History
First of all:
Hank Mersey is my alias, coined by one of my musical friends and is a comic take on the in Holland well-known “Jack Jersey”.
My musical pre-history:
My musical interest started at a young age with listening to music. It started with cassette tapes, then collecting records. Two things had a decisive influence on my intention to start making music.
The first was that my uncle was a drummer in a band and every time I saw him play I was really excited about it and dreamed of being able to do this too.
The second reason was that around the age of 10 ('80/'81) I was completely absorbed in the Beatles story and their music. That they had written all those songs themselves, that appealed to my imagination and to this day that is still a motivation to write songs.
Before I got to know The Beatles, I was very enthusiastic about the top 40 songs from The Police and The Specials. Then it turned out that unconsciously I already liked the ska/reggae rhythm. A few years later I put together a drum set from “pots and pans” and I got the great interest to play drums. Especially on that rhythmic reggae music I found it interesting to play along on my “pots and pans”. Favorites included the album Signing Off by UB40 and LIVE by Bob Marley & The Wailers to play drums on.
With virtually useless resources I tried everything to form a band with my comrades Peter van Roekel and Amar Baldew. I thought it was great to do and the experience of having a band, I was completely full of that.
Below are my musical experiences over the years:
1986 band: BLACK PEARL (1986-1988)
Members: Peter van Roekel: guitar / Peter Philipsen: bass & vocal / Henk-Jan Meurs: drums & vocals / Erik Cantin: guitar (1986) / Koen Gelderman: guitar & vocals (1988) / Robert Boermans: keyboards (1988)
Playing in a band together was something Peter van Roekel and I had been daydreaming about from a young age. In the mid-eighties we met Peter Philipsen and we became friends. Like us, Peter P. was also a music lover and could play bass guitar and guitar. When we got to know each other in the course of 1986, suddenly, after a party, there was the idea of starting a band together.
With Peter van Roekel on guitar and Peter Philipsen on bass guitar and I…. on my pots and pans, because I didn't have a drum set then. A schoolmate of Peter van Roekel, Erik Cantin also participated on guitar.
Many Saturday afternoons on an attic somewhere on the Haverlanden in Wageningen, we were busy developing ourselves musically. A band name was devised and we agreed on the name Black Pearl (inspired by the song of Margriet Eshuijs).
We made recordings with cassette recorders, which I mainly 'played gray' and wanted to share with everyone who wanted to hear it. It wasn't quality at all, but for me it was all great. After about half a year, Black Pearl stopped, I think mainly because I didn't have a drum kit, we lost the motivation to continue.
My drumming uncle gave me some hoops, drum heads and mounting material and because I didn't have the financial means to buy a drum kit, I decided to make a drum kit myself with those things.
From an installation company in Wageningen, through a schoolmate of Peter van Roekel, I received pieces of pipe, the remains of large installation pipes. These pipes were made of metal and PVC. With some screw thread, bolts and vacuum cleaner rod, I finally managed to make a drumset. The bass drum beater was another story, but eventually I was able to take over that and hi-hat cymbals and later a snare drum from some of my drumming schoolmates. I bought a hi-hat stand and a ride cymbal and that's how I finally realized a drum set in the course of 1987, with which I could start something in a band.
As a result, Black Pearl (without Erik Cantin) got together again to make noise again in that attic on the Haverlanden in Wageningen.
In the course of 1988 we decided to rehearse elsewhere in Wageningen to relieve Peter's family of all the noise. During that period my school mates Koen Gelderman and Robert Boermans joined our band Black Pearl as reinforcements.
In the meantime I had started from ’86 to learn to play the guitar in a self-taught way. The motivation for this was mainly because I really wanted to write songs like The Beatles did. I shared this interest with Koen Gelderman at school and partly because of that shared interest we became friends. With our interest in old rock'n roll from the likes of Carl Perkins and blues, harmony vocals from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and of course The Beatles, we tried to write songs that we could play with the band. I was also regularly writing songs with Peter Philipsen, thinking up the chords and Peter the lyrics. Of course we made rehearsal recordings again with a cassette recorder, which we proudly showed to everyone who wanted to hear it....
In the summer of 1988 we were allowed to make ourselves heard at Duno College in Doorwerth (where I went to school). It was an outdoor concert on one of the schoolyards and this was already a big thing for us, but after listening to the recording of the performance, we were less enthusiastic about it.
Because Peter van Roekel had practically no more opportunity to participate in the band in the middle of '88, Black Pearl came to an end.
1988 band: MR. SHORTNAIL (1988-1991)
Members: Marco van Koppenhagen: guitar & vocal / Peter Philipsen: bass & vocal / Henk-Jan Meurs: drums & vocal / Koen Gelderman: guitar & vocal / Patrick Roos: guitar, percussion & vocal (1989-1991) / Arjen Leerkes: saxophone ( 1990)
In the summer of 1988, Peter Philipsen and I organized a jam session on the Markweg in Renkum, where we invited my schoolmate Marco van Koppenhagen. Marco was very into the Herman Brood & His Wild Romance repertoire and that was the basis for the material we jammed that afternoon.
