21 Eyes Of Ruby, 'Live On Air' November 12th 2010.

21 Eyes Of Ruby (Maastricht), live on air.
Recorded: November 12th 2010. Studio 2.
Tracks: The Fountain, The Fight & The Flood/Break The Chains/Untill The End.

Note: Just one of these days, you get the feeling you shouldn’t have left bed! The band arrived in time and started offloading way too much stuff, to fit in the studio properly, to make a nice mix. Having hjad a bad day@ work, I sort of freaked out silently, obscuring my thinking. The band set up gear nevertheless and together we were able to make a reasonable mono signal for the show. While playing the first song, I managed to include two more ambiant mikes to the mix, seriously enhancing the overall sound quality to some kind of stereophonic sound. The set went well, as did the interview. After the show I helped upload their vstuff again, but alas forgot something. So now I’m stuck with their drumset-rug!

Lame Art, June 10th 1999.

Lame Art (Gouda, Waddinxveen), 4 track recorded.
June 10th 1999, ‘Plug Unit’, Reeuwijk.
Tracks: After The Bomb/Disfiction/True Love Regardless/Catch The Sun/New Substance Of Music/Co-9Note: After an intense year of gigging and passing exams, the band was recorded in the rehearsalroom, to catch new material, while being at their peak. The session never got aired, though ‘Disfiction’ made it to a local compilstion.

Six Of Seven, June 6th 1999.

Six Of Seven (Gouda), 4 track recorded.
Sunday June 6th une 1999, ‘De Spoel’ Community center, Gouda.
Tracks: Four unknown tracksNote: Coverband from the Popworkshops. As the bassplayer was absent, the recordings needed an additional session to dub bass, but as ‘Cords’ member Yuko accidentally poured beer into the recorder the following friday, the session was delayed and the band split up, before repairs got finished.

Little Wing, June 6th 1999.

Little Wing (Gouda/Moordrecht), 4 track recorded.
Sunday June 6th 1999, ‘De Spoel’ Community center, Gouda.
Tracks:
Holy Life/Ready To Go/Steal Away/Wasted/Gangland/SnowblindNote: Band with various team members of the workshops, plus friends, doing Rock covers. Organizing force behind the longestrunning festival in Gouda, ‘Lentepop ! ’Some members later turned up in other bands or doing solostuff.

Scent Of Incense, June 6th 1999.

Scent Of Incense (Gouda), 4 track recorded.
Sunday June 6th 1999, ‘De Spoel’ Community center, Gouda.
Tracks: Fantasy/Perfect GirlNote: 60’s infused, female fronted Popband, writing their own material. Got discovered through this session and made it to 2 subsequent editions of annual liveshow ‘de Goudse Afrekening’.

Medea, june 6th 1999.

Medea (Gouda), 4 track recorded.
Sunday June 6th 1999, ‘De Spoel’ Community center, Gouda.
Tracks: Long, Long/Karma Police/Paranoid/Everything For Free/DadNote: Band with members of a.o. ‘New Moon’ and ‘Tuesday Girl’ practised in this community center during workshops. I recorded them for an abandonned CD-project on 4 track Tascam Portastudio. Last song wasn’t supposed to have survived!

Lame Art, January 28th 1999.

Lame Art (Gouda/Waddinxveen), 2 track recorded.
January 28th 1999, ‘Plug Unit’ Reeuwijk.
Tracks: Jam 1/Jam 2Note: slightly structured jams, recorded during a rehearsal-recording for an upcoming band contest. Recorded live on a Marantz casssette-recorder, with two mikes plugged in.

Osdorp Justice, July 3rd 2009.

Osdorp Justice (Amsterdam/Rotterdam), 2-track recorded.
Friday July 3rd 2009, 'de Gonz' Gouda.
Tracks: Chemoderniseerd/Weer Geen Club Hit/Platwalsen/Freestyle/Geen Slaap Tot Osdorp.

Note: closing a benefit-gig for the venue got Amsterdam Hiphop-unit ‘Osdorp Posse’ and Rotterdam based ‘Blind Justice’ reunite their late 90’s package of Ósdorp Justice’ for one more time. They played a 5-piece set, which fuelled the audience to the top. Making them dive into my equipment, which detached the recorder from the mixer for a while. This happened during ‘Platwalsen’, which means ‘Flatten Ém’. Some took this a bit literally, but no damage done in the end, apart from a short intermission in the recording.

