's kind of a misnomer to call it an 'Acoustic tour', as it's more of a hybrid. I'd be interested in finding different ways of playing it, but not based on acoustic. Which got all sort of strung up Folk-vibes to it and feels like it's too gentle for where you should be and what you wanna do. Something more interesting. Gaz played me the video of Neil Young, when he was doing the 'Trance' Tour, which is really odd. When he's gone all electronic. Neil Young is playing acoustic, but with all this vocoder and things, it's really nasty and it's in a way pretty horrible. But really interesting. There's other ways you can change as a live band, without resort to being quiet. But again, you have to see the show tonight and the outcome is different and interesting, but not something you wanna do all the time. But I think for one set of touring cycles it's worth doing it. It's kind of interesting.
As you're very satisfied with the 'Ronnie Scott's'-gig, will this be released on DVD?
Well, I think some of that footage will be on DVD. I know that we all had really bad hangovers, so it's not the best performance in the world. Some of the songs came out really well and some didn't so I wouldn't be happy with releasing the whole thing on DVD. But definitely selected highlights, yeah. Although there were some corkers, because we were quite drunk in a way. Yeah, but maybe not the whole thing!
Will there ever be the release of a 'Lost Tracks' album, with songs like 'Out Of The Blue' and other songs you tried to record, but didn't really work out.
That's tricky. Every record done, there's been two or three songs that could have made it onto that record, but didn't. It's really difficult going back to these songs, as the feel like they're in the past and they're not where you are now. So it'll be quite hard work, emotionally, to go back and try and finish those songs off. Because you wanna finish them off in the frame of mind you were writing them, which is the only way that they really work. So probably not!
'Out Of The Blue' in particular was one of the songs that got to the point were it could have been released. It was in a shape and it had lyrics and everything. Were in the right place to release it as a single, no not as a single, but as a track in itself. There are some tracks that were really, really strong and could have been almost A-sides. But we didn't quite get them together at the time and they're kind of 'sad losses', you know. They're not in the position to release them for other people to hear, but I can still hear them in my head sometimes. They're really odd sort of ghosts, hanging 'round in the back. Some songs come back. You'll write a new somg and there'll be an echo of that old song in it, the kind of feeling you wanted to get into it and it all come back in a new song like 'Roxy'.
And some songs on this record are very old, you know. Like I said 'Roxy' was three years old, before we even recorded it. And there are at least four or five songs around that period that cast a life, but got left behind and are absolutely superb. I can kind of hear them half in my head and how they should be. Maybe they'll make it onto this new record, which will be really interesting.
Another ghost that's still chasing you, is the question "Will the old 'Jennifers' stuff ever be re-issued?"
Pffft! I don't know. I've never been in 'The Jennifers'. I can't answer that!
Well, we know about Gaz and Danny being in 'The Jennifers'. were there any bands you were playing in, prior to 'Supergrass'?
Yeah, many and vary. Lots and lots of bands were in Oxford, but nothing that made it. Nothing commercial. I used to play bands with my brother. . There's a band 'Bigger Than God', that was quite big in Oxford and I used to play with their guitarist. I'm still kind of in touch with people I used to play in bands with and who come to our gigs and sit down and talk about music and stuff. But all the people I used to play with, were in school etc. They all moved around England. Moved to other countries and they usually phone me up and say 'Can I come to your gig'. That's how I see them all the time and keep in touch with them. But never in any famous bands. No.
How do you see the future of 'Supergrass'.
I don't know. One day at a time. Impossible to say, you know.
And bearing in mind the increasing pressure on the record sales
The way I see it, it's not something you can really worry about. I mean, we can change the music specifically to increase record sales. I think we just have to inspire ourselves. We have to find new ways of changing the band to get really inspired with ourselves. If you make a really good record they wanna stand by. If you feel that strongly about it, that people are gonna enjoy and buy it. But there's also standard pressures. We're a band that's ten years old. And like I said of the 'Kaiser Chiefs', if you've got the choice of buying a brand new band's record, that you really excite. Brandnew, like you've never heard them before, you probably gonna buy that record over a band that's been out over ten years. But there's nothing we can do about that. So, what can you do?
A reviewer from 'Road To Rouen' once stated that both 'Supergrass' and 'Super Furry Animals' are making records which will still be relevant in about twenty years. What do you think about such remarks?
Well, it's very flattering! I only think he put SFA in there, because they were releasing a record that week as well. If it would have been some other band, he would have probably said the same thing. We're not trying to sound pompous about it, but when you make records, you wanna leave a mark and you wanna leave something that will last for a longer period of time. I remember saying when we made 'In It For The Money', that we'd wanna create a record that you get more and more out, when you listen to it. You discover new things in it.
I was in the car the other day and 'Starman' by David Bowie came on. And I was really drunk and suddenly I heard the strings line, that I've never really listened to. I've listened to this record for about twenty-five years, on and off, and I'd just heard the string parts in it and they just blew me away. I've never listened to them before and I'd discovered this new element to this song. And all of our records are like that. You come back listening to it in ten years and you'll hear something new. That's the kind records that I wanna make. So yeah, I hope they'll still be relevant in ten years time. In your life, you still get inspiration from them. That's the kind of one I'm after.
But underneath that remark, isn't there a certain kind of criticism on current bands in England? On their quality?
I don't know. Maybe there is. But that's not my job to criticise other bands. If a band has released a brand new record and I've been hearing a lot about it in the press, it takes me about two years to get round to buying that record. I think any band that puts records out, they should be standing out the test of time, that you should buy them two years later. And if the big fuzz about them was right in the first play and you still get something out of it years later, without all the hype. I think that when we were growing up, at that time the chartmusic was rubbish. So you start listening to stuff like 'Pink Floyd', old 'Gong' records and stuff that no one was writing about. It wasn't in the press. You didn't see this kind of music anywhere in the media. You'd go and make your own assemptions on this record and develop your own opinions about them and that's always more interesting than anything else. You kind of find out your own things and that works more inspiring. So, commenting on other bands of the moment, saying that they're not gonna last whoever, it's on the strength of their music really.
