Diesel

One of Pim Koopman's first projects after leaving Kayak, was Diesel. In Diesel, Pim wrote and arranged songs, played various instruments, and was their producer and arranger. Of course, one other member of Diesel was Rob Vunderink. Pim and Rob had already worked together as Concrete, and in later years, Rob would join Kayak.

Diesel's first album, "Watts In A Tank" was an unexpected success in Italy, Canada and the USA. The single "Sausalito Summernight" made it to nr. 1 in the Canadian charts, and also reached the USA top 50. Other singles like "Down In The Silvermine" and "Goin' Back To China" were hits in Holland.

Pim Koopman left just after the release of the debut album (and before a real USA-tour!). Diesel released a second album ("Unleaded"), but the members of the band would rather forget about that one. Diesel members came and went, and in later years they only released some non-album singles, with Pim involved every now and then. And a line-up with Pim and Rob played live on some occasions in 2007.

On http://www.dieselonline.nl/ you can find the complete story of Diesel!

Ton's theatre work

One of Ton Scherpenzeel's "most rewarding" (in various senses) jobs is his work as a composer for theatre companies and comedians. It started on a small scale, with the musical 'Playmate' (1982/83) for the Belgian theatre company Arena. But this side of his career got an enormous boost when he was approached by Dutch comedian Youp van 't Hek. In 1983, Ton worked with the still unknown Youp on an album. And in 1984 they had their first collaboration for Youp's live show. From that year on, Ton became Youp's main composer (and Youp became Holland's most famous comedian). Their collaboration is still intact, after more than 15 shows.

Another famous Dutch comedian (and writer of some extremely funny books) is Harrie Jekkers. With Harrie, Ton worked on some studio albums, the accompanying theatre shows, and two albums of childrens songs.

Ton also worked for two Dutch theatre companies: Opus One (since 1994) and Jeugdtheater Hofplein (more than 50 productions since 1990!). Some Hofplein-productions were written by Harrie Jekkers, and arranged by Ton. The songs of some Opus One and Hofplein-productions were available on CD, though only at the venues where they were performed. Nowadays, they are quite hard to find!

In october 1977, Mathilde Willink died. She was a flamboyant Dutch society figure, and 'living art object'. In 1978, singer Marjol Flore released the single 'Mathilde', as a tribute to Willink. The song (the single has a Dutch and a German version) was composed, arranged and produced by Ton.

On Ton's website, you can find a complete list of his theatre productions.

The President

The President was a short-lived, but quite successful project of Pim Koopman and singer/keyboardist Okkie Huysdens. In the period 1983-1985, this band recorded 2 albums ('By Appointment Of' and 'Muscles') and a couple of singles. The single "You're Gonna Like It" (1983) became their biggest hit.

The albums were released on CD, but are not easy to find. The first one can still be found sometimes, as it was released in Japan in large quantities. The second album is very rare!


For more info on The PresidenT: see www.pimkoopman.com

Maywood - One of Pim's biggest successes

The Dutch sisters Doetje and Aaltje de Vries (better known as Caren and Alice) deserve a special mention here. Why? Because they formed the duo Maywood in 1979. From the beginning until the end of the 1980's, Pim Koopman produced all their records. They scored many big hits in The Netherlands, but also across the world. The couple mostly wrote their songs themselves, but in the studio they were accompanied by members from Diesel, and of course Pim. On the album 'Different Worlds', Ton Scherpenzeel played keyboards. And the album 'Beside You' (1987) was partly produced by Pim, partly by Ton...

On the worldwide web, you can find many, many pictures of singles and albums by Maywood. Here are are just a couple... Want to find out more about Maywood? Check http://www.maywood-online.de/

Johan Slager

Johan Slager, Kayak-guitarist from 1972 until 1982, has also done quite a few things outside the band. As a solo artist, he released one single: the instrumental "Classical Gas", originally written and performed by Mason Williams. The b-side of this 1982 single was "Moments With You", a Slager-penned instrumental. The single was produced by the brothers Rob and Ferdi Bolland.

The Bolland brothers are famous for their work with Austrian singer Falco, and as writers of the song "In The Army Now", a hit for Status Quo. In the 1980's, the Bolland brothers hired Johan for quite a few of their projects. They produced dozens of singles and albums, and often under nicknames. And it is even more difficult to find out on which record Johan played, as he was not always credited properly...


In the 1990's, Johan had his own band, called Doreen. They released a CD in 1994 ("It's Got To Be Love"), on which Johan played guitar and drums (!), and co-wrote 9 songs.

Some other projects:

Frederic Fly and the Flies: Stop And Go/Flies Of the Universe (single, 1982). Johan plays guitar on this single, which was written by 'Songstone and Hammerstone', which in fact were -if memory serves me well- the Bolland Brothers.

Johan Doornenbal: Communion (CD, 2003). Singer-songwriter Johan Doornenbal was a big fan of Kayak. He asked Johan Slager and Max Werner to help him out on his album, and they did; Johan Slager played keyboards and additional guitar. Max Werner played drums, percussion, sax, clarinet and keyboards, and sang backing vocals. The album was produced, engineered and re-arranged by Max Werner and Johan Slager.

Johan played on 2 albums by Circus Custers, a Dutch duo that also scored some hits. Johan played on their LP "Romantisch Verbitterd" (1983, not on CD) and on their CD "Kop In De Wind" (1989), which also features Ton Scherpenzeel. Most Circus Custers songs can be found on their various Best Of-CD's.

Johan has been the member of the 'house band' of popchoir Da Capo. They released a couple of CDR's.

To be continued...