ZEA

zea

Alternative rock band that uses samples and dance elements in its music.
Full biography

Members

Arnold de Boer   gitaar, zang

Former members

Remko Muermans   achtergrondzang, sampler, toetsinstrumenten
Michiel Verburgh   drums
Corina Kuiper   basgitaar
Anton van de Kerkhof   gitaar

Mentioned in the biography of

1994   Voicst
1997   Lawn
1997   Seedling
1999   About
2000   Seedling
2002   Pfaff
2003   Persil
2003   Solbakken
2008   Harry Merry
2008   Wim T. Schippers
2009   The Ex
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Biography zea

Alternative rock band that uses samples and dance elements in its music.

1996

zea is formed by Arnold de Boer and his brother Wim. Other bandmembers are Corina Kuiper (bass), Michiel Verburgh (drums) and Anton Van de Kerkhof (guitar).

1997

The band releases its second demo Zooom and is joined by Remco Muermans (samples, vocals and keyboards). The first zea track to be released on CD is the song Frisian Airplay II.

Seedling

1998

zea signs to the independent Transformed Dreams label. The band records the demo Leopoldo and contributes a song to the compilation CD Death To The Pixies. The first version of the track Kinship Is Like Glue is released on a compilation album. A Motorpsycho cover by the group appears on the double album Selfindulgent Monominds, released by the fanclub of the Norwegian band.

Seedling

1999

zea writes the soundtrack for the silent (vampire) movie Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie Des Grauens, from 1922. Some zea tracks are released on a 7" single that comes with the fanzine Guffaw. Another zea track, Down In The Basement Rolling Around In The Laundry, is released on Tumb, a 7" orange vinyl compilation that is released as a limited edition.

Foppe Jeroen Kuiper Seedling

2000

zea's debut album Kowtow To An Idiot is released on the Transformed Dreams label in January. The band plays at the Noorderslag festival and is also invited to perform on national radio. In March zea travels to Belgium. In June zea and fellow Dutch bands Zoppo and Seedling travel to Britain for gigs in London, York and Hull. In August zea is one of the Dutch acts at the Lowlands Festival.

Jeroen Kuiper Perkin Seedling Zoppo

2001

Arnold de Boer does two solo gigs in New York (one in the CBGB's Gallery) under the name Zany. In August zea and three other bands from the Transformed Dreams label play at the PopKomm in Cologne, Germany.

2002

After a disagreement about the musical direction of the band, Anton van de Kerkhof, Corina Kuiper and Michiel Verburgh quit zea. De Boer and Muermans continue the band and their first gig is at a festival in the German city of Dresden. They are joined by bassist Bas Jacobs.

Pfaff Seedling

2003

zea is invited to perform live at the South By Southwest (SXSW) music conference in March. After SXSW the band tours the East coast with US bands Freezepop and The Swirlies. In March the three-track 7" An Experience Of Trouble (blue vinyl) comes out. Shortly afterwards, zea's second album Today I Forgot To Complain is released. Between June 6 and 14 zea tours the UK for the fourth time and later that year the duo again visits the US and performs at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York. After returning from the US zea goes to the UK to promote a split single with UK band Fonda 500. The duo also plays gigs in Birmingham, Leeds, Southampton and London.

Persil Solbakken

2004

In January zea plays at the Noorderslag festival in Groningen. In April and May the duo tours Denmark, Germany and England. In October zea goes to the US for the fourth time. This time the duo play seven gigs on the East Coast. During the tour zea records a session for WFMU, the biggest alternative radio station in New York and also performs at the CMJ Music Marathon. zea plays three gigs in France and also joins the 25 Years The Ex Convoy Tour that starts in Paradiso, Amsterdam and then goes to the French cities of Mulhouse, Lyon, Bordeaux, Paris and Lille and ends in Brussels, Belgium.