Speaking with Guto Pryce of 'Super Furry Animals', September 1st 2005, I asked him the same questions. Here's what he had to say about it:
Few weeks back, in a review of Supergrass' 'Road To Rouen' in one of the music magazines, I read the reviewer stating that both Supergrass and SFA are now making albums, which will still be relevant in twenty years time. How do you feel about such remarks.
Ah, nice! You know. It's funny, to be honest, we've always had good press, which doesn't seem for us necessary to be transcribed into sales in some places, but people write things. It's nice and it's what we're trying to do, yeah! We want to make albums and we want people to discover these albums in twenty years and get them to buy another one and, like we've done as music fans, discover old stuff. The records will always be there!
But what does it say musically, as it sounds to me that bands like Franz Ferdinand are doing okay now, but their records will be consider outdated in twenty years time.
Bands are different, aren't they? It's not that every band can be the same. Some music is of the moment and it's immediate, everybody likes it and then, maybe, they move on to something else. And what happens is, if a band get's very big, very rarely they keep that fan-base. So after a period of time, when they're not as big as they used to be, they look at them and say: 'Alright, they're finished'. We've never had that one massive record, that has overshadowed our whole carreer, you know. It's not that we turn up every gig and the audience is just wanting to hear one song. we're quite lucky in that respect. Not that we wouldn't want it to happen.
Listening to Supergrass' latest album and your latest album, there are certain parallells between the use of sounds and things. Like the songs seemed to be tuned down a bit in tempo and temperament with both Supergrass and with SFA. Is that something that happens with bands that play for twelve years or so?
We're getting older. Older and slower! I would say, it was a sunny record, you know. It was done in the sun, food and wine and stuff that slows you down. It's definetely more chilled. I mean, the next record could be a death Metal Hardcore Punk record, you never know. It would be sad, if we just kept on getting slower and slower untill we stopped. There's still plenty of energy left.
Back to Mick:
Are there any new bands we should focus on?
Well, it'll be difficult for me to say, after what I'd just said. Having said that, like the latest 'Kaiser Chiefs' single, that has just been released ('Modern Way', LHD), I find quite interesting. It kind of reminded me of something like 'Odd?'. It just had this strange quality to it. But there's other stuff I listen to. I really like 'The Coral'. We spent time touring with them. Gone really well with them as people and really like their attitude towards music and stuff. The whole sort of 'New Merseybeat'-scene: 'The Coral', the 'Zutons'. That's very interesting to me because it's out of the London centric spotlights. It's a whole scene going on up there, with people doing this whole setup with scouse bands and the way they interact with each other. You've got 'The La's' and a whole lineage of people from Liverpool, through 'Echo & The Bunnymen' and Julian Cope. All this kind of lineage going on in Liverpool. Which is quite interesting. It has nothing to do with 'The Beatles'. I just like the scene up there, all those bands kind of talk to each other and spent time playing in each others houses. It's just very organic, very interesting. Beyond that, people should just go back and listen to all the records of the Seventies and Eighties, because there's a lot of interesting stuff there. I'm always sort of discovering new records. Like Gaz telling me on to that 'Graham Chapman' record, which was quite a revelation. It's a record that's scored in 1970. And Gaz is some sort of record collector and he just read something about it and bought it. And we've been listening to it for the last two years. It's just one of those records that is part of your life now. You just find these records occasionally. I don't know, people should just get out and go through the old record shops and take a few chances. It's all I could say.
Are there any bands or artists you'd like to play with, or play with again?
Well again, that goes back to being shot to our record doing well and 'I Should Coco'. I don't feel like we are kind of on the same league as other people. You'd be a bit too shy to play for other people. You're f***ing up here, you're just 'The Supergrass-band'. I don't know, it's difficult. I just think we'd be intimidated playing with other people. I can't think of any band that kinda is that close to us in sound. You could replace other people in the band with you. We're an entity. It's not something we did when we were growing up early. You're kind of stuck with your own band. Unless you start playing with other people, when it was like the band you've had before. Then you just leave the band you're in and start playing with them, because that was the point: you find people that actually lift you up and made you play better than you did before. Never really hungered to look for that really, no.
Thank you very much!
Thank you!"
Having just arrived and settled in our hotel room, my mobile went off: Mick, asking wether it was possible to come to 'The Melkweg' to do the interview now, instead of after the soundcheck. Twenty minutes later I had found my way to the dressing-room,got my borrowed old taperecorder running and blasted off with the interview...
Welcome to Holland.
Thank you
How was your trip to Amsterdam?
Well, I don't know. We've done it a lot of times, so we put on a DVD, drank a couple of bottles of red wine and I just remember waking up in the bottom of a ship and you feel like you're about to die, like you normally do. And that's when I went back to sleep and then I woke up and we were there. So pretty standard.
When did you leave England?
Ah, we set off at about 11 'o Clock last night. Yeah, tucked my daughter up in bed, went down the pub, had a few pints and then on the bus and then wake up here. Yeah.
This is another tour. Is it always difficult to have a first gig while you're on tour?
Well this one in particular, as Danny is not here on this tour. So we've got a stand-in drummer. And also Rob isn't on this tour, so we've got a stand-in keyboard player. So it's me and Gaz, carrying the flag of 'Supergrass' today, so it's gonna be interesting.
Any particular reason Danny and Rob are absent?
Well Bob has got some sort of personal stuff that he needed to sort out, so we sat down and talked about it and he's just gonna be missing for this tour. And Danny's got his baby on the way, so he wanted to be there for that, you know. So that's how it's worked out. We spent a bit of time rehearsing with our stand-ins. We've got Gaz' younger brother playing keyboards with us, which is quite interesting. Keeping it in the family! And we've got Loz Colburn on drums. He used to play for 'Ride' and me and Gaz played with him years ago and when we wanted a stand-in drummer, you can't exactly replace Danny, 'cause he's irreplaceable, but we thought it's kind of, you want to go with someone local, we don't want in some session guy that we've never met before and didn't have any affinity with, so we sort of looked locally. And ahh, he's got a different style, but it's interesting. And the set we're doing tonight is kind of loosely based on the acoustic tour we did in August. So it's not a classic 'Supergrass' gig in the way that it's kind of full of Rock and Roll, which I don't think we can compete with or to do properly without Danny, so it's kind of more in an acoustic vein and it works really well, you know. It lands itself a lot better to having a different drummer.
