Trespassers W (TW) started in 1984 as a duo, consisting of Cor Gout vocals/lyrics) and Wim Oudijk (instruments/compositions/arrangements). In this early stage TW recorded one 7″ EP (Burn It Down), one album (Straight Madness) and one 12″ EP (Paris In Between The Wars). During this period Cor Gout performed with backing tapes, recorded by Wim Oudijk, and a performance group. For the ‘tableau de la troupe’: see picture on the right.
TW was from the beginning not only a music group, but also an organisation, stimulating and organizing cultural events, a magazine and a local radio programme called ‘Mondain Den Haag’.
In 1986 Cor Gout formed a band with Lukas Simonis (guitar), Frank van den Bos (keyboards), Ronnie Krepel (bass) and Bart Vos (drums). In this line-up TW recorded an album for the British ‘Dead Man’s Curve’-label, entitled ‘Pretty Lips Are Red’ (1986). With Hayo den Boeft on bass and Ronnie Krepel on drums TW did a live-session for Belgium’s BRT 3 (national radio), later to be released as the cassette ‘The Ghost Of The Jivaro Warrior’ (1987). Later that same year the group recorded the ‘Dummy’ double-LP which came out in 1988. With Peter Bos on drums and Ronnie Krepel back on bass and with help from guest musicians such as Jos (The Ex) and Jos ‘Dorpsoudste’ de Jong, Frans Friederich, Raymund van Santen and Dolf Planteijdt (also the producer), TW recorded the ‘Potemkin’ LP (1989) which had five songs on one the A-side and a suite, called ‘Potemkin’, filling the complete B-side with spoken word, vocals and music recreating Eisenstein’s classic film of the same name. In the same year, a 7″ EP ‘Macht Kaputt’ was released, just like ‘Potemkin’ on ADM-Discs.
In 1990 ‘Underground Productions’, a French cassette label, released the LP-length TW-cassette ‘Aimez-vous Trespassers W? Songs of life in Death’, re-released in 1994 by the ‘Progressive Entertainment’ label in Germany. A year later the 10″ KINDER EP saw the light of day, like most of the early TW-releases on their own label. In the autumn of 1991 TW released ‘Roots and Locations’, a concept album about the city of The Hague in the fifties, set around the story of a father and his son. The music was written and played by TW with more than a little help from friends such as Dolf Planteijdt (production), Ferry Heyne (trombone), Frans Friederich (trumpet) and Hylke Tromp (tapes). Also in1991 (december) the split- ‘EP Raye’ slided in a French styled cover, designed by Maldoror. This 7″ EP was compiled on the occasion of a literary event in The Hague, based on the life and works of Boris Vian. 1991 must have been a fertile year.
The first in a series of ‘Fan Cassettes’, titled ‘Dance !’, was printed in a limited edition, to be followed by ‘Buzz !’ in 1994 and ‘Cross !’ later that same year. The cassettes in the series compiled the various TW-contributions to cassettes, LP’s and CD’s, released by friendly labels such as Dead Man’s Curve (U.K.) Insane (B.) Konkurrel (NL), RR Products (Fr.) Orcadia Machina (Fr.) EE-Tapes (B.) Underground Productions (Fr.) NG Medien (Dsl.), Corrosive Tapes (B.), APEAC/Organic“>Organic (Fr.) Noise Against Repression (Dsl.), Irre-Tapes (Dsl.), Red Neon Tapes (B.), Infoladen Lubeck (Dsl.) Come Together Products (Fr.), Elfish (Gr.) Random Relations (Gr.) Fool’s Paradise (U.K.) Anachronismus (Dsl.), Second Avenue (U.K.), Progressive Entertainment (Dsl.), Red Box (G.) and Bliss (U.K.).
In 1996 ‘Dance’ was re-released by EE-Tapes in Belgium.
In the autumn of 1992, shortly after the recordings for TW’s sixth album, ‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1,…0’, drummer Peter Bos left the group to be replaced by Bas den Boer.
With Bas on drums TW recorded the LP-length cassette ‘Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue; Odes and Parodes by Trespassers W’, which was released by Organic in Grenoble, France, in May 1993.
Approximately at the same time a TW/Deux Baleines Blanches (Dsl.)-coproduction which involves a single (Nussfarben/Idiotenkonferenz) and a magazine on the subject of neo-fascism was produced and distributed in Germany and the low countries.
