I felt like a 12-year-old child when I walked out of cafe Stairway to Heaven with a postcard to ask Herman Brood for an autograph. It was 15 April 1996. Brood was outside with his manager Koos van Dijk for an interview, just hours before his Marlboro Flashback performance "Brood does The Voice" began. Herman Brood performing Frank Sinatra songs. I had to see and hear that. When I stood at the table where Brood was sitting and looked at him, Koos sent me away saying, "Herman doesn't have time for that now!" I started telling a whole story about being a fan of Brood, and then Brood pushed Koos aside and said, "I decide some things myself." My autograph was secured and the card still holds a special place. The performance was rubbish, by the way. The encore by Henk Westbroek, on the other hand, was fantastic. Two heroes in one evening and a card with an autograph!
Herman Brood (& His Wild Romance)
Hermanus (Herman) Brood (Zwolle, 5 November 1946 – Amsterdam, 11 July 2001) was a Dutch singer, painter, pianist, actor and author. Brood was distinguished by his distinctive singing voice and musical diversity. He was the Dutch embodiment of the hedonistic credo Sex, drugs & rock 'n' roll. Brood regularly showed withdrawal symptoms such as incontinence, epilepsy and delirium tremens after years of heavy amphetamine and alcohol use. Four months before his fifty-fifth birthday, he committed suicide, carrying a farewell note, by jumping from the roof of the Amsterdam Hilton hotel. Brood received his first piano lessons in 1959. At school he struggled to keep up: he preferred to fiddle on a piano in his father's dilapidated factory in Zwolle. In 1964, Brood went to the Art Academy in Arnhem and became a member of the local beat group The Moans. The band performed frequently for American soldiers in West Germany and Brood was sometimes given a pill to stay awake. This was how his addiction began. In 1967, he joined Cuby and the Blizzards. In early 1974, he took part in a Cuby and the Blizzards reunion for the VARA television programme Nederpopzien. From that moment, he resumed his musical career. He played briefly in the North Holland formation Stud and recorded an album with, among others, Jan Akkerman under the name Flash & Dance Band. He then joined the band Vitesse. After the debut album in 1975, he left again. Brood left Cuby and the Blizzards and started his own formation Herman Brood & His Wild Romance (see also: Wild Romance). In 1977, the album Street was released, which was enthusiastically received. In 1978, Shpritsz followed. The single Saturday Night became a big hit. In 1979, he moved to the United States. But an American tour was not a success and the US-produced album Go Nutz (1980) was panned both there and in the Netherlands. Brood's career declined. In 1984, he released the album The Brood, which was positively received. In the same year, he recorded the single Als je wint with Doe Maar singer Henny Vrienten, which reached the top 10 of the charts. In 1985, he married Xandra Jansen. Together they had two children and an adopted daughter.
By 2001, his body was completely worn out from all the substances he used. Attempts to detoxify were unsuccessful. On 11 July 2001 at 13:28, the fifty-four-year-old Brood jumped from the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel with a note in his pocket that read: "Xandra & all the darlings, This speed instead of burning out I leave to the cremation. ... Keep going as I did... and don't mourn! Make it a party. I'll see you again sometime. I'm going bungy without a rope now. Mercy - dad. DROWN IN MY OWN TEARS."
The backing band of Herman Brood “The Wild Romance” still performs (partly with the old line-up) under the leadership of Koos van Dijk.
Top 2000
Of course, Brood is not missing from the list of lists. In the Top 2000 of 2020, he appears with the following songs:
Sunday Morning Classic: Sphritsz
On 14 March 2021, Herman Brood with his Wild Romance was our guest with the album Sphritsz as Sunday Morning Classic. The classic line-up of The Wild Romance was formed in November 1977: Dany Lademacher (guitar), Freddie Cavalli (bass), Cees "Ani" Meerman (drums) supplemented by The Bombitas (backing vocals).
Recordings for the album took place at the Relight Studios in Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands. At the time, it was one of the first studios in the world to have installed a 24-track recorder. Brood and the band were impressed. Perhaps even more so when they found out that the studio was a former porn studio, where many German porn films had been shot.
The band worked quickly, focused and professionally. Playing and recording took place in a live setting. Within a few days, all the basic tracks were laid down on tape. It is not entirely clear, but it seems that the vocals were largely recorded later. The credo was to record everything twice and choose the best from those two.
On 19 May 1978, Shpritsz, the second album by Herman Brood & His Wild Romance, was released. The album contains 15 songs and lasts ‘only’ 37 minutes and 25 seconds. Short songs, generally at a high tempo and delivered with lots of energy.
This album marked Brood's breakthrough in the Netherlands. Wherever Brood showed his face, it turned into chaos. The popularity was immense. The album quickly went gold and platinum.
Remarkably, however, the first single, Saturday Night, was not such a success at all.
But not everyone was happy. Especially within the establishment, there was resentment. How could this ex-criminal, burglar and junkie be so popular among Dutch youth?
The idea for the album cover arose when Brood, dressed in leather trousers, stood in front of a television set. The reflection created a beautiful image. Brood wanted that look for the cover. After a photo shoot with photographer Anton Corbijn, Dick van der Meijden made the album cover.
The title Shpritsz resembles the German word: “spritzen”, which refers to a male ejaculation.
Source: Jan Liebregst and NPO)
photo: Sander Lamme