There was a click for sure and that was the basis for a new band and the name for the band was already there very quickly. Koen made it up, referring to the nail condition of Marco van Koppenhagen and because of that it became Mr. Shortnail.
In the autumn of '88 the band started with the addition of Koen Gelderman (who also came up with the band name). It was remarkable that all 4 of us were very active with songwriting, so that led to us mainly trying to play our own work.
In the 1st period we mainly jammed, to get to know each other well musically and to develop ourselves in playing together. Until the moment came, somewhere in January 1989, when we were asked to play at a school party at the Wagenings Lyceum.
That sounded cool, of course, so we went for it despite our limited experience.
All the songs we'd ever jammed into and all our own songs that we could play reasonably well, often with a gear, here and there, so that every now and then we looked more like a Punk band than we thought. We were euphoric afterwards, very happy that it worked!
It was clear that songs had to be rehearsed in a structured way, so that the repertoire was fixed.
Work was done on this in the course of 1989. Old rock'n roll squatters, semi-acoustic folky selfwritten songs and some funky and reggae songs became the repertoire. There were some performances, which were a bit more structured than the first.
We got to know Patrick Roos, who was the lead singer of, among others, our colleague band Victims Of Fashion. That we regularly sang 3-part harmony was interesting to Patrick and this led to Patrick joining Mr. shortnail. With this we had 5 songwriters. Enthusiastically, we continued to work on a repertoire of songs by the 5 of us.
1990: album: MR. SHORTNAIL – “RELIVE NATURE”
At the end of 1989 we thought we should record the result as a demo. Our fellow band Victims Of Fashion had also recorded a demo and that appealed to our imagination. The demo (album) was recorded in January 1990 in the Jacobibergstudio in Arnhem. With guest musician Arjen Leerkes on saxophone (also a member of Victims Of Fashion), who would then continue to play with us regularly. We had 100 cassette tapes made of the 11-track demo titled “Relieve Nature”, with a cover designed by me and finished by a printcompany. All tapes were sold!
It is remarkable that we played live on the market square in Wageningen on May 5, 1990. We played all the songs from 'Relieve Nature' live there.
This repertoire was expanded in the course of 1990 with more own songs and some cover songs. This was followed by some performances. But at the end of 1990 it turned out that the band had fallen apart due to ego-like problems.
1991: EP: MPG – “FEEL THE BLUES”
In mid-1990 there was a top 40 song by BB Queen titled “The Blues House”. This song really appealed to Peter P. and me and we decided to write a similar song. We decided to record this together with Koen in the Jacobibergstudio in Arnhem. This turned out to be quite a studio adventure, in which we spent a lot of time on and we learned a lot from it. With three more songs, one by each of us, this became a demo (EP), which we initially kept to ourselves and did not distribute.
Mr. Shortnail briefly reunited as a quartet in the 1st line-up, to see if a restart was possible, but that turned out not to be the case. After one last reunion in late 1991, Mr. Shortnail was final.
Because I bought a 4-track recorder together with Peter van Roekel, a time came with more musical possibilities! Everything we recorded with this recorder. With these possibilities, there was also the desire and motivation to start a new band.
1991: band: CENTRAL HEATING & THE HORNY HORNS (1991-1992)
Members: Henk-Jan Meurs: drums & vocals / Koen Gelderman: guitar & vocals/ Peter Philipsen: bass & vocals/ Simone Willemsen: vocals & percussion / Arjen Leerkes: saxophone / Martijn Bosma: trumpet
This had to be a band in which 'musical creativity' would be the main factor. I went looking for a guitarist with Peter P.. Several guitarists came to audition and Antonio remained. With the addition of my school friend Simone Willemsen as lead vocalist, we started. Antonio dropped out and Koen was added as a trusted band mate, as well as Arjen and Peter P.'s schoolmate; Martijn Bosma on trumpet, we started developing new selfwritten songs. Due to practical impossibilities, this band has only existed for 3 or 4 months. In the spring of 92 this band was over and a Black Pearl reunion was discussed. Peter van Roekel had moved to Haarlem and together with him I had set up a nice studio on the attic in the building on the old Groenmarkt (see photo) where we could make music. This was an attractive, inspiring place that we liked to go to, even though it was quite a journey for Peter P. and me at the time by public transport....
1992: band: THE FACEJUNS (1992-2006)
Members: Henk-Jan Meurs: drums & vocal / Peter Philipsen: bass, guitar & vocal (1992-2004) / Peter van Roekel: guitar / Stefan Jaspersen: saxophone, bass & vocal / Theo Sap: guitar & vocal (1993-1997 )/ Paulus Sinay: trumpet & vocal (1995-2006)/ Imre Wessels: guitar (1998-2006)/ Kathleen Strik: saxophone, percussion & vocal (1999-2003) / Kenny van Norden: bass (2005-2006) Niels van de Berg: guitar (1997)
During one of those sessions in Haarlem, Stefan Jaspersen once came to jam with us, together with Roel van Rongen. This turned out to open up possibilities for a band again. From someone in Belgium I received a request to arrange a performance with a band at a party. I asked Peter, Peter and Stefan if they felt like playing together and taking on this challenge.
