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A new Dutch band emerges. One that makes ‘serious music’ to boot. A band raring to record an album. And so they did; of their own incentive. Armed with the producer of Dutch mega act BLØF, the arranger of the legendary Nick Drake, and the entire contents of their piggy bank. The end result: Panama.

a balladeer

a balladeer is one of those bands that just have to make music, whatever it takes. Not because they’re a bunch of fame-starved guys, or because they think they’re the best there is, but simply because it’s just what they love to do best. Because good tunes emerge and have to be played, sung, and preferably recorded. When the band decide to get the ball rolling themselves in late 2004, things soon fall into place, and better than they’d hoped for besides.

Ronald Vanhuffel was approached through the guys from Dutch act BLØF, for whom a balladeer provided the support on a number of dates. The Flemish producer was keen from the start, and invited the band over to the ICP Studios in Brussels. When BLØF bass player Peter Slager learned that the debut album was now definitely on the cards, he offered to play bass on one of its tracks. A mere friendly gesture was how a balladeer considered it, and thought nothing more of it until, the night before the recording sessions were due to start, the band’s own bass player suddenly quit, leaving them to seek out a session musician to record with. Slager was texted just in case, with the message: “Does your offer of playing bass on one of the songs still stand?” The answer was surprising, but oh so welcome: “Offer is rock solid. Even do the whole album if you like.”

a balladeer see themselves as a cohesive threesome. “You think as a collective”, says drummer Tijs Stehmann. “It’s not about me showing how well I can play the drums, or Marinus demonstrating how great his voice is. You all do your bit to make the song turn out a certain way.” “We really are a team”, guitarist Erik Meereboer adds. “And if me playing a solitary note is what the song needs, then that’s what I’ll do. I pay particular attention to what the vocal line does.”

That vocal line, or rather the lyrics, make up the foundation of every a balladeer song, and that does of course have its origins somewhere. “The Little Earthquakes album by Tori Amos was a real eye-opener for me as far as that’s concerned”, singer and compose Marinus de Goederen says. “Because as soon as I started to work out the meaning of the lyrics, the songs suddenly became twice as wonderful. They gained an extra layer, and I figured: wow, so that’s another way of doing it.”

The tracks that made it onto the Panama album, have all ended up there for a reason. Marinus: “I find it odd that you just throw say twelve songs onto an album that basically have no relation to one another. I’m a great believer in re-introducing certain characters, locations or concepts in multiple songs; drawing things closer together.” Which isn’t to say that Panama consists of a single story. “When you read a novel, you often see a number of interspersed storylines. This album is a year out of my life, and an assemblage of childhood memories. There are two or three lines that connect from time to time.”

“In Panama," he said, "everything is much more beautiful, you know. Because in Panama the smell of bananas is all around you, it’s everywhere. Panama is the land of our dreams, Tiger. We must leave for Panama by first light, what do you think, Tiger?"

(Oh, wie schön ist Panama – Janosch)

a balladeer is:

Marinus de Goederen: vocals, piano, guitar
Erik Meereboer: guitar
Tijs Stehmann: drums


WEBSITE: www.aballadeer.com