THE MINERS OF MUZO

THE MINERS OF MUZO

Genres: Garage Rock

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About THE MINERS OF MUZO

The Miners of Muzo are a guitar band from Tilburg, the Netherlands. They have been around since the early eighties. The band is named after a 1980 BBC documentary on poor Colombian farmers digging for emeralds in old abandoned Columbian state mines. Their style developed from trashy, sixties inspired garage rock to a less limited kind of rockmusic, leaving room for other musical influences.... as long as there's the love of song and guitar.... and rock'n roll.... From 1984-1993 the Miners recorded eight lp's/cd's. The albums were released on independant record labels in Holland (Eksakt, Columbus, Silenz), France (GMG, Spliff), Germany (Music Maniac), England (Ediesta) and Greece (?). They also contributed to several complilation albums in France, Holland and Germany. For a period of 6-7 years The Miners enjoyed some popularity in France. They also did well in Holland, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. They played the USA (SXSW 1991)and Czecho Slovakia (Prague 1989) as well. The Miners never split up. From 1993-2003 the Miners just didn't do much, but now they are working again in their own Smithsonic Lemonhead Studios. Check out Recordings 2003-2006 on lastfm. History: 1981-1983 The Miners Of Muzo are formed from the ashes of local bands. Several changes in musicians result in a line up of: Léon Lemmen (singer, songwiter, bass player), Hans Vroom (guitars), Daan Appels (organ, saxophone)and Marc van Gennip (drums) 1984 The band's first release 'In Surf Of Fish', comes out. This (Birthday Party-like) mini album is released through Dutch label Eksakt Records. The band starts playing live a lot. In june 1984 drummer Van Gennip is replaced by Gert-Jan Smits. 1985 Eksakt Records releases The Miners' first full-length album 'Apogee'. Compared to the debut album, Apogee is more melodic and sunny and shows '60s influences. In February Marc Lemmen takes over on bass, brother Léon switches to guitar. The album gets good reviews and the Miners play a lot of live shows in Holland. A couple of months later their first single, 'Hey Gipsy Woman' is released, with a two song B-side. Even though only 1000 copies are pressed, the single goes all over the world and tends to turn up in the strangest places. Even Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) has a copy (as he wrote in a letter to the band). They also do their first foreign shows. In May they go to Hamburg, Germany and in December they play six shows in France and Switzerland. They also record two songs (Hey Gipsy Woman and Who do you Love) for French tv, in Strassbourg, France. 1986 Third album 'Beauty is Pain' comes out in September. Just like Apogee, the album is produced by Antoine Kroes (MAM, LongStoryShort, A#1). 'Beauty is Pain' combines '60s acidpop, rock, psychobilly and 'sunny'pop. The album includes covers of the Chocolate Watchband and J.J. Cale. The band plays Holland and a couple of shows in France. 1987 Apart from Holland the band plays France and Switzerland. In September 'Dig Deep For.... The Miners', comes out. The album features songs the band plays live at that time, recorded the live way. The album contains only four original Miners' songs, and features acid rock and 60's punk. The seven covers on the album include '1-2-5' (the Haunted), 'Who Do You Love' (Bo Diddley) and 'Maid of Sugar, Maid of Spice' (Mouse and the Traps). The album is also released by Ediësta Records in England 1988 Apart from playing Holland, the Miners embark on a three week tour-de- France and a one week tour in Germany. The new album 'Make My Day' gets both positive and negative (Jan Vollaard, Oor) reviews in the Dutch press.... and a raving review in NME. Single 'Sandman' does not evoke much response, but proves that the Miners can be played on daytime national radio. The album is produced by Theo van Eenbergen and features The Watchman (Ad van Meurs) on lap-steel and dobro. 'Make my Day' is also released by German label Music Maniac (European base of the Fuzztones), with eight bonustracks pulled from 'Beauty is Pain'. 