It's some sort of improvised setlist?
It's not improvised you know, as the set is really kinda based on the acoustic tour and we sat down and rehearsed that for three weeks, to get that acoustic tour into the shape it is. So the set's quite well thought out in the way that it works. We've got Satin Singh playing percussion on this tour as well, so I think it would be improvised in the way that, you know. We've got to make allowances for a different drummer. Charley's kinda got his own style on the keyboards as well. Which is different to Bob's, who's got a more strident and stuff and a bit more honky tonk and that works for some songs better than maybe Bobs' in a way, but you kinda let that in other ways but it's got a different kind of shape to it but I don't think it's kind of improvised. It's gonna be a good show.
And is the drummer the same one who replaced Danny in 1999?
No, we used Vinnie, Vincenzo Lamy to give him his full title and we kind of thought using Vinnie, but felt, for this tour in particular, Vinny is more a kind of a straight session drummer and we felt like we had to kind of coach him to speed up and slow down and put life into it, you know, which is kind of a standard thing with session musicians, but we felt just that Loz has got more of a natural feel for it. He'll put in fills you haven't asked him to put in and you open up and he puts in his personality and that's that more of what we're after.
You've just released your fifth album. Was it difficult to make a new one?
I don't know, you know. I mean, they're always quite separate from each other. Obviously we're the same people, so we approach some things in the same way, but we try not actually think about on how we went about the last time, we just try and change the process a bit, to keep it more interesting. We kind of done the 'Best Of', 'Supergrass is 10' in the mean time, so we had a lot of time to think of how we would progress from 'Life On Other Planets' to this record. And we did make that decision early on that we felt strong enough to go back and produce it ourselves, without using a producer. We didn't want to manipulate the sound in a way he had before with a producer and actually concentrate on the actual sounds and processing them and changing them. We kind of wanted to get closer to were we where on our demos, when we just played as a band in a room, and just try and make it sound more natural and sort of unforced. There's so many strands to make a record and we came to the decision that we didn't want to work in a proper studio persé, but we wanted to just buy studio equipment and set it up in a room and this gives you a whole range of sounds which are impossible to get in a studio. you kind of get this DIY effect. It's like a glorified demo, you know. When we used to make demos we'd put the bass amp in the toilet, put tea towels over the drumkit and stuff. And we wanted to do that, you know. We wanted not being too worried on making it technically sound brilliant, but interesting and unique. And that was fairly easy to do, you know. For a natural effect is involved as well. We got hold of Pom who did the engineering for it and he basically refurbishes studio equipment and he was telling us most of the residential studios in England have been closing down over the last five years, due to the advent of technology and people doing it in their own bedroom. So all these studio's are closing down and selling their equipment. So we are picking up all this equipment dirt cheap and just having it for ourselves and this just allows us to buy a nice radar system and to record the album very cheaply and we sort of borrowed Chris Difford's mixing desk from 'Heliocentric', which he just lend to us and we all have these connections to being able to have the gear cheap. So we just thought why don't we just get all the equipment together, find somewhere to set it up and just record in a really homemade environment. And there's no time constraints on that and you're not paying for studio fees, so you can take your time over it and being very relaxed and this worked brilliantly.
Is this a new approach you're gonna do with next albums as well?
Well, I don't know. You wanna change the process every time. I think if we try and go in and repeat exactly how we've done it before, we just end up with a similar record and that kind of creative death for us, you know. You want to keep yourself on your toes. And also I think in terms of the vibe to 'Road To Rouen', it's quite melancholic and quite reflective of some of the kind of personal upheavals we've had over the last couple of years, with Gaz' mom and lots ands lots of aspects to that. I think we've kind of moved on to that now, you, we want to explore something now, which I can't exactly put my finger on the way we're going musically. It's not were we were on 'Road To Rouen', we definitely, even if we're playing all of them live now, which is it's own kind of thing, I think. We're kind of starting to formulate an idea of where we're gonna go after that and it's not gonna be the same. When we've gone down and sat down and talked about it, that kind of dictates about how we're gonna go about it, wether we're gonna set up a new studio, or not. I can't really see us... I could see us use the same gear again, maybe with extra additions and stuff, but probably not in France again, because we've kind of, we've had half of it done in 'Life On Other Planets'. We've spent a lot of time writing in France and we spent all the time recording this time in France, so we move away from France and try a new envoronment, you know. But musically, it's gonna be more interesting.
Road To Rouen is on the whole a bit more eased down, a bit more than previous records. Is it a sign of the times? Are you all getting older?
I don't think it has to do with age. As I just said, it's a refelection. You know, we've had some really hard times. And also a reflection on the release of 'Supergrass Is 10', which contained all the singles. And at the back of that we kind of neglected all the other areas of Supergrass. If you look on our other records. Like 'I Should Coco' has got 'Sofa Of My Lethargy' on it. When you do release a 'Greatest Hits', you push all the hits in people's faces and that's what they perceive is the band. And that is a kind of an atomagh (??) to us, 'cause we wanna be heard like a three dimensional band and we don't wanna be known as the band who recorded 'Alright' or 'Pumping On Your Stereo', you know. However sort of arrogant that is. You like to make more out of it, so on this record we kind of resisted the temptation to go for the obvious tracks. There's touches of them, like I think 'Coffee In The Pot' is the closest we came to that. But it was a decision not to make that into a full song, put vocals on it and handclaps and use the usual glam-tricks to make it a big single. But just have it as a strange interlude within the record.And the overall feel of the record you know, we were quite. Obviously when we were recording it we were not kind of moping around or depresssed or anything, but we wanted to express the melancholia and the hard times we've had over the last couple of years. Gaz's mother's death affected him very heavy and Bob as well. Danny with all the tabloid stuff going on at the same time, created it's own kind of strangeness and frictions and stuff. I've been splitting up with my longtime partner for ten years over the last two years and this all kind of affected our overall mood. And we wanted to express this within the songs. And it felt just out of place to have blown up, happy songs over the top of that, as we didn't feel like it most of the time. But obviously some mornings we wake up and feel in a stupid mood and we wanna kind of do stuff. But we didn't want to have that represented on this record. It just didn't feel right to do that. So that's why. But next record who knows, you know! We've probably cheered up a bit.
