December 2000
Rob Vunderink and Pim Koopman played live on TROS-tv with Kayak,
showcasing three songs from the 70's.
November 2000
Diesel to play live on KRO-radio show on Saturday November 25. Songs
performed will be "Almost Saturday night", which is targeted by Red
Bullet records as Diesel's first single from the "On the rocks" CD
and some other song with "Sausalito" in the title.....
Rob Vunderink has now also joined Pim Koopman in the re-grouped
symphonic band KAYAK. Pim left this band in 1978 to form Diesel and
made an album with the revamped prog rockers earlier this year.
October 2000
On the back of their new CD "On the rocks" Diesel have anounced to go
back on the road again. The "Van Hoo" line-up of Rob Vunderink, Pim
Koopman, André Versluijs, Thomas Kroon and Otto Lenselink will
be augmented on vocals and guitar for live concerts.
September 2000
Diesel is back with two original members - Rob Vunderink and Pim
Koopman - and a new CD: Diesel on the rocks.
June 2000
Mark Boon started rehearsing his new band late May. At the first
get-together ex-DIESEL'er Psycho Henk provided backing vocals and
second guitar, but just like in the good old Diesel days Mark and
Henk were greatly at odds about the how's and when's. Henk has now
formed his own blues trio (called PSYCHO & THE ANALYSIS for the
time being). In the meantime the other founding DIESEL-members Pim
Koopman and Rob Vunderink continue rehearsing with their coverband
VANHOO (a Dutch wodka brand, their sponsor!). Ex-Diesel bass-player
André Versluijs, drummer Thomas Kroon and guitarist/singer
Otto Lenselink complete the line-up, the latter being a well-known
wine importer and society personality. The band mainly targets at
Otto's circle of rich friends & celebrities and their
parties.
May 2000
AT LAST!
After two years of begging, waiting and pleading there is a DIESEL CD
on the market. It's not the complete package we asked for, but a
budget CD on the Rotation label. You can see the track listing
here. At least the CD contains
the complete catalogue recorded by Diesel for Phonogram (now:
Universal). That means: the complete LP "Watts in a tank", the 4
single sides recorded by the last line-up in 1988/1989 PLUS the
single version of "Sausalito Summernight". We hope the CD will be
available through CDNow for American fans, but "for fans only" you
can order the CD from the homepage for a "no profit" bottom price of
U$ 10 INCLUDING shipping.
The first date of the Kayak tour with ex-Diesel drummer/producer Pim
Koopman on May 4th was cancelled due to illness of drummer/singer Max
Werner. The tour has kicked off anyway with ex-Vandenberg singer Bert
Heerink doing all the lead-vocals, but Max is expected to be OK for
the CD presentation on May 22nd in Amsterdam.
April 2000
Pim Koopman has reunited with his first major band KAYAK for a CD and
a one-off tour. Original members Ton Scherpenzeel (ex-Camel), Johan
Slager and Max Werner have joined him in this project. For the
"post-Pim" songs (when original singer Max Werner took over the
drumseat and Edward Reekers was lead-singer) ex-Vandenberg singer
Bert Heering will deputize. Pim will play drums on Max's songs and
keyboards on the later material. The try-out for the tour is on May
4th in Rotterdam and the CD "Close to the fire" is presented on May
22nd at the first official concert of the tour at the Amsterdam
Paradiso.
Someone calling himself "Ola" from Norway claims to have in his
possession a box containing about 100 CD-singles of "Sausalito
Summernight" on the Polydor International label. Although this was
Diesel's French label there is no knowledge of this release in the
home camp. Strange thing is the vinyl single was originally released
in 1980 and the CD as a medium did not appear until 1983. Does anyone
have any information about this claim? Not Ola in any case, as e-mail
sent to his address is returned as "undeliverable".
(To be continued)
March 2000
A lot of people have mailed us and asked questions on the message
board about the Diesel CD. As it turns out Universal Records has
dropped its Lost & Found label after just two releases. Universal
and Hunter Music now are considering releasing a Diesel CD on the
budget Rotation label. This would mean that the CD would not include
all Diesel A's & B's, but only material recorded for Phonogram.