TW’s above mentioned sixth LP came out by the end of april, 1993. The record was all about zero-ness zero-points and zero’s. TW back at zero? Not likely ! By the end of the year ND in Austin Texas, USA, released an EP with outtakes from the ‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … 0’-sessions under the title of ‘Boekelaar back’-EP.
Another US-label, Bright Green, issued a Trespassers W-EP in 1994 .’Heck’s EP’ consisted of tracks from different periods in the recent history of the band.
In May 1996 the German label AMF manufactured TW’s first CD: ‘Fly Up In The Face Of Life’. Cor Gout (lyrics, vocals), Lukas Simonis (guitar), Frank van den Bos (keyboards, accordeon), Colin McLure (bass), Cor Hoogerdijk (drums) assisted by Marcel Aartsen (trombone), Peter Haex (trombone), Frans Friederich (trumpet) Luc Houtkamp (saxophone) and Dolf Planteijdt (guitar, production) were responsible for this song cycle, loosely arranged around the concept of flying. For the USA promotion and distribution ‘Fly’ was consigned to ‘Opulence’ in Wilmington. NC.
Three cassettes followed the release of the ‘FLY’-CD: a split cassette with an English band The Conspiracy on the German Maljugin-label, a release of the complete Potemkin-sessions of 1989, improved with new vocals and mixes, by the Paris, France, based label ‘A Contresens’ and a collection of ‘hard to find’ TW-tracks, titled ‘Deleted’ on the Greek ‘Christ Forum’-cassette-label.
With Dolf Planteijdt on bass, replacing Colin McLure, but without Frank van den Bos, TW recorded three tracks for a Conspiracy-TW-Split-EP (2 tracks from both bands, released in 1998) and one track for a Beatles-tribute-7″-box to be released in the autumn of 1999 by Pink Lemon in Germany, which unfortunately never came to a release.
Also in 1998 the German Moloko+ label (a Pink Lemon subsidiary issued the ex-Yu-single, two songs (Save the Dormouse and Sleepy Dormouse) dealing with the political situation in former Yugoslavia.
Er was een tafel onder een boom neergezet
Een haas en een hoedeman dronken er thee
Een zevenslaper zat er tussenin, vast in slaap
De twee anderen leunden op hem met hun ellebogen
Wat niet erg aardig is voor de zevenslaper
Maar zolang hij slaapt vindt hij dat vast niet zo vreselijk.
Vertaling fragment Save The Doormouse
At the turn of the century (1999/2000) Organic/Land in Grenoble, France, released TW’s new CD, ‘Leaping the Chasm’, a project in which almost all Trespassers-fellow-travellers 1984-1999 were involved as musicians, composers, or producers.
The next (CD-) release after ‘Chasm’ was an album, containing the recorded songs and poems from the multi-media-stage-show ‘Flight Over The Hague’ (performed at the Korzo Theatre in The Hague, march 1999), produced by Wim Oudijk at the Disco Fair Studio in The Hague. The CD was a co-operation between Italian label Snowdonia and TW-records (2000).
Early 2001 the group offered eight football-songs for a free CD (‘De Voetbal CD’) which came with Fake Magazine # 8. Apart from the Trespassers-songs this CD contained six columns by Belgian performing poet Didi de Paris. In the summer of 2001 Pink Lemon released a 10″-record, containing covers of songs by the Ramones, Jimmy Campbell, Claude Nougaro, Abba, Magazine, Syd Barrett and the TV-Personalities, all in the well known Trespassers W-style. The name of this record was ‘Cover Collection’. By the end of 2001 the TW publishing company produced a book about the seaside town of Scheveningen (near The Hague), titled ‘Scheveningen, op locatie’ (TW 1025). With this book came a CD featuring various artists, among which Trespassers W. At Cor Gout ’s parental home in Scheveningen, a special line-up, consisting of Camille Dings (producer), Ronnie Krepel (guitar), Frank van den Bos (grand piano, accordeon), Hayo den Boeft (bass), Ab Bol (contrabass), Bosz de Kler (accordeon), Peter Bos (drums) and Cor Gout (vocals) recorded six songs about Scheveningen.
By 2002 Trespassers W started to play in the following formation: Cor Gout (vocals), Ronnie Krepel (guitar, keyboards), Witte van der Veen (guitar), Marcel Nab (bass) and Bart Vos (drums).