Blind Justice, July 3rd 2009.

Blind Justice (Rotterdam), 2-track recorded.
Friday July 3rd 2009, 'de Gonz' Gouda.
Tracks: Firestarter (‘prodigy’-cover)/Bloed Uit Je Oren (Instr).

Note: this Metalband started in Gouda 20 years before and reinvented themselves to support former tourmates ‘Osdorp Posse’ on this benefit-gig in support of the venue. Using an inaudible bass-generator, the band was fun to see, but didn’t impress majorly. Unable to build up on forehand, I struggled to get all signals in my desk. Which resulted in only the last two songs of the set properly recorded.

Nona, April 23rd 2009.

Nona (Gouda/Utrecht), 2-track recorded.
Thursday April 23rd 2009, 'de Gonz' Gouda.
Tracks: Tomorrow Is Coming/(Unknown)/On My Own/(Unknown)/I Gave My World/Innocent Smile/All For You /(Cover)/Open Your Mind/Set You Free/The Sun Goes Down.

Note: the very first gig Desiree Coumans gave as ‘Nona’, introducing her new band. Trying my new mixing desk, I accidentally attached the Flashrecorder I used for recording to the wrong output-channels, making the harder parts overload. So these recordings stay vaulted forever.

Paulusma, March 3rd 2009.

Paulusma (Amsterdam), 2-track recorded.
Friday March 3rd 2009, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: California Spirit/Everything Must Go/Ready To Go/Trust U Love Me/Ridin’ The T Companion/On Rubber Tiles/TJ On A Spree/Serpentine Tomorrow/Satisfactory/Serenades For The Lonely/Penny Arcade/Silence=Golden.

Note: using a mono feed from two subgroups (Supposed to be stereo), recorded on a Flashrecorder. Singer Jelle Paulusma (Former ‘Daryll-Ann’) and his band played an intimate, improvised gig for a way too small audience. After the gig, he took the recording home for some Pro-Tool reworking. Some tracks were aired inbetween te interview I had with Jelle after the gig.

Gem, November 28th 2008.

Gem (Utrecht), 2-track recorded.
Friday November 28th 2008, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: Waking Eyes.

Note: Maurits Westerik and his band returned to the stage he got his first live-experiences, to play an intense gig for a packed venue. As the PA-crew couldn’t get the ‘Line-Out’ functionning right, they gave me two subgroup-feeds, to use for my recorder. The sound got overloaded and mono, resulting in unusable recordings. Apart from ‘Waking Eyes’, which were picked up hazily by two mikes I used to pick up the overall sound from the venue. Written few days before, Maurits climbed a chair in the middle of the audience and sang over his acoustic guitar. Which was chilling. Later versions of this song made their way to Youtube, while this very first version was aired only once, on request by Maurits himself.

The First A.I.D. Band, December 21st 2007.

First A.I.D. Band (Rotterdam), 2-track recorded.
Wednesday December 21st 2007, 'Beachclub' Hoek van Holland.
Tracks: Introduction/Internetten/Rosalie/Tuning/Schone Straten/Technical problems/Even Wachten/Schepen Varen/Berouw Komt Na De Zonde/Laat Die Bomen Staan/Zittend Aan De Maas/Spoorweg/Lucht/Rosalie/Gloria In Excelsis Deo/Komt Allen Tesamen/Nu Zijt Wellekomen/Hand In Hand (“Feyenoord” Anthem)/Knockin’ On Heavens Door/Who’ll Stop The Rain/Zittend Aan De Maas/Rosalie/Internetten.

Note: Recorded during the Christmasparty ‘De Hoekmaat’ organizes annually for it’s clients. Direct PA-recording of a very chaotic performance, which lacks the unamplified drums. During this gig new bassplayer Mario got introduced, as were several tracks I wrote lyrics for (Berouw Komt Na De Zonde, Spoorweg, Lucht).

Vromannacht, September 7th 2007.