These include the complete "Watts in a tank" LP and the last two
singles. Also the Diesel history edited by the Diesel Homepage in
conjunction with former key-members of the band will not be included
for financial reasons. Rotation CD's retail at about U$ 7.
A Diesel spin-off band is on the loose again. This time it's
co-founders Pim Koopman and Rob Vunderink playing in a 60's band with
longtime Diesel bass-player AndrÈ Versluijs and drummer Thomas
Kroon, who played with AndrÈ and Henk Hager in the Clearwater
Revival Band. For the record: Pim plays keyboards in the band.
February 2000
On February 4th and 5th the AHOY 2000 festival was broadcast on RTL-4
TV in the Netherlands. The show that had been taped some time earlier
aired performances by entertainer Freek de Jonge whose back-up band
includes Mark Boon. In the first show one song by Freek was included
and the second show had two songs by the 55-year old legend of Dutch
entertainment. Mark played his "glitter" Fender Custom Shop
Stratocaster.
January 2000
HAPPY NEW AGE!
A few adjustments at the beginning of the new century. First of all
the Message Board has been reactivated. Let's hope the spamming is
over. Unwanted messages have been removed and will be removed in the
future. The news page will no longer be updated monthly after the CD
has come out. Instead you will be redirected to homepages of active
former DIESEL members. It's no use flogging a dead horse, so unless
the band is reactivated there will be no more trivialities. Of course
we'll follow Mark Boon's new band and other spin-off projects. Apart
from that the missing pieces of the puzzle will be put in place and
the photographs in the archive will get their place.
December 1999
Happy Holidays!
At the end of the millennium we'd like to thank all DIESEL fans on
behalf of the ex-members of the legendary Dutch band. Let's hope the
next millennium brings us a lot of good music.
Sunday November 21st the recording studio Dick's Place (formerly
Siesta Sound) opened its new premises in the town of Almere in the
Netherlands. In the old studio in Hilversum many Diesel-related
demoes or recordings were made. Among the guests at the reception
were "The Sausalito Summernight Twins" Rob Vunderink and Mark Boon,
as well as AndrÈ Versluys, Diesel's last bass-player.
Mark Boon is going to record a new CD next spring. The musicians
involved have yet to be announced, but in the meantime interested US
labels are invited to contact Mark through the Diesel Homepage for a
possible American release.
November 1999
Mark Boon is going to perform at the 7000-seater Ahoy in Rotterdam in
December for a live broadcast with entertainer Freek de Jonge. It has
been one year since Mark last played with Freek, who has been busy
doing one-man TV-shows in the meantime. Mark now does regular gigs
with ex-Diesel man Jan Loomans' 60's-band The Low Man, playing big
parties for companies. The single Mark produced for Dutch band
Grasland reached the lower regions of the Dutch Top 100.
You can see a shot of ex-Diesel drummer Kim Weemhoff in action at the
Feedback Music clinic in Rotterdam on October 16th here.
As you may have noticed, the Diesel Message Board has been closed.
Someone in Germany (believed to be called Christian) put a link on
the board to his newly opened Diesel online radio-station. That's all
very flattering for the band, but this music station is not paying
any duties to the copyrights organizations and as such illegal. We
tried to get in touch with the pioneer, but the e-mail address he put
on the message-board was incorrect. Maybe he will be so kind as to
compensate the songwriters, producers and performers?
October 1999
The mailing problems have been resolved today, so e-mail can be sent
again to diesel@nederlands.com. Sorry for the inconvenience it
caused, but it was beyond our competence.
Drummer Kim Weemhoff, who toured North America with Diesel, giving a
rare clinic with George Pelupessy & Marnix Stassen at Feedback
Music in Rotterdam on October 16th. Kim will demonstrate how he
incorporates ethnic percussion patterns into traditional drumming
styles. We hope to show a picture of this event next month.
September 1999
DISASTER MONTH!!!
Disaster #1: We could have known, but we still can't believe it.....
As fan Steve Zulpo wrote: there was something strange about the
release date mentioned in last month's news. October 9th is a
Saturday and CD's are generally released on a Tuesday in the States
and on a Thursday in the Netherlands. As Hunter Entertainment and
Universal Records mentioned a release "in October" and "on the 9th",
it was distilled that that meant October 9th. It should have been:
November 9th (a Tuesday!)... Yes, it SHOULD have been, as the release
has been postponed again, this time indefinitely, although January or
February were mentioned as possible release months. We will not
announce the release again until it REALLY hits the racks. As
Diesel-guitarist Mark Boon remarked: "It's beginning to look more and
more like a real release."
