BAND HISTORY

BIRTH OF A BAND

In 1980, Stan got bored with his acoustic guitar so he bought a no-brand Stratocaster.

In those days, Stan and Erik were often hanging out together after school, either at Stan's or Erik's place. They each still lived with their parents in Amsterdam-Noord, a part of Amsterdam that is separated from the rest of the city by the river IJ. It was (and still is) a pretty boring part of town.

Stan's parents had a RIHA organ, so some of the first songs were written by Stan blazing his Stratocaster through a fuzzbox while Erik, who had endured 6 years of piano lessons, was lying on the floor playing bass on the organ's pedals. The RIHA also featured a rhythm box, so it sounded pretty good, to them anyway. It was obvious: a band had to be formed.

At that point Jasper, friend and classmate, decided he would pick up playing bass guitar. He bought a silly-looking Hohner, like the one Paul McCartney had. It looked medieval and had a unique sound, to put it mildly.

Since Erik had learned (somewhat) to play the piano, he decided to become the drummer of the band. Lacking a drum kit, for the first rehearsal at Jasper's he used a saucepan for snare, a cardboard box for a bass drum and a tinny metal basket that is used for carrying stuff on the handlebar of a bicycle (fietsmandje) for a hi-hat. This rehearsal mostly consisted of playing the first part of Van Halen's "Running With The Devil" over and over again, mainly because it had an easy bass line (one note). Fortunately Stan's guitar noises made it sound very promising.
This was the start of Mornington Crescent.