The CD ‘Sex and the end of it’, which appeared in the summer of that same year, did not yet have Marcel Nab on the list of collaborators, but consisted of Cor Gout (vocals), Ronnie Krepel (keyboards, guitar), Witte van der Veen (guitar), Hayo den Boeft (bass), Cor Hoogerdijk (drums), Frans Friederich (samples, mixes, trumpet), Robert Kroos (samples, mixes), Jeffrey Bruinsma (violin), Bart Vos (percussion), Saskia Leenes (vocals) and many others. The ‘Sex’-CD was released by Somnimage in Bradley, Illinois, USA, and can be considered as part one of the trilogy ‘Sex and Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll’.
Het hoesje van Sex and the end of it (links), en de amerikaanse weergave in een krant. Spot the differences
In february 2003 French label Mecanique Populaire launched a series of Trespassers W-reissues, starting with the double-CD ‘Straight Madness’ and the single-CD ‘Pretty Lips Are Red/The Ghost of the Jivaro Warrior’, both coming in boxes with booklet, poster, facsimiles and picture postcards.
The series was continued in 2009 with the release of the ‘Dummy’ double cd with the original ‘Dummy’ LP on cd 1 and contributions to compilations on cd 2. The fourth reissue (2014) contained the Potemkin sessions on the first cd and de songs of the original cassette album ‘Aimez-vous Trespassers W’ plus extra tracks on the second one.
In the autumn of the same year the CD, ‘Trespassers W presenteert Ieplaan’ was released on the TW-label. The disc contains songs from the mixed media musical Ieplaan featuring Ilse Froklage, Rita Hausherr, R.H. Bekker, Eddie Kagie and Trespassers W.
Early 2005 Somnimage released the second cd from the before mentioned trilogy, entitled ‘The Drugs We All Need’. The line-up for this album consisted of Cor Gout (vocals), Ronnie Krepel (guitar, keyboards), Witte van der Veen (guitar), Marcel Nab (bass) and Bart Vos (drums). Camille Dings was in charge of the recording sessions, Wim Oudijk was responsible for the mixing and mastering.
In 2006 the trilogy was completed with The Noble Folly Of Rock’n’roll, about which Somnimage label manager Mykel Boyd wrote: ‘While listening to the new Trespassers W cd its easy to forget all theory and enjoy the fun of it. My seven year old daughter is jumping up and down to the sound of “Do the don’t” all the time. And putting her to bed she no longer wants me to sing Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams”. I have to do a version of Trespasserrs W’s “Roy” instead.’ The line-up for Folly was: Cor Gout (vocals), Ronnie Krepel (various instruments), Lukas Simonis (guitar), Hayo den Boeft (bass) and Bart Vos (drums). Lukas Simonis also recorded and mixed the seventeen tracks for the cd, while Wim Oudijk did the mastering.
In the autumn of 2013 Trespassers W was invited to play a short set at the Volkspaleis in The Hague. As the performance didn’t really happen to the public because of sound problems in the hall, the band decided to record the seven ‘Volkspaleis’-songs and prepare them for release. The result, a one-sided LP called ‘One-sided Love Affair’, was presented in 2014.
In the summer of 2016 Trespassers W released a 7” vinyl-ep (33 rpm), called ‘Save the stowaway’. The record contains five songs, the three songs on the A-side written by the band, the two songs on side B covers of songs by respectively Bob Dylan and Serge Gainsbourg, the original lyrics translated into Dutch by Cor Gout.
Op tien hectare/Van leegte om je heen/Staar je in de ruimte/Waar het Malieveld/Eventjes maar verdween/Je tuurt naar de bomen/Van het eeuwenoude bos/Of je laat/Je ogen rusten/Op de grachten/In gedachten/Zacht kabbelend/Langs de stad
Under the name Trireem (consisting of Cor Gout, Lukas Simonis and Frans Friederich) Trespassers W released a long epic poem about a French surgeon in Napoleon’s army, wandering through Europe, including Holland (TW-cd 0000).
In june 2022 TW Records, in co-operation with Somnimage (USA) and Red Wig (NL), released a new Trespassers W lp/cd, called ‘Koala and other metamorphoses’. The subtitle ‘and other metamorphoses’ lifts a veil of the concept of this album. The line-up for this album was: Cor Gout, Frans Friederich and Lukas Simonis+ contibutions ‘deluxe’ from Nina Hitz and Henk Bakker.