They were eager for this and in doing so the new band became a fact and I made up the name 'Timespan Circus' as the bandname for the time being. Rehearsals were held in Haarlem, with a lot of pleasant fringe matters surrounding it. The performance in Belgium was an exciting feat of arms which was brought to a reasonably good end. In any case, it tasted like more!
Theo Sap would occasionally visit us during a rehearsal and gradually he started spinning and rehearsing along and supplemented us during the performances we did with 'Timespan Circus'.
In this line-up of the band there was again a great interest in playing self-written work and with 5 members writing songs, that was a feasible and good intention. In the autumn of 92 we started in Haarlem with recording sessions of these selfwirtten tracks, which we recorded with our 4-track recorder.
1993: Album: The FACEJUNS – “BUBULUS BUP”
Peter Philipsen went on an internship to Indonesia for half a year in early 1993 and Peter van Roekel and I meanwhile made sure that all the recordings we had made in the previous period were mixed and put together as an album with the title “Bubulus Bup”. We made about 60 audio cassettes of it, which we distributed among our friends and acquaintances.
When Peter Philipsen was back in the Netherlands in the autumn of 1993, we continued with the band. The atmosphere was good at that time, which led to a creative time, especially with the duo JapSap (stefan and Theo) as the basis for some new works, which provided Peter, Peter and I with a full-band arrangement. In these arrangements we could not escape to the fact that you'll often hear our great examples at the time, namely Doe Maar and De Dijk. With this newly created material and the songs we had recorded the year before, we worked on a repertoire in the course of 1994, with which we were able to do some performances during that time. The band name was also discussed and after a lot of options, the name was retroactively: The Facejuns!
In January 1995, The Facejuns presented their until then developed repertoire in a performance, which we thoroughly enjoyed and which was completely captured on video, which was a valuable result at the time.
In the course of 1995, Paulus Sinay joined The Facejuns on trumpet and vocals.
This made even more possible, because we now had a horn section!
That influenced the arrangements of our songs, which in turn motivated us to create new repertoire. Now we had the possibility to play more soul and rhythm & blues and we loved that! De Dijk was one of our great musical examples and their horn section always appealed to our imagination. Now we could also try to make such arrangements.
1996: Album: THE FACEJUNS – “1996”
With Saoul Burnet as percussionist, recording sessions were again organized in Haarlem at the end of 1995 and these newly conceived songs were recorded. With these and some acoustic recordings, we made in my living room, and some more live recordings, we put together an album.
It was finally released in 1996, so I now use that as a title designation, because it was not given a title.
This album was released on CD!..and that was quite a unique and valuable thing in the mid 90's!
After that some performances were done with this song material. To once again present ourselves to friends and acquaintances, we rented the hall of the Jacobiberg Arnhem on 27 October 1996 and there we played our repertoire in a cultural festive entourage, with some guests and guest appearances.
1996: Album: HANK MERSEY – “BEST OF 1989 – 1994”
Because it had become possible to have a CD made of my own material, I put together a compilation album of what I had recorded between 1989 – 1994 of nice pieces and had this made into a CD.
1997: album: THE FACEJUNS – “LUSTRUM”
In the course of 1996 and 1997 we did some festive performances with The Facejuns, but unfortunately more and more often without Theo.
During that period Niels van de Berg joined The Facejuns on guitar to strengthen the ranks, but that turned out to be only for a short time...
In the autumn of 1997, due to several circumstances, it was decided to put an end to The Facejuns.
To conclude, I made a compilation double CD of the recordings made in the period '92 to '97, with the title “LUSTRUM”. On this I collected demos, jams and live recordings that we had never published before with The Facejuns.
During the 90's: MPG and MRG collaboration:
MPG = Henk-Jan Meurs, Peter Philipsen & Koen Gelderman
MRG = Henk-Jan Meurs, Patrick Roos & Koen Gelderman.
As described in 1990 I recorded the EP “Feel The Blues” with MPG. Afterwards we would get together to jam and sing Crosby Stills Nash-esque songs together. In the course of 1996 we also had contact with each other again and we had some sessions in my living room on the Richtersweg 226 in Doorwerth, where I lived at the time.
1997: album: HANK MERSEY – “FROM DA HACK ON DA TACK” (highlights)
At the time I was recording a new Hank Mersey album, these MPG recordings ended up on this album. A recording of a reunion with the old Shortnail line-up also appeared on this album. I had a number of CDs made of this album and was able to distribute them.
