My band history
1991
The Butler Jihad
History begins, when in the summer of 1991 Reinder Dijkhuis (guitar) and Paul Koenes (bass)
form a band together. When Reinder's brother Johan Dijkhuis (that's me :) decides to buy a
drumkit it doesn't take long before he joins the band. Donald Donleben is asked to sing and
play guitar. Unfortunately, Paul is too busy with other musical projects, so he leaves very
quickly.
1992
The Prince Of Wales
The threesome continues and, using names like The Butler Jihad and The Prince Of Wales,
many songs are recorded. Finding a new bassplayer turns out to be very hard. In September,
Marcel Homsma is found, but he is replaced by Michel Bouma very soon afterwards. In this
line-up the group commences to record a demo, consisting entirely of original material
written by Reinder and Donald. These recordings stop abruptly when Donald and the rest
part company in December.
1993
Sixpack
Only in April 1993, new energy is found when Michel asks two of his friends to join the group:
Marcel Rouwé on vocals and Bart Beerends on bass. Michel takes over the lead guitar.
Marcel quits after two months and the band continues as a foursome and even performs in my
house once in front of a select audience, using the name Sixpack. In October the group places
an ad seeking a singer, to which Patrick Krop responds. At the same time Bart is replaced by
Pieter van Slobbe.
Miscellaneous
Not quite satisfied with the restrictions put on him by my band, I team up with friend Danny
Barnhoorn (bass) to form another band when Michiel Verhoef, Hans Dekker and Vic Diederen
inform the duo that they all want to do something. December 1993 sees five people trying to
start a musical outlet suited to everybody's needs. This first attempt fails miserably,
but...
1994
Alpha Alpha
January 1994 sees Hans Dekker (guitar and vocals), Danny Barnhoorn and me hit the
rehearsal room to see if we can work as a trio. We succeed remarkably well, but aside
two low-profile gigs, we never manage to actually show ourselves to the public, as Hans
leaves for England for a year. Summer 1994, the threesome do record one demo, including five
original songs and five cover tunes, as a goodbye to Hans.
The Hooded Crow
In the new line-up recordings for a new demo are started in January 1994 using the name
The Hooded Crow. During these recordings and a month before the first gig Pieter decides
to leave because of conflicts within the band, but he does agree on finishing the demo,
which becomes the group's first official demo, containing 12 originals. Danny Barnhoorn,
also a member of my other band Alpha Alpha, is the new bassplayer. In this line-up
a number of gigs is played in Groningen. July till September sees the recording of a second
demo, which is released in October, consisting of 11 new original songs. Two managers are
found as well: Age Mooy and Michèle Schaafsma.
1995
The Hooded Crow
In January, three more songs are finished to be included on the next demo. This demo is never
officially released, as plans for releasing a CD pop up. In June, 9 new songs are recorded at
Sing-sing studios in Metslawier, to be mixed in July. All kinds of things to promote the first
CD "Kettles Of Fish" (released in October and featuring songs from the first two demos and some
new tracks) are planned. Meanwhile, a Deep Purple song called "Fools" is recorded for a
world-wide Deep Purple tribute tape called "Information
Superhighway Stars", released in November. November also sees the release of a compilation
CD called "Take It Or Leave It part 1" (TRR 003), which features "Karma In A Tub" from the
Metslawier sessions and 21 songs from other local bands. The year ends on a sadder note with
internal conflicts resulting in confusion and arguments.
Miscellaneous
October 1995, shortly after the demise of Alpha Alpha, Danny and I set out to form yet
another band; this time a hardcore metal outfit is decided upon. This unnamed band, completed
by Wilco (vocals) and Martin Borman (guitar), only stays together for about 3 months.
The same goes for another project I do, which is also unnamed and features Michiel
Verhoef (guitar), Floribert Baudet (guitar/organ/vocals) and Peter Kerkhof (bass/vocals). The
idea was to start a 70s-music type band, but no compromise is found on the exact formula
and therefore the group is disbanded January 1996.
