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In 1965 you could go and see a beatband performing live every day of the week. There were literally hundreds of bands rehearsing and playing in town. The Hague had become the Liverpool of Holland. The main contributor to this developmentwas the emergence of the so called Indo-rock movement of the late fifties and early sixties, which until beatlemania, had rocked The Hague. When the rest of Holland was still listening to Frank Sinatra and Dutch singers doing covers of Frank Sinatra, youth who immigrated from the former Dutch colony Indonesia, already copied Rock & Roll music. Mixed with the instrumental sounds of groups like The Shadows, and folkmusic from Indonesia they created a unique sound. When in 64 The Liverpool sound reached The Netherlands only The Hague had musicians with electrical equipment and stage experience in between there borders, so many bands started out with members from former indo-rock groups.
The Golden Earrings in action Not so, the Golden Earrings who started their career in the legendary Houtrust complex, generally considered to be one of the birthplaces of beat in The Hague. It became a meetingplace for the hardcore beatfans. They organized themselves in groups with names like Les Baroks and had there own way of clothing. There wore Parka’s and Desert boots, just like the mods in England. But instead of a love for Italian scooters, there favourite way of transport was the Puch or Tomos motorcycle, with extremely high steering wheel. |
De Sandy Coast infront of the pear of Scheveningse r In ‘66 greasers were hard to find, but in 64 they were still the majority youthculture. Just like in Brighton these different groups would meet and exchange unfriendly physical contact on the beach of Scheveningen. Scheveningen borders The Hague and is a north sea tourist resort. In 65 ‘Club 192’ opened its doors in this town. Its owner, Jaques Senf, would organize a lot of activities in the beatscene of The Hague and surroundings. For example on the 6th, 7th and 8th of may of that year more than 30 bands were booked for a big beatmarathon which included bands like Q65, The Golden Earrings and The Scarlets. As main attraction the Kinks showed their skills. About eightthousand young beat enthusiasts didn’t want to miss this happening. Sadely, on the first evening, a large group of Rockers had mingled between the crowd and they started a fight which left several mods, or Kikkers as they called themselves, wounded. The Pam-pam in Scheveningen and The Marathon would all become famous beatclubs, but besides these, Club 192 and‘ De Drie Stoepen’ were the places to be. The owner of De drie stoepen, Adje Lagerwaard, was another notorious figure of the beatscene of the Hague. His place was important for new bands, and established names like The Golden Earrings and local favourites The Nicols. After their tiring performances most hipsters went to the nightclub Scala. In weekdays the musicshop of Servaas was a meetingplace for musicians. They would discuss and try the latest firstclass electrical equipment from the States. All the mayor bands bought their equipment over there, mostly on credit. Because of the lack of success or other financial difficulties some saw there instruments been reconfiscated even during a concert
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