In the spring of 1998 I suddenly received a phone call from "Van Den Ende Productions" asking if I wanted to participate in The Soundmixshow. They had received a cassette tape with the song Helplessly Hoping on it, which we had recorded with MPG and ended up on 'From Da Hack On Da Tack'. To this day I don't know who signed us up for this show.
In the MPG formation it was only due to circumstances that it was not possible to participate in The Soundmixshow, because Peter Philipsen was unable to attend.
Instead of Peter Philipsen, we found our old friend Patrick Roos willing to take on this adventure. This is how the MRG formation came into being. In the end we got to the point where we could participate in the TV broadcast on RTL4 (NL) in 1998. However, with a different song than we had chosen, namely "Teach Your Children".
At the end of 1998 I moved to Uden, from a flat to a terraced house, which meant more freedom and possibilities for me to make music. I started a recording period, just in the living room, where my family was just there.
1999: album: HANK MERSEY – “THE LIVINGROOM TAPES” (highlights)
This resulted in the album 'The Livingroom tapes'. This album also contains the recordings of a session with MPR&G. I released it on CD, since I now had an AudioCD burner at my disposal.
At the end of 1999 I was given an MD8 track recorder and a good quality keyboard with a good sound card. This suddenly made so much more possible for me!
1999: band THE FACEJUNS (1999 – 2006)
In the meantime, The Facejuns reunited in 1999, just not in the line-up of 1996. Without Peter van Roekel, Theo and Saoul, but now with Imre Wessels on guitar and Pascal Snijder on piano. After a short period, Pascal again made way for trusted member Peter van Roekel.
Kathleen Strik also joined The Facejuns as a vocalist and later on saxophone.
Since this came about around the end of 1999 and continued into 2000, I thought it would be fun to use my new recording abilities to make a new Facejuns album. All sessions with the individual Facejuns members, about 20 songs of our own songs were recorded during the year 2000.
2000: album: THE FACEJUNS – “FUNK*SOUL*BROTHER”
This resulted in the Facejuns album 'Funk*Soul*Brother'. It was released on CD at the end of 2000, and dozens of them were distributed over the course of 2001. In that same period, we learned this new material and covers to generate a new repertoire. With a view to 2002, when it would have been 10 years since we started the band, we wanted to draw attention to that in a fun way with a few festive evenings...
At the beginning of 2002 I lost my job, so I had more time to make music besides applying for a job. This activity was also a therapy to get good motivation for a new job. These musical activities were recording sessions I did with Arni Michilsen (guitar), Myrthe Brisco (guitar and vocals), Peter van der Aa (saxophone) and Theo Sap (guitar and vocals). Also with MRG I made a recording for this album, namely the Victims Of Fashion classic “Slaveland”.
2002: Album: HANK MERSEY – “SOLAR SYSTEM”
I bundled all these recordings into the album titled 'Solarsystem'. In these recordings you can hear that I listened to Manu Chao a lot at the time. At the end of 2002 I completed the album, after I had added the saxophone horn section to the recordings with Peter van der Aa.
….With The Facejuns we were therefore busy in 2002 with the preparations for those festive evenings in the context of 10 years of Facejuns. On one of those evenings a friendly band from Denmark came to visit us, who we called “The Crazy Danes” here in the Netherlands at the time. They played one of those evenings as our support act.
As a result, in 2004 they invited us to come to Denmark with The Facejuns to perform with them.
At the beginning of 2003 Kathleen Strik left the band and ideas arose to add some more effect and the like to our music and Arni Michilsen walked along for a while, to come up with something on that. In the end we decided that this didn't quite suit us and we started preparing for the performance in Denmark in March 2004.
I tried to capture this tour to Denmark as well as possible with my camera and this resulted in the DVD “A Band OF Brothers”.
And then, with fond memories, after this tour to Denmark in March 2004, Peter Philipsen says goodbye to The Facejuns, because he planned to move to London.
This was a huge loss for our band, in several ways. What now?
We therefore started a search for a bassplayer for the Facejuns. There were still performances, with substitute Arni Michilsen on bass guitar and now and then when Peter Philipsen was in the Netherlands, he played along for fun.
In the middle of 2005 a new bass player was eventually found in Kenny van Norden.
With Kenny as a complement, there was again a relatively short period of new energy and fun.
It turned out to be short-lived, because not everyone had the same musical pleasure with The Facejuns anymore. In the summer of 2006 The Facejuns therefore give their farewell concert.
I then compile a DVD from the video recordings of the last performances, entitled "It's Better To Burn Out", with a reference to Neil Young's My My, Hey Hey....
2007: Album: HANK MERSEY – “ROOTS”
With The Facejuns lost, I started thinking about what I would like to do now musically. Going back to some older songs with a new arrangement, I started a series of recordings to make an album. In the second half, until the beginning of 2007, I was involved in this and it resulted in the album 'Roots'.
Together with Kenny I started to form an idea for a new band. I had already come up with a name as a concept thing and that was Le Parc. At the time, after years of drumming, I wanted to continue as a guitarist in a band and no longer as the drummer. We collected some names of musicians with whom we could start a new formation and we then organized some audition sessions to see who we would have the best click with. Ultimately, these actions did not lead to the results we had in mind and the Le Parc plan ended up on the shelf.