Disaster #2: due to a change of computers at the provider Henk
Hager's e-mail address (and the Diesel mailbox redirected to it) has
been out of order since August 23rd. This means your mail sent to
Diesel is returned to you because of "an unknown address". We hope
this inconvenience will not last too long. Urgent messages can be
placed on the Message Board or sent to the old web-based address
diesel@starplace.com
On that same Message Board someone placed a few tips regarding old
Diesel records. There was a record & CD fair in Utrecht (The
Netherlands) late August and some interesting Diesel items were
noticed. The second single "Down in the silvermine" in picture sleeve
went for $ 7,50 while the non-hit "Alibi" (third single) in a green
picture sleeve went for only $ 3,50. Both were in mint condition.
"Watts in a tank" was nowhere to be found.
August 1999
The release date of the DIESEL CD "Sausalito Summernight - The best
of Diesel" on the Lost & Found label (Universal Records) has now
been set (officially) at October 9th, 1999.
Early July ex-Diesel drummer Ronald Oor celebrated his 40th birthday
with a big party. The occasion fostered a "Meeting of Great Fingers"
as the two greatest guitar-players ever to play in Diesel, Mark Boon
and Bas Krumperman, were among the guests.
Leen Barbier (Diesel 1983-1984) has left his job as a studio engineer
on the Mediterranean island of Elba and is now working as a
road-manager for Nena. This German singer (actually Nena is the name
of the band, but never mind) had an international hit in the 1980's
with "99 Red Balloons" ("99 Luftballons").
July 1999
Ronald Oor has left Magic Frankie's band. It seems the bluesman's
financial regime wasn't quite up to par, which led to decision of the
former Diesel drummer to quit.
As could have been expected the ongoing MP3 craze has hit Diesel as
well. Last month saw the release of a black market CD with 250 of the
greatest Dutch pop hits of all time in MP3 format, including (yes)
the single version of "Sausalito Summernight". Needless to say it's
not recommended by the homepage and you certainly won't find a
dealer's address here.......
While the release of the Diesel CD is still planned for September on
Universal's Lost & Found label, the first two CD's on the new
label hit the shops last month. It concerns two 70's solo albums by
Golden Earring members George Kooijmans and Barry Hay. The mid-price
series retails for 29,95 Dutch guilders, but many shops sell them for
24,95 Dutch guilders. This means that considering the current
exchange rate the retail price for the Diesel CD will be under U$ 15,
but that we hope you will be able to get it for around U$ 12
(excluding shipping, tax and import duties that might apply).
June 1999
The most active former Diesel member Mark Boon has been producing
another single by Dutch band Grasland last month. As the band sings
in Dutch we won't bother you with titles or lyrics.
Jan Loomans' Member Page is now
online. Jan is still active as a musician in Joy & Pain, the band
Mark Boon joined on May 1st for a benefit concert. Apart from that he
has a business renting sound equipment.
No news is good news as there is no new information about the DIESEL
CD. That should mean Universal are still planning a September
release. A few visitors have asked us why we mentioned only
www.cdteleshop.nl as an address to buy Dutch CD's. Well, there are
more good shops, but cdteleshop's site is in English so it's
decipherable for foreigners. Whatever you do and wherever you buy,
DON'T go to shop.nl. They are known to be ripping off people by
charging credit cards and then not delivering the goods. Be
warned!
May 1999
Another small Diesel reunion: on the 1st of May the most active
former member Mark Boon joined Jan Loomans and his band in the town
of Breda for a benefit concert to raise money for children with
terminal cancer.
Wijnand Ott's Member Page is
now online. Wijnand's doing fine and was happy to be able to get in
touch with his ex-colleagues (especially Kim Weemhoff and Mark Boon)
through the Diesel Homepage. Wijnand hasn't played in a band since he
left Diesel in 1984, but he had a custom guitar built recently and is
now ready to play for fun again.