1989-1990 More shows in Holland, France and Germany. The band can also be seen and heard at a festival in Prague (Cz). The mini album 'Are You There' contains two covers: 'On nous cache tout (Jacques Dutronc) and 'When you find out' (The Nerves) and demo songs. Leading track 'Are you There' (with Watchman Ad van Meurs on slide guitar) gets some daytime airplay on Dutch national radio, not enough to become a hit, but nevertheless.... 1991-1993 'The Love & Life Storybook Album' is released in february 1991, with subtitle 'Part 1, Shovelin' The Ashes'. The album combines cheerful guitar pop, roots pop, guitar rock and '60s pop and includes an acoustic Alex Harvey cover. Again Ad van Meurs adds some colour on lap steel guitar and dobro. Engineer Lats Varga plays saxophone. In March 1991 the Miners play the South By Southwest convention in Austin, Texas, with two more shows added. From September 1991 - December 1993 the Miners play a slowly decreasing amount of gigs in Holland. They also play 25 gigs in France and a couple in Germany. 1993 In April 2003 Marc Lemmen quits the band, because playing bassguitar in the (half American) Pat Mears Band takes up too much of his time. He is replaced by former Masai bassist Ben (last name not known). 'About Time' is an 18-track compilation album (released by Music Maniac), covering 10 years of Miners Of Muzo in the studio. The album includes two previously unreleased tracks (incl. folk song 'St. John Martyr') and three new songs. The liner notes are written by David Fricke, senior writer of Rolling Stone Magazine, who turned out to be a fan of the band ever since 1985, when somebody in a recordstore in Amsterdam sold him 'Apogee'. 1994-1995 Keyboard player Daan Appels also leaves the band. Because of the band's lack of gigs and a no longer existing recording contract the band stops playing. Léon Lemmen, Hans Vroom, Gert-Jan Smits and lost brother Marc Lemmen form Funrazor. 1996 Funrazor first hits the stage in February. Lemmen and co. play heavy rock music and are inspired by the likes of Monster Magnet. The guys also work under the name Holy Joe (The Rock'n roll Bishop). After less than 10 gigs and one demo tape the band throws in the towel and they all go seperate ways. 2000-2002 The Miners Of Muzo are carefully sniffing each other out again. The band's line-up includes Léon Lemmen, Hans Vroom, Marc Lemmen en Gert-Jan Smits. They play a couple of gigs as the Miners of Muzo and one show as 'Holy Joe & the Alcoholites' (including Daan Appels on organ), than dissappear again from the public eye. 2003-2006 The Miners have converted their rehearsel room into a studio, the band launches its official website and starts recordings for a new album, under the working title 'Love & Life, Part II'. So far the album has not been released. A collection of songs from the period 2003-2006 can be found on www.lastfm.com. They are free for the download! Guitarplayer Hans Vroom turned out to be the only real cowboy of the band. In 2003 he has moved to France, where he lives in a medieval farmhouse and teaches horseback riding. Even thought he's not playing, Hans is still considered a (part-time) member of the band. 2007: The Miners' very own Smithsonic Lemonhead Studios are improved and updated, new songs are written. 2008: New recordings + a brandnew homemade lowbudget videoclip of 'Stealing Time' on You tube. More (mostly old - very old) videomaterial will be available for public viewing on youtube pretty soon. 2009: More recordings + a four song live set in november 2009, on the release of a book on 50 years of PopMusic in Tilburg, Holland, the Miners' hometown. Leon and Marc were joined on stage by Wannes Rombouts on guitar and Kasper Damn on drums. Both band and audience really liked what happened, so the future might hold some promises. 2010: More recordings, some rehearsels, planning a new low budget video + Yes, a full live set at The Zebra Festival in Gemert, Holland on august 21. Same crew as last year. TO BE CONTINUED..... The Miners of Muzo line-up 2008: Léon Lemmen: guitar, vocals Gert-Jan Smits: drums Marc Lemmen: bass guitar Honorary Miners for ever: Hans Vroom: guitars and vocals Daan Appels: keyboards and vocals Ex-Miners: Moniek van Dusseldorp: keyboards Ruud Diederiks: drums Marc van Gennip: drums Ben from Belgium: bassguitar

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