Q65 – Afghanistan

Q65 – Afghanistan

In the ’60s there were lots of killer beat bands in Holland. Many ’60s garage fan are into them now, Outsiders and Q65 being the most prominet.. They started the band in early 1965. Befor Q, Peter Vink (bass) and Jay Baar (drums) played in another blues band called Leadbelly’s Limited . In The Hague there were lots of Indonesian Dutch bands played instrumental number from the ’50s. Their mysterious sound also influenced to Q65. In the middle of ’65 ,they had some live gigs and were called the “Dutch Pretty Things” because of their Ugly sound! But Peter Vink said “We were influenced by R&B, Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding.. not Pretty Things”. They released their first single”You ‘re the Victor” in Feb ’66. It was frantic R&B punk with strange vocals and harp. It made #11 hit and stayed in the charts for 13 weeks.. Their 2nd single was “The Life I Live”. In this song they established their ugly sound. To adverise it, the record company made them reckless promotion . They were asled to go London by rubbur lifeboat! Then they would play at club in London but they were unable to obtain work permits, so they only appeared press and photo sessions. They went back by rubber lifeboat again, (actually they rode on a ship”Zilver’mee”which means Silver Seagull),and as soon as they saw Schevenning shore they boaded the rubber lifeboat as if they had sailed from England that way. At Schevenning shore,30000 fans were waiting for them. Kjoe(same pronouced Q in Dutch, which is what the fans called the band) had to run away to escape the enthusiastic fans. They had a gig at the pier. This promotion went well and it garnered them a Top 10 hit.