Sixties Retro Psychedelic/Garage/Power Pop: The Kliek - Behind Bars 1990 (Grabo Records)

The Kliek was a Dutch garage-/sixtiesband that was around from 1987 to 1996, a period in which sixties music was not hip at all. The Kliek was therefore condemned to a life in the underground. This didn't stop the band from touring the whole of Europe during the 10 years the band existed. Especially in Spain and Germany they reached an unexpected popularity.
The core of the Kliek was formed by guitarist Marcel Kruup and singer Robert Müter. Kruup, coming from Haarlem, carried with him a long career as Mod and guitarist in many Dutch sixties-orientated guitarbands.
Müter has his "roots" in the Wieringermeer, Middenmeer to be precise. I even spent some years with him at school in the same class, but that is not very important right now. Robert regularly went to the big city Amsterdam to visit relatives, and to plunder the local recordstores. His recordcollection was quite famous at school. He had all the modern records that were hardly or not available in the polder. At a certain time he started to specialise in obscure beat and garagepunk from the sixties, a musical genre made popular again by bands as the Scientists, Hoodoo Gurus, Claw Boys Claw, Gun Club, Cramps, Fuzztones and many others.One thing led to another, and Robert started a band called the Stoneage Romeos (they were named after an LP by the Hoodoo Gurus). The band consisted of Robert Müter, vocals & guitar; Dries Pruimboom, leadguitar; Peter Bodde, bass; Bart Rijs, drums.

The Kliek story begins

After graduation of some of the bandmembers in 1987 The Stoneage Romeos split, and all bandmembers went separate ways. A short time later Robert Müter became singer with the Kliek. Peter Bodde, also ex-Stoneage Romeos, joined as bass-player. Guitar was played by Marcel Kruup, by then already a seasoned veteran of the Dutch neosixties / garage scene who had played in numerous bands such as the Other Side and the Comedown. Both bands could count on some attention during the garagerevival of the early 80's. I am afraid I can't tell you anything interesting about Stefan Sleutel, the drummer of the band (simply because I don't know, not because there isn't anything to tell...).

The band's name is said to be thought up when a name had to be given for the rent of a practice room. Actually there was no name, and they said something like "put it on the usual bunch" (Kliek being the Dutch word for bunch). All bandmembers also played in several other groups and were regular users of the practice rooms. The English article "the" was added and a new band was born.
the Kliek tried to be more sixties than real sixtiesbands themselves. Haircuts, clothingstyle, LP-covers and the sound of the band had to be as authentic as possible, and only by the louder, sometimes even a bit noisy guitars one could tell them apart from the real thing.

In 1988 the first mini-LP "When Father was away on beat business in the magic centre" was released on the Kelt-label. The only negative thing you could say about this record is that it has a silly title. It has six nice sixties songs that vaguely remind of the Outsiders and the earliest work of the Rolling Stones and the Pretty Things. One song, Percy, dates from the Stoneage Romeos time, although the recorded version is very different from the early version recorded live in Bovenkarspel

The highpoint of the record is without any doubt the song Paarse Broek ("Purple trousers"), a long-forgotten Nederpop classic from the 60s. If it were only because of saving this song from eternal oblivion, the Kliek deserve it to be remembered.

 At first the Kliek was ignored by the so-called serious musicpress. Only when they had made a name for themselves by relentless playing and gaining quite a reputation outside the Netherlands, some media got interested. The band has been on TV (in a VPRO-program), appeared several times as guest in radioshows by Fons Dellen and co (yes, also VPRO) and even had Ray Davies of the Kinks as a fan. But even this and getting known as the Nederbeat band of the moment, couldn't help the band leaving the underground. Perhaps it was because their records were released on small, obscure labels.

 And maybe they were simply too far ahead of their time with their sixties-inspired sound. Other bands, such as Daryll-Ann did the same thing a couple of years later, but with remarkably more success. It would be a little bit too far fetched to proclaim the Kliek a frontrunner for the Britpop-hype. The fact remains nevertheless that famous bands as Oasis and Blur use the same sources as the Kliek.

The end

After 8 years the Kliek called it a day in 1996. Of the original band only Müter and Kruup remained. All bandmembers now do different things. Marcel Kruup is most successful with his new band, the Treble Spankers, and found his well-earned success after all. The Treblespankers are the successors of Ouke Baas, a band that is an offshoot of The Exist (always that band...). Unfortunately the Treblespankers had to stop, due to an injury the lead guitarist Frank Gerritsen suffered from. He had to stop playing because of RSI. Marcel Kruup's latest band is called Ronnie and the Splinters. Michel Terstegen, an old friend from the scene is the singer, but main attraction is Ron Splinter, a Nederbeat legend who used to play guitar in the Outsiders with Wally Tax.
Gert Veltink, who had left the band in 1993 after getting his doctorate in Computer Science to pursue a "normal" career as software developer. He has a homepage that contains, among others, pictures of his time with the Kliek.

 Theo Brouwer now plays in 2 bands, Big Paulus and the Sgeurvreters. Both bands play a form of dirty, mean fratrock. With Big Paulus we find Frank Sloos again, the last drummer of the Kliek.
Robert Müter and Zjenja Guberman reappear in 1999 in a new band, Kek '66. Once again a band that specialises in sixties-inspired music. Third man in this trio, on bassguitar is Marc de Regt, like Müter originally from the Wieringermeer. There are two 7" single out (yes, on vinyl) titled "How many times", released on Larsen records, and "Na na na", released on Guerssen records from Spain. In the last months of 1999 an self-titled LP was released as well. It got very favourable reviews. More information can be obtained on my new Kek '66 page. Singles and LP can be bought from Guerssen or from Distortion records.(veltink.org)

Very good album full of Psychedelic Garage Beat and Pop from this 80s Nederbeat band.
Frank

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