Vromannacht 2007 (Rotterdam), 2-track recorded.
Friday September 7th 2007, Garden of the Public Library, Gouda.
Note: Annual evening of poetry and performances by pupils of the ‘Leo Vroman College’, in honour of the Gouda born poet Leo Vroman, now living in New York. Last minute decision to record this night resulted in recording the PA-signal onto portable Minidisc, getting a brief stereo sound.

The Mondegreens(Gouda/Moordrecht/Bodegraven).
Tracks:That One/The Museum/Raindrops/You Fight/The Wrong/Unknown.
Note: Promising Punkrockband, who never really got there. First gig after 5 months of doing exams, celebrating Summer holidays and getting introduced for studies. Nevertheless quite nice gig.

Maaike Ouboter (Gouda).
Tracks:Reminiscing/Untitled/How.
Note: Upcoming Si/So writing her own material, in coöperation with lyricist Eva Seignette. ‘How’ was performed together with Sophie Vlasveld.

Desiree Coumans Band (Gouda/Utrecht).
Tracks:The Other Side/Broke My Heart Twice/You Make Me Sick/Cryin’ Eyes/Born Loser/Tomorrow Is Coming/I Gave My World/.
Note: Feedback drenched gig by one of the most promising young female singers of last few years. Performing with her shortlived ‘Desiree Coumans Band’.

The First A.I.D. Band, June 20th 2007.

The First A.I.D. Band (Rotterdam), 2-track recorded.
Wednesday June 20th 2007, ‘Gemiva-SVG’ main office, Gouda.
Tracks:Intro/Even Wachten/Treurbuis/Schone Straten/Berouw Komt Na De Zonde/Laat Die Bomen Staan.

Note: Bands from my work, consisting of three guys in wheelchairs, supported by former Jules Deelders drummer Arthur Scova Righini. As part of activities run at their Rotterdam-Charlois based daycare center, they formed a band, writing their own Dutch-languaged materials, completed with a bunch of covers. Having taken part in the 40th anniversary contest, the company running their daycarecenter run that year, they got invited to perform at the concluding party in the hall of the main building in Gouda. Being their soundman, I was present and recorded the gig on Minidisc from the PA directly. Planned to air parts inbetween a later to be recorded interview, I never got to that point, leaving the recording collecting dust.

Confuse The Cat, December 22nd 2006.

Confuse The Cat (Antwerpen), 2-track recorded.
Friday December 22nd 2006, ‘So What’ Gouda, during ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ live-broadcast.
Tracks: AK-47/Expert/New Medicine/Senkregt Waagerecht/Pushin’It/Akela/We Can Do It/The Deepest Blue/Shockwaves//Principessa.

Note: Short, but intense set by these Neo-Waveers from Belgium. Booked in an unsuccesfull attempt to attract more audience during this final edition of ‘De Goudse Afrekening’. The stereo PA-signal was mixed with the venue-sound from two mikes and recorded onto minidisc directly. As a connecting plug was broken, parts of the first track got imbalanced beyond repair and was never used. The rest needed massive compression, to make a staggering 42 dB of dynamics in the instrumental balance more listenable.

Noblesse, December 22nd 2006.

Noblesse (Den Haag/Tel Aviv), 2-track recorded.
Friday December 22nd 2006, ‘So What’ Gouda, during ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ live-broadcast.
Tracks: Babylon Babies (Soundcheck, Part)/Sound The Alarm/All I Wanna Do/Soft Drum/Map Your Face/Different Flow/Piece Of Meat/Heart Waxing Playboy/Walking Away/Oh My God!/State Of Mind.

Note: Dutch-Israeli Alternative rock. The stereo PA-signal was mixed with the venue-sound from two mikes and recorded onto minidisc directly. As a connecting plug was broken, parts of the first three tracks got imbalanced beyond repair and were never used. The rest needed massive compression, to make a staggering 42 dB of dynamics in the instrumental balance more listenable. Saving the bigger part of this impressive gig.

Velvet Lane, July 1st 2006.

Velvet Lane (Gouda/Haastrecht/Rotterdam/Utrecht), 2-track recorded.
Saturday July 1st 2006, 'Loose End' Reeuwijk.
Tracks: (Unknown)/Seven/Eventually/Sane Insanity/Get By/Something To Say/Vaporized.