How does the band write songs?
It depend on what song it is. Something like 'Coffee In The Pot' was written when we were trying to find the string sounds for 'Roxy'. We were working on the keyboard and Gazz hampered on this weird sample on his keyboard and we all thought 'Ah, that sounds amazing'. We just started playing and it got written in about twenty minutes. We just went with it for four hours and recorded the whole thing perfectly and just had that in the can and we went back to work on the string sample for 'Roxy'. And it was just this little gap of escape and it all got written just like that. But a song like 'Roxy', I think Gaz had that kicking around for almost two and a half years and he had this first section and he has written all the lyrics. And we realised this is just one set of chords and it used to go somewhere so we've played it around and then just cooked up a chorus for it . It had no melody for three quarters of the record and then eventually we'd get to the point: 'well you know, you have to sing this bit and you just play around and try and work out the melody for it and after about two days you come up with a really strong melody. And that about the two ends of the spectrum in terms of songwriting. It's always a mistake to think that Gaz writes the songs as Danny in particular is very good with chords and always comes up with really amazing chord structures. And somebody will write some good chords and somebody else will chuck a very good melody out of them. It's kind of a left field you know. Because I think if you're involved in your chord changes it makes it more difficult difficult for you to write a melody for it. But when somebody else is hearing them for the very first time, he might get instantly inspired and says 'Right, this is a melody that should be on that''. Bob comes up with very good chord changes as weel. He tends to be kind less upfront with it. More quiet. And for myself, I tend to come up with songs at the last minute. In fact I didn't on this record. I missed out. The closest thing I came on this was 'Sad Girl'. I worked on all the melodies on that. But on various songs you chuck different bits on and we always, always, always leave the lyrics to the last minute. And that's the hardest bit. To get actually try and get the words fit around as you've written the melodies with a specific vow sounds and then you try and breath meaning into the song. Which I think we did better on this album, than we've had before. So it's quite complex.
Who writes the lyrics?
Well, on this record it's mainly me and Gaz. We've spent a lot of time sitting around trying to get the lyrics written. It's an artform in itself. You kind of wanted to express the melancholy that we've been feeling, but not in a sort of self indulgent way. You don't wanna say 'I just wanna die' and it's all grimm. You just wanna sort of make it universal. The main thing is, I can actuially sit down and listen to the record and not getting solace out of it and it make me feel better. It's almost like Blues you know. You sing about hard times and it makes you feel better. That's kind of what we wanted to get over on this record. We spent probably about two months to write the lyrics and a lot of the inspiration was from just atmospheres and films we'd seen and books we'd read. You supposed to be totally about yourself or whatever. You're trying to conger up things that you've absorbed and things that you've seen around. It's quite a strange process.
And musical inspiration. What kind of music were you listening to, while writing and recording this album?
Ellioth Smith was quite an inspiration for this record. He commited suicide the year before. We knew he was quite a 'Supergrass' fan actually, which was quite strange. We've never spoken to him. We never met him. And I think Danny brought a copy of 'X/O', which is a really amazing record, that we'd never listened or heard carefully before and we came to listen to that a lot and that was very inspiring. Just the complexity. It reminded me a lot of 'in It for The Money' in strange ways. It's got the kind of very dark, very depressed lyrics, but very out music, you know. Very uplifting, although he's been doing it with very dark manners. But there's a whole lot of slew of other influences, I think. Gaz has been listening a lot to a musician called Michael Chapman, who used to play in 'Soft Machine' I think. And he released a solo album, somewhere in the early seventies or late sixties, with Mick Ronsson playing. 'Fully Qualified Survivor' [1970, LHD]. And that was a brilliant record! It was kind of the bridge before 'The Man Who Sold The World' by David Bowie. There is a very strange quality to it. It's got acoustic guitars, but with a really dirty sort of Rock band under it. A kind of acoustic Rock thing, which really interested us as it's got some very dark vibe. Very organic, sort of creepy. And we wanted to try and get some of that into the record. And what else did we listen to .. . 'The Tubes' with 'White Punks On Dope' and various things you've come along and you just think you might go for a bit of that. Nothing sort of classic. 'Pink Floyd' obviously is a reference point for us, as we've listened a lot to them, but I think that's something we used to listen to when we were about 18, 19. We don't really listen to it that much anymore. But because we used to get so stoned to it when we were younger, it became part to us in a weird kind of way. But at the same time I noticed that a lot of the reviews talked about 'Sad Girl' being very Beatles. And it really wasn't our intention at all! I was listeing to a lot of 'Bonzo Dog Doo Da Band', who do a lot of Beatles rip-offs. So it's kind of filtered through that. But it kind of surprised me when somebody came and said "Ah, it's The Beatles being ripped off again"! No, that wasn't our intention at all! It's just a coïncidence. So weird.
Don't you ever get tired, always being compared to 'The Beatles' or so?
Well, you couldn't get tired of being compared to that one, ofcourse! The Beatles have done quite some good stuff. I don't know. You can't really get tired of what people write in reviews, because it's their opinion. It's more difficult when reviews try to pigeon-hole you as people. It's strange. People take it how they want to. It's not really some thing you can take on board. I can only try to record records as un-selfconsciously as possible. I don't try and think about where influences are coming from or feel the influences are taking over the song, when they're just too apparent enough to just ripp somebody of holy. I worry on things like that. But beyond that you're just gonna express yourself and make music you enjoy making. And you get something out of that, so I can't really get tired of what people say about music. It's up to them. It's what amuses you.
