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Wild Romance

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

Wild Romance, also known as Herman Brood & His Wild Romance, was the backing band of the Dutch singer and pianist Herman Brood. The group was formed in Groningen in 1976 and went through changing line-ups. The name comes from a line in Lost Mind, a song by Percy Mayfield from 1951 that Mose Allison recorded in 1957. Brood and his manager Koos van Dijk were fans of Allison. The best-known line-up played from November 1977 to October 1979 with Dany Lademacher on guitar, Fred van Kampen on bass, Kees Meerman on drums and two backing singers, the Bombita's.

Music and breakthrough

The band was called a new wave band, although the head of the record company Ariola disputed that label when promoting it in America in 1979. He felt it had come about because Brood was a European artist. American record reviews of the time compared the record with Bruce Springsteen and Graham Parker. The album Go Nutz, produced by Tim O'Brien, contained rhythm-and-blues-flavoured rock and versions of I'll Be Doggone and Beauty Is Only Skin Deep.

Influence

Brood released many albums in the 1970s and 1980s, including Street, Shpritsz and Frisz & Sympatisz. After the line-up of 1977 to 1979 the success was not repeated. The music is raw, direct rock with a lot of piano, and Brood, like Golden Earring, chose English. In the Nederpop of School of Rock, Wild Romance is the band behind Saturday Night from 1978.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Saturday Night by Herman Brood & His Wild Romance. Notice the piano and the raw vocals, and how the band keeps the song tight and fast.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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

Mentioned in other articles

Categories: Artists