2008: band: LE PARC 1 (2008-2009)
Members: Henk-Jan Meurs: drums & vocals / Peter Van Roekel: guitar & vocal / Kenny Van Norden : bass / Arni Michilsen: guitar / Bob De Haard: guitar, piano & vocals (2009)
At the end of 2007 we decided to start a new band with Arni on guitar and Peter van Roekel on guitar, Kenny on bass guitar and myself again on percussion. Under the name Le Parc we started with the repertoire, songs from the Solarsystem and Roots album and of course newly written songs were brought in.
In the course of 2008, all kinds of creative ideas emerged, including effects and arrangements in the vein of Pink Floyd and similar bands. One of the ideas was to use an old-fashioned public address system with those car horns for some vocal parts. In the end it never really got around to applying it, but the anticipation about this was a lot of fun at the time! In this way, especially with the input and influence of Arni, songs were created that took on a more expressive character than before. After six months of developing songs and style in our band, after a joint jam session, Bob de Haard (vocals / guitar / piano) started playing with us and we clicked well.
With Bob in the ranks, even more song material options were added and the expressiveness factor was also supported by him. We organized a performance to present ourselves to our “friends and acquaintances” and above all to see what people would think of our creations.
Since Arni had started his own band at the same time, Le Parc was too much for him and he left the band after that performance. Because of this we noticed that this brought our band off balance.
Also my desire to trade in drums for the guitar was still very much in my head. After careful consideration, we decided to make a new start with a new version of Le Parc.
2009: band: Hank Mersey & The Dirty Cats (2009)
Meanwhile, I was asked to musically frame a party. Then I got the idea to do this in fifties style, with only old rock n roll classics. Kenny was soon willing to help me with this and his brother Norman on drums wanted to join in too. When Bob heard about it, he was also excited and joined in and that's how the band was finished. I chose Hank Mersey & The Dirty Cats as the name for this project.
2009: band: LE PARC 2 (2009-2011)
Members: Henk-Jan Meurs: guitar & vocals / Peter van Roekel: guitar & vocal / Kenny van Norden: bass / Bob de Haard: guitar & vocal / Norman van Norden: drums
The idea for the new set-up of Le Parc was to initially start as a semi-acoustic act, actually because we had no idea who we could ask as percussionist. A set was put together from the existing repertoire and some songs from our older song file.
During a practice session with Hank Mersey & The Dirty Cats we realized that Norman van Norden on drums could be a very good addition to our band Le Parc.
That happened next, but we kept the acoustic setup and that's how we did our first gigs.
This tasted like more and with this occupation it was possible to realize a new Le Parc. We were happy with that and we set to work to set up a good electric set. Arrangements were devised and worked out for some older and some newly written songs. In April 2010 we decided to rent the Boulevard in Breda to let our friends and acquaintances hear us. This performance went well beyond expectations and gave us the confidence that we could write to the small-scale cultural festivals in the Netherlands with our band to arrange performances.
That is always quite a bit of work and negotiation. In any case, where we quickly got an opportunity was at JamPop in Everdingen. And then there were some options, including a radio performance at Radio Ideal in Zelhem. That was certainly an achievement that we were proud of! The performance at Jampop also went very smoothly and we received rave reviews!
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned, because Bob's circumstances at the time meant that Bob was unable to continue with Le Parc in the spring of 2011. We therefore ordered a sabbatical year to see if we could pick it up again after a year.
In the meantime I had a lot of fun with film programs in combination with music. That's why I started a project in which I gave songs from my archive a new look and made a recording of them. Then I made a clip with my video editing program. When I finished a clip, I published it on YouTube. Eventually this together became a new HankMersey album.
2010: Album: HANK MERSEY – “SOLO SOLO”
An album, with a video clip for each song.
I really enjoyed this, but in the end I missed playing with the band.
Then the initiative was taken to try again with Le Parc, including Bob. The rehearsals went well and at the end of 2011 we performed somewhere in Limburg. It was clear during this performance that things weren't going well enough for Bob. He decided to stop with the band. Of course we wanted to continue and we decided to look for vocal supplements, which could compensate for the lack of Bob.
After a series of auditionafternoons at the beginning of 2012, it became clear that this search had destroyed more than we wanted. Unfortunately, this even meant the definitive end of Le Parc.
2012: band: BIG HANK & THE DIRTY PEANUTS
Members: Henk-Jan Meurs: guitar & vocals / Jaap van Norden: guitar & vocals / Kenny van Norden: double-bass / Norman van Norden: drums.
Norman was also guitarist in the Vuilnisband and they had a performance in Varsseveld on March 31, 2012. Because they wanted to have a support act or a warm-up for their performance, Norman asked Kenny and me if we could get our Rock'nRoll act from the stable… And we decided to do that, in collaboration with Jaap van Norden on guitar. Rock'nRoll classics that Jaap could sing and that I could sing were rehearsed and it turned out to be a fun one-off performance.