You recorded RtR in France and then somebody else mixed it. Did you just hand over the tape and say 'make something out of it'?
We tried to yeah! That was the intention! We spoke to Pom, the engineer, with whom we've had a very close relationship with on this record. He sort of guided us through. Well, he didn't guided us through. But he was very every morning and kept us going. And we got in a conversation with him. I think we're always under some kind of pressure from the record company to get it mixed by some mixer so that we have huge commercial succes. And we usually sort of give in to them and then end up coming back with mixes that we will argue about and no one's happy with them and some people are happy with some parts, which goes back and forth. So this time we sort of said we were gonna pre-empty with them, grab a mixer that we want to use and you can fuck off, as that's what we're gonna do! So Pom suggested using Michael Ilbert. We spoke a lot about it with Pom. We like the sound of the records that were coming out of Sweden and Scandinavia and the whole 'production School' coming out of there. And this was from listening to stuff like Ron Sexsmith' 'Cobble stone Runway', which was recorded and mixed by a Swedish engineer. And also, strangely enough, things like 'The Cardigans'. I'm not a huge 'Cardigans'-fan, but i'm very big fan of their production-values, which is straight pop in a very interesting way. So we were kind of shopping around and he suggested Michael Ilbert. And at the beginning we were thinking of handing the tapes over and say 'Go on with it'. But as usual, being control freaks, we spoke on the phone to him, saying 'Can you please turn this bit up' and 'Do this on the other. But he was very accomodating and very relaxed about it. And this was quite strange, as we never met him face to face. We did this all over the phone, but at the end we felt like we really knew each other. It worked out quite well.
New single 'Low C' is out now. What's with 'Weeki Watchee'?
Who knows! We came round to do the video for the single and we had a lot more hands on control with the previous single, which was a bit of a fiasco actually. When we did the 'St Petersburg'-single, we actually wanted to fly over to St Petersburg and record the video wandering around in St Petersburg, but it kind of all fell through. So at the last minute we came up with the 'white room'-idea. It was a bit of a gamble to make a video like that, but it felt right for us, because we basically laid down what we wanted to do with that video. But I think the record company saw it as a not very interesting video and a bit of a failure, which I sort of disagree with. I don't think they've got the imagination to see that the next video could be different. They got a bit nervous and got Gath Jennings in to do this amazing, wacky 'Alright' video that everybody's gonna love. And we sat down with Garth Jennings and said: Ít's no point doing an 'Alright' video, as it's just going to be repeating ourselves. We're gonna look really stupid and it's not gonna work with this song. And he agreed and came up with this idea of working with the mermaids. Which he kind of pitched to the record company as 'It's gonna be quite wacky. The band is gonna be swimming around with mermaids. It's all gonna be amazing and Technicoloured etc'. And the record company said 'Good, good!! Big hit on hand'! And we just sat there and said that we were just gonna make some very weird video. We've seen a couple of Roman Copolla-videos, that were shot as documentaries and it's a lot more interesting. And the band are not in the front of the video. They're just part of the video and it's just a small element to it. And he just came back with this really strange video, which we all on the very first view were saying yeah, this is perfect. This is very interesting. Which is rare we all say at first view. And it IS a very strange video. People who've seen it, say it reflects the lyrics of the song and it represents the song as opposed to being a marketing tool. It's actually an artistic thing to do with the song. '. It was all Garth Jennings' baby and I think he did a really good job with it. It was left in and he came back and I watched it the very first time and said 'Yeah! That's brilliant'!
What was the fun part making that video?
Come on! We've had three days in Florida swimming round in this massive fresh water pool. Which is totally relaxed, very easy!
Was it hard to do the swimming bits?
Yeah, it was! I think Bob came out of it the worst. He just couldn't handle holding his breath that long. And obviously Danny, being Danny, was swimming like 50ft down and just waving and being very normal and stuff. But it was. It was quite easy for some of us, but not for all of us.
Now some questions from the early days on towards now. Did you ever expect that the demo you've recorded in 1994 would turn into a full album on a major label within 11 months.
No. No Way! When we started the band, we were playing in the King & Queen and stuff. Even when we recorded the record we didn't think this was gonna end up high in the charts and we were gonna be big contenders on the scene in England. I still find that difficult to come to terms with, you know, that you get mentioned in the same breath as 'Pulp' or, at that time, 'Pulp' or 'Blur' or anything, f***ing hell you know! We actually did something right, you know! So yeah, No! A big shocker! But it's good you know, 'cause we came to terms with it, well, up to a level. We made a record that people liked on our own terms and recorded it how we wanted to record it, so that's the way it's gonna go in the future. If you do it, how you wanna do it, then peiople are gonna like it. If you start feeling that you have to repeat something, or just cash in on the succes you've got before, then it might get into a formula and then you're f***ed, you know! It's not gonna work. so yeah, it was shocking!
But you came out quite alright.
Yeah, I think, we kind of kept our heads, you know. The key earlier on was Steven Spielberg, you know, we could have go on with the Steven Spielberg thing and it would have made us a lot of money. But, I think, would have really affected us as people, which could have been the end of our band, really. It would have been someone else's band after that, definitely!
Anything you did in the last 11 years you do regret, or simply don't regret at all?
I don't know, there's a few parts on records that I think you could have tried harder on that or some of the lyrics or, I don't know. There are parts of some songs that if you'd just taken this section out, it would have made song so much better or efficient. And maybe some things in terms of the videos or marketing we've done, or things that we've said in interviews. You know, I think it's not really how I felt at the time, or how I expressed that. It just ends up confusing people. It dilutes your message or what you're trying to do. But we aren't professionals. We've made mistakes and I think you just learn by them, but I'm fairly happy with the records we've made. It gets harder sometimes to push yourself, do something different and not repeat yourself. But that's the challenge we kinda like, you know. It's just been good for ten years.
Do you regret ever have written, played or recorded 'Alright'? Because on the previous album-tour, you sort of refused to play this song.
