Have you heard of the Dutch band Ziffels? They hailed from Groningen and were around in the mid-80s making some very nice guitar pop. Maybe you did know them. They were considered the city’s best kept secret. But perhaps if you weren’t Dutch, if you weren’t from Groningen, you missed them.
I have one 7″ by them, the only one they released back in 1987. It had two songs, “Cold Day in Bermuda” on the A side and “Penny Black” on the B side.
The record came out on the band’s own Slurf Records (SLR 1001) and the jacket featured a fun illustration showing a little island, a palm tree, a cruise ship, a shark, and the band members either on a dark cloud or one of them having a good time resting on the beach. The back side of the sleeve is less fun, band name and “Penny Black” on white over black background.
There’s no info about the band sadly on the record but I found that it was produced by Tiemen Smit.
But I am sure I will find more about them.
The first great find is one on Bandcamp. 18 songs! Yes! An 18 song compilation titled “Early Recordings“. All remastered in Studio 77 in Groningen by Frits Vogt. The songs are “Arnold goes to Artschool”, “Dumped”, “Max Day”, “Show a Little Love”, “Baby in a Bottle”, “Let’s Go to the USA”, “Big Fat Love”, “I’ll Try Anything”, “Global Habitability”, “Cold Day in Bermuda”, “Penny Black”, “Sole Thing”, “Red Herrings”, “The Way to Your House”, “The Biggest American”, “Secret Servant”, “Stupidity (live Stadspark)”. These sons seem to be only available digitally.
This same Studio 77 Bandcamp account has more recordings by the band.
There is also a bunch of 1989 recordings by the band that have been compiled under the name “Attic Tapes” as they were recorded in the attic of Villa Volonté. This is their “unreleased” album. But what is Villa Volonté? It seems it is a pub in Groningen that was created in 1983 by the medical faculty! Ah! Right, I should have mentioned that Groningen is a university town.
The songs on “Attic Tapes” are “Caroline”, “Sole Thing”, “Cortina”, “Secret Servant”, “Time Will Tell”, “Don’t Touch Me Now”, “Suckcess”, “Biggest American”, “Working for the Man”, “Dumped”, “Slow Down” and “We Do”.
I do find who were behind the band. Henk Boonstra was on vocals, Spike Boorsma on guitar and vocals, Theo van der Laan on drums, Jose Cutileiro on guitar and vocals and Frits Vogts on bass. The main songwriters were Sipke and Jose.
The band appeared in two Dutch compilations in 1990. The first was on “Let’s Have a Picnic and Barbecue Some Corrupt Not Self-Programming Dee-Jays” with the song “Suckcess” which was produced by Jan Van dere Plas. This was a double LP released by Noet Lachten Records (NOET 10). I had mentioned this comp before when I wrote about the German band Viola Crayfish as they also appear here. Other well known bands on it are The Waiting List, The Nightblooms, The Truffauts and Most Wanted Men among others. The other compilation that featured them was “Groningen 1990 – Een Rock Sampler”. This was comp that as you can guess was a sampler of Groningen bands. On this one the band appears with “The Sole Thing”.
One interesting bit that I find is that in 1987 the band appears in the TV show “Jonge Helden” on the VPRO channel. In 1988 the band gets hype reviews by the music paper Oor.
Also the band gets to play at the Nooderslag music showcase festival in their city in 1988.
I learn too that Sipke was in Les Zazous in 1992. Jose Cutileiro had a good solo career in music as well as a journalist and what is interesting is that he is song of the Portuguese writer and diplomat of the same name. Sadly he passed away in 2020.
And then in 2016 the band reunited. They even had a website but it doesn’t work anymore.
The reunited band would release a self-titled album in 2020. They would use their own label Slurf Records (SLURF002) to release this record on vinyl. 9 songs would be included, “The Lion is Awake”, “Lexicon of Cool”, “D-Time”, “The War that Ended Peace” on the A side and “Dusty Memories” (with guest vocals by Marja Kootte), “Out of Nowhere”, “Noise on the Wire”, “Melody Hill” and “Requiem” on the B side. It was recorded by Frits Vogt at Studio 77 and mastered by Michiel Cornelisse at Studio Blaisdell in Groningen.
This record featured the original members aand it was Fritz and Sipke Boorsma who mixed it. The sleeve design is credited to Spike. While the logo was created by Myrthe Heuzinveld and Erna de Bie. The liner notes were written by Bill Mensema and the photography was taken by Reyer Boxem.
It is up on Bandcamp
And since then silence. I suppose this is due to the passing away of José. Understandable and of course it makes me sad to learn it this way.
Happily they have left a good legacy of great songs. So I hope some of you discover and enjoy these tracks. And if you remember them and have mode details please share!
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