As some people may have noticed the links to the German and Dutch
mirrors have been deleted from the interface. The German mirror was
shut down because Christian had no time to maintain it at the
"refresh rate" of the original site. The Dutch mirror never went any
further than an "under construction" stage, but nobody seemed to
visit it (no Dutch fans out there?). The site is still there, but
who'll be able to find it now?
April 1999
Due to holidays the next update won't be until 15th May!!
Mark Boon's involvement with Robert Jan Stips is coming to an end
(for the time being). The Dutch tour ended on 22nd March with the
presentation of the "Greyhound" CD at the Nieuwe De La Mar Theater in
Amsterdam. The presentation was hosted by entertainer Freek de Jonge,
whom Mark and Robert Jan backed in the past few years. The project
will now be completed by a short April tour of Switzerland. No
surprise, as Robert Jan's former band The Nits are quite popular "in
the Swiss mountains".
Mark has opened his personal archives to the Diesel Homepage and you
can see a lot of new pictures on the History page, the American Tour
page, the member pages of Rob, Pim, Dido & Kim and of course on
the Diesel Picture Library.
All in all there are about 30 pix in this batch, but it will take
some time to find a place for them all. For the first time you can
now see the original line up caught in the act, a group shot of the
line up that toured North-America and a glimpse of manager Dido
Smit.
Due to illness the planned interview with Ronald Oor had to be
cancelled, so his page is not online yet. Hopefully more on that next
month, along with the adventures of Wijnand Ott, who has been traced
thanks to his mother..... Wijnand joined Diesel as a bass-player in
1980 as replacement of Frank Papendrecht and left late 1984. His
story will be an interesting one, as it will bridge the gap between
Mark and Frank's departure in 1980 and the return of Mark in
1981.
March 1999
Over a year ago AndrÈ and Henk began working on a Diesel
CD-release. Now the project had been delayed again by 6 months: the
Diesel CD "Sausalito Summernight - The best of Diesel" has been
postponed until September due to legal complications over the track
"Leader of the Pac-Man". In the meantime there is a new 3-CD series
on the market on the Rotation label called "Pop van eigen bodem". The
3-CD volume of the 80's contains the single version of "Sausolito
Summernight" (yes, with an "o"). Dutch CD's can be ordered from
www.cdteleshop.com.
Be prepared to pay hefty prices for European CD's: the triple CD will
cost you between U$ 20-25 (depending on the exchange rate) PLUS
shipping PLUS any duties that may be imposed by US Customs.
The members pages of Pim Koopman
and Frank Papendrecht have
been updated following interviews with them. All original members
have now been interviewed apart from Rob Vunderink, who is said to be
too busy to spend time on trivia. Next month Ronald Oor's page will
be online. The only ex-member that will be hard to track down is Leen
Barbier, who is said to be working on the island of Elba (well known
for its Napoleon history) in the Mediterranean: "Josephine, I told
you: never call me at the office!"
Last month pictures were promised of the Mark Boon/André
Versluys/Henk Hager encounter: well you can view them at the
Diesel Picture Library.
This page will be extended with more pictures in the year to come and
there will be a permanent link to it from the new interface that is
currently being designed.
February 1999
Mark Boon is on tour with Robert Jan Stips. At the concert at De
Fransche School in the little town of Culemborg AndrÈ
Versluijs and Henk Hager were in the audience as Mark's guests.
Pictures of this little DIESEL reunion will be published later this
month.
We decided to exchange links with the
Kayak homepage. Kayak was the first band that Diesel
drummer and producer Pim Koopman came to prominence with. We'll
include a permanent link when the homepage interface is updated.
Hopefully more on Pim next month.
The Members pages of Kim
Weemhoff and Bas
Krumperman are now online. Both are doing well and say
"Hello" to all websurfers who saw them live with DIESEL. Kim and Bas
both were in the line up that toured North America in 1981. Kim is
still a professional musician, Bas (who is an accountant) still plays
for a hobby.
We now have a Diesel
Message Board. It was announced on the main page some
weeks ago, but until now only Jeff Philips scrolled down far enough
to find the link. We'll keep it up for a couple of weeks and see if
there's a real demand for this phenomena.
January 1999
Happy New Year to all Diesel fans ("both of you!" in the words
of..... etc.).
