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Dutch band (The) Nits looks back on an extraordinary career of fifty years, in which the band has published an enormous amount of very different albums, has played countless concerts all around the globe and has participated in many side ventures. A band that chose its own path and that continues to evolve in unexpected ways. Starting out as a power pop band with songs in the vein of the Beatles, the Kinks or the the Hollies, they evolved into an outfit with an own sound, a mixture of pure p ...
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 19 On the morning of November 2nd 2004, the publicist and film director Theo van Gogh was murdered by a 26 year old Dutchman of Moroccan descent. This happened in Linnauesstraat in the east of Amsterdam, right around the corner from Henk Hofstede’s house. Three of the songs on this album refer back to that in…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 21 There is an intimate connection between the musical and the visual work of the Dutch band Nits. Some names that have influenced the songs, the record sleeves and videos Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Mondriaan, Picasso, L.S. Lowry, Georgia O’Keefe, René Magritte, to name but a few. In this episode, we take…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 17 Back to the core trio Hofstede, Kloet and Stips. The first time since 1992, they record an album in this smaller line-up: «1974» is not a best of-compilation, and it does not convey any nostalgia. The resulting album is viewed controversially by the audience of the Nits. Some fans consider this to be a wea…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 16 Other voices, other rooms. In this episode, you will hear the opinions and observations of people who have crossed paths with the Nits or who have admired them from a distance. Matthias Erb, radio DJ and Fritz Hauser, percussionist who has worked with Rob Kloet many times, both come from Basel, the first c…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 15 In a career full of stylistic twists and turns, the album « Wool» is a stand-out. The music is intimate, sort of jazzy, a low-key, but finely wrought set of songs. Slow tempos, sober atmospheres – this is a meditation about life, eternal childhood and death, with at least one of the most poignant songs of …
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 14+ Postcards used to be little signs of life that you would send home. They would inform them that you were still alive,that you were doing well and that your room was where the arrow pointed at in the picture. Here’s a bonus postcard from Switzerland. This is a moment in the short life of the ad hoc-band «A…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 14 A special event takes place in November of 1996. Henk Hofstede from Holland collaborates with the Swiss band «Stop the Shoppers» and guest singer Chessy Weaver for a short tour in their home country. Their repertoire : old Nits-songs like «The train» or «A touch of Henry Moore» plus a collection of new son…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 12 Kent is a well-known musician and author from France. And, he is a fan of the Nits which he has made public a number of times. Also in print. Here’s an excerpt of what he wrote for « Télérama » on April 29th of 1998: «Why is one of the most interesting bands in the world not so well-known? Henk Hofstede is…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 13 These are years with a tremendous workload. The Nits release one album, film videos for some of the new tracks, record a number of songs for B-sides and contributions to other compilations, assemble a Best of-album accompanied by an album of outtakes. And they tour a lot, expanding their usual territories …
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On fête le groupe néerlandais The Nits EP 11 Extrait d’un article de Kent dans Télérama, du 29 avril 1998 : « Pourquoi un des groupes les plus intéressants au monde reste-t-il à ce point confidentiel ? Henk Hofstede est un excellent chanteur et les concerts sont un régal pour les yeux et les oreilles. Peut-être les Nits ont trop bon goût ». Un musi…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 10 By this time in their career, one had to notice that The Nits we’re never going to stand still for longer than was necessary, whilst collecting new experiences along the way. Whereas the previous album was largely based on synthesizers and drums, this time, the musicians chose different tools: two pianos, …
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 9 « We still sing the Sixties », says singer/guitarist/lyricist Henk Hofstede in another episode of the podcast. The album «Giant Normal Dwarf» is an example - an album like a fairytale, like they used to make them in 1968. You disappear down a rabbit hole, walk through a mirror and end up in a parallel world…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 8 When the Nits played Swiss festivals in 1987, they presented a new songs. To some discerning members of the audience, one of these songs stood out as a possible hit, the egnimaticyally titled « In the Dutch Mountains ». That title begs a question: now where exactly would those mountains be ? What do they pr…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 7The Nits are turning 50 in 2024. A time for celebration! In this seventh episode, we go back tot he year 1986. This marks an important turning point in the life of the Dutch popband. The album «Henk» and a compilation album «La Grande Parade » organized by Henk Hofstede show new possibilities for the band is…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 6 Their last «best of»-collection had a strange title : ?. The question mark stood for the many ways one could perceive this band from the Netherlands. Are they brainy avantgarde, a classy pop band, a one hit-wonder that has a very long career. Some people think of the Nits as a musician’s band. So we went to…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 5 The title-track of «Adieu sweet Bahnhof» stands as a programme for the career of the Nits. A song about Europe, about travelling across the old continent by train, from Amsterdam to Paris via Brussels. A statement for a deeply European band. And there’s another song on the album that has the same setting: «…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 4 1983 is a busy year for the Nits. They score a hit with a song that quotes the Dutch writer Jan Hendrik Frederik Grönloh (a.k.a. «Nescio»). March sees the release oft he album «Omsk» which is a big step away from the first albums and which earns them their their first Edison prize (the Dutch equivalent of a…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 3 Set the dial back to 1978. There are big changes on the musical horizon: after years of prog rock excesses and ever more elaborate musical adventures, some young people in New York City and in England decide to return tot he roots of rock’n’roll. Bands like the Ramones or the Sex Pistols play fast, short, a…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 2 Once upon a time…. so start many fairytales. The following is one of the stories that have often happened around the globe. Young people see the Beatles on TV and pick up guitars themselves, other go see the Velvet Underground in concert and go form their own band. A dream that many young people have of mak…
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A celebration of the Dutch band Nits EP 1 Dutch pop band The Nits will turn 50 soon – an incredible length of time for any band. In these five decades, this very special band has gone its own path, from Sixties power pop influenced by the Beatles, the Kinks or the Hollies via new wave sounds informed by XTC or Kraftwerk to then finding their very o…
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