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Messing Around on the D20
From around the age of fourteen, I played in a band, Intermission, initially on percussion and later occasionally on drums. From the age of fifteen, I was already writing songs at home on the acoustic piano, inspired by bands like Genesis, Yes & Stevie Wonder.
Later, I played a Technics SX-K200: essentially a rather cheesy & unfashionable home organ with a built-in rhythm box, not exactly the coolest instrument in a melodic rock band. But OK, together with a Hohner Clavinet, it made for a fairly decent keyboard setup for a year or two.
Then we got a proper, skilled keyboard player, Philip Molenaar, with a Fender Rhodes and
Solina Strings. Suddenly, things sounded a whole lot more serious. I wrote most of the songs
for the band and always tried my best to explain how I wanted them to sound.
But no matter how clearly you tried to explain it, it was often quite difficult to convey exactly
what you heard in your head. In 1989, I bought my first synthesizer: the Roland D-20.
A whole new world opened up: my band in a box! I no longer had to explain what I wanted to hear. Now I could simply make it myself!
The inspiration and enthusiasm run through these tracks: from funk to jazz (Funkajazz), from cinematic (Nino) to abstract (Fuel). Check them out and read the track descriptions below.
With drummer Ronald Splinter, and the Technics SX-K200 and Hohner Clavinet, early 1980s.
DISCLAIMER: Just saying: these are rough demos, not productions. Rough mixes made within the D20, with whatever reverb was available.
Funkajazz No. 2.
OK, I used to have a slightly annoying habit: when friends played me something they really like, my first reaction was often to tell them I didn't like it. Well, I did exactly that with Weather Report. I thought it was music for musicians, difficult for the sake of being difficult, clever-clever stuff. I wasn't impressed. And then, a few years later, I made Funkajazz No. 2. Listening back to it now, the influence of Weather Report is pretty hard to miss. 😂
Apparently, I knew what I liked it very much after all. I just needed a little more time to figure it out.
Fuel
When I was a kid, back in the mid-1960s, I sometimes got to go along with my father when he went to the petrol station to fill up the car.
It was a Caltex station, and I remember the orange-coloured glass on the side of the pump, with something spinning behind it. At the same time, you could hear a little bell ringing as the petrol was flowing.
Decades later, I discovered a similar sound hidden inside a random sound on the D-20, producing a regular, bell-like sound.
I used that sound as the starting point for Fuel.
The drums are actually quite carefully constructed, with a little nod to Paul Simon’s '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover'. The bells, on the other hand, have a rhythm of their own, random and unpredictable, like the sounds of the petrol pump itself.
So, again, another childhood memory, resurfacing in a rather unexpected way.
She’s down under
In 1989, my girlfriend (now my wife) went to Australia for a few weeks to scout locations for a video festival in Arnhem.
Oh boy boy, how I missed her. Missed her so much that I tried to call her. This was 1989, of course, so calling Australia wasn't exactly as easy as picking up your mobile phone and saying, “Hey, where are you?”
Apparently, I tried several times. So when she heard that someone had been calling repeatedly, she immediately thought something terrible must have happened. It hadn't. It was just me, missing her. Needless to say, she wasn't exactly thrilled with me at that moment. 😬
So, to make up for it and perhaps to soften the blow a little, I wrote her a very sensitive little love song.
Shuzz
A laid-back, easy-going jazzy shuffle. One of the things I particularly like is the full, slightly fat sound of the snare, quietly keeping that shuffle figure going throughout the whole track. I got so carried away by the fine sound of the soprano sax that I started improvising as if it were the real thing. Well… with a little imagination.
Nino
At the time, I was listening to a lot of film music by the composer Nino Rota. So, needless to say, his influence can be heard quite clearly here. Apparently, I'm pretty easily influenced.
I already knew his music quite well, but in general I don't need to hear much -or listen for very long- to get a feel for the essence of a piece and understand what makes it tick.
In this seemingly innocent little piece, I experimented with a few rather painful, grinding notes and chords. Looking back now, I can hear it as an early hint of the kind of classical music I write today, forty years later...
Happy Shuffy
Another cheerful little shuffle. This 1950s-style organ popping up at unexpected moments with little accents -almost like little cries- makes the whole thing wonderfully lively. Then there's the cheerful guitar melody.
The whole track has that unmistakable 1950s American feel, like it could have been the soundtrack to a car commercial aimed at ordinary families. No war, no worries, everybody's happy, and smoking was still considered good for you.
Really, nothing much is going on here. And that's absolutely fine.
Funkajazz No 1.
Fully improvised solos on different sounds within the D-20. This could perhaps even have been used as a demo at the time.
It starts off nicely enthusiastic, the “musicians” are clearly having a great time. But then, after the guitar riff B section, they suddenly had no idea where to go next... So what else could they do? Fade out! 😂