Picture (band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Picture


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Background = group_or_band
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Origin = Hilversum, The Netherlands
Genre = Heavy metal
Hard rock
Years_active = 1979–1987
1997–1999
2007–present
Label = Backdoor
Touchdown
Associated_acts =
URL = [http://www.myspace.com/pictureholland Official website]
Current_members = Pete Lovell - vocals
Jan Bechtum - guitar
Rinus Vreugdenhil - bass guitar
Laurens Bakker - drums
Rob van Enkhuizen - guitar
Past_members = (see below)

Picture was the first real Dutch heavy metal band. [ [http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=1747] "The first Dutch heavy metal band, they started a few months earlier then Vortex (Hol)"] Formed in 1979, they were especially popular in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy for their live performances. They still have a huge fan base in South America, Mexico and Japan.

Picture supported AC/DC, Ted Nugent and Saxon in the Netherlands. With Saxon, they did a full European tour in 1981. Later on they toured with Rose Tattoo in Germany and headlined tours in Italy and Israel.

Biography

Rinus Vreugdenhil and Laurens Bakker originally got together in 1977 and started jamming with various musicians. It wasn’t until 1979 that the classic lineup of Rinus, Laurens, Jan Bechtum, and Ronald van Prooijen came together. Jan came first and as they auditioned singers, Ronald, who they all knew, decided to step in and audition. After one session, Jan, Rinus, and Laurens decided Ronald was the man, so the classic Picture was born.

Early on in Picture's career they teamed up with manager Henk van Antwerpen and signed to the label Warner Bros. Records. However, Picture felt their label were trying to steer them in a pop direction and quit the label to sign with Backdoor Records, a subsidiary of Phonogram Records. The original line-up recorded their debut album and their second effort, "Heavy Metal Ears" in 1980 and 1981 respectively.

They started gigging throughout the Netherlands and nearby Germany and built a following. In the meantime, they started composing their own music. Jan would usually come up with the riffs, then the other members would contribute their parts and after hashing and rehashing the songs, they became the titles that appeared on the first album, "Picture I".

After gaining record label interest, they went into the studio. As a bunch of young kids, they didn’t know much about the realities of recording. When the album came out, none of them liked the sound quality. As they grew in popularity, they went in to record "Heavy Metal Ears" and it was much the same. It wasn’t until they were a little older and wiser that they really got their sound in the studio with "Diamond Dreamer". However, by this time, Ronald had left for personal reasons and they found Israeli singer, Shmoulik Avigal. Not only was the recording much better done, but Shmoulik had a different and some say, more powerful voice. Many say "Diamond Dreamer" was the band’s best album.

Touring was a hit or miss prospect. The record company did not want to put up enough money to really get behind the band and some great opportunities were missed. Despite all, Picture developed a large fan base covering much of Europe and South America.

Band consensus confirms their best gigs were touring with Saxon while the worst was when they played with Rose Tattoo, during the Heavy Metal Ears period. They were not happy with the road crew, plus they were more popular in Germany than Rose Tattoo and some of the band felt they were sabotaged.

After recording and touring with Shmoluik for the Diamond Dreamer album, he suggested they add a second guitarist to fatten their live sound and Chris van Jaarsveld was brought in. Though he was a technically proficient guitarist, he just didn’t gel with Jan and things went downhill. Then Shmoulik got in a petty argument with their manager and was fired from the band. About this time, Jan had enough and quit for personal reasons. To fill in the gaps, a new singer, Pete Lovell was recruited along with a second guitarist, Henry van Manen. This album was slicker than Diamond Dreamer and the two guitarists significantly altered the heavy sound of Jan Bechtum for a more technical groove that sort of worked, but started the trend for the final albums that veered away from the Picture sound. Around this time, Laurens could not take the rigors of touring or the stress of all their management troubles while supporting a wife and twins, so he called it a day.

From that point on, the only remaining original member was Rinus. He soldiered on for three more albums, Traitor, Marathon, and Every Story Needs Another Picture. Many described them as going into hair metal, very commercial and with anonymous songs. Rinus is particularly disgusted with Every Story Needs Another Picture, as it was an album forced by the record contract and it is rumored the whole album was recorded by studio musicians and minimal participation from him.

Though Rinus soldiered on long after the other original members had left, he was never able to steer the band back into a successful direction and finally called it a day and got a "real" job.

The original members tried a reunion in 1988 and the chemistry was still there. Unfortunately, management reared it’s ugly head and unknown to the band, their manager was asking an outrageous amount of money for them to play, so they never got any gigs after their one reunion concert. To have this happen after being burned by management the first go-around was just too much, and once again, they called it a day.

In 2007, the classic lineup reunited for rehearsals. They still have that spark and plan to cut a CD in 2008 and play some gigs around the Netherlands and Germany. Though Ronald van Prooijen is helping out, singer Shmoulik Avigal may participate as well as Pete Lovell, the singer on the Eternal Dark album.

As of mid 2008, a permanent lineup was established with Jan Bechtum, Rinus Vreugdenhil, Laurens Bakker, Rob vanEnkhuizen, and Pete Lovell. They are currently playing throughout Europe to very enthusiastic crowds. A limited edition live album was recorded at various venues and was released by the band. Plans are to go into the studio in early 2009 to record a new CD with new songs, two of which appeared on the limited edition CD.

Members

Current members

*Pete Lovell - vocals
*Jan Bechtum - guitar
*Rinus Vreugdenhil - bass guitar
*Laurens Bakker - drums
*Rob van Enhuizen - guitars

Former members

*Shmoulik Avigal - Vocals
*Bert Heerink - vocals
*Ronald van Prooijen - vocals
*Pete Lovell - vocals
*Rob van Enhuizen - guitars
*Chris van Jaarsveld - guitars
*Henry van Manen - guitars
*Harry Bruintjes - guitar
*Ronald de Grauw - keyboards
*Rinus Vreugdenhill - bass guitar
*Jacques van Oevelen - drums

Discography

Albums

*"Picture 1" (1981)
*"Heavy Metal Ears" (1981)
*"Diamond Dreamer" (1982)
*"Eternal Dark" (1983)
*"Traitor" (1984)
*"Every Story Needs Another Picture" (1986)
*"Marathon" (1987)

Other

*"'80 Demo" (demo, 1980)
*"Eternal Dark/Into the Underworld" (single, 1983)
*"Limited Edition EP" (EP, 1985)
*"Fantasies/Traitor" (single, 1985)
*"We Just Can't Lose" (single, 1987)

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/pictureholland Official website]
* [http://www.popinstituut.nl/biografie/picture.2054.html Biography van Picture in Dutch on popinstituut.nl]

References