Note: Rockband supporting the introduction-gig of ‘Desiree Coumans Band’ on a quite hot evening. The sound was mixed by Dennis van Driel, using some laptops for added effects. I took the stereo PA-signal and fed it through my 4-Track recorder, to capture some venue-sound as well. The stereo-mix was then fed to a portable Minidisc-recorder, making very descent recordings of the gig. Alas things went wrong with the Desiree Coumans recordings, as the disc crashed, while saving data.

Gem, March 31st 2006 (Full band).

Gem (Utrecht), 4-track recorded.
Friday March 31st 2006, 'So What' Gouda.
Tracks: All I Want Is You/Subterranean Parade/Tonight/Move On/Talk, Talk, Talk/Go!/Good To Know You/High Low/Fight On/Let It Out, Get It Out/Someone/Rise & Fall/Strangers In The Night/Helmet(Start mutilated due to change of tapes)/Loose The Booze/”Audience”/Untitled New Track/The Blitz/S.O.S..

Note: Dropping by before the gig for a three track acoustic set and interview in the show, the band later played a very intense gig, promoting their second album ‘Escapades’. Not satisfied with the harmonies, the management restricted broadcast to the tracks without harmonies in them.

Amie Maranth, December 23rd 2005.

Amie Maranth (Gouda), 4-track recorded.
Friday December 23rd 2005, ‘So What’ Gouda, during ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ live-broadcast.
Tracks: .

Note: much awarded, but still unknown singer-songwriter Rieneke Batelaan a.k.a Amie Maranth a.k.a. Pienn, opened the 2005 edition of the annual live-broadcast with an impressive, intense set of songs.

Nhoa, December 29th 2004.

Nhoa (Gouda/Bodegraven/Utrecht/Zoetermeer/Amsterdam), 4-track recorded.
Tuesday December 29th 2004, ‘So What’ Gouda, during ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ live-broadcast.

Tracks:Back Pocket/(Unknown)/Please (QOTSA-cover)/Define Me/(Unknown)/Unbeschreiblich Weiblich (Nina Hagen-cover)/.


Note: Solidly rocking band, fronted by Mikka, playing a mix of self-written material, combined with few covers of outspoken female artists, like Nina Hagen and Skunk Anansie. They got a bit carried away, making this a slightly screaming set, vocally spoken. The soundman couldn’t get the sound right and added some overdone reverb on the vocals at some stage, making these recordings fairly unusable for the better part alas.

Squat!, December 29th 2004.

Squat! (Gouda/Zoetermeer), 4-track recorded.
Tuesday December 29th 2004, ‘So What’ Gouda, during ‘De Goudse Afrekening’ live-broadcast.
Tracks:Sense Has Gone/Angel (Massive Attack)/Suicidal Killer/Fool Of Fools/Schizophrenic.

Note: local Indie-band, making quite nice rockmusic, deeply influenced by the triphop of ‘Massive Attack’. Didn’t hold themselves together in the end, but played a great set this night.

Staalplaat Sound System, July 1st 2004.

Staalplaat Sound System (Amsterdam), 2-track mono recorded.
Thursday July 1st 2004, ‘haagse School Voor De Kunsten’, The Hague.
Tracks:Impression.

Note: While interviewing the organising team of ‘state X-New Forms’ festival, they took me to one of the festival-sites, to get a preview. This was the moving sound-installation of Geert-Jan Hobeijn, of experimental sound-collective and label ‘Staalplaat’. I wandered between intriguing constructions made of supermarket trollyes, fans, vacüum-cleaners, teaspoons, plastic bottles and all kinds of other noisy materials and recorded a 6’23” lasting impression, which was aired during the broadcast of the interview the next day. Considered lost, I rediscovered it on one of many improper marked minidiscs in my archive (Nov 2010).

Mint, April 30th 2002.

Mint (Gouda/Bath), 2-track mono recorded.
Wednesday April 30th 2002, somewhere in Rotterdam-Alexander.
Tracks:Intro & Tuning/Just Another Daytime/Members In Water/Missionairy Girl/I Will Never Try/Menace For Feathers/Rain/Papa.

