Q'65 publicity shot, late 1966
L-R: Peter Vink, Frank Nuyens, Jay Baar, Joop Roelofs, Willem Bieler
Q'65 publicity shot, late 1966
L-R: Peter Vink, Frank Nuyens, Jay Baar, Joop Roelofs, Willem Bieler
The Den Haag (The Hague) group Q'65 played raw garage-style music and
were often compared to their English counterparts, The Pretty Things.
They were renowned for their ramshackle English lyrics and funny pronunciation
of singer Wim Bieler.
They evolved from Leadbelly's Ltd., whose drummer was Jay Baar. At some
point Dihl Bennink (later in the Tee Set) was
also a member of that band. In 1964, Wim Bieler became the lead singer. Then
guitar players Joop Roelofs and Frank Nuyens joined in and in (surprise!) 1965
they changed their name to Q'65. From auditions for a bass player Peter
Vink was chosen as he could play the bass lick from The Zombies' "She's
Not There".
In early 1966, they debuted with the Peter Koelewijn-produced
"You're The Victor", which narrowly missed the Top 10. They tried to draw
attention to the release of "The Life I Live" by sailing to England in a
rubber motor boat, but a popular magazine revealed pictures where the band was
towed by a ship full of photographers. Also some of the band members got seasick
and spent most of the crossing lying in a bunk aboard the larger vessel. But the
stunt worked out well in the end, as they got back into the rubber boat close to
Scheveningen beach, where a crowd was awaiting them. "The Life I Live"
proceeded to reach #5 in the charts.
Later that year, they released their first album, "Revolution", which
over the years has become an internationally acclaimed garage-rock classic. It
included original material, but also covers like Otis Redding's "Mr.
Pitiful" and blues classics "I'm A Man" and the 14-minute plus "Bring
It On Home", characterized by Bieler's moaning "Peeeeeeeeeeeee-buh!"
("baby"). The standard of playing was quite amateurish (not one good guitar solo
on the enitre album), but in hindsight the Q epitomised everything that
made garage rock attractive. In late 1966, they had another hit with "I
Despise You", the flipside of which, the ballad "Ann", would become
one of the most requested songs in radio programs and as such has become one of
the band's classics (it was even re-released as an A-side after the band split).
In 1967, dissension set in. Some members (especially drummer Jay Baar) were
heavy drug users and also the alcohol intake of the band was legendary. In late
1967 they split up after the last three singles had failed to repeat the success
of their string of hits from 1966. The best record from the period is the EP, “Kjoe
Blues”, which showed they could play the blues like a (freak)beat group, but
lacked the instrumental dexterity of bands like the Bluesbreakers or
Fleetwood Mac. Jay Baar was arrested in a drug bust and went to jail. Willem
Bieler joined the army, Peter Vink formed Big
Wheel and Joop Roelofs went to work as a social worker. In 1968,
Jay Baar and Frank Nuyens formed Circus.
In 1969, Phonogram released the LP, “Revival”, which contained Q'65
hits, album tracks, the outtake "Fairy Tales Of Truth" (apparently a
Circus track sung by Willem Bieler) and three tracks by Circus. The
renewed interest in Q'65 led to an offer by Negram Records and the band
decided to reform in early 1970. Original members Bieler, Roelofs, Nuyens and
Vink were joined by drummer Beer Klaasse (ex-Groep 1850
and Big
Wheel) as Jay Baar was playing in Tantalus by now (and the
Q didn't want to risk another drug bust anyway). In the following years
the band released two albums and the single, "Sexy Legs", was a small
hit, but they never reached the heights of the '66-'67 era. Slowly the band
started to fall apart: Frank Nuyens left in 1971 to record a solo album as
Rainman. He would later appear in Red White & Blue,
Cuby + Blizzards and The Freelance Band. He
was replaced by Joop van Nimwegen (ex-Ex). Then Wim Bieler left to form
his own band called Dambuster. Johnny Frederiksz (ex-George
Cash) came in as a singer and the band name was changed to
Kjoe (Dutch phonetic for Q). In 1974, the band
called it a day.