1996
The Hooded Crow
The year starts with Patrick leaving the band (taking Michèle with him). Auditions for
a new singer result in nothing and the band continues as a foursome. Emphasis this year,
however, lies more on the individual projects of all four band members: Danny is (besides
those projects mentioned below) also kept busy as a member of
Heavy Klepto and Michel teams up with
Marcel Rouwé and Harold Schenk for an accoustic project.
Smoke In The Cabin
In pursuit of a better home for some Hooded Crow songs, Smoke In The Cabin is formed early
1996. Band members include Michel Bouma, Danny Barnhoorn and me from The Hooded Crow and
Donald Donleben (The Prince Of Wales). Shortly after, Danny is replaced by Terence van Zoelen.
First effort is a gig at the Hello festival, end of 1996.
Alpha Alpha
Summer 1996 sees Alpha Alpha being revived again when Hans returns from his stay in England.
This time we are joined by Reinder Dijkhuis (guitar) of The Hooded Crow. We're at it a bit
more seriously this time and actually manage to do two more gigs and record a new demo. This
demo is a lot more cohesive than the first one and only features originals.
1997
The Hooded Crow
When Danny finds a job in Utrecht at the start of the new year, The Hooded Crow is disbanded,
as are Heavy Klepto and...
Alpha Alpha
Alpha Alpha's only effort in 1997 is a spot at the Rode Oortjes Festival of 1997. In March
1997, both Danny and Hans find jobs in far away places however and Alpha Alpha is disbanded
once more...
Smoke In The Cabin
Just a handful of gigs in and around Groningen (among which a 25-minute gig at the Pop=Prima
Prijs) and a radio show result in the offer to shoot a video. The offer is accepted and Autumn
of 1997 sees the release of the video for "Final Chapter". Soon afterwards however, conflicts
within the band result in the departure of Terence, who in turn joins a band called
Koud Vuur.
Vicious Visjes
In March, Michel teams up with old school friends Rodney and Wieger and drummer Corneel to
form a band soon dubbed Vicious Visjes. In April, Corneel is replaced by me and
in this line-up, the band does a semi-acoustic try-out in May and then spends until November in
the rehearsal room and recording a demo. This demo is released in November to coincide with a
couple of gigs at the end of the year.
Daniel Ostvold
On Danny's return to Groningen in Autumn, he joins a band called
Awake (AKA Modesty). Also, the four ex-members of The
Hooded Crow are asked to work together for a one off project: recording a CD single together
with Norwegian artist Daniel Ostvold. The project features 4 songs, including Michel and
Kim (Heavy Klepto) on vocals, Danny on bass, me on drums, Kim's uncle on accordion and
Daniel himself on guitar and lead vocals. Reinder is asked to make all the necessary
arrangements
1998
Smoke In The Cabin
After trying out several replacements for Terence, Donald announces he's going to leave for
Italy, summer 1998. The group is disbanded soon afterwards...
Vicious Visjes
In January, an entire gig is recorded for broadcast on local radio. February of 1998 sees
the band win the Rode Oortjes Festival 1998. This results in a lot of attention for the band
and a very busy schedule for a large part of Spring. Recordings for a CD start at the same
time (recorded on 24 tracks at Square Wave Studio). In June, the band is nominated for a spot
at the Grote Prijs van Nederland, but comes in 3rd after voting. In November, a live session
is recorded for local radio station Oog Radio.
Daniel Ostvold
Daniel was very satisfied with the results of the sessions in 1997 and therefore he invited
the same group of people (and a few others) to record a musical he had written, called "The
Double". Most of the recordings for this were made in Norway. Addition vocals, drums and bass
are added Nov 1998-April 1999 at Square Wave Studio in Groningen. Danny also joins a band
called Laat Maar.
1999
Vicious Visjes
April 1st, Vicious Visjes' debut-CD is released, and immediately grabs the attention of both
the public and the media. Besides lots of airplay on local radio, songs from the CD are also
played on national radio, and a few national magazines also feature reviews of the CD. Another
attempt at getting to play at the Grote Prijs van Nederland fails, however. The second half of
the year is spent playing gigs in a large part of the country.