Note: final performance under the flag of ‘Mint’. Maurits Westerik on electric guitar, vocals and harmonica and Bram van Welie on bass and vocals. Recorded during a performance on a street stage on ‘Queensday’, three brandnew tracks were played, of which ‘Menace For Feathers’ was only two or three days old.
This recording was given to me by Maurits in an attempt to be rebooked for annual liveshow ‘De Goudse Afrekening’. Since ‘Mint’ headlined the previous year, nobody wanted to put a reduced ‘Mint’back up and the offer was declined. Instead ‘Moonstar’, the shortlived new band by former ‘Mint’-drummer Edwin Bol got the top spot. October 2003, Maurits offered to headline with his brandnew band, but was denied again, as their three track demo wasn’t very convincing to the team. 4 months earlier the band played a legendary support to ‘The Libertines’, as Pete Doherty didn’t show up for the first time. By June 2004 ‘Gem’ had a record deal, an album and they were literally all over Holland. Including some big festivals!

Jack - Demo (Unreleased, 1998)

Jack – Demo.
Recorded: September 28th 1998, ‘Popcollectief Gouda’, Gouda.
Unreleased.
Tracks: Heute Wie Morgen/House Of The Rising Sun/Casper/Cocaine/Dameland (Bayern), Watch The Children Play
Note: German streetsinger, roaming through Gouda center and already going down. Dragged into the studio by his then girlfriend and a radiotechnician from local radio, I was asked to record his demo. During a slightly chaotic session, in which he got slightly pressed to perform, these and more tracks were laid down. The demo never made it and after years of absence Jack returned to Gouda few years back, but got a bit too much troubles, while having deteriorated badly. Since 5 years, he’s vanished again to God knows where.

JW Roy, March 2000 'A Shake Of Music'

JW Roy (Utrecht), live on air @ ‘A Shake Of Music’.
Recorded: March 2000. Studio 2.
Tracks: I Believe/Traveller/Benjamin/Unknown..

Note: Live-performanced from a collegues show, which I was asked to perform the technical side of. Attended by an arrogant-as-usual acting Johan Derksen and some other persons present. I accidentally recorded this gig for myself as well, as I put an MD in record, rather than record-pause, using the recorder as a monitor for the singer.

Roos Galjaard, August 6th 2010.

Roos Galjaard (Groningen), live on air.
Recorded: Aaugust 6th 2010. Studio 2.
Tracks: Strongest Man/Unknown Falls.

Note: I invited my old bandmate Roos Galjaard, after she announced her third CD ‘I Am Water’ would be released. It was great seeing and talking with her again, so we had time for two livesongs only!

The SelfEmployed, July 23rd 2010.

The SelfEmployed (Hoorn/Amsterdam), live on air.
Recorded: July 23rd 2010. Studio 2.
Tracks: Guard Me/Play/Clever Enough.

Note: Alternative Rockband from the North-Western part of Holland, dropped by the studio for an acoustic set. Despite being a bit knocked off my feet after being driven down by a car 4 days before, I succeeded in getting the job done. Resulting in a very impressive liveset, which reminded me a bit of the timbre of ‘Kings Of Leon’. The interview was very relaxed as well.

Slice (Of Merlin), November 4th 2010.

Slice (Of Merlin) (Gouda/Bodegraven/Oudewater/Rotterdam), 2-Track recorded.
Thursday November 4th 2010, ‘Gouwestad Radio Studio 2’ Gouda.
Tracks: The Day/I Want It All Too Much/Heart Of Darkness/If I Only

Note: Two days before their rescheduled last ever gig, the band came overcomplete to the studio for an acoustic set. 8 man strong, we recorded several takes of every track, using keyboards, acoustic guitar, cello, violin and 4 vocals. Despite the singer being ill and me having had one night sleep after returning home from a very intense 4 week journey, the session was amazing. The concluding interview was both serious and lighthearted. The recordings were aired the next day.

At No Bikini Beach, September 10th 2010.

At No Bikini Beach (Rotterdam), 2-Track recorded.
Friday September 10th 2010, ‘Gouwestad Radio Studio 2’ Gouda.
Tracks: Golden Girls (Tk 1-5)/Ijsmuggen (Tk 1-2)/Ibizahut/VRT Commercial

Note: Rene van Lien and Arnold v/d Velde (Both ‘Neon Rainbow’, ex-‘Feverdream’), teamed up with Jos Hoevenaars (Sir Ian) and drummer Micha Haring (Elle Bandita, Sir Ian) for an acoustic session and an interview to promote ‘The New Bikini’, released earlier that week. The session was fun to do, resulting in some weird versions of ‘golden Girls’ and ‘Ibizahut’ during soundcheck, as well as a mocked-up Flemish commercial and an alas not recorded improvisational song on how nice the lads in the band were. The commercial and the soundcheck version of ‘Golden Girls’ were put at the start and end of the show, which was broadcasted one week later.

