And thanks to Henri Soulmann, we have a heck of a band to tell you about. (Would you really begrudge us for just one...?)
Based in Drenthe, far north in the Netherlands, The Heck hasn’t been around all that long, but Soulmann has been cranking out cool music for a very long time, all in a setting that doesn’t get the props it truly deserves.
When asked about the band and its members, Soulmann, who talked to Garagerocktopia by email and Messenger, made clear that the band members are fans of FC Emmen, who are part of the Dutch Honour division. His current band has been together since mid-2016, recording the first session for its album in 2017.
In addition to Soulmann, aka Henri Keefman, the band includes René Katerbarg on bass and Erik Berends on drums.
Very much in the tradition of so many bands we dig here at Garagerocktopia, The Heck’s music has its left foot stands squarely in the tradition of perennial faves like the Standells and the Barbarians, with a right heel that has dug firmly into first-wave punk.
But Soulmann cites a lot of other ingredients at work in this musical rijsttafel that The Heck has conjured up.
“Along my personal favourites are Dead Moon, Sonics, Seeds, Real Kids, Oblivians, Reigning Sound and Pagans,” said Soulmann, “but also Johnny Cash and Otis Redding.”
As we’ve said time and time again, but something we don’t remind repeating, is that one of the reasons we love Garage Rock so much is both its long history and its international reach. The Heck gave us an opportunity to explore yet another branch of the cool kinds of music we listen to here, Nederbeat.
Like Garage Rock in the United States and Freakbeat in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands in the ‘60s had its own wave of underground-ish, punky. The subgenre produced many great bands, such as The Motions and The Triffits, who would earn fans on both sides of the Atlantic. Some of the country’s best-known musical exports trace back to the Nederbeat scene.
The Gold Earrings would later become Golden Earring and have giant radio hits like “Radar Love” and “The Twilight Zone” that permeate American FM radio to this day. Preceding Golden Earring was Shocking Blue, who themselves would rack up several international hits, the best known being “Venus” and “Send Me a Postcard.”
Musically, The Heck very much continue that Nederbeat sound, albeit with a first-wave punk chaser. Soulmann, the band’s songwriter, has been for many years a devotee of Nederbeat, which comes out loud and clear in the music.
“I also listen a lot to Nederbeat bands like Cuby and the Blizzards, The Outsiders and Q65,”
When asked about the band and its members, Soulmann, who talked to Garagerocktopia by email and Messenger, made clear that the band members are fans of FC Emmen, who are part of the Dutch Honour division. His current band has been together since mid-2016, recording the first session for its album in 2017.
In addition to Soulmann, aka Henri Keefman, the band includes René Katerbarg on bass and Erik Berends on drums.
Very much in the tradition of so many bands we dig here at Garagerocktopia, The Heck’s music has its left foot stands squarely in the tradition of perennial faves like the Standells and the Barbarians, with a right heel that has dug firmly into first-wave punk.
But Soulmann cites a lot of other ingredients at work in this musical rijsttafel that The Heck has conjured up.
“Along my personal favourites are Dead Moon, Sonics, Seeds, Real Kids, Oblivians, Reigning Sound and Pagans,” said Soulmann, “but also Johnny Cash and Otis Redding.”
As we’ve said time and time again, but something we don’t remind repeating, is that one of the reasons we love Garage Rock so much is both its long history and its international reach. The Heck gave us an opportunity to explore yet another branch of the cool kinds of music we listen to here, Nederbeat.
Like Garage Rock in the United States and Freakbeat in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands in the ‘60s had its own wave of underground-ish, punky. The subgenre produced many great bands, such as The Motions and The Triffits, who would earn fans on both sides of the Atlantic. Some of the country’s best-known musical exports trace back to the Nederbeat scene.
The Gold Earrings would later become Golden Earring and have giant radio hits like “Radar Love” and “The Twilight Zone” that permeate American FM radio to this day. Preceding Golden Earring was Shocking Blue, who themselves would rack up several international hits, the best known being “Venus” and “Send Me a Postcard.”