I don't really regret that song in the slightest. I think, when we wrote it, we really enjoyed writing it, but what hampers it, is the band is connected with it. It's 'The Supergrass Britpop Anthem' and you champion it, it feels like we using it to push ourselves, it feels like an advert sometimes. It just doesn't sit with our ethos of doing something different. We should start playing it at some point in the future, but it's difficult, because you think we might be using this to reinvigorate ourselves, the sales. And I kind of understand the point of view people coming to a gig and wanting to hear it. You kind of letting them down not playing it. If I were to see The Beatles and they didn't play 'Taxman' or something, I think you'd be really pissed off. Hopefully we can find a way of playing it in the future. That would be interesting. For me it's similar to 'Mansize Rooster'. When we play it now, it does feel kind of very dated. It feels like some band that we were years and years ago. But who knows we might find a way to re-arrange it and play it in a different kind of way and that can be more interesting and kind of updated. And the other bit is that people say it's about being young and stuff, but we wrote that song looking back at that time. I was in my mid twenties when we wrote that song and Gaz was 18 or so. But we're always thinking when we wrote that song: this is about when we were like 15 or 16 and first started to smoke and just have a good time, so it was always some sort of reflective song. It's not quite the sort of being dated in terms of us getting older. But it's a strange one. We should sort it out sometimes.
After touring for 'Supergrass' in 1999, there came remarks and rumours about things that were going wrong inside the band. what do you do now, to prevent such things happen inside the band?
On 'Supergrass' it was Danny who had quite a hard time on that point. He had a problem with the direction that record was taking. Which happens from time to time. We tended not to express it very well with each other. That kind of the upshot is, he wasn't there a lot of the time for the back of the record, which became a problem when we started doing interviews with it, because he didn't feel completely connected with the record. There were a number of things he said he wasn't completely happy with and that it hadn't worked for him. Which is probably correct. And on balance it did suffer from that as a record, as it isn't all three of us working at it. One of the main strengths as the band is when me and Gaz and Danny and to an extend Bob's as well are very connected with what we wanna do. We're all putting our input in and it makes a very strong record where it can get multi-dimensional, when it's just me and Gaz and Bob coming up with shorts. For me, there's still some regrets for that record, but going back and listening to it, it's just the sense of a weird sort of grandeur to that record, that kind of got lost, like a flawed grandeur. It didn't quite reach where it should have reached, but just the feeling that it's gonna reach that high, makes it an interesting record for me. There's some really strong bits on there.
And how do you keep the internal relations healthy after playing together for 11 years?
I don't know! It's all dynamics and stuff, like in any marriage. I think I've described mine and Danny's relationship before as a 'love-hate' relationship and it is exactly that, you know. Sometimes he just extremely pisses me off because he can be very selfish, even as a musician. But on other times he's just amazingly inspiring and he just makes me laugh my pants off, cause he's just so stupid. While with me and Gaz, we really respect each other musically. We tend not to have to talk about it being very empathetic and stuff. I just find Gaz very inspiring. There's always sorts of problems with Gaz in terms that he gets too stoned or gets kind of lazy and a bit strung out occasionally, but you just kick him up the ass and he get's on with it. But then again I can get quite hard headed and stuff. But I think that's the dynamics that have always been in the band. It just depends on when we get too tired to do the band anymore, get outside interests. You get distracted I guess, but the relationships inside the bands haven't really changed. We've gone on with it on the same level. I just remember I lent Danny £50 when we'd just started the band and he didn't give it back to me for about a year. This was just something, a part of that 'love-hate'-thing. He got away with it, because he just charmed my pants off. But it was £50 when we just had no money, you know. I'd buy a week's shopping. Me and Danny have always been like that, but we always come back in the end and say 'sorry' to each other. But you need frictions in bands as well. It's a good way to be. Yeah, it hasn't changed.
Did your decision to stop touring for long periods of time also affect your popularity?
Probably, I don't know! It's difficult to pin things down like why we've sold less records than 'I Should Coco' over a period of time. But I think that's pretty much untrue, as when your debut album comes out it's 'Really amazing! Brandnew! Never heard anything like it' and everyone wants to buy that record and they're kind of get used to what you're about. They get a bit lazy about selling things. People haven't bought this record as it's 'Just another Supergrass Record. I'll just buy the 'Kaiser Chiefs', as they've never heard anything like that before. But it just doesn't mean that their record is better than ours, it's just they're after novelty and this record was specifically made as not being a novelty, but just to express us as 'Here we are at this time'. Which is a self indulgent kind of risk, but that's who we are. We can't pretend to be anyone else. So that's just the way it is.
Why did it take until 'Life On Other Planets' for Rob, to get credited as a full member of the band?
That was tricky, as it had been a creeping thing with Bob. When we first started touring 'I Should Coco', is when Bob first started playing with us and at that point he had no musical input in the band. He primarily played the keys. But occasionally on soundcheckes, as I remember, he was playing these chords, just these four chords going round and we spent ages jamming it and that the became the chorus of 'Moving'. And we said 'You've written those chords. Let's give you a writing credit of that'. So on that record, he got a percentage of the writing. And it's kind of progressed over that. He played a lot random over the synths and came up with interesting syth-lines we just use all the time, all the occasional chord-tweeks here and there. And then we thought, you're there all the time. It just became a time-machine: Bob being there all the time in the studio, he's there all the time on the road with us, so we just got to a point where you'll split the money four ways and everyone's happy. Although you don't have the same huge production-credits, because Danny and me and Gaz probably spent more time on production, whereas Bob doesn't. But it kind of came to a point that we said you might as well start doing interviews and talk about what you're doing as well. And if he's doing interviews, we just split the cash in four ways and we're all doing the same amount of work. So that's how it worked out.
You've done all kinds of side-projects, like in 1999, playing with 'Dr John' on records. Are you still doing such things individually?
Not really. I think Danny has done most side-projects. He'd sort of recorded two albums with his wife Pearl. That's probably as Danny is living in London. He hangs out with a lot of musicians. I think he played drums on an 'Elvis Costello'B-side and he stepped in for 'Ash' at one point and played on a B-side for them. I think that's just his connection to London. He's very restless and he likes being constantly busy, so he's played a lot of things like that.