Steve Savage, September 9th 2010

Steve Savage (Nashville, USA), 2-Track recorded.
Thursday September 9th 2010, ‘Gouwestad Radio Studio 2’ Gouda.
Tracks: That’s Love/See You Again/Sunshine/Reach

Note: One of three unprepared interviews ever, as my promo copy of his new album was impossible to play anywhere. Being tired and painfull, after overstretching the bands of his ankle, we set to recording an interview and four livetracks, to be broadcasted October 8th 9So I consider this a session). Everything worked well in the end and we spent an hour sightseeing Gouda and helping the drummer to find some of his adored 4,5 year old Gouda cheese. After which they took off to play National commercial station ‘Kink FM’.

Rats On Rafts, September 4th 2010

Rats On Rafts (Rotterdam), 2-Track recorded.
Saturday September 4th 2010, ‘Gouwestad Radio Studio 2’ Gouda.
Tracks: The Moneyman (Tk 1-3)/Orangeoranutan (Tk 1-3)/Kevin In Cabbagetown (Tk 1)/A Plastic Plaster (Tk 1-3)/Sleeping In Rotterdam (Tk 1-3)

Note: Young Rotterdam lads, playing Postpunk/Wave inspired by early Fall, Wire, Kiem, De Div etc. As the people living near the studio prepared for a quiet evening after a busy market day, I helped the band offload their gear and set things up in the studio for a fully electrified set. They were eager to record, so we took off after saoundcheck. Several takes broke down, but some outtakes are quite nice. Take 2 of ‘Kiem’-cover ‘The Moneyman’ was the ultimate version, but lacked enough second guitar to be aired. As some songs needed reverb, the second part of the session was recording with vocals put through a guitasr-amp, causing this very weird, but fantastic eerie voice-soiunds. Ending up with two different versions of ‘Kevin In Cabbagetown’ (One with clean voice, one with the eerie one) and three attempts to record ballad ‘Sleeping In Rotterdam’, we did an additional interview and went our happy, separate ways again. After finding the bassplayers I-Phone, he had put in one of the most impossible corners of the studio.

Boston Tea Party, May 25th 2010

Boston Tea Party (Gent, Belgium), 2-Track recorded.
Friday May 21st 2010, ‘Gouwestad Radio Studio 2’ Gouda.
Tracks: 90’s Dream/Freemason/I Don’t Care If You Wanna Dance/She Made Me (Tk 1-3)/She Made Me (Tk 4)

Note: Expected to record a electrified set with guitar and drumkit, I cleared the room next to Studio 2 completely and plugged in 6 mikes. So the band arrived with a tom and an acoustic guitar, to do their first ever acoustic session for a change! Which went quite well. After which we did a very relaxed interview, which included gossipping about Kids Television shows.

The Arkanes, May 6th 2010.

The Arkanes (Liverpool, UK), 2-Track recorded.
Thursday May 6th 2010, ‘Gouwestad Radio Studio 2’ Gouda.
Tracks: Sharpshooter/Fistfull Of Anger/Set Fire To The Scene (Tk 1)/Set Fire To The Scene (Tk 2)/Don’t Act Like You Know Me/Fingerpainting On The Wall/Silly Boy

Note: Liverpudlian band dropping by for a full-blown electric set in an empty studio. After a short night, with hardly any breakfast the band arrived in the studio, having lost their way in Gouda center at first. Initially they didn’t feel like carrying their stuff to the studio the who 2 yards, but were convinced to do so in the end. After some cursing, messing about and a not too easy soundcheck (Due to the fact the studio lacks any monitorring), they recorded a really great live-session, with hardly any breakdown. ‘Set Fire To The Scene’ got two takes, as they didn’t like the first one. It’s hardly audible their guitarist only joined them two weeks before

To realise this session, I broke almost every single studio rule: NEVER disconnect the mikes of Studio 1, don’t carry around with furniture, NEVER put up fully amped bands, DON’T annoy the neighbours, don’t eat food in the studio itself. I only forgot to break the ‘no Smoking’ and ‘No Alcohol’ rules. Maybe better next time ;).

