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...

Max Werner Projects

For stories and pictures about Max Werner's collaborations, please visit http://maxwerlerofzoiets.blogspot.com/

Ton Scherpenzeel projects

Outside Kayak, Ton Scherpenzeel did not do that much in the rock/pop world. At least, not if you compare him to Pim Koopman. Of course, Ton played in Camel and Earth & Fire. But as a producer and writer, his focus was more on theatre productions (about which I may talk at a later date). Still, if you try hard, there are some -rather obscure- recordings to be found. Here are some examples...

Penny's Twisted Flavour: Sketches (CD, 2010). Ton plays the keyboard solo in the track 'A Way Out'.

In 2002, singer Anna Konings released an album called 'Wojtus - Songs Of Death, Hope And Love'. The album's theme is the loss of a child. Ton wrote the music for the track 'Isolement', and arranged or co-arranged a couple of songs.

As you can read in the 'Bert Veldkamp'-section, Ton produced the single "Portugal" by Frontpage. He did this together with Johan Slager, under the nicknames 'T. and J. Sands'.

Keller Bros.: Margarita/Blue Skies Of Love (single, 1989). Both songs written by Ton and Irene, co-produced by Ton.

In 1979, Ton produced the LP Holy Cat for Dutch band Sfinx. Three years later, Sfinx-vocalist John Philippo joined Ton in the band Europe.

David Ireland was an English singer/songwriter. He co-wrote the Kayaksong 'May'. In 1978, David released the single Zoo Games/Nuclear Love. Both tracks were produced by Ton, who also wrote the music for the a-side.

Red Next: How Many More Nights/Memories (single, 1986). The a-side was written by Ton and Irene. The b-side was written by Ton and René Nodelijk. Produced by Bert Ruiter (who played with Ton in Earth & Fire).

Yam: Magic (single, 1984?). The a-side was written by Ton and Irene. Produced by Ton and Bert Ruiter.

Yonne Heim: Do I (single, 1983). Written by Ton, produced by Kayak-producer Gerrit-Jan Leenders.

Youp van 't Hek and Nico Dinkgreve: Altijd Zaterdag (track on charity-CD 'Carrésterren Zingen Voor Kika', 2009). Music by Ton.

Ton with Harry Sacksioni

Dutch master-guitarist Harry Sacksioni has made a whole bunch of records since the 1970's. In 1986/87 he went on tour with a band. In that band: Ton Scherpenzeel (keyboards) and ex-Kayakdrummer Charles Schouten.

From that tour, the live album "Optima Forma" was released, as well as the single "Paddentrek".

In 1984 and 1985, Ton had already worked with Harry, on the albums "Nachtjournaal" and "Amice". And in 1990, Harry performed "Stringdance" (a guitar version of "Ivory Dance") on his album "Intimate Strangers".