The 'Dr John'-thing kind of came along out of the blue. the record company said 'We signed Dr John and he's gonna do this huge collaboration-album. And because you're both on Parlophone, it makes life very easy if you wanna do it. And we thought 'fair enough'. How it gonna be to sort of sit down. It was just when we got there that we realized it was 'Dr. John' and, f***in' hell! We just sat down and started playing with him. And we'd seen him on 'Joolz Holland' two years before as we'd been on the same show with him. I remember meeting him at that time, saying 'I'd really like your band'. Which was a really nice compliment. So it's kind of easy to do that. But beyond that me and Gaz never really felt the need to do other things. Maybe as time goes on, we'd be more interested. But the ever tempering fact is that we have families, which I think a lot of other young bands don't have. And that's taken up a lot of our time, when we're not working. We just want to spent that time at home and just forgetting about the band. As it gives you a bit of space. I guess that's what other people go on to do other musical things, because they're unsatisfied with their own bands maybe, or they've got a lot of time on their hands. But I think we've put all our efforts into the music of this band and when we're not working with this band, we just not wanna be having anything to do with it. You just wanna get away from it. That's why.
Some future plans. You're now playing a set loosely based on the acoustic tour. Will there be more acoustic tours in future?
I don't know. I think at the end of that acoustic tour in August, we kind of felt it to be quite interesting. But we wanted to go back and play some more traditional Rock shows, as they're more vibrant and stuff. But it's been really interesting being on that acoustic tour. Just the way we've changed all the old songs and played them differently and just gave them new life. I just think we needed to do that after the 'Supergrass Is 10' tour. We really needed to not repeat what we've done before. So it has been interesting. But it's kind of a misnomer to call it an 'Acoustic tour', as it's more of a hybrid. I'd be interested in finding different ways of playing it, but not based on acoustic. Which got all sort of strung up Folk-vibes to it and feels like it's too gentle for where you should be and what you wanna do. Something more interesting. Gaz played me the video of Neil Young, when he was doing the 'Trance' Tour, which is really odd. When he's gone all electronic. Neil Young is playing acoustic, but with all this vocoder and things, it's really nasty and it's in a way pretty horrible. But really interesting. There's other ways you can change as a live band, without resort to being quiet. But again, you have to see the show tonight and the outcome is different and interesting, but not something you wanna do all the time. But I think for one set of touring cycles it's worth doing it. It's kind of interesting.
As you're very satisfied with the 'Ronnie Scott's'-gig, will this be released on DVD?
Well, I think some of that footage will be on DVD. I know that we all had really bad hangovers, so it's not the best performance in the world. Some of the songs came out really well and some didn't so I wouldn't be happy with releasing the whole thing on DVD. But definitely selected highlights, yeah. Although there were some corkers, because we were quite drunk in a way. Yeah, but maybe not the whole thing!
Will there ever be the release of a 'Lost Tracks' album, with songs like 'Out Of The Blue' and other songs you tried to record, but didn't really work out.
That's tricky. Every record done, there's been two or three songs that could have made it onto that record, but didn't. It's really difficult going back to these songs, as the feel like they're in the past and they're not where you are now. So it'll be quite hard work, emotionally, to go back and try and finish those songs off. Because you wanna finish them off in the frame of mind you were writing them, which is the only way that they really work. So probably not!
'Out Of The Blue' in particular was one of the songs that got to the point were it could have been released. It was in a shape and it had lyrics and everything. Were in the right place to release it as a single, no not as a single, but as a track in itself. There are some tracks that were really, really strong and could have been almost A-sides. But we didn't quite get them together at the time and they're kind of 'sad losses', you know. They're not in the position to release them for other people to hear, but I can still hear them in my head sometimes. They're really odd sort of ghosts, hanging 'round in the back. Some songs come back. You'll write a new somg and there'll be an echo of that old song in it, the kind of feeling you wanted to get into it and it all come back in a new song like 'Roxy'.
And some songs on this record are very old, you know. Like I said 'Roxy' was three years old, before we even recorded it. And there are at least four or five songs around that period that cast a life, but got left behind and are absolutely superb. I can kind of hear them half in my head and how they should be. Maybe they'll make it onto this new record, which will be really interesting.
Another ghost that's still chasing you, is the question "Will the old 'Jennifers' stuff ever be re-issued?"
Pffft! I don't know. I've never been in 'The Jennifers'. I can't answer that!
Well, we know about Gaz and Danny being in 'The Jennifers'. were there any bands you were playing in, prior to 'Supergrass'?
Yeah, many and vary. Lots and lots of bands were in Oxford, but nothing that made it. Nothing commercial. I used to play bands with my brother. . There's a band 'Bigger Than God', that was quite big in Oxford and I used to play with their guitarist. I'm still kind of in touch with people I used to play in bands with and who come to our gigs and sit down and talk about music and stuff. But all the people I used to play with, were in school etc. They all moved around England. Moved to other countries and they usually phone me up and say 'Can I come to your gig'. That's how I see them all the time and keep in touch with them. But never in any famous bands. No.
How do you see the future of 'Supergrass'.
I don't know. One day at a time. Impossible to say, you know.
And bearing in mind the increasing pressure on the record sales
The way I see it, it's not something you can really worry about. I mean, we can change the music specifically to increase record sales. I think we just have to inspire ourselves. We have to find new ways of changing the band to get really inspired with ourselves. If you make a really good record they wanna stand by. If you feel that strongly about it, that people are gonna enjoy and buy it. But there's also standard pressures. We're a band that's ten years old. And like I said of the 'Kaiser Chiefs', if you've got the choice of buying a brand new band's record, that you really excite. Brandnew, like you've never heard them before, you probably gonna buy that record over a band that's been out over ten years. But there's nothing we can do about that. So, what can you do?
A reviewer from 'Road To Rouen' once stated that both 'Supergrass' and 'Super Furry Animals' are making records which will still be relevant in about twenty years. What do you think about such remarks?