Noblesse, April 2nd 2010.

Noblesse (Den Haag/Tel Aviv), live on air.
Recorded: April 2nd 20100. Studio 2.
Tracks: Different Flow/You Look Good/Babylon Babies.

Note: Dutch-Israelian Indierock-trio from The Hague came to the studio to tell more about their ‘We Are Not Humanity’ project: a hybrid between Dance and Rock music. Inbetween they played an acoustic duo-set, since the drummer was ill and stayed at home. Remembering the previous visit, they brought a bass-amp this time.

Anna, Lisa & Anna – Demo (2010)

Recorded: April 1st 2010, ‘Gouwestad Radio’ Studio 2, Gouda.
Unreleased.
Tracks: Say, Say, Say/Images/Summertime
Note: Three girls from High School, coming to my attention, as the father of one of the Anna’s is a collegue of mine. Live-takes during a slightly unrelaxed session. Which started with a major disturbance in the studio, concerning signal dropouts. Finally sort of solved by kicking the splitterbox causing the problem, after which the session took off. 13 takes were recorded, of which takes 7, 8 and 10 were deemed ‘good’. The rest got erased, as it was useless to keep them.

St. Polaroid, March 12th 2010

St. Polaroid (Rotterdam), live on air.
Recorded: March 12th 2010. Studio 2.
Tracks: Jacques Picard/Double Pair Of Eyes/French Movies/Dream About A Shoppingmall.

Note:Second visit by the frontman of ‘that Band From Holland’ doing his solo-thing. After winning the ‘Grote Prijs van Zuid Holland’ in the fall of 2009, he made a new EP and played quite extensively througout the area, visiting the studio at the tail of his ‘tour’. He played 4 tracksm accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and mouth-organ. Gremlins were there as well, making a slightly lame mikestand’s arm coming down before ‘Jacques Picard’ started, forcing me to adjust it on the spot. The rest of the set (and it’s recordings) went okay nevertheless.

Me Again!! (Or: how I nearly interviewed Iggy & The Stooges.)

Long before I heard of their appearance @ ‘Lowlands Festival 2007’, I had the idea to see if I could arrange an interview with Iggy & The Stooges. I’ve been listening to their music for more than 20 years now and still have to remove their CD’s from my CD-player at regular basis. So why not try it now?
After ongoing rumours on their ‘Lowlands’ appearance got confirmed in June 2007, I first contacted Cor, without a doubt one of the biggest Iggy & The Stooges fanatics, to tell him the good news. After that I switched on the computer, to see how far I could get with my request. Which at first was quite disappointing: no contact adresses for the management to be found. So I send requests to the official sites of both Iggy Pop and guitarist Ron Asheton. Which (ofcourse) never got answered.

A few weeks later I ran into some new channels by chance, which not only resulted in the email-adress of Ron’s personal manager, but also that of Iggy’s European tourmanager, Mr Henry himself! I acted immediately and mailed Henry, who, to my surprise, responded a few days later: he couldn’t make any promise, but weanted to know more about me and my radio-show. Which was send to him quicker than an eye could blink.
After a long period of silence, Henry mailed me, telling he’d be trying to arrange and interview for me with either Iggy or one of the other Stooges. But no solid guarantee.
10 days before ‘Lowlands’ I send him another mail, in which I stated to be truly honoured, if I would be granted an interview. The response to this, was one of the messages you need to read several times before it makes full impact: you’ll have an interview. Only not sure wether it will be Iggy or one of the other band members.
Additional data was exchanged and a target time for the interview settled. All I had to do now, was to wait for for the press-credits, needed to get to the premisses of Lowlands Festival and the backstage area.
The night before the Festival, I started to inform about my credits and discovered I still wasn’t registered for an interview. Only EMI Holland could secure the interview. Only their man in charge, the ‘ever helping and over charming’Martin, wasn’t answering his phone.