Newt
In June, Michel teams up with me and Robert Molema (of the band Goldfish) to record some
old Smoke In The Cabin classics. Danny's band Awake also release their debut-CD. The
recordings for this are only finished in December of the following year, when Michel
releases a CD with 4 of these songs.
2000
Vicious Visjes
Y2K starts off well, with recordings for a new CD starting, a spot at the prestigious Eurosonic
festival in Groningen, winning 2nd prize at the national 'Battle Of The Bands' competition
in Amsterdam and our CD entering the Lowlands Top 25 charts! When recording the new CD is not
going as quickly as planned, the band decides to take it easy for a while, mainly to prepare
for a big promotion compaign for the new CD to be released in the next year.
The Rah-Rah Band
Summer of 2000, the Daniel Ostvold-bunch (Danny, Kim, Danielle, Reinder and me) gets
back together for an 80s cover band (later dubbed The Rah-Rah Band).
So far, rehearsals limit themselves to Danny's living room however.
Epsolutely
Another project involves Egbert Smit, the ex-vocalist for Danny's band Awake, who asks
me, together with Maarten Fischer and Siger Riddersma (Awake) and Joris (Counterpoint),
to join him in a one-off thing for participating at the Rode Oortjes Festival 2001.
Rehearsals for this start mid December. Epsolutely is disbanded a month later, after their 20
minute set at the festival in January of the following year.
2001
Vicious Visjes
March 2001 sees the release of the new promo CD, called "Not For Sailing" and the following
month are spent appearing at several festivals. Another shot at playing at the Grote Prijs van
Nederland in Amsterdam fails when the jury of the region final blocks the band's path.
The Rah-Rah Band
The living-room rehearsal situation that the project is in, results in me taking over
lead vocals and guitar, instead of playing the drums, as originally was planned. Instead,
the band starts using midi and drum computer generated backing tracks to enhance their sound.
We increase the size of our repetoire tremendously and get to do our
first gig at an 80s party organised by friends. Sadly however, both Kim and Danielle move
abroad, which reduces the band to a trio and the search for new vocalists commences.
2002
Vicious Visjes
After playing Eurosonic for the second time, Vicious Visjes decide to
concentrate on other things for a while. Only 2 more live performances are done,
of which one is 2 song gig in Simplon, only playing another band's songs. In February, a
sampler CD of local acts is released by Vitaminic and Grover Pop and it includes
Looloo's Revenge from our Not For Sailing CD. Recordings for the second full-length CD
are well on the way, however.
The Rah-Rah Band
Besides Kim still visiting our rehearsals and concerts regularly, the band
finds new recruits in Jeroen Jager on guitar and Sidsel Genee and Stijn ten
Hoeve on vocals. Four gigs are done in total this year in different line-ups.
Radius
A new project is started by Johan Faber (singer of Danny's band Awake) and Danny
himself. After having gone through several drummers, I'm invited to join the duo to help
them out at the Rode Oortjes Festival at which they'd be playing in April. This
first performance gets a good reception and we continue the rest of the year working
on more repertoire and recording a first demo, which is released in November.
2003
Now this is what they call a sabbatical I guess. I left for England early 2003, and therefore
put all my musical projects on hold. Vicious Visjes was not doing much in 2002 anyway, and this
continued in 2003. They reformed for a few rehearsals with Marcel, the drummer of Fatmen, replacing
me, but this did not continue for long. The Rah-Rah Band is continuing without me and Radius has found
a replacement in Nico Plantenga, drummer of Goldfish, Loveburn Brothers and whatmore....
2004
Guess I sometimes played a bit for my son Kyle... does that count? :)
2005
On my return to The Netherlands I rejoined the Rah-Rah Band and we reformed Vicious Visjes. Despite Nico
quitting Radius, I did not rejoin this band.
