In 1963 I came to live in Beverwijk, a teenager of then 12 years old, with a strong Brabant accent, still as blue as a pack of butter and went there to do the LTS and later the MTS. My musical development was still in its infancy, but the Beatles were better than the Stones. You had to choose, of course. In the sixties, the Bintangs and the Hamlets competed for local popularity in Beverwijk and the surrounding area. There was a time when I went to school in the morning and my eyes were drawn to the disused municipal gasometer. A towering thing where before that time the gas storage took place locally. Now it was adorned at the very top by metre-high letters that formed the name BINTANGS. An action by the band’s now quite active fan club. It became the talk of the town and a boost to the band’s popularity. It had to happen to go to a performance and that became the parking lot on top of the dune in Wijk aan Zee. There I was first struck by the sounds of the Bintangs. What a mess, Basic Station can still suck on that today. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they could still hear it in England. Of course I wasn’t used to this at all, that is also apparent when I listen to their music from back then, because then it turns out to be not too bad. I had to recover for a while and sat down on the step of the truck that belonged to the stage. Sitting there, I noticed that I had to get up all the time to let someone in or out. From my wiser friends I soon understood that the truck driver also wanted to earn something from the performance and that he rented out his cabin every 10 minutes to ‘enthusiasts’. I had an inkling of what that meant, but I didn’t dare to look inside, afraid I might get up a bit. In hindsight, I didn’t even think that crazy. In those years there were already some singles released, but only in 1969 the first LP – Blues on the Ceiling. I thought that was a bit mediocre, but luckily a year later Travellin’ in the U.S.A. An LP that certainly contains some songs that I have remembered as real Bintangs music. Jan Wijte’s flute certainly contributed to this. I got the LP from Harry Schierbeek, the hardest drummer I’ve ever experienced. He always broke something, but that didn’t bother him, playing softly was not his thing. I knew him because I regularly came home to his parents Harry Sr and Aunt Bep because of another hobby, the radio, the 27Mc to be precise. Harry really was a guy that makes you say ‘raw husk white pit’. Nice time though. By the way, I sometimes met the guitarist Jack van Schie. His sister was friends with my sister and I was allowed to play as a taxi every now and then. Nice guy that Jack. Travellin’ in the U.S.A. This LP contains at least three songs that I really think is ‘Bintang’s sound’. Those are Ridin’ on the L&N, Agnes Gray and Traveling in the U.S.A. The latter even had a top 10 listing in the charts in 1970. On the front of the cover is a beautiful black and white photo of the then occupation Frank Kraayeveld, Jan Wijte, Arthy Kraayeveld, Rob van Donselaar, Aad Hooft and singer Gus Pleines. Besides the band’s repertoire, it was especially Gus’ voice and appearance that made the Bintangs very often compared to the Rolling Stones, just such a big mouth and the same demeanor on stage. In short, this is the Bintangs LP that I still think is the best.
