The Cats

:"Alternatively Geelong Football Club."

The Cats were a rock band from Volendam, The Netherlands; alongside BZN they were key-figures of what's known as the "Palingsound" (eel-sound), an umbrella for artists residing in Volendam (the country's no. 1 seafood city) as well as a reference to the fact that the radio-crew were treated to a pound of eels whenever the boys dropped by to plug their latest single.

History

The band began life as two separate duos; Cees Veerman (October 6, 1943) and Arnold Muhren (January 28, 1944) started in a skiffle band while cousins Piet Veerman (March 1, 1943) and Jaap Schilder (January 9, 1943) modelled themselves after The Everly Brothers. The duos merged and became The Mystic Four; Cees and Piet on vocals/guitar, Jaap on guitar (and piano), and Arnold on bass. By 1965 they changed their name to The Blue Cats, a reference to the colour of their suits and Cees' nickname (Pussy). Dropping the 'Blue' from their name in 1966 they recruited Theo Klouwer (June 30, 1947 - February 8, 2001) on drums.

The Cats borrowed money from Jan Buys and recorded their first singles that entered the charts straightaway. Initially they sounded British, thanks to a songwriting duo from the other side of the Channel, while Cees took the majority of the lead vocals. But that was to change by 1968 when the band recorded "Times Were When"; Piet decided that this Arnold-written song suited his voice and even Cees agreed on giving him a go. Arnold's lyrics and Piet's teary-eyed voice appeared to be a match made in heaven, spawning five top 10-hits in the next two years; "Lea" (dedicated to a faithful fan who lost her life in a car-accident), "Scarlet Ribbons", "Why ?" and "Marian".

Other countries began to take notice too; by Spring 1970 the increasingly hirsute Cats toured Surinam and the Netherlands' Antilles with an April 4-date in Guyana thrown in for good measure. It was Beatlemania all over again.

On October 17, 1970 the band went to the EMI HQ in London to collect, as Theo said it when new chart-show Toppop followed them "a few goldies". These were handed out by none other than Cliff Richard.

Early 1971 The Cats were touring Indonesia where again the Beatlemania-aspect awaited them. "Those horrible looks belie their warm personalities" one lady said in fluent Dutch. However, inbetween performances they were told off for meeting Poncke Princen; a very touchy subject. Footage of the tour is now available on DVD.

"Don't Waste Your Time" broke a string of top 10-dominations but that proved to be the calm for the storm, as "One Way Wind" (inspired by the divi-divi-trees on the Windward Islands) became The Cats' biggest ever hit.

In Germany it became No. 1 and in 1972 the band released "Katzenspiele" ("Cat's Play"), featuring their Greatest Hits rerecorded in German.

The busy schedule began to take its toll, as Cees contracted voice-problems. Roadcrew-member Piet Keizer replaced him for the time being.

Not having played on their own albums in the last six years The Cats entered 1974 by flying to LA's Tarrabee studios to record "Love In Our Eyes"; or better yet, add their voices to a somebody else's songs in a certain way. Not everyone enjoyed it. Cees: "Be My Day" topped the charts, which was a great thing, but the rest of that pre-baked stuff should've been chucked into the ocean near Malibu".

But that didn't stop The Cats from going back to record "Hard To Be Friends" of which "Come Sunday" and the title-track charted late 1974, early 1975. Cees had left by then but he returned a year later. Although the hits continued they didn't reach former glories while members were slighly losing interest.

In 1978 The Cats were booked to appear on chart-show to playback "She Was Too Young"; it was a thinly-disguised solo-performance by Cees. Late 1979 the band decided to call it a day and return to the day-jobs they left behind ten years earlier. A farewell-single (a reissue of the 1972 track "End Of The Show") charted as late as April 1980.

olo

In 1987 Piet Veerman had his first solo-hit with "Sailing Home". Subsequent singles did reasonably well too and he kept touring with a set of solo-material and Cats-classics (often using backing tapes).

In 1995 Piet guested on a bilingual version of "One Way Wind" (rerecorded in Dutch by Dana Winner as "Westenwind") supplying the English half.

Last reunion

On March 23, 2006 The Cats were made part of the Order of Orange-Nassau. The same year the group made a final reunion to record a single for inclusion on a Best Of-album. It went gold.

Cees Veerman now fronts the Cats Aglow Band; he supported Willy De Ville at the Amsterdam Carre on July 7, 2008.

Trivia

During the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, the Dutch national football team listened to a tape of The Cats on the team bus while travelling to their matches. They won five of their six matches in the group stages, drawing the other match 0-0 and conceding only a single own goal in all six games. Before the final against hosts West Germany, the tape mysteriously disappeared, and they travelled to the match in silence. The Netherlands conceded a disputed penalty and a soft Gerd Muller shot to lose 2-1.

Discography

Albums

* "Cats As Cats Can" 1968
* "Colour Us Gold" 1969
* "Portrait" 1970
* "Take Me With You" 1970
* "Cats Aglow" 1971
* "One Way Wind" 1972
* "Lo Mejor" 1972
* "Times Were When" 1972
* "Signed By The Cats" 1972
* "At Home" 1973
* "One Way Wind" 1974
* "Love In Your Eyes" 1974
* "10 Jaar" 1974
* "Hard To Be Friends" 1975
* "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" 1975
* "Homerun" 1976
* "Let's Go Together" 1977
* "Times Were When" 1979
* "The End Of The Show" 1980
* "Third Life" 1983
* "Live In Concert" 1984
* "Flying High" 1985
* "Live" 1991
* "Shine On" 1994

Externe link

* [http://www.emimusic.nl/page/artist/11046 The Cats on EMI music (Dutch)]