TW Biography

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 and a performance group. TW was from the beginning not only a music group, but also an organisation, stimulating and organising 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 Koeienverhuur (also the producer), TW recorded the ‘Potemkin’ LP (1989) which had 5 songs on one side and one long suite, Potemkin (story and music recreating Eisenstein’s classic film of the same name) on the other.
In the same period 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’, re-released in 1994 by the ‘Progressive Entertainment’ label in Germany.

1991 saw the birth of the 10″ KINDER EP, 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 50’s, set around the story of a father and his son. The music was written and played by TW with a little help from friends such as Dolf Koeienverhuur (production), Ferry Heyne (trombone) Frans Friederich (trumpet) and Hylke Tromp (tapes).
In December 1991 the split-EP ‘EP Raye’ saw the light of day. This French styled 7″ EP was compiled on the occasion of a literary event in The Hague, based on the life and works of Boris Vian.

Also in 1991 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 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 (G.), Corrosive Tapes (B.), APEAC/Organic“>Organic (Fr.) Noise Against Repression (G.), Irre-Tapes (G.), Red Neon Tapes (B.), Infoladen Lubeck (G.) Come Together Products (Fr.), Elfish (Gr. ) Random Relations (Gr. ) Fool’s Paradise (U.K.) Anachronismus (G.), Second Avenue (U.K.), Progressive Entertainment (G.), 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 6th 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 (G.)-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 6th 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 Koeienverhuur (guitar, production) were responsible for this song cycle, loosely arranged around the concept of flying. For the USA promotion and distribution were 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 Koeienverhuur 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 a Beatles-tribute-7″-box to be released by Pink Lemon in Germany (to be released in the autumn of 1999).
Also in 1998 Moloko+ (a Pink Lemon subsidiary) in Germany released the ex-Yu-single, two songs (Save the Dormouse and Sleepy Dormouse) dealing with the political situation in former Yugoslavia.
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 of Italian label Snowdonia with TW-records (2000).
Early 2001 the group offered 8 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 in Germany 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.
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 rather Cor Gout (vocals), Ronnie Krepel (keyboards, guitar), Witte van der Veen (guitar), Hayo den Boeft (bass) and 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’.
In february 2003 the 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 cd.
In the autumn of the same year a 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.

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 cd.
In the autumn of the same year a 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 Rocknroll, about which Somnimage label manager Mykel Boyd wrote: While listening to the new Trespassers W cd its easy to forget all theory and enjou the fun of it. My seven year old daughter is jumping up and down to the sound of Do the dont all the time. And putting her to bed she no longer wants me to sing Roy Orbisons In Dreams. I have to do a version of Trespasserrs Ws 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 new 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 are covers of songs by respectively Bob Dylan and Serge Gainsbourg, the original lyrics translated into Dutch by Cor Gout.

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+ help (and not a little) 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.

Trespassers W, the band, performed since 1984 more than 200 concerts in The Netherlands, Belgium, (East/West)Germany, England, Norway, Denmark, CSSR, Slovenia, Bulgaria, USA, France and Switzerland.

Since
1985 the band toured 11 times:

1- England (February 1985)

2- England (May 1986)

3- England (April 1987)

4- England (November 1992)

5- East-Germany, CSSR (October/November 1990)

6- Norway, Denmark (January 1991)

7- CSSR (May 1992)

8- Germany, Slovenia, Bulgaria (May/June/July 1992)

9- England (November 1992)

11- Germany (January 1993)

12-USA (May 1996)

13-Germany, Switzerland, France
(october, November 1996)

Special concerts

In 1999 Trespassers W started
a series of performances, based on specific
themes and locations. The multimedia theatre
piece Vlucht Over den Haag (see: Band/multimedia
theatre) might me considered to be the first
part in this series.
A performance at the Bordelaise Café
in the Hague was about covers and (reading aloud,
that is ‘covering’) children’s literature.
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.
Three multi-media performances in the province
of Zeeland dealt with the subjects of the (endless)
sea, the (enclosed) land and the relation between
the two. The Zeeland-shows consisted of soundscapes
(Frans Friederich), music and songs (Trespassers
W), stories (Cor Gout ), video-art (Ada Fesevur),
scenery design (Ronald Cornelissen) and performance-art
(Ronald Cornelissen).
On the occasion of Euro 2000, the European football
championships, held in Belgium and The Netherlands,
Trespassers W performed three footbal sets,
highlighting the mythical or literary aspects
of the game. These performances were part of
a literary programme called ‘Verses United’.
Even the mixed media musical Ieplaan (2003/04)
might be considered to be an example of this
genre.