2012: band: BIRANHA (2012-2015)
Members: Henk-Jan Meurs: guitar & vocals / Peter van Roekel: guitar & vocal / Richard Zopfi: drums & vocals / Gordon Braicks: bass
Around April 2012, I spoke to Richard Zopfi, who I knew from a distance as a very good drummer.
During our drummer search for Le Parc, we also approached him, but at the time he was still too busy with all kinds of bands.
I now suggested a jam session to Richard, to see if there was a musical click in some way. He would let me know if he would do it and if he could get the bassist from his previous band, Gordon Braicks, to join as well. Peter van Roekel and I were the old Le Parc-ers who wanted to continue and we were curious if it would be possible to put this new band on the rails..
In May 2012, a number of The Facejuns, including Peter Philipsen, had a reunion weekend with Stefan in Axel. It was a nice reunion after many years. On the way there, Peter van Roekel and I received a phone call from Richard that he and Gordon wanted to do that jam session.
This jam session was scheduled in June and the session went incredibly well! It was as if we had known each other for years!
Of course it had to be determined what kind of material would be chosen as repertoire. Only own work was found very exciting this time as well. Songs from the Le Parc repertoire were examined and a few songs continued as repertoire for the new band… ..a band with no name yet.
During my holiday in France I had a very creative period and I wrote 10 new songs in those 2 weeks. In the 2 weeks when I got home, I recorded them all in my 8-track studio on my attic.
2012: album: HANK MERSEY – “THE BELLE ET HOULLEFORT SONGBOOK”
I played this album and it turned out to be a hit with my new bandmates.
What an enthusiasm that all produced, especially with me, but this was noticeable in the whole band! A band name was also found thanks to my wife and it became: Biranha!
I quickly contacted Jampop to see if we could still participate that season. That turned out to be possible, so that was immediately our goal that we could work towards. The preparations went very well and that made us very curious what they would think of our songs at Jampop. In February 2013 we were allowed to participate in the preliminary round of Jampop. We received great reviews and people were very enthusiastic about our performance.
That strengthened our confidence to do more gigs. That worked and we played a number of gigs in 2013 that went well. Of course also the final of Jampop, which we won with flying colors, despite the fact that we had to bite the bullet! We couldn't believe our musical happiness! So I look back on that with a lot of fun and pleasure. We won a performance in Henk Westbroek's café, in Stairway To Heaven in Utrecht, ...another achievement!
At the end of 2013 we decided that a 4-track demo would be useful to get new gigs. With a little effort we made this EP in November/December of 2013.
2014: EP: BIRANHA – “KEEP IT GOING”
In 2014 we also had nice performances to do and it continued to be successful and as desired. Also that year we took part in a band competition, with the aim of playing at the Wolluk Stock festival. Beyond expectations, we won this bandcompetition and played at the festival.
Also for 2015 I did my best to arrange another nice series of performances. That all worked out, but Richard already indicated that he had doubts about whether he wanted to continue with Biranha. Nevertheless, the performances of the festival season ’15 were finished.
In the meantime I had started writing new song material again and was recording this as an album on bandcamp. The intention was that this would create new material for Biranha.
2016: album: HANK MERSEY – “THE WHOLE CABOODLE”
When autumn started, Richard took the plunge and left Biranha.
I personally thought this was a bloodletting and a blow to the neck! Because I had never had so much fun in a band before… In this band I could completely lose myself. The new material that I had made for Biranha turned out to be a futile action, which was also a downer for me.
With the other three members we decided to look for a new drummer.
We were introduced to Rogier Calsijn through a mutual friend. Gordon had another band besides Biranha, and he advised the drummer Stephan Cornelisse from that band.
We decided to have an audition evening with the 2 drummers, to see which of the two had the greatest click with our music.
That click turned out to be most found with Rogier and he was subsequently recruited by Biranha as the new drummer. The familiarization process went so quickly that we were able to plan another performance in the spring of 2016, followed by another series of performances. At the end of the festival season, the circumstances for Peter had become such that he could not participate in the last 2 performances of Biranha that season.
Those performances were therefore forced to take place as a trio. Still, I really liked this experience of playing in a trio, because of the freedom it gave me and despite the fact that it is harder work, I thought it was ideal to do...
As an aside: After The Facejuns broke up in 2006, some members got back together every now and then, over the years that followed. Stefan Jaspersen and Theo Sap, also known as JapSap, sometimes came up with small art-like Dutch-language works. I was then allowed to come up with arrangements and give substance to them. Now and then Paulus was also present with singing and trumpet.
In 2015 I collected most of the songs that were recorded there and with the band name we came up with BACK2DABOON, I released it as a bandcamp album, titled “De Verzamelde Stukken".
band: BACK2DABOON (2007-2015)
Stefan Jaspersen: sax, bass & vocals/ Theo Sap: guitar & lead vocals / Henk-Jan Meurs: drums, bass, guitars, organ, piano, percussion, synths, vocals/ Paulus Sinay: trumpet, percussion & vocals.
