Alize

In the summer of 2003 MC Max P performed live at the local pop festival Biespop as a guest artist with Mo & the Family Tea. At this point it had already been a couple of years since he played live with the infamous Dutch funk band Honky Soul. For the past few years he'd been remixing and producing dance tracks for various artists and labels. Anyways, this gig at Biespop made him realize that his place was ON stage with a live band, doing that funky thing and entertaining the crowd.... Meer »

In the summer of 2003 MC Max P performed live at the local pop festival Biespop as a guest artist with Mo & the Family Tea. At this point it had already been a couple of years since he played live with the infamous Dutch funk band Honky Soul. For the past few years he'd been remixing and producing dance tracks for various artists and labels. Anyways, this gig at Biespop made him realize that his place was ON stage with a live band, doing that funky thing and entertaining the crowd. He pitched the idea to his old buddy and bass player Nick McGrath, who didn't need much convincing anyway, and before he knew it, he had a partner.

Nick had been playing and touring with the Dutch AC/DC tribute band Action In DC for many years. Although it had always been tons of fun and the band had traveled the world and played some really memorable gigs he always knew that his bass guitar wasn't meant to be played like that. Having had only one previous experience with a band playing their own material Nick was definitely up for the challenge, so the two spent most of the second half of 2003 writing new material and laying the foundation for a new urban sound that crosses the boundaries of many styles and influences.

When they had over twenty tracks and ideas the time was right to start looking for some cool cats to complete the band. They got in touch with Dave Jansen, a multi-talented guitar player who also needed a new challenge. Dave used to play in various professional cover bands but he had quite enough of that. The guitar parts he added to the tracks were a welcome surprise and sounded quite unique. For Dave it wasn't just a whim to join this band, it was an obligation to himself, nay, some even say it was divine intervention…

Next on the menu was finding a drummer. Now, there are loads of capable drummers around town, but if you want one that really knows the funk and can beat his kit senseless at the same time, you inevitably end up with Randy Straube. Max P and Randy had already done time together in Honky Soul and Mo & the Family Tea, so a meeting was quickly arranged. After hearing the tracks, he was sold.

To complete the band all they now needed was a keyboard player with good taste. Sounds like a mission impossible, I hear you think. True, but luck was on our side one night when Dave ran into Thijs Schrijnemakers at a local bar. Thijs plays Hammond organ and is the driving force behind a young local jazz-funk band called Funkmonster. After a few beers, well quite a few actually, Thijs decided that he too was interested in trying something new musically. He also assured us that playing with a bunch of old farts did not bother him and we wouldn't have to carry his B3 for him, so at last the band was complete.

It is now January 2004 and they can at last start rehearsing as a band. After two months of rehearsing they hear of a local unplugged band competition to be held in April. They decide to enter this competition as kind of a try out, just so they could see if a live audience would dig their songs and performance. The only problem was that they still didn't have a name for the band… After literally weeks of brainstorming they decided on the name Alize: pronounced RE-ALIZE, but without the RE-.

Their first ever live gig as a band at De Buren Unplugged was a smash hit and got them through to the finals and two weeks later they would play again. The final result was a proud second place (according to the jury a Nord Electro is nót a very unplugged instrument…who would have figured… ;). They win two days worth of recording at ARE U's recording studio in Stein but even more important was the great response and feedback they got from the audience. It certainly helped convince Max and Nick that they were on the right track with their music and that this band had the potential not just to be a good band, but to be a truly great band. Their first ever live gig as a band at De Buren Unplugged was a smash hit and got them through to the finals and two weeks later they would play again. The final result was a proud second place (according to the jury a Nord Electro is nót a very unplugged instrument…who would have figured… ;). They win two days worth of recording at ARE U's recording studio in Stein but even more important was the great response and feedback they got from the audience. It certainly helped convince Max and Nick that they were on the right track with their music and that this band had the potential not just to be a good band, but to be a truly great band. A week or two after the final in Sittard the band played a small venue in Vaals called the Vereinshoes, supporting an American funk band from Boston called Superhoney, who where touring Europe. Again it was a super gig and nobody would believe that we had only been playing together for four months now. All in all these first gigs seemed promising. Let's see what the future brings! « Minder