DIESEL CD AT LAST!
We can now announce the release of the DIESEL CD "Sausalito
Summernight - The best of Diesel" by Universal Records (previously
Polygram) in the coming months. The provisional tracklisting of the
CD (that will be marketed by Hunter Entertainment) you can see
here. The liner notes will be
written by Henk Hager, editor of the Diesel Homepage, in conjunction
with nearly all former members! More details about availability etc.
next month.
Mark Boon is going on tour with Robert-Jan Stips in January. The tour
is to coincide with Stips' new CD "Greyhound", due for release in
February.
Keyboard-player/singer/composer Robert-Jan Stips first came to
prominence with SuperSister in 1970. Later he played in Golden
Earring and Sweet d'Buster. Between 1986 and 1996 he was an
influential member of the Nits. After his departure from that band
-that was very succesful on the European continent- he formed the
backing band for entertainer Freek de Jonge, enlisting Mark Boon in
the process.
On Christmas day there was a re-run of the TV-show "Van Oekel's
Discohoek" that was originally aired by VPRO-tv on December 24th,
1974. And who would open the show but THE HAMMER, the pre-Diesel band
that included three original Diesel members (Mark, Rob, Frank). We
hope to include some digitized shots of the miming of "Hitchcock's
Lullaby" (the band's first single from 1974) in the near future.
You'll be able to see the band with VERY long hair and pre-Kiss black
& white painted faces.
A DIESEL REUNION? Well, not exactly, but on December 15th Pim Koopman
produced a recording session for country-singer Jony de Boer that
included Mark Boon on guitar and Frank Papendrecht on bass! That's
THREE original Diesel members one one session......
December 1998
We'd been hoping to announce the release of the DIESEL CD by Hunter
Entertainment in conjunction with Polygram by now, but the project
has been delayed once again. Hunter has some bigger plans with DIESEL
than just a budget compilation, but they haven't reached an agreement
with Polygram about that yet. Sorry you can't ask if for Christmas
yet, but it's on its way. Original producer and drummer Pim Koopman
has offered to do the mastering, so don't worry about the sound
quality.
Rob Vunderink has sold one of his Marshall amps to Hugo de Bruin, who
played in the embryonic DIESEL and then again in the second line-up.
Rob's comment was simple: "If I need another amp, I'll buy one."
November 1998
Mark Boon delivered some blistering guitar-work live on Dutch VARA TV
backing entertainer Freek de Jonge in a rendition of the new single
"Tem me dan". The show "Kopspijkers" was broadcast live in the early
hours of Sunday October 18th.
AndrÈ Versluijs and Henk Hager are playing together again,
picking up where they left off three years ago. As yet no name has
been decided for the project, so for the time being they will be
referred to as "The Dangerous Diesel Brothers".......
The CD "16 Nederpophits uit de jaren '70" on the Rotation label
mentioned in July's news section is being marketed and distributed by
Hunter Entertainment from Almere in the Netherlands. They have
acquired the rights to release the Polygram back-catalogue and they
have been approached to release a Diesel compilation on CD. This
story will be continued.......
As an experiment we have compressed a live version of "Goin' back to
China" to MP3 format. The song was performed live by the second
Diesel line-up (Rob, Pim, Wijnand, Hugo) in December 1980 in
Amstelveen in the Netherlands. You can listen to it here.
Be sure to have a Windows media player or another MP3 player
installed.
October 1998
ANOTHER PIRATE CD? A few observant DIESEL-fans have notified us of
the release of a compilation CD by Yes Music in Switzerland that
contains the long version of 'Sausalito Summernight' by Dutch Diesel
(as the band was called in Switzerland, France, Austria and Germany).
We have asked the company for details about the license agreement,
but so far they haven't answered. Bet your boots it's a PIRATE CD
that contains a dubbed-from-disc version of 'Sausalito'. Polygram
will be notified of the existence of this CD and asked to the take
legal steps if it really is a pirate CD. On the other hand the demand
for a DIESEL CD is so big, that Polygram should yield at last to our
calls for a 'Watts in a tank...PLUS' CD.
