BLACKHEADS alternative rock from Amsterdam

Marc walked into a piercingshop in Amsterdam, somewhere halfway 1993. The piercer was a guy from SF, USA named Sean. One thing led to another and Sean told Marc that he was looking for a bassplayer, since he was jamming with his guitar and a drummer named Rui, who came from Lisboa, Portugal. Marc joined and a band was born. This no-name-band played on a party that was organised by Maaike, Rui's girlfriend, in december 1993. Ursula, also from SF, USA saw us play and joined as a singer. She was quite experienced since she had been playing in several bands back in the states, from which GURTH from SF was the most known. This now complete new band had several names but eventually sticked to the name TEMPT and only played a couple of shows. TEMPT was filled with tension and when Sean left Holland to go live in both Belgium and Switzerland the band stopped for a while.

Dennis' first show at the OCC In It Then Rui, Marc and Ursula got together with Dorien, who was known in the Amsterdam scene because of her excellent performances with DO OR DIE, an amsterdam all female band. Marc had met her a couple of times in Amsterdam squats, but it was Rui who got this started. The funny thing was that a lot of people who knew both Marc and Dorien said that they would never last in a band together! BLACKHEADS was born. The band practiced for 3 months and did the first show early april 1995, in the now gone PH'31. Dennis, also a friend of Rui, came to see the band play and was asked to join as another guitarplayer besides Dorien. Each week at the Omval: The BLACKHEADS A month after that BLACKHEADS played their 2nd and 3rd show, already with Dennis in the OCC In It in Amsterdam and the Blauwe Aanslag in The Hague. The summer of 1995 was a busy summer for the BLACKHEADS: we played out a lot and became the local band for Villa Omval, a now gone squat in Amsterdam. With this line-up the first songs five songs were recorded and four (ALONE, PRIME TIME, PAIN and KISS ME BEFORE I GO) made it onto the first demo.

Ursula It became clear that Ursula and her husband were relocating: she was moving to Germany, leaving the band without a singer in september 1995. BLACKHEADS auditioned a couple of female singers (like Joke who used to sing in Amsterdamned, a punkband from the early 80-ies) and decided to go ahead with Marieke, unexperienced but promising. After practicing for a couple of months with Marieke our drummer Rui decided to quit the BLACKHEADS somewhere early 1996, leaving the band again with a big problem.

Rui Cubica Ramos Marc knew this guy Sandrijn, with whom he jammed a couple of times. Fortunately Marc was able to lure Sandrijn into the BLACKHEADS: he arranged an apprenticeship for Sandrijn and in return Sandrijn started to play the drums for the BLACKHEADS. Shortly after BLACKHEADS played at the PH'31 and at the also gone Twin Pigs in the new line-up with still Dorien on guitar, Marc on bass, Dennis on guitar and the recently added Marieke on vocals and Sandrijn on drums. Due to circumstances, faith struck again: Marieke quit the band, leaving the others behind. Whilst Dorien went on a holiday to Africa Dennis, Sandrijn and Marc continued to practice and decided that Dennis would pick up singing besides his guitarwork. When Dorien returned the BLACKHEADS went on as a fourpiece.

1997 turned out to be the year of change: we started of with two shows in Amsterdam: they went pretty well and Dennis had his first experience as a leadvocalist. A second demo was recorded, the Burning Chair sessions: SANITY, GROUNDED and STRAPS mark the end of an era musically: rough, tough and hard songs but with a (too?) complex structure. Dennis went on holiday to Iraq, where he had lived the first eight years of his life and when he came back after six weeks Sandrijn injured himself badly whilst having sex with his girlfriend (no kidding), making it unable for him to play the drums for a couple of months. dennis the menace After his recovery the BLACKHEADS picked up from where they had stopped, playing a couple of shows in Amsterdam. In april 1998 they left for a tour with FACEHUGGER, bringing the band to France and Switzerland (click on tour diary to find out about this tour (dutch only!)), and shortly after that the third demo was recorded: Japanese Toy with three brandnew songs, PURE, RUT BY RHYME and THE FLY. A couple of shows were done after that.

Dennis left the band in summer 1999, but the 3 remaining members were headstrong enough to carry on. After trying several singers and guitarplayers (thanks Iris!!) Marc asked the singer of his former band LONGSHOT, Edgar Meijne. Fortunately he really liked the band, both musically as the persons that are in it, so Ed picked up the guitar and the lyricsheets and joined in febuary 2000.

The band is now working on their debut CD.

The whereabouts of Sean are unknown. Supposedly he had his own piercingshop in Switzerland, but he fled leaving a lot of debts.
Ursula lives in the UK now, and is the mother of two beautiful daughters, Jordan and Bryce, and is still in touch with the BLACKHEADS.
Rui plays in a goth band now called CLAN OF XYMOX, and became very hip. We ocassionally run into him in bars and cafes.
Marieke is still a BLACKHEADS friend, and some of us meet up with her quite often. Like us, she hangs around.
Dennis is playing in intellirockband PLEXUS, and works in the internetbusiness now. Fortunately he's pretty sane, and we hang out.

Family tree:

January 1995:            Marc - Dorien - Rui - Ursula

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       Dennis joins as 2nd guitarist-> |

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April 1995:     Dennis - Marc - Dorien - Rui - Ursula

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                                       |-> Ursula leaves to live in Germany

         Marieke joins as new singer-> |

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September 1995: Dennis - Marc - Dorien - Rui - Marieke

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                                       |-> Rui leaves thru lack of progress

       Sandrijn joins as new drummer-> |

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Febuary 1996:   Dennis - Marc - Dorien - Sandrijn - Marieke

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                                       |-> Marieke leaves, Dennis picks up singing

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September 1996: Dennis - Marc - Dorien - Sandrijn

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                                       |-> Dennis leaves, band is a temp-3-piece

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June 1999:               Marc - Dorien - Sandrijn

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 Edgar joins as new singer/guitarist-> |

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Febuary 2000:            Marc - Dorien - Sandrijn - Edgar