Since 1984, TW has played many concerts all over Holland and toured in various countries such as England, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Norway, Czechoslowakia (Czech Republic), Slovenia, Bulgaria and the USA. Not all TW-concerts have been straight rock-performances. Some have happened in a poetry setting, while others were multi-media shows, including film and dance.
Concerts / Tours / Performances
Trespassers W, the band, performed since 1984 more than two hundred concerts in The Netherlands, Belgium, (East/West)Germany, England, Norway, Denmark, CSSR, Slovenia, Bulgaria, USA, France and Switzerland.
Since 1985 the band toured eleven times abroad:
1- England (february 1985)
2- England (may 1986)
3- England (april 1987)
4- East-Germany, CSSR (october/november 1990)
5- Norway, Denmark (january 1991)
6- CSSR (mei 1992)
7- Germany, Slovenia, Bulgaria (may/june/july 1992)
8- England (november 1992)
9- Germany (january 1993)
10-USA (may 1996)
11-Germany, Switzerland, France (october, november 1996)
(Belgium: too many to mention)
The very first Trespassers W-appearances (in 1985) were music dramas performed by Cor Gout (vocals with tapes) and a performance groep consisting of Siebrand Weitenberg and Baptist Vermeulen, who mimed and made use of moving pieces of scenery, theatre props and film, Attila the Stockbroker (mandola and violin) and Cor Gout (vocals).
In 1993 members of the band Trespassers W performed a politically grafted set during festivals in The Netherlands (The Hague, Iets Vrijers, 1993; Amsterdam, OCC Init, 1994; Nijmegen, O42, 1994) and in Germany (Düsseldorf, Remise, Doublefish, AK 47, Op de Eck, 1993; and Emsdetten J.U.K.S, 1094) . These festivals had been organized by members of Trespassers W and the German band Deux Baleines Blanches in the line of introducing the magazine + ep ‘Punt./Punkt.’ (‘point behind fascism and racism!’) and taking an artistic stance against at this time re-emerging fascist and racist movements.
In 1999 Trespassers W started a series of performances, based on specific themes and locations. The multimedia play Vlucht Over Den Haag might be considered to be the first part in this series. The plot is about a boy, born and raised in a fisherman’s village (Scheveningen), aggravated against the city of The Hague, where, after having left the seaside village, the boy becomes a man, losing his naivety and simplicity. The company consisted of Jeffrey Bruinsma, Cor Hoogerdijk, Lukas Simonis, Ronnie Krepel (actors, musicians), Cor Gout (playwright, actor), Hajo Doorn, Eddie Kagie (actors), Thom Stuart (ballet dancer), Heiner Holtappels (video’s, stage-design), Rinus Sprong (director).
Other big producties were Zee/Land (about the province ‘Zeeland’ and the urge to sea which lives with many islanders… the enclosed land and the endless sea and the relations beween the two) and Ieplaan (about a man who strolls along the Ieplaan, probably for the last time, and sees in his mind the people and situations that left behind the deepest thoughts and feelings in him). Zee/Land: Terneuzen, Kalashnikov, 20/11/1999), Goes, ‘t Beest, 9/3/2000, Zierikzee, Brogum, 25/3/2000. The artists: Ronnie Krepel, Hayo den Boeft, Frank van den Bos, Cor Hoogerdijk (musicians), Ronald Cornelissen (performance), Cor Gout (poems and short stories), Ada Fesevur (video), Frans Friederich (soundscapes). Ieplaan: Den Haag, Zeebelt, 23-31/10-2002, 1,2/11/2003; Amsterdam, Paradiso, 11/1/2004; Vlissingen, De Piek. 6/12/2003.
An interesting program at the Bordelaise Café in The Hague was about (poetry)covers and reading poems to children aloud, which, in a way, is ‘covering’ children’s literature (1/7/1999). In ‘t Syndikaat, also in The Hague, 29/4/2001) this concept was handled too. In both cases the emphasis fell rather on the literary aspect than on the musical facet.
The event ‘Trespassers W presents Scheveningen on location’ graced the fishing village of Scheveningen with music, video, poetry and lectures by Trespassers W and fellow artists (Scheveningen, Hart Beach Café, 1999; Theater op Zolder, 2001).
The band members sang and played the songs from the Football-cd in soccer kits. First in De Doelen in Rotterdam (1/5/2000), where they invited one of their celebrated heroes, ex-goalkeeper Frans de Munck, on stage. Then in De Kern in Purmerend (16/6/2000) as the supporting act for the next Euro-2000-match to begin on big screen.