The Ex

2005

In February zea releases the 12" single One Bomb Fits All. It contains four remixes from the Today I Forgot To Complain and the split 7" We Buried Indie Rock Years Ago. The tracks are remixed by 1 Speed Bike from Canada, Melt Banana from Japan, Jason Forrest aka Donna Summer from the US and Felix Kubin from Germany. Early April the band plays eight shows in Germany. On April 19 zea performs at the 29th edition of the Le Printemps de Bourges festival in Bourges, France. In May the duo is invited by Canadian Exhaust to tour Canada. Back in Europe the band plays the Batofar Electro Festival in Paris and the Moers-Festival in Germany together with fellow Dutch band The Ex. In June and July the duo plays several European festivals, which include the Kunstkeller Open Air Festival in Germany, Furia Sound in France, Dour in Belgium and the Truck Festival in the UK. In September zea tours Russia, with dates in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Pskov. At some shows zea is supported by We vs. Death. In November the duo again travel to France, for shows at the Super Sounds Festival in Colmar and the Avatarium Festival in Saint-Etienne.

2006

In February zea travels to France for a short tour with shows in Lille, Paris, Limoges, Cholet and Bourges. In April zea again embarks on a short Russian tour, highlighted by a show at St. Petersburg's SKIF festival in St. Petersburg. A UK tour featuring shows in Norwich, Newcastle (at footballer Alan Shearer's farewell), Aberdeen, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds and Birmingham. On June19 third album Insert Parallel Universe comes out at home, followed by a UK release on August. After the album launch on June 2 in Amsterdam zea spends the summer with shows in Belgium and France (a.o. at the Festival 400 Clous in Lille). In July a zea track is featured on a sampler enclosed with Scottish magazine Is This Music? (vol. 22). While touring the UK from the end of September - October 8, both zea and label mates Persil cut a BBC session at London-based Maida Vale Studios. At the end of the month zea plays three more shows in Germany.

The Ik Jan Cremers

2007

The sessions at the Beeb recorded on October 4 the previous year are broadcast in Huw Stephens' night programme on January 17/18. Today I Forgot To Complain is released on vinyl by German label The Company With The Golden Arm. In June, zea tours in Germany playing shows in several German cities including Dortmund, Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg. One month later the band plays shows in the Netherlands, Belgium and, again, Germany, including the Juicy Beats Festival in Dortmund. On the invitation of the Freeze Festival, zea plays a special show in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, with Frisian brassband Soli Brass. For this occasion Arnold de Boer arranges four existing songs and writes two new songs. zea and Soli Brass also play music by Ali Hassan Kuban and a composition from the blind New York street musician Louis Hardin (1916-1999), better known as Moondog.

2008

On 16 January, zea and The Ex perform at Instants Chavires in Paris. Two days later Remko Muermans plays his last show with zea at OCCII in Amsterdam. Because of his move to St. Petersburg it is virtually impossible to continue to be part of zea. The final four official shows as a duo are in February in St. Petersburg and Moscow, although Muermans also travels to Ethiopia, for five shows between 13 and 23 May. zea performs in (night)clubs, the Hager Fekir Theatre, a music school for blind children and at the seventh edition of the Ethiopia Music Festival at the Alizé Club in Addis Abeba. One month later Arnold de Boer travels to Ghana to perform and for a studio session with Ken Carbonu. zea contributes to the album Hark Too! This vinyl release of WORM is a remake of the LP Hark! By Wim T. Schippers. De Boer builds his own studio in the village Makkum, where he starts working on a new album.

Harry Merry Wim T. Schippers

2009

Arnold de Boer produces the music for Dutch film Kan Door Huid Heen (Can Go Through Skin). After 29 years and 1371 gigs Jos Kley alias G.W. Sok quits as singer of The Ex. Arnold de Boer is invited by the other band members to go on tour with them. After solo shows in the Ethiopian cities Addis Abeba and Jima, zea releases the single We Better Boil Soup Of The Grown-Ups. The 7” is released on red vinyl and features seven new electronic pop songs, including an adaptation of a Ramones track under the title I Wanna Be Deleted. The single is the first release on zea's own label Makkum Records. In June zea goes on tour in Italy and the Balkan countries together with Empee Holwerda (Solbakken, Kanipchen-Fit). The New York duo Kanipchen-Fit (Holwerda with Gloria Holwerda-Williams) also joins zea late November/early December during a two week tour of Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia. The two acts also release a split-7” in this period.

Kanipchen-Fit Solbakken The Ex

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