Peter Vink formed Finch with van Nimwegen, the
band that would record two albums of instrumental rock and draw worldwide
attention. During the legendary The Hague Beatnach on 13th June 1980, the
original line-up of Bieler, Roelofs, Nuyens, Vink and Baar played together for
the last time. Their performance was awful, in fact, so bad, their two tracks
selected for the resulting 2LP had to be re-recorded in the studio. Yet offers
to tour started pouring in. But Nuyens and Baar declined, so the band got in
former Finch members Joop van Nimwegen (g) and
Fred van Vloten (d). The latter was then replaced by 1970-1974 Q drummer
Beer Klaasse. This line-up balanced between the oldies circuit and club gigs.
One of the highlights was a tour with their alter egos, The Pretty Things,
in 1987. Slowly members started drifting out again and by 1988 the line-up was
Bieler, Roelofs, Rinus Hollenberg (g), Rene van Spanje (kb), Rick Finck (b) and
Rob Louwes (d). By the end of the decade the Q had dissolved.
In 1990, Jay Baar died (his age was unknown, presumably he was born in 1947). In
1997, Willem Bieler, Frank Nuyens and Joop Roelofs started playing together
again and did some unplugged gigs. An acoustic CD, "Trinity", was
released. The band then attempted a Q'65 revival in 1998, but Joop
Roelofs opted out, declaring he was "too old to be on a stage in leather
trousers pretending to be young". He sold all his guitars, but still appears
whenever there's a meeting of 1960s beat musicians. So they recruited Eric van
de Berk (keyboards), Dick Schulte Nordholt (bass, ex-Meteors
and Gruppo Sportivo, died 2006) and ex-Cuby
+ Blizzards and Solution drummer Hans
Waterman. When Wim Bieler died in 2000, aged 53, from a heart attack, it was the
end of Q'65. In 2008, the three living members, Roelofs, Nuyens and Vink,
appeared together during a ceremony to present the restored Jay Baar drum kit,
known from the "Revolution" album cover, to the Rock Art museum.
Well I take everything I want
The girls are fighting for me
But every time that I take one
They're indisposed, poor old me
Once we were on Joop's wedding
We drinked and smoked all night
At 12 we were all thrown out
'Cause the house was changed in a crowd
("The Life I Live")
1966 You're The Victor/And Your Kind Decca AT10189 The Life I Live/Cry In The Night Decca AT10210 LP Revolution Decca QL625363 I Despise You/Ann Decca AT101248 1967 From Above/ I Was Young Decca AT10248 Kjoe Bloes (4 track EP) Decca BU70025 World Of Birds/It Came To Me Decca AT10263 So High I've Been So Down I Must Fall/Where Is The Key Decca AT10286 1968 Ann/Sour Wine Decca AT10336 1969 Revival (comp.) Decca XBY84651 Sundance/World Of Birds Decca AT10383 1970 Don't Let Me Fall/Crumblin' Negram NG172 LP Afghanistan Negram NELP075 Sexy Legs/There Was A Day Negram NG196 1971 Love Is Such A Good Thing/Night Negram NG220 LP We're Gonna Make It Negram ELS914 I Just Can't Wait/We're Gonna Make It Negram NG230 Fighting Is Easy/Country Girl Polydor 2050181 1972 Hoonana/Troubles (as Kjoe) Polydor 2050181 Greatest Hits (comp.) Decca 6454409 1980 2LP Haagse Beatnach live (2 tracks "You're the victor"& "The life I live") CNR 772005/06 1988 CD Revolution & more Decca CD 834483-2 1992 CD Afghanistan Negram Years Pseudonym CDP 1002 DD 1993 CD The Complete Collection 1966-1969 (comp.) Mercury 514980-2 1997 CD Revival ((comp.) Pseudonym CDP 1048 DD CD Trinity Mohican MH001/Munich 1998 CD The Life I Live (cd) Rotation 558 511-2 CDs Let's roll/Are You Home Jaws 5517 2001 LP Revolution Pseudonym VP99.007 LP Revival Pseudonym VP99.009 2002 CD Revolution + 4 bonus tracks Rotation 018440-12 2CD Singles A's & B's (cd) Hunter Music HM 13952 2003 CD Greatest Hits (comp.) Decca 6454409 2004 LP Revolution Pop Legends 6440675 CD I'm Glad (comp.) EMI 7243 864342 2
Q'65 in the following lineup: Johnny Frederiksz (vocals), Beer Klaasse (drums), Peter Vink (bass), Joop Roelofs (guitar).
1972 Hoonana/Troubles Polydor 2050181
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