In meantime one particular phonecall started a complete chainreaction: people were called out of bed, important people from ‘Lowlands’, booking agent ‘Mojo’ and even the main man from EMI Holland got mails from people involved. Martin in meantime, reacted with a textmessage, being his own blunt and rude self: interview? No fucking way! Stop your sobbing, clown.
An hour prior to this, Henry had asked me to send him a mail, explaining the problem to him, so he could deal with it. So when I switched on the computer again at 9 AM, after a bad nights sleep, I had a very hard time to desperately change my sleepy head into clear thinking. 3 mails: Hein, who forwarded a requested email to THE man in charge at ‘Mojo’, a grumpy mail from Henry to Hein and a certain Arjan at EMI Holland, plus an email from ‘Mojo’, which told me I was granted my press credits. I was in! Long nose to Martin!
The trip to Biddinghuizen was relaxed and my press-pass was provided smoothly. Taking the regular wrong turn got me mixing with the audience of the festival at the regular entrance of the area. Even though the recorder I had taken with me, wasn’t registered, I amazingly was allowed to pass the gates by showing my press-bracelet. Found out I wasn’t the only press-mosquito missing the unposted signs on my way in.

Arriving at the press area, I discovered only half of things were arranged: I could get my transfer pass, as soon as I knew who would escort me through the backstage area at what time. A few text messages later, things got cleared up and I received my transfer pass! I could go backstage for my interview at 22:10 h.
Even though it was very clear I was radio, nobody came to the idea to provide me a radio-pass as well, allowing me to take my recorded backstage. The connection came at last, together with the pass and many surprised looks on how on earth I had gotten my recorder through security without a problem.


'Ministry' was great, even though I was only able to watch the last ten minutes, due to passing my passes-exams. ‘The Frames’ were truly boring, so I decided to go to the presstent after only two songs, to watch people. What a typical world the music press is: many incrowd and lots of guests who thought they were very tough, just being able to be around there. Many familiair faces from my previous visit there in 2005 and even meeting people I hadn’t seen in ages, like Marcello, who used to program a club in Gouda and Remco, former drummer of ‘Incense’.
Invading the fields again, I tried to catch a glimpse of ‘the Raconteurs’. Didn’t make it, as I ran into hoards of people I knew again. Although not the ones I expected to find.
Grabbed a bite and got to the conclusion ‘The Noisettes’ were not quite my cup of tea. Still very strange to see the guy on stage here, with whom you were chatting at ‘The Music In My Head’ festival two months earlier.
Pitstop at the press area and walking to the ‘Grolsch’ stage 50 minutes before Iggy & The Stooges-time. Within tewn minutes I was completely surrounded by an ever growing audience. Inbetween the youngsters, I could spot a few people in their 50’s, including one in a wheelchair, armed with crutches.


At 20:45 the show took off and I must say it was far from disappointing: I could sing along with all but three songs, which were blown across the audidnce with much energy. Inbetween songs people were trying to grab Iggy’s attention, while being 60 metres away. A little to the right in front of me I saw the occasional euphoric raising of the crutches. The atmosphere got better and better and I started to relax more and more.
A quick pitstop and scrubbing of the hands and I arrived at the pickup spot early enough. Waiting for either Henry or Eric to pick me up for the interview.
This was taking longer than expected. In meantime every person passing by showed me their badges and bracelets, said hello and vanished across the field. I had’not the slightest idea which pass was meant for what, so I stuck my head into the backstage area and carefully studied the sign, explainig all the badges, passes, stickers and bracelets circulating. This in order to play out my role of a security guy more convincing!
Peculiar people, exhausted crew members, detatched visitors, everybody passed my allowing eyes. While the real security guy was only 30 metres away, to watch some pretty girls visiting the nearby First Aid post, Janneke Riplet anxiously looking, walked by, as did many others. Everybody but Henry or Eric.

Another text message revealed they were waiting for my arrival and didn’t get where I was keeping them waiting for. I was running out of time and decided, heartbreaking, to call it a day.. I excused myself by text message and made it right in time for the bus to Lelystad running. I got the last train to bunk-spot Utrecht (the very last bed in a hostel there!). Leaving thecircus, I arrived at the hostel two hours later and laid myself to rest inbetween snoring, sleeptalking, smelling, vomitting and noisy stoned Italians in a hot, crammed little bunkroom.
Not an interview, but what a day!