Bodine tribute site

Beukelpop performance contract

22 August 2011: Would you believe it? RegularRocker has managed to lay hands on a truly unique document in rock history--the concert performance contract of Bodine at Biervliet Beukelpop Festival on 29 August 1981 (NL). It's another invaluable document from the collection of MaxPower. Thanks!

RegularRocker visualised the reward Bodine received for 60 minutes of performance:

- 400 Dutch guilders

- a case of beer

and a bottle of whisky

- some non-alcoholic drinks

One can only wonder how much of it remained for Armand, Gerard, Jay and Rheno, after deduction of the management fee.

In case you wonder who was the Chocomel drinker in the band: it was Gerard who fancied the drink most of all. They should have made a commercial about him instead of little miss Fame!

It becomes clear from this document (English/Dutch) that it was going to be tough to make a living from Bodine. Splitting 400 guilders among four band members and a manager left each one of them with barely enough money to live on for a two or three of days. This contract makes the Beukelpop gig one of the best documented Bodine gigs, adding to the live footage shared by MaxPower on youtube.

It also shows a bit of the role that the management had in taking care of the band's interests. The contract is simple and formulated primarily in the interest of the band. There are a few items missing, though. To list the obvious ones: name, representative and address of the entrepreneur hiring the band, a signature, the name of the festival--even the brand of beer was left out! There are no possible sanctions in case of misconduct by any of the band members. In fact, any rights of the festival organiser (“entrepreneur”) to reclaim some of the money in case the band malperformed or wouldn't turn up are left out too. It is possible that these were mentioned on the back side of the contract. The document used was a photocopy.

12 August 2011: RegularRocker is slowly catching up with the translation of articles published 30 years ago! Here's another article unearthed by the RR's best reseacher thus far, Shockpower. His researching skills are incredible! Thanks a lot, mate! This article is another concert review, this one about Bodine's performance at Pluupop on 11 July 1981. Pluupop was a festival in Winsum, Groningen organised for two years in a row before they went broke (>>Dutch site). It lived up to its name (Pluu = umbrella), since it rained at both editions. Bodine, alas, did not get a very good review on this gig: 'disorderly' and 'poser-ish' were the adjectives used by the author. Only a small part of the review is dedicated to Bodine, but the entire article is translated, since it also contains reviews of NWOBH legends Praying Mantis and Tygers Of Pan Tang. Interesting enough! Find the Dutch and English versions here!

11 August 2011: A concert review was published by Aardschok magazine no.4 in April (or May) 1984. Thanks to Shockpower! This is a good article about the earliest performances of Bodine on stage. The ever-critical Aardschok Magazine is positive about the music, the sound and the skills of the band members. The only unfriendly comment is about their on-stage appearance. RegularRocker can live with that--probably the band members back then couldn't care less. Too bad that the author forgot to mention where and when the concert took place. Some song titles are spelled inaccurately, others seem to refer to unknown tracks. Bear in mind that Bodine used to play songs live before recording them on the next album. It allowed the band to shape a composition and see the reactions of the audience. After working it over in the studio, such a well-reharsed song could appear on an album under a different name, as the lyrics were written. Even in the studio, Bodine improvised, which contributed to the live feel of the albums. Move on to the Dutch or English version of the review.

28 July 2011: Where are the days that regional newspapers had their own music editor? Granted--the job title sounds a bit cocky, but in 1981, even a regional newspaper could afford a journalist dedicating a concert review to Bodine. Go figure! and read the Dutch or English version (or both) from Streekkrant Bladel! Nowadays, these local weeklies have either vanished or turned into advertising platforms for local entrepreneurs. The author bought the story that Jay van Feggelen founded the band and that Rheno was a Greek. Other than that, the article is fairly credible. The fact that Bodine arrived four hours late to the concert venue in Bladel due to a misunderstanding between the band and the manager confirms the troubled relationship between them. More details to how this ended can be found here.