Well, it's very flattering! I only think he put SFA in there, because they were releasing a record that week as well. If it would have been some other band, he would have probably said the same thing. We're not trying to sound pompous about it, but when you make records, you wanna leave a mark and you wanna leave something that will last for a longer period of time. I remember saying when we made 'In It For The Money', that we'd wanna create a record that you get more and more out, when you listen to it. You discover new things in it.
I was in the car the other day and 'Starman' by David Bowie came on. And I was really drunk and suddenly I heard the strings line, that I've never really listened to. I've listened to this record for about twenty-five years, on and off, and I'd just heard the string parts in it and they just blew me away. I've never listened to them before and I'd discovered this new element to this song. And all of our records are like that. You come back listening to it in ten years and you'll hear something new. That's the kind records that I wanna make. So yeah, I hope they'll still be relevant in ten years time. In your life, you still get inspiration from them. That's the kind of one I'm after.
But underneath that remark, isn't there a certain kind of criticism on current bands in England? On their quality?
I don't know. Maybe there is. But that's not my job to criticise other bands. If a band has released a brand new record and I've been hearing a lot about it in the press, it takes me about two years to get round to buying that record. I think any band that puts records out, they should be standing out the test of time, that you should buy them two years later. And if the big fuzz about them was right in the first play and you still get something out of it years later, without all the hype. I think that when we were growing up, at that time the chartmusic was rubbish. So you start listening to stuff like 'Pink Floyd', old 'Gong' records and stuff that no one was writing about. It wasn't in the press. You didn't see this kind of music anywhere in the media. You'd go and make your own assemptions on this record and develop your own opinions about them and that's always more interesting than anything else. You kind of find out your own things and that works more inspiring. So, commenting on other bands of the moment, saying that they're not gonna last whoever, it's on the strength of their music really.
Speaking with Guto Pryce of 'Super Furry Animals', September 1st 2005, I asked him the same questions. Here's what he had to say about it:
Few weeks back, in a review of Supergrass' 'Road To Rouen' in one of the music magazines, I read the reviewer stating that both Supergrass and SFA are now making albums, which will still be relevant in twenty years time. How do you feel about such remarks.
Ah, nice! You know. It's funny, to be honest, we've always had good press, which doesn't seem for us necessary to be transcribed into sales in some places, but people write things. It's nice and it's what we're trying to do, yeah! We want to make albums and we want people to discover these albums in twenty years and get them to buy another one and, like we've done as music fans, discover old stuff. The records will always be there!
But what does it say musically, as it sounds to me that bands like Franz Ferdinand are doing okay now, but their records will be consider outdated in twenty years time.
Bands are different, aren't they? It's not that every band can be the same. Some music is of the moment and it's immediate, everybody likes it and then, maybe, they move on to something else. And what happens is, if a band get's very big, very rarely they keep that fan-base. So after a period of time, when they're not as big as they used to be, they look at them and say: 'Alright, they're finished'. We've never had that one massive record, that has overshadowed our whole carreer, you know. It's not that we turn up every gig and the audience is just wanting to hear one song. we're quite lucky in that respect. Not that we wouldn't want it to happen.
Listening to Supergrass' latest album and your latest album, there are certain parallells between the use of sounds and things. Like the songs seemed to be tuned down a bit in tempo and temperament with both Supergrass and with SFA. Is that something that happens with bands that play for twelve years or so?
We're getting older. Older and slower! I would say, it was a sunny record, you know. It was done in the sun, food and wine and stuff that slows you down. It's definetely more chilled. I mean, the next record could be a death Metal Hardcore Punk record, you never know. It would be sad, if we just kept on getting slower and slower untill we stopped. There's still plenty of energy left.
Back to Mick:
Are there any new bands we should focus on?
Well, it'll be difficult for me to say, after what I'd just said. Having said that, like the latest 'Kaiser Chiefs' single, that has just been released ('Modern Way', LHD), I find quite interesting. It kind of reminded me of something like 'Odd?'. It just had this strange quality to it. But there's other stuff I listen to. I really like 'The Coral'. We spent time touring with them. Gone really well with them as people and really like their attitude towards music and stuff. The whole sort of 'New Merseybeat'-scene: 'The Coral', the 'Zutons'. That's very interesting to me because it's out of the London centric spotlights. It's a whole scene going on up there, with people doing this whole setup with scouse bands and the way they interact with each other. You've got 'The La's' and a whole lineage of people from Liverpool, through 'Echo & The Bunnymen' and Julian Cope. All this kind of lineage going on in Liverpool. Which is quite interesting. It has nothing to do with 'The Beatles'. I just like the scene up there, all those bands kind of talk to each other and spent time playing in each others houses. It's just very organic, very interesting. Beyond that, people should just go back and listen to all the records of the Seventies and Eighties, because there's a lot of interesting stuff there. I'm always sort of discovering new records. Like Gaz telling me on to that 'Graham Chapman' record, which was quite a revelation. It's a record that's scored in 1970. And Gaz is some sort of record collector and he just read something about it and bought it. And we've been listening to it for the last two years. It's just one of those records that is part of your life now. You just find these records occasionally. I don't know, people should just get out and go through the old record shops and take a few chances. It's all I could say.
Are there any bands or artists you'd like to play with, or play with again?
Well again, that goes back to being shot to our record doing well and 'I Should Coco'. I don't feel like we are kind of on the same league as other people. You'd be a bit too shy to play for other people. You're f***ing up here, you're just 'The Supergrass-band'. I don't know, it's difficult. I just think we'd be intimidated playing with other people. I can't think of any band that kinda is that close to us in sound. You could replace other people in the band with you. We're an entity. It's not something we did when we were growing up early. You're kind of stuck with your own band. Unless you start playing with other people, when it was like the band you've had before. Then you just leave the band you're in and start playing with them, because that was the point: you find people that actually lift you up and made you play better than you did before. Never really hungered to look for that really, no.
Thank you very much!
Thank you!"
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