2015: album: BACK2DABOON – “DE VERZAMELDE STUKKEN”
The trio phase of Biranha turned out to be the end of Biranha, because Rogier was no longer able to play drums with Biranha due to his personal circumstances.
Again a downer, I personally thought, because the year 2016 had gone well musically!
2016: reunion: THE FACEJUNS (2016)
Because, what else had happened in 2016?
Something happened that I would not have expected under normal circumstances, would happen! A reunion of The Facejuns in the line-up of 1996, with 4 performances as a starting point. They were special circumstances that all of us will not soon forget.
It was a really great couple of months and great that we were together as Facejuns again!
Somewhere in 2017, looking back on my 4 years of Biranha fun, I tried to make an overview of our repertoire in the compilation album 'Songs Played Between 2012 & 2016'. It contains some recordings we made during the last rehearsal with Richard, some live recordings and other rehearsalrecordings. Nice as a reminder!
2017: album: BIRANHA – “SONGS PLAYED BETWEEN 2012 & 2016”
Musically I didn't have much to do in 2017 and it occurred to me that I have been writing and recording songs for 30 years. I thought it would be fun to put together a compilation album. The best successful songs from 30 years, became the title. The songs I'm most proud of musically are in this collection on Bandcamp.
2017: Album: HANK MERSEY – “THE MOST SUCCEEDED SONGS IN 3 DECADES 1987 - 2017”
While putting together the compilation album, I came across all kinds of recordings that I had never really done anything with or that I actually didn't think were good enough to publish. I published these recordings on Bandcamp as a collection of outtakes.
In this period at the beginning of 2018, I suddenly had a creative period. I was greatly influenced by old blues from the first albums of BB King and Freddie King, among others. I tried to make recordings of new and older pieces that sounded just as low-fi as those old records. With these recordings and all my never used recordings (outtakes) put together another compilation on Bandcamp titled “Low-Fi And A Bit Too loose”.
2018: album: HANK MERSEY – “LOW-FI AND A BIT TOO LOOSE”
ZANGER HENK
For a number of years I played background music during the "Evening of Literacy", which was held every year at my work at IBN in Uden. In 2017, my colleague Harm asked if I saw something in singing Dutch songs with revised lyrics in the subjects that fit this Evening of Literacy.
I finally did, not live, but I recorded 4 tracks and we also made some funny video clips.
In the end we chose that I would be unrecognizable, as a character, named "Zanger Henk". These clips by Zanger Henk were shown on the night of literacy in 2017. A musical experience, from a completely different angle than I was used to.
While I was engaged in these musical activities, I realized that I really missed making music in a band!
Looking for a new band option, Kenny, Norman, Ruben Krus (drums & vocal) and I organized a jam session to see if we clicked for a new band. Because there were some substantive differences in repertoire wishes, that click did not seem to be there for me.
During that session, we tried out a song that I had been working on with Norman years before in our Le Parc days to turn it into a Mothers Finest-esque track. In my view, the right idea for the arrangement arose during the jam session mentioned. I then tried to capture this idea in a recording and then published it as a single on Bandcamp, in mid-2018 with the title "The Lawnmower".
2018: single: HANK MERSEY – “THE LAWNMOWER”
Then something happened that I didn't expect to happen. Peter van Roekel called me with the question if I wanted to do a performance with Biranha, if he could get the band together.
I was curious if that would work! Peter managed to get the band together With Gordon, Rogier there. He arranged a performance in Breda for friends and acquaintances and we worked towards that, with some new cover repertoire as an extra challenge. Our old musical friend Bob de Haard also joined in for some vocal additions.
It turned out to be a nice evening, which went a bit messy, but at the end it gave us a satisfied feeling. Unfortunately, this reunion did not lead to a definitive reunion. The same reason as the earlier end of Biranha led to the end of this fine band!
2018: EP: HANK MERSEY – “(ROUGH DEMOS PRT 1) STONE COLD SOBER”
2018: EP: HANK MERSEY – “(ROUGH DEMOS PRT 2) HOLD DOWN A MINUTE RAIN”
2018: EP: HANK MERSEY – “(ROUGH DEMOS PRT 3) THE FREE WAY”
2018: EP: HANK MERSEY – “(ROUGH DEMOS PRT 4) DON'T BREAK MY DAY”
At Gordon's initiative, we (Gordon and I) met Stephan Cornelisse in August of 2018 to see if we could start a new band.
It was decided that we would start as a trio and that we would not go back to older existing repertoire of my hand.
So I started writing new material and recording it in demos in the months of September to December 2018.
That last one worked better than I expected! Fortunately, I had an extremely creative period in the autumn of 2018, which resulted in 4 EPs with a total of 16 new own works (later collected in 1 album).
