Week 43: october 17 - 23 2004
Curator: Remco Takken
Subject: Purple Brain
echo 43
nederlandse versie
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Week 43: october 17 - 23 2004 Curator: Remco Takken Subject: Purple Brain echo 43 nederlandse versie « previous week next week » |
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So what do lonely teenagers do when they finally meet a kindred spirit? They form a band! Marco Braam was playing the piano from the early 80s on, but he really got turned on by music after he heard his father's Stones and Troggs 45s (Listen to 'Jumpin'Jack Flash'below). Remco Takken was more on the Beatles' side, thanks to the numerous cassettes he lent from his teacher Jacques Mulder when he was 11/ 12 years old (Listen to 'And Your Bird Can Sing'). The two of them realised a seven-piece rock collective that existed from 1986 to 1990. However this group never performed with all seven playing at once. This open line-up worked quite well for a lot of improvisation and surprising bass less, drum less music, more or less. The sixties-vibe that surrounded Purple Brain wasn't quite fitting in the post-punk era. But when looking back, one can argue that the gross simplification of Lennon & McCartney's 'And Your Bird Can Sing' was done in a rather punky fashion by the 15 and 16 year olds. Sixties nostalgia or not, the group fell apart before retro-rock by the likes of Lenny Kravitz and The Black Crowes was well on its way. In 1990 Purple Brain played sheet music by Frank Zappa and Charles Ives, intertwined by their own, mostly instrumental music. When they disbanded in June 1990, the oldest band member had just turned 19, the youngest was at the tender age of 15. Where are they now? In 2004 pianist Marco Braam is musical director of Dutch theatre groups like Purper and Nonsens. Guitarist Remco Takken always played a bit of bass guitar, which he now does in the improvising collective Schors. And he writes free-lance on jazz and improvised music. After 1990 drummer Eric Zuiderbeek went on studying the piano and played scores Pierre Boulez, JS Bach and Charles Ives. Reed player Harald Tepper later on played in the Xenakis Ensemble and is presently a member of the American 'Utah Symphony Chorus'. Star soloist Alman quit music in the nineties. Keyboardist Warner Werkhoven (not related to Alman) currently plays in the Eindhoven based jazz rock group Serendipity Labs. Bass guitarist Yvette Takken went on to play the violoncello, which she occasionally still plays. Henk-Jan Hoekjen (not recorded) only played in this group for about two weeks. At this moment, he is the guitar player of the successful garage rock trio The Stilettos. |
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The Recordings 1. Freak Out Yer Kix (Braam/ Takken) Marco and Remco on the first demo recording 'Tricks & Tracks' from 1986. About 50 copies sold of this cassette. 2. And Your Bird Can Sing (Lennon/ McCartney) Played as a duo by Remco (guitar & vocals) and Eric (drums, and a tiny bit of vocals for the careful listener). 3. Jumpin'Jack Flash (Jagger/ Richards) Still without a bassplayer Purple Brain recorded a rock demo in 1988. About 100 copies sold of this cassette. This relatively high figure is due to the good contacts the band members had with three big high schools in Apeldoorn, Epe and Heerde. 4. Absolutely Free (Frank Zappa) From May 1988 on, Purple Brain had its own rehearsal space. Motivation to prepare music at home in order to play together increased enormously. Especially after Braam, Takken and Zuiderbeek attended a Frank Zappa show in Rotterdam (on may 4th). Until the break-up of the group in June 1990, their sounds tended to be played from sheet music, while the improvisations fled away from rock idioms. 5. Not Fade Away (Buddy Holly) Purple Brain as a true 'jam band'. There was some enthusiast soloing going on within simple rock structures like 'Not Fade Away', 'Louie Louie' and the outro of 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. 6. Rosina (Collective Improvisation by Purple Brain) The exact line-up of this recording is not very clear. The title of this D-minor improvisation is after the brand of the resin that was used to make the crappy violin work. 7. Dreaming In School (Remco Takken) None of the teenagers in Purple Brain had good recording equipment. This raw demo was made by recording sound-on-sound to two cassette recorders. 8. Rehearsal Fragment (Igor's Boogie by Frank Zappa) The core-line-up of Purple Brain prepares a new piece in 1989. Remco Takken, Marco Braam and Eric Zuiderbeek all on one keyboard. 9. The BASF Secret Chord Progression (Marco Braam) Materialised from an improvised duo-improvisation by Marco Braam and Eric Zuiderbeek, originally recorded on a BASF cassette tape. The endless chord changes were later written out, and was played live a couple of times. Note true. 10. Piano introduction to 'the little house I used to live in' (Frank Zappa) In spring 1990 attempts to incorporate piano works by Charles Ives in the group's sound failed to materialise outside of the rehearsal space. There was some serious plundering of Frank Zappa's 'Songbook', which was being kept out of the local library for almost two years by Purple Brain's members. Bass guitarist Yvette Takken later found this exact over-used copy in a sale of out-of use library books. 11. Revised music for guitar & piano (Frank Zappa)/ Cadenza (Harald Tepper)/ Igor's Boogie (Frank Zappa) More from that Zappa-songbook, this time interspersed with a written-out cadenza by clarinet player Harald Tepper. 12. Piece For Guitar #1 (Remco Takken)/ Mr. Green Genes (Frank Zappa) The early attempts at composing by Marco Braam, Remco Takken and Harald Tepper got under snowed in the hodgepodge repertoire of Zappa, free improv and some leftover Beatles-covers like 'In My Life' and 'I am the Walrus'. After the summer of 1990 band members went their own ways while studying in Enschede, Utrecht and Groningen, except for the much younger Alman Werkhoven and Yvette Takken. |