Q65

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Q65 was a beat group from The Hague, founded in 1965 by the guitarists Joop Roelofs and Frank Nuyens and the singer Wim Bieler. Bass player Peter Vink and drummer Jay Baar completed the line-up. Roelofs came up with the name: a letter and a number, after the songs Susie Q and Route 66, with 65 for the year of the band's founding. The band mainly played rhythm and blues and songs by The Kinks, The Animals and The Rolling Stones. After a performance at the De Eenhoorn ice rink, the producer Peter Koelewijn invited the group to make test recordings.

Music and breakthrough

In 1966 the first single, You're the Victor, was released and reached number eleven in the Top 40. After that, Hans van Hemert took over production. The follow-up, The Life I Live, reached number five and became the group's biggest hit. For promotion the band supposedly travelled to London by rubber dinghy; when they returned to Scheveningen, thousands of fans were waiting. The debut album Revolution came out later that same year, and in 1967 World of Birds reached the top 10. Drug use and Bieler's national service put a temporary end to the group in 1968.

Influence

Q65 was known for an unpolished, raw sound, and together with The Outsiders it is counted among the most important Dutch garage bands of the 1960s. After the reunion in 1970 the music sounded more psychedelic, on albums such as Afghanistan and We're Gonna Make It. The group came up in the same Hague scene as Golden Earrings and The Motions. Readers of the magazine Lust for Life chose Revolution in 2018 as one of the best albums from the Low Countries.

Listening

• 
  The Life I Live · Q65, 1966
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1966Revolution
• 1969Revival
• 1971We’re Gonna Make It
• 1997Trinity
• 2020Injection

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 11: Nederpop^NL Reader

See also

• Nederbeat