Q65 - Pim Scheelings

 Of course, the Q65 was the monster Dutch garage band that influenced practically every 80's garage combo around the world with their fantastic songs and performances. I distinctly remember that Mike Stax (who collaborated/published on this book) introduced the band to those of us in the LA garage scene (his Tell Tale Hearts were probably the first band to cover them) and soon every band - the Unclaimed, Thee Fourgiven, Untold Fables, etc. etc - were doing at least one of their songs. The band is legitimately legendary but I know next to nothing about them, so I was more than intrigued when I saw that this book existed and picked it up as soon as I could!

Based on interviews with the guitarists Joop and Frank, they tell the story of their meteoric rise to stardom in their home country, with immediate hit singles, crazed shows, groupies, booze'n'drugs and life in the 60's as long haired rock'n'rollers. There are tons of amazing photos of uninhibited live shows as well as recording sessions, all with the lads looking like berserk brothers of the Pretty Things!

Pim also interviews past and future members of the band along with various associates such as the engineer and producer of their hits, who actually created his own compressor/limiter - against the record company rules - and used it to give Q65 their massive sound!

There is a little awkwardness with some of the translations, and there are some grammatical errors (in English, that is), but nothing that takes away from the gist of the meanings and nothing that keeps you from understanding what they are talking about.

Overall, a pretty amazing undertaking and I can't imagine ever believing that I would be reading a book about this obscure band 40 years after first hearing them! Huge kudos to Scheelings and to the Staxes for publishing this fun tome!