This is Henny Vrienten, bass player, lead singer and premier song smith of the Dutch Ska/ Reggae combo "Doe maar" ( Which means "Go ahead") Ask any of the people who have spend time in The Netherlands about Doe Maar and they'll tell you how HUGE that band was in the early eighties and not just Holland and Belgium, they also had a cult following in the West-Indies and played a succesful tour of the Dutch Antillian islands.
Doe Maar's music became a hit with teenagers while the subject of many of their songs was actually aimed at people twice their age: they were singing about getting bored with marriage, problems with money, arguments at work, the atomic scare, every day normal things. Which was probably why teens picked it up because they could sense that those songs were telling them some truths that other high charting songs weren't telling them and in their own language no less.
Henny Vrienten actually was Doe Maar's third bass player, he replaced Joost Belinfante who replaced Piet Dekker. But after Vrienten joined Belinfante stayed around playing horns, percussion and singing. (More about that later.) What Vrienten brought to Doe Maar what his two predecesors lacked was a very identifyable style and a level of virtuosity that neither Belinfante or Dekker had.
Doe Maar was in the mids of recording their second LP when Vrienten joined and he was thrown the deep end right away when he was told that the album needed three more songs and they'd need them tomorrow. Vrienten went home, wrote three songs and they all wound up not only on the album but also to become stables of Doe Maar's live set and they included their first hit single.
In interviews Vrienten admitted that Jack Bruce was his prime influence but he also was quick to name Robbie Shakespear as somebody who's work he really admired. In the studio he used a Sixties Fender Precision through a Kustom Tuck and roll amp, which he later upgraded to and Ampeg SVT stack. Live he used his Fender and two Aria Pro 2 basses, a cardinal (see main photo) and an SB 600.
Well then, up to the reason why I'm taking all this effort to start a thread about this guy: his playing.
Doe maar - Dansen met alice. - YouTube
"Dansen met Alice" (Dancing with Alice) from the first album which featured Vrienten on bass, his Jack Bruce influenced lead bass playing dominating this song about being stood up at a dance.
Doe Maar - Te Laat (Album Versie) - YouTube
"Te Laat" (Too Late) again from the first album on which Vrienten played. Doe Maar went through three drummers in their existence, this song features the first, who also does lead vocals. This song has a very tricky timing and the interaction between the drums and what Vrienten is doing on bass is flawless.
Nederwiet - YouTube
"Nederwiet" As I said before, Vrienten replaced Joost Belinfante on bass but Belinfante didn't leave the band, instead he stuck around playing brass, percussion and do the odd lead vocal, such as was the case on this song, which is about how to grow your own Hemp plants and smoking them. As was the case with many of his bass lines, what Vrienten played BECAME the song.
Doe Maar Live. 12 Smoorverliefd (Afscheidsconcert) - YouTube
"Smoorverliefd" (Madly in love) live, Of course, since I named him also as a Lead singer there are plenty of songs on which he sings and even they are laced with his intricate bass lines which he played while singing, also note how professional the band is, the guitarist has a string breaking making his guitar go flat right at the start of the solo and the saxophone player quickly steps in.
Doe Maar Live. 1 Belle Helene (Afscheidsconcert) - YouTube
"Belle Helene" a song about being seduced by a teenage girl, which is very appropriate seeing what most of their audience consisted from. Perhaps you guys noticed from that live clip, that Keyboard player, Ernst Jansz, being the other dominant factor in the band. You might think of Vrienten as the Macca of that band but he Lyric wise actually more a Lennon, writing songs about bitter break ups, anxiety and being angry with one's partner. While Jansz was more the romanticus of the writers duo.
Van Kooten en de Bie & Freek - Een gebaar deel 6 - YouTube
"Een gebaar" (A gesture) I'll put this one in to show that Vrienten was no one trick pony, in 1983 Doe Maar was approached to work with Dutch cabaret artists Freek De Jonge, Kees Van Kooten and Wim De Bie to organise a charity event for Amnesty International, Vrienten wrote this song in reply to that, it shows a completely different side to Doe Maar and what people percieved them to be. The resulting LP flopped but the concert itself proved to be a pivotal moment for Vrienten, he met his wife there but also got in contact with the people who would shape his Post-Doe maar carreer.
Doe Maar split up in 1984 after the never ending tours became too much for the band to handle. They reunited in 2000 for a couple of concerts but quickly went their seperate ways soon after, but in 2008 the officially reunited and as we speak now are working on several projects in addition to playing live shows.
In the mean time Vrienten has made a carreer for himself as movie score writer and working as a producer for others, he also wrote songs for the Dutch version of Sesame street and several cabaret pieces. (Which as I said came from meeting the right people at that Amnesty International gig.)
But as his last solo album showed, his playing is still top notch and he increased his range by playing fretless and upright in addition to playing his old Fender.
Henk Hofstede - Nachtzwemmen - YouTube
"Nachtzwemmen" (Night swimming)
Now that Doe Maar is performing live again, Vrienten apparently decided to buy new gear and now appears onstage with Dingwall basses, although when I met him after a concert, he did ask if I knew where he could buy an old Aria SB series, since his had been stolen and he missed the sound he got.
So here it is, my attempt to introduce you guys to a bass player who certainly changed my life and sadly isn't that well known.
