The Outsiders (from Amsterdam)! C/D?

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A weird beat group from Holland, not the pop group from Cleveland. They started out alternating brutal, primitive hard-rocking "You Really Got Me"-type numbers (well maybe even more primitive than that) with jangly pop numbers. The live first side of their first album emphasizes the former aspect, the second side the latter. Their masterpiece was the psychedelic CQ, which sold nothing, (not even in Holland, I think), after which the band broke up. They had a lot going for them: a great, driving original rhythm section, great songs, and a great lead guitar player. Plus the look: usually thuggish rock-and-roll long hair, but sometimes a sweater-wearing Wally Tax crooning into the mic in best teen idol fashion. And the names! Wally Tax, Ronnie Splinter, Appie Rammers, and Leendert "Buzz" Busch. Oh yeah, and Tom Krabbendam. I don't see how any rock-and-roll fan could resist. Can you?

(I was thinking about starting this thread anyway, but mention on this thread What's the best ever to come from Holland? has made me hurry up.)

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 28 February 2005 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, does anybody know anything about Wally Tax's solo career? I think there is a track or two on CQ Sessions, but I wonder what the rest of it was like.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 28 February 2005 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

"CQ" totally rules. For some reason it reminds me of "SF Sorrow", which is a very good thing. "Daddy Died on Saturday" is ripe for inclusion on a Wes Anderson movie soundtrack.

― michael p. rainbow, Monday, 28 February 2005 01:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, I think they were supposed to be friends with the Pretty Things, so the SF Sorrow connection is not surprising.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 28 February 2005 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not that familiar with his solo-stuff. What I heard sounded like a light sided Outsiders. No lost classics.

This is the story on his carreer:
After the Outsiders, in 1970, Tax formed Tax Free. They recorded their debut in NYC, with John Cale. After this one album, Tax goes solo, and releases an album in 1973, simply called Wally Tax. Both this albums can appeal to people who like The Outsiders.
The last half of the seventees, Tax becomes a songwriter for a couple of Dutch artists, like Champagne & Girlie (just your general commercial hitparade crap). The first half of the eighties are dominated by Tax' girlfriend having cancer and eventually dying. He himself suffers badly from his several addictions through the rest of the decade.
In 1990 he's clean and back with the album Wally Tax & The Music, but people are more interested in his Outsiders stuff, including grunge bands from Seattle, that are very popular at the time (like Nirvana). So in 1996, Tax returns with the Outsiders, to play the old songs. He has to quit in 1998 because of bad healt. Much to his chagrin, The Outsiders continu without him. To make matters worse, he's acussed of killing his girlfriend by talking her out of regular therapy and into alternative treatments. This hurts him a lot. A nearly fatal crash in his bathroom - with crushed bones - takes him away from the public eye for a long time.
In 2002 he's back, now mainly as a band manager. An album he already recorded in 1996 but was not released because of al the problems, sees the light of day, called The Entertainer.

― Roger in Mokum (Roger T), Monday, 28 February 2005 07:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Thanks, Roger.

I forgot to mention replacement member Frank Beek up top. Also, here is a link with some interesting info: http://www.popfloor.com/outsider/history.html. I think I first heard about the Outsiders when someone posted this link http://www.furious.com/perfect/outsiders.html at the Monks website.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 28 February 2005 12:29 (twenty-one years ago)

CLASSIC.
Their 45's are really great, too.
"Monkey on your Back" b/w "What's Wrong With You"
One song about heroin addiction and another about depression.
The drumming on CQ pummels!

― Trip Maker (Sean Witzman), Monday, 28 February 2005 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

that song "Tzarra" (sp?) is so freakin' HOT!

― j fail (cenotaph), Monday, 28 February 2005 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

"Zsarrahh" as in "Zsarrahh, have you ever seen my face?"

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 28 February 2005 15:11 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

Looks like there is a Wally Tax RIP thread that just appeared on De Subjectivisten.

― Ken L (Ken L), Sunday, 10 April 2005 20:10 (twenty years ago)

Doesn't seem to be anything on the web about it yet, and as far as I can tell, the few posts on the other board are anecdotes about bands touring the Netherlands and doing Outsiders covers only to find that the audience had never heard the Outsiders.

― Ken L (Ken L), Sunday, 10 April 2005 23:14 (twenty years ago)

http://www.garagepunk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16233&sid=f6f4c18e9cad9bb845a4931e4f6b914b

RIP

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Sunday, 10 April 2005 23:20 (twenty years ago)

five years pass...

CQ LP reissue on Jackpot!
Yeah!

― chromecassettes, Tuesday, 10 August 2010 23:42 (fifteen years ago)

two years pass...

RIP Ronnie Splinter. You fucking ruled.

― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 22 May 2013 15:37 (twelve years ago)

RIP. Interview from what looks like last year here: http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2012/05/outsiders-interview-with-ronnie.html

― Oulipo Traces (on a Cigarette) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 May 2013 15:49 (twelve years ago)

RIP. Was just reading a reference to this online, and don't really know the Outsiders but now I am curious.

― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 22 May 2013 16:36 (twelve years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Au3riz_iVM

― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 22 May 2013 16:39 (twelve years ago)

Appie Rammers has some cute cat pictures (re)posted on his FB page.

― Oulipo Traces (on a Cigarette) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 27 May 2013 18:10 (twelve years ago)

six years pass...

Just came across this Everything on Earth comp which looks intriguing.

― Irae Louvin (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 22 November 2019 02:01 (six years ago)

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