Mailer Mckenzie Band "Bye Bye Baby"1971 Dutch
  • 10 years ago
Mailer Mackenzie Band "Mailer Mackenzie Band " 1971

Formed
1970, Den Haag, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Disbanded
1973

The early 1970s saw a brief period where Dutch bands like The George Baker Selection, Focus, The Shocking Blue, and The Tee Set enjoyed significant successes on the American charts. In typical fashion, the success of those bands saw a bunch of American labels start to sign any Dutch outfit they could get their hands on. The short-lived Ampex Records responded by signing The Mailer MacKenzie Band.

Prior to forming The Mailer MacKenzie Band lead guitarist Karel van Ettinger had been a member of The Ricochets, The InCrowd, and The Boots. Bassist Paul van Melzen had been a mainstay in The Haigs and The Motions. Drummer Jaap Mossel had also been in The Haigs and The InCrowd. Singer Foort Verbrugge had been a member of The Delta Blues Band and Big Wheel. All told, a pretty impressive Netherpop musical pedigree.

Produced by Hans van Hemeet, 1971's cleverly-titled "Mailer MacKenzie Band" showcased a mixture of band originals (largely penned by drummer Mossel), with a couple of obscure covers rounding out the track listing. Propelled by Verbrugge's rough hewn and heavily accented voice, these guys bounced all over the musical spectrum, taking stabs at country, country-rock), pop, and hard rock. One review compared them to Creedence Clearwater Revival. I'll admit the opener 'Movin'' and ' Red Rover' exhibited a bit of CCR influence, but that was about it. Anyone buying this looking for a John Fogerty kick was probably going to be severely disappointed. While nothing here was particularly original, with the exception of their occasional stabs at country material ('I'm Gamblin''), the performances were all pretty good. Kudos to van Ettinger who repeatedly displayed a knack for adding catchy guitar solos to the material. He single handedly rescued a couple of tracks from oblivion.

Members
Karel van Ettinger [aka Kid van Ettinger] (lead guitar), Paul van Melzen (bass, backing vocals), Jaap Mossel (drums, percussion), Foort Verbrugge (vocals, harmonica)