2018: band: GOODBYE WESLEY (2018 - …….)Members: Henk-Jan Meurs: guitar & vocals / Gordon Braicks: bass guitar / Stephan Cornelisse: drums
We started rehearsing with this three-piece formation from the end of 2018 and we eventually chose 10 songs out of the 16 songs I came up with in Italy in September. With these 10 songs and a cover, we could play a nice one hour set over time.
But, in the course of 2019 another musical surprise came my way!...
2019: reunion: THE FACEJUNS (2019)
Beyond my expectations, another wonderful opportunity arose to bring The Facejuns together for a special occasion and performance. Unfortunately, due to circumstances, Peter Philipsen was unable to participate in this reunion this time. As a result, we were forced to more or less rearrange and redistribute the distribution of the instruments, so this time I took care of the guitar instead of percussion. This made it necessary to add a rhythmic musician for the rhythm section and luckily he was found in the person of Neljus Limon. Once again the Facejuns reunion turned out to be an unforgettable and wonderful time, with lots of fun and satisfaction!
2020...
2020 started for me with many musical plans and ideas for that year and quite a few options to climb the stage with Goodbye Wesley. We had already arranged or almost arranged a number of gig options and then at the beginning of March the restrictions were imposed around the Corona virus, which made all public music performances impossible and this unfortunately also applied to our band Goodbye Wesley.
During this period, due to these circumstances, I thought that I had to move with the times and switch to digital recording with the PC. My Yamaha MD8, with which I have recorded for 20 years, must have been almost dead...
I then ordered and installed an audio converter and my plan was to start making recordings and be able to publish some music again.
A mini album was recorded with Goodbye Wesley in September and it was released in November 2020 with the title El Primero. It was also launched on Spotify and that gives a good feeling ;-) .
Also with B2DB some recordings have been made with the same goal and I have published this in an album on Bandcamp.
I also started a cover solo album and a solo album with my own work. Both of these will not be completed by the end of 2020. So I will release them probably in 2021.
This is how 2021 begins, with little better than the prospect.
A bit fatally, I got an osteoarthritis problem in my back, which made a lot of things impossible, also musically. By the summer of 2021, the osteoarthritis problem was reasonably under control.
Because musically sitting still is very difficult for me, I seized every possible opportunity to be able to do something. Fortunately, we were able to pick up the thread with Goodbye Wesley around August 2021.
Waiting to see what will be possible in 2021 or 2022, or what we will make possible to play live, we decided to refresh our repertoire a little bit and started studying new work to complement our repertoire.
In September 2021 I decided to compile an anthology from 20 years of home recordings in the form of 3 albums with 12 tracks and to publish them on Spotify, among other music providers. With the title "Looking Back On The Tracks" this can be found in 3 parts. I also published a collection of Biranha's recordings in this way with the title "Three Fabulous Years". I also plan to publish LeParc and B2DB in the same way. So that will follow ;-)
In November 2021 I released an album "My Lockdown Melodies", with songs I wrote and recorded during the Corona Lockdown period of 2020/2021. This album can be listened to on Spotify and also on Bandcamp.
Then in November 2021 I immediately started new recordings of my own work, with the intention of making this a ′′ Lockdown number 2 ′′..... But this plan stagnated due to a kind of writer's block.
In November 2021 we decided with Goodbye Wesley, with still no possibility to play live, to add new repertoire, in the form of 5 covers. Of course we hoped to be able to play live with Goodbye Wesley soon, but at first there was a hitch.
on January 29, 2022 I had a cerebral infarction, which would prevent me from doing musically for the time being.
But in mid-March I got a call from Jampop asking if we wanted to fill in on a preliminary round evening. I really wanted to, but I didn't know if I would manage with my condition after the stroke. But then I added all sides and with 1 exercise with the band (after 2 to 3 months of silence) we were still in that preliminary round of Jampop! That was a great experience for me!
The performance went pretty well, especially considering the circumstances, but we didn't win that preliminary round.
We hadn't been out there either, so we thought that was fine.
But then I got a call from Jampop again in mid-May, asking if we still wanted to play in the final, as the best number 2...
Of course we wanted that, so practice 1 more time and then we played at the final of Jampop! Who would have thought that? :-) One of the review writers thought our band Goodbye Wesley was the most relaxed band of the final Jampop 2022 :-) .
Especially I had the desire to play live somewhere before the summer holidays 2022 with Goodbye Wesley. By coincidence this happened at "Tante Es" in Demen (near Ravenstein), where we played on spec on a Sunday afternoon in June.
This was a nice end to the season. I was completely in my element again!
Further in 2022 we have determined that we will record and publish our 2nd EP. In addition, we also determined which new material we will add to the Goodbye Wesley repertoire. Before that I made some cursory recorded demos, but otherwise I didn't get to finish the album I was working on, due to personal circumstances. I hope to continue with that in 2023 and be able to publish a few things again.
The plans for the recording of the EP are for April/May, so if all goes well, we will have our new EP online in the spring. ..but that is still in the future...