Musically, The Heck very much continue that Nederbeat sound, albeit with a first-wave punk chaser. Soulmann, the band’s songwriter, has been for many years a devotee of Nederbeat, which comes out loud and clear in the music.
“I also listen a lot to Nederbeat bands like Cuby and the Blizzards, The Outsiders and Q65,”
The band’s most recent album, Who? The Heck!!! showcases all those influences quite well.
Songs like “I Won’t Change” and “For Cryin’ Out Loud” very much conjure up a frantic mid-’60s vibe in decidedly updated fashion, hook-driven and with cool harmonies to make them sail. “Turn Me Loose” does as well, with a decidedly more bluesy feel. “Money” also cops more than a little blues, but leans in a more rockabilly direction. And “That Moon” stirs in a bit of classic punk while still holding a good hook.
As one might suspect from listening to the music, Soulmann’s involvement with Nederbeat goes way beyond being a fan. Like Garage Rock and Freakbeat, Nederbeat never really went completely away -- it was always just lying low. Soulmann has been part of at least two later-wave Nederbeat bands in the last 20 years, both well worth the time to check out, as well as a rockabilly combo of which he is also a part of.
“We’ve all had bands before The Heck,” Soulmann confirmed. “I’m the only one from the ‘60s/Garage Rock scene. I’ve played in bands such as The Miracle Men and also De Keefmen. And I still play in a Garagerockabilly combo called The Sensational Second Cousins, along with my second cousin, Jerk.
Soulmann is the songwriter for the band. He writes ‘em up and, appropriately enough, he and the band test them out in the absolute perfect place to work the bugs out of music like this.
“I write all the songs on my acoustic guitar,” Soulmann explained. “I record demos of the songs and send it to the guys. The,n we’ll start working on it together when we practice in my studio I have at home in my garage.”
At this point, The Heck plies their trade mostly in the Netherlands, though with so many countries nearby, have been able to export their sound just a little bit.
“We mostly (play) in the Netherlands,” Soulmann said. “We did the release party of our debut LP on Dirty Water Records at Le Beat Bespoké Festival in London, and played a couple shows in Germany as well.”
We started this post fighting the temptation to display our prowess at sophomoric humor. Soulmann said some thought went into choosing a name for the band, and what people would do with the name was most certainly part of the calculus.
“We wanted a name that fitted the band and had a couple of elements,” Soulmann explained. “We- wanted it to be straight in your face, just like our music and live shows. We also were looking for a name that sounded like it could have been from the sixties as well as from nowadays.”
"It had to be short --for example, we do the labels of 7” singles ourselves with stickers, this saves a lot of ink; It could not contain the words ‘black’, ‘white’, ‘wolf’ or ‘men, ’ though now I think of it, The Black and White Wolfmen combined might have been allowed, and yes, one that could be used as in 'What The Heck,' just so we knew what kinda people we’d be dealing with.”
Don't Forget to listen to Garagerocktopia Radio, alternating with Blue Mood, Tuesday nights on KUCR Radio, 88.3 FM Riverside, California. We play artists like The Heck, plus many others who have appeared on our hallowed pages and whose music has inspired us.
We have some other features already in the works here at Garagerocktopia. Artists have been sending us some very cool stuff. As always, we don’t make any guarantees in stone but we’re happy to say we’ve gotten a lot of very promising music sent to us, and we’re always happy to spread the word about about bands that are playing the way-out kinds of music we profile here. Send us a line and we’ll talk.
Also, we do have a Facebook page for this blog. We don’t put personal stuff on it – no pictures of grandkids (which we don't have anyway) or our dinners or politics or anything like that. What we do post are announcements about upcoming features, maybe extra stuff about the bands, and any cool music, movies or TV Shows we stumble across that might have even the most tangential connection with the music featured here. While we don't spend all day thinking about it, we do like "likes" if you're so inclined ...
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