AndrÈ Versluijs is currently recovering a video-tape of a
Dutch TV-show in which the last Diesel line-up mimed to a specially
recorded medley of their hit (haha, that should read: hits). If the
tape is found we will try to put it on our homepage in MPEG-format.
This medley was never officially released by a record company and so
it is (more or less) free of rights. It will give DIESEL fans all
over the world a chance to see and hear Diesel. Yes, the medley DOES
contain "Sausalito Summernight" along with "China" and "Silvermine".
Watch this space for details!
CHANGE OF E-MAIL ADDRESS! We changed e-mail companies as some of you
may have noticed. The new e-mail address is:
diesel@nederlands.com
The Dutch version of Diesel homepage is now online, but still under
construction at:
welcome.to/dutchdiesel
September 1998
Looking for a copy of "Watts in a tank"? Brian Haulman from the USA
has a white label promo "in pristine condition" for sale. Place your
bid at this site:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=30828104
Make us proud, get the price into three figures!
With everyone back from their holidays the Diesel Homepage received a
postcard from André Versluijs from Portugal, saying: "The last
thing I remember was someone at the bar saying that because of the
heat I had to drink a lot and@#$%&???!!........." (rest
unreadable).
With the new schoolyear underway some changes at the Diesel Centrum:
Richard, Patrick and Matthijs have left school, so they are no longer
able to help Henk out. New to the staff is Robert, who unfortunately
went down with acute appendicitis in his first week. He's OK
now.
August 1998
Today August 8 Henk Hager celebrating his 47th birthday. With his
hair cropped short for the scorching Romanian summer he survived the
trans-continental car-ride from the Netherlands to the Black Sea and
back again (about 5000 kilometres).
People keep asking for Sausalito Summernight on CD. Alas, the
Sony-compilation "Back Home" was deleted (as often happens with
"TV-CD's"), so only existing stocks will be sold. No dealer has been
found yet, that can provide North American fans with CD's. Once again
we stress The Diesel Homepage itself does not trade.
Some people have asked about Diesel's equipment. In the future we
will dedicate a page to this subject. For the time being: Mark Boon
plays a Hamer Sunburst Archtop (USA) through a Fender Twin amp. Mark
owns a lot of guitars, among them a 1961 Gibson SG Les Paul Standard.
Rob Vunderink plays a 1960 Gibson SG Special through a Marshall 100
watt combo. Rob's SG was completely overhauled in 1975 by the
addition of humbucking pick-ups, Grover tuners and a Schaller
tune-o-matic bridge. It also has a big pickguard unlike other "type
1" SG's, more like the wing-shaped pickguard of the "type 2" SG's.
AndrÈ's main bass is a 1960 Fender Jazz Bass played through a
Dynacord bass amp. He also owns a Gibson Thunderbird bass and Kramer
alu-neck bass. Henk Hager plays a 1996 Gibson SG-1 (All American
Series).
July 1998
The Diesel Centrum will be closed for the holiday from July 8 until
August 8.
PolyGram have just released a new CD on the Rotation label that
includes "Goin' back to China" called "16 NederPopHits uit de jaren
70". Also interesting to know that the CD includes "It's gonna be
alright" by Smyle (Mark Boon's first recording) and ""Starlight
Dancer" by Kayak, but this track was recorded just AFTER Pim Koopman
left the band. For a full track-listing see here.
Alas Henk Hager has been robbed of his Marshall amplifier, his Hughes
& Kettner monitors and his Fender PA amp. The villain is Carel
Walsemann, who played bass in Henk's last band and who has not even
been questioned by the police yet... Thumbs down for Carel and the
Dutch police!
June 1998
The new interface is now online. Any problems? Please e-mail us at
diesel@starplace.com
Thanks to Sandy Wood from Detroit, Michigan for supplying us with the
catalogue number of the "Watts in a tank" cassette. Any of you out
there have more discography information, especially US and
Canada?
Ronald Oor is doing fine. The ex-Diesel drummer is currently playing
with Dutch bluesman Magic Frankie. Leen Barbier is working as an
engineer in a studio on a Mediterranean island. Jan Loomans now plays
with his brother in The Loomans Brothers.
