Biography
There are at least two different bands called The Apemen, both active in the 1990s and into the 2000s, both of them popular in mod revival circles. Yet, they are two different bands and not to be confused.
1. The Apemen were a Dutch mod band, comprising band members from Tilburg and Rotterdam, with their base in Tilburg. Established in the early 1990s, the band saw several changes in line-up and musical style since their beginning. Their most active period was in the mid-1990s when they released all of their records. They were famous for wearing gorilla masks and suits on stage. Their first album, Are you being surfed? (1994) was strictly guitar-oriented and included a mix of songs from their first EP and surf classics like 'Pipeline' and 'Penetration'. The personnel on this record was Joep Verbeek and John Peate on guitar, Jeroen van de Sande on bass and Mike Rosema on drums.
The album Surfvival of de onbeschofste (1995) saw a change in line-up with Joep Verbeek and John Peate quitting the band, Jeroen van de Sande moving from bass to guitar and David Andriesse filling in on bass. On this record Albert Benier was added to play organ; he wrote much of the material for this album. The sound on this record is more organ-based with several songs using that as the lead instrument. 'El rey del Surf' is their only vocal song on Surfvival…, and is a Spanish language version of Trashmen's King of the Surf.
After these two albums only one more song would see a release: '24 Hours from Tulsa', released on a surf tribute to Burt Bacharach entitled That's new Pussycat! (2000). The Apemen continued to perform live for years after this final piece of studio output, until they played farewell concert in Geel, Belgium, in 2007.
2. Named after 'Apeman' by The Kinks, mod beat combo The Apemen were founded in Saarbrücken, Germany, in 1991, featuring Tom Platte (vocals), J.B. John (guitar), Nuss (bass) and Jean Marc (drums). Début single 'I Got Soul' was issued in Germany in 1993, they toured Europe with The Clique and Thee Cherylinas in 1994 and released a 'tie-in' album featuring all three bands, entitled Shout & Scream, that same year. An album of their own followed in 1996: Phantacity. The Apeman called it a day after a gig at the Isle of Wight Mod Weekend in 1997, with a final single release following nearly two years after the band's demise ('Lucky in Love', 1999). The band reformed in 2013 and are still performing ten years later.
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