Crooks - Live in Novosibirsk

PAN 151
The Crooks story
Way back in 1976 I started with the Paradox Agency as a part-time hobby. The first band that I worked with for a couple of years was the Ramshackle Stringband (their repertoire consisted of jugband, old-time, bluegrass, and blues). After the summer of 1979, the “Ramshackle” dissolved, and the ex-members went their own musical ways. Nout Grupstra—Ramshackle Stringband member—told me about the band that he would be playing in from the autumn of 1979 onwards: the “Crooks”, and asked if I wanted to be involved in publicity and bookings.

“Sure”, I said. I had seen several try-out performances of the Crooks in their new line-up (Crooks already existed for a number of years) that summer, that I liked very much, and I knew most of the musicians very well. Frenk van Meeteren and Jørn Plas had just been involved in recording and producing the Ramshacke Stringband lp (Pan 0106), and were also to be fellow boardmembers of Pan Records. Ruud Schoemaker I knew from guest appearances with the Ramshackle Stringband and Irish music sessions in pubs and clubs in Leiden. The only one I didn't know was Tom Stuip, who had apparently just returned from a long sojourn in the usa. Besides, I had just quit the University, and the prospect of being an idle dramatist didn't appeal much to me, so instead I decided to start a full-time booking agency, with the Crooks as the first and foremost attraction.

The repertoire of the band (stringband music from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s) was so versatile, that the Crooks could easily perform in both the folk- and jazz scene (and in other scenes as well). The usual comment we got was: “This is great stuff; it's not exactly our kind of music, it's something else, and we like it a lot”.

In 1982 Jørn Plas (double bass player) decided to travel to South America for a year. He left the Crooks, and the board of Pan Records as well. Peter Hoogerbrugge, with roots in rockmusic, was to be the new double bass player, and with him the lp Million Dollar Band was recorded.
In 1979 a tour in Sweden was made, during which the first Crooks lp was recorded. After that several years followed without tours abroad, and starting 1982 I decided to try and do at least two tours a year. Contrary to popular belief, tours don't usually pay very well, but it gives a change of atmosphere and surroundings, which can sometimes be very inspiring. And the Crooks musicians (myself included) liked travelling a lot. Whenever possible I went abroad with the Crooks.
In the autumn of 1984, just before the second tour in Hungary, Nout Grupstra left the band, and we were lucky to find a timely replacement in Rens van der Zalm, virtuoso mandolin- and fiddle player, who had played with folkrock group Fungus for a number of years. With Rens, the line-up of the Crooks remained unchanged until 1990.

There was a new challenge every year: in 1985 an educational program was made for performances at secondary schools in Netherlands and Belgium; there were the usual club concerts (of which many were repeat invitations) and there was some radio-work. In 1986 tours in Belgium, France and Hungary were made. I'll never forget the Petersbach Festival (in the Elzas region of France) in July 1986, to which place I had travelled ahead. The Crooks had made a stop in Luxemburg to do some busking and planned to arrive in Petersbach early evening. During their absence their car (in the parking garage!) had been broken into and all the luggage was stolen. Eventually they arrived in Petersbach in the middle of the night preceding the festival. As it had been a hot day some of them had just worn pants without shirts, and they were still dressed like that. In the hotel I was woken up by their entrance and beheld that most bizarre sight.

There's a lucky ending to this, as they were dressed the next day by the festival, and most of the luggage was found in Luxemburg after a few weeks.

In 1987, a feat that I'm still proud of, I managed to negotiate a concert tour in the u.s.s.r. with the former state-agency Gosconcert. 17 concerts in 5 towns (Novosibirsk, Leningrad—now St. Petersburg, Kiev—now Ukraine, Vilnius—now Lithuania), and Moscow) in 21 days. To my estimation an aggregate total of 50,000 people have watched the Crooks perform then. Another amusing story comes to mind. When doing one of the concerts in Kiev, one of us opened the windows of the dressing-room. Immediately an old matrushka came storming in and closed the windows. She then explained through our interpreter that the wind blew in from the direction of Chernobyl that day, and we were advised to keep the windows shut. Suffice it to say that during our five days in Kiev in very many other ways we were exposed to the ill wind from the North.

Later that year the Crooks' last lp Jig-Walk was released.
In 1988 and 1989 I tried to get the Crooks into China (in vain as it appears) and 1990 saw the second tour in the u.s.s.r. (Kishinov—Moldavia, Baku—Azerbaijan, Yerevan—Armenia, Tblisi—Georgia, Kiev—Ukraine, and Moscow—Russia). Shortly before the u.s.s.r. tour, there had been some personnel changes and after the tour I didn't feel at ease so much with the band anymore. In the meantime I had gotten real busy with the Paradox Agency, doing an average of 30 concert tours in Netherlands a year, and handling year-round bookings for several other bands from Netherlands. Also, in 1988 I had become sole owner of Pan Records, an enterprise which consumed more and more of my time. So after the summer of 1990 I decided to stop working with the Crooks, and the Crooks (and also the u.s.s.r.) split up shortly thereafter. What remained were good memories and two lps, that I still listen to regularly. The band members have remained good friends, and over the years we still meet in private, at parties, and at concerts.

A few months ago, when doing some research in the Pan archives, I came across a cassette tape, labelled “Crooks Novosibirsk 09/04/87”, that I had completely forgotten about. When I listened to it, I was pleasantly surprised, as the sound was crystal clear, the quality of the tape was still good, the balance was perfect, and the individual performances were of a very high degree. No wonder, as this was a recording of the first concert in the tour when every musician was concentrated for the full 100%; this may very well be one of the best concerts the Crooks ever did! I couldn't believe I had made that recording. I sent out cassette-copies to the ex-members and asked their opinions about a possible release of this material on cd, augmented with tracks from the old lps. Everybody got enthusiastic and agreed, and Tom Stuip helped make the final selection and editing.

To me, this Crooks cd means more than just a cd, as is proved by the fact that I am writing these notes, a thing I don't normally do. For more than a decade our fates were intertwined; working with the Crooks is in fact what started it all, giving me many contacts that helped me get to where I am today. So thank you guys, I owe you.

To my joy I found that the Crooks re-formed a while ago. Why don't we try again going to China?

Bernard Kleikamp, October 1994