May 1998
Alas, not too much to publish this month.The good news is, that Bas
Krumperman, Ronald Oor and Jan Loomans have been located, so they are
available to supply information. The bad news is, that a SCOOP about
ex-DIESEL members making music together again has not been confirmed
yet. This rumour excludes: Jan Loomans, Ronald Oor, Wijnand Ott or
Leen Barbier. That leaves WHO? Hopefully more "real" news next month.
Please note: due to moval the DIESEL CENTRUM will not be open from
June 1 - 7.
April 1998
A JOKE? Apparently some people do NOT agree with the contents of the
Diesel homepage, for our URL was removed from a number of search
engines. In spite of that Henk Hager and his volunteers will continue
publishing this homepage and in doing so try to get the real Diesel
history as accurate as possible. If some people cannot face the
truth, then that's their problem. This kind of web-vandalism will not
stop the staff from dieseling on.
BEWARE! There appears to be a CD on the American market called
"Munich City Nights" that contains "Sausalito Summernight" and "All
because of you"' credited to DUTCH DIESEL. This CD is ILLEGAL and as
no digital master exists of "All because of you" (the American B-side
of "Sausalito") the songs were apparently mastered from the original
vinyl single (so no CD-quality, but scratch & hiss put onto CD).
This CD is illegal and the original band members recieve no royalties
from it, so DON'T BUY IT! Polygram in the Netherlands will be
notified of the existence of this PIRATE CD (that also includes a
track by Urban Heroes, Frank Papendrecht's post-Diesel band) with the
request to put their legal department on the case.
March 1998:
The latest news on "Het gevoel van de 80's": this double-CD does NOT
contain a 2'52" EDIT of "Sausalito Summernight"! The version used on
the CD is the regular long LP-version (5'06") that is faded out at
2'40" when the bass/synthesizer break begins. The fade is completed
at 2'52". Dreadful!
Will Ritchie and Sean from Canada please e-mail us again, clearly
stating their e-mail address. Both the e-mail adresses listed on
their e-mail refuse to accept Diesel-mail, so please mail us
again!
The response to the Diesel homepage has been tremendous, especially
from North America and Mexico. Thank you for your support. It is
stressed that no Diesel CD's are available as yet. Only "Sausalito
Summernight" is available on some Dutch compilations. Many visitors
have asked how to get "Back Home": well, please check out www.sony.nl
(alas, site in Dutch). By the way this is a 3'49" edit of the song
and will be referred to as the "Back Home edit".
"Sausalito Summernight" is now also available on a double CD "Het
gevoel van de 80's" ("The feeling of the 80's") released by the
dreaded Endemol Entertainment company to accompany their equally
dreaded TV-series. Check out www.dinomusic.nl (again, site in Dutch).
This version is a new (unauthorised) 2'52" edit of the song and will
henceforth be referred to as the "Endemol-edit". The song is also
available on the triple CD "De 75 beste Nederpop hits" released by
Mercury (Phonogram), but their set might be deleted soon as it was
released in 1996 and the license might run out. The same thing
happened to the CD-set containing "Goin' back to China" released by
EVA, mentioned in January's news.
February 1998:
Mark Boon is currently recording new demos. It is as yet undecided if
this is another ZOO project or that Mark will start another band.
Mark will tour with entertainer Freek de Jonge again in the fall. In
the meantime he is playing in a sixties band with ex-Powerplay
guitarist/singer Jan van de Mey.
AndrÈ Versluijs and Henk Hager are discussing the possibility
of releasing old DIESEL recordings on a CD. One of the problems
facing them is the fact that Diesel recorded for 4 different labels.
Apart from the two albums (including all early singles) plus the four
singles released by later line-ups there are some unreleased demos in
the can, like "Josie", "Rendez-vous" and "Carrie". There are also
some good live-recordings still in existence, one by the second
line-up in 1980 (Rob, Pim, Hugo, Wijnand) and one from 1983 (Mark,
AndrÈ, Wijnand, Ronald, Leen).
January 1998:
Sony records has just released a compilation album with the best of
Dutch pop music of the last 30 years or so called "Back Home". Of
course, "Sausalito Summernight" is on the CD. "Going back to China"
is still available on EVA's history of Dutch pop "Geschiedenis van de
Nederlandse Popmuziek, deel 3, 1975-1979", a double CD originally
released some two years ago.