RISE & BURN
RISE & BURN - STADSKANAAL (GRONINGEN)

BIOGRAPHY: 

RISE & BURN, from Stadskanaal (Groningen) were a small scale HardRock outfit from the mid 80’s with a ‘contrasting’, Metal-geared vocalist. Although one did have some originals in their set, the band never officially documented any materials but did play live on a frequent basis, including shows with VULTURE, ASGARD, MYSTO DYSTO, ANGELDUST and JEWEL… As was the case with many an other band from the 80’s, RISE & BURN’s career was not paved with fame or fortune but they simply ‘lived the dream'

Interview

Down the early – mid 80’s HOLLAND, as small as it is, was densely populated with Metal bands, a great number of which – and unlike most other European countries – never made it onto vinyl, and in the occasion that they did, faded into obscurity….. A band that fits into this category were the remotely located RISE & BURN; a band that did a considerable amount of live-performances but never officially documented anything on tape or vinyl…. They did however live the ‘HardRock way of life’ with a series of memorable and amusing moments, both as a band and with this bond of Metalheads, both of which featured singer & Headbanger ‘pur sang’ Hugo Koch…Time to let Hugo do the talking…

As there is no officially documented material of RISE & BURN, it must have been a selected few that were familiar with the band back in the days, outside the local territories… Exposing the band here and now, let’s start with were it all began, how, when and with whom…
Hugo: That must have been ’85 with myself on vocals, Hendrik Jan Vermeulen on guitar, Floris Vermeulen on bass and Etienne van Leeuwen on drums.
Referring to the moniker, there’s not much guessing about the band’s prime sources… most likely RAINBOW (Rise) and DEEP PURPLE (Burn)…
Hugo: Right on! Our guitarist was all Blackmore, but YNGWIE and ULI ROTH were among his faves. In this regard, we played loads of cover songs from DEEP PURPLE, early SCORPIONS and IMI HENDRIX. Funny thing is that I insisted on having a few covers of my liking in the repertoire and believe it or not but we also played 2 covers of VENOM!!
As you already indicated, your personality and musical likings were quite different / contrasting with the other band members; obviously, you were more of a ‘Metalhead’, measured to the – preferably – 70’s rooted HardRock root of the band as a whole…. So, how did this blend together, en how was the first acquaintance as a singer with the band?
Hugo: That was quite an odd experience…. We all came from Stadskanaal (Groningen area)… Thing is, down there at the time, there was only but a handful of musicians, and I knew the Vermeulen brothers from school. I was in a band called OCTACON. Poor musicianship but we ‘had’ what the Vermeulen brothers were after… a REHEARSAL ROOM!! First to enter the band was Hendrik Jan, but after some 2 rehearsals, the whole team that was OCTACON called it a day… Hendrik Jan brought in his musicians, and I just rolled along… Meaning that, alongside their ‘own’ musical styles and preferences they also had to play HEAVY METAL was not a problem to them… At that stage, the Vermeulen brothers were already high up in all round musicianship. I remember clearly that I suggested doing “Killers” from IRON MAIDEN, and passed on a tape to Floris, saying… “Here, have a listen at this… now that is what I call a great bass-player”… The week after he played STEVE HARRIS in perfection!
Had you been in any other bands before OCTACON and RISE & BURN, or was RISE & BURN your ‘true’ premier performance as a practicing musician?
Hugo: I did my first ever live appearance as a singer with RISE & BURN, and my last performance with the band was in ’89. That day I was replaced by Rene Muthert.. I sure went through some hairy and hilarious situations with that bond of Metalheads and of course RISE & BURN… One that springs to mind is this gig at a place called “Hof Van Eelde”; 600 visitors, playing a a support act to ASGARD. Hendrik Jan, our guitarist, was out of sight, and nowhere near when we had to play… turned out he was enjoying himself in a bar… playing pool and all… When we urged him to break it off because we had a gig to do, and that was ‘NOW’!! he said something like… “They do wait for Ritchie Blackmore”, so why can’t they just wait for me!”
Tapping in on that bond of Metalheads, that was a gathering of Headbangers as I understand, and not something connected to RISE & BURN other than you being pat of both… From what you’ve told, you guys surely lived the Metal dream, and to me sounds something like a SPINAL TAP story-line at a Dutch level, ‘shopping’ beer with METALLICA, and drinking sessions with greats such as SLAYER and TWISTED SISTER… Please do fill in on all that!
Hugo:The first ‘gig’ I attended was VAULT in 1982. Later that year I saw MICHAEL SCHENKER in Groningen and from that day I tried hard to make this a weekly routine… METALLICA had just played the AARDSCHOKDAG festival in ’85 when they were about to play in a small scale local village called ZWAAGWESTEINDE. With our ‘Metalheads club’ hit ZWAAGWESTEINDE late in the afternoon; upon arrival, there was this old VW van driving towards us… As it stopped we gazed inside and who were in it..? METALLICA !!! CLIFF BURTON (R.I.P.) planted himself on the sidewalk next to me and almost instantly asked me where to buy HEINEKEN…. With Cliff and Lars Ulrich straight to the supermarket… shopping beer and crisps! They had to split shortly after for the soundcheck… 500 visitors, that was all that saw METALLICA play that night with TWISTED SISTER as the support act. After the gig waited for DEE SNIDER, popped him the legendary oddball question; “Do You Like Holland”; ANSWER; “Uh, yes, but there are not much mountains here”. Autographed my jeans (washed out the very next day by mums!), and had a little chat in the touring car… We saw SLAYER in “Vera” (Froningen), “Hell Awaits” Tour.. after the show with the entire band at the bar… Similar happenings with D.R.I., SUICIDAL TENDENCIES…. Back then it still was a open, friendly atmosphere; the artists themselves often went to mingle with the crowd after the show… O, and with ANTHRAX we did the same ‘shopping’ routine (BEER, BEER, BEER!!). Less renowned acts such as H-BOMB, GRAVEDIGGER, ACID, SAVAGE GRACE, BLIND FURY etc… you just hooked up with them after the show, and they were just really cool guys, as happy as can be to have a shot to play over in Holland which was a true ‘Metal Metropole’ at that time…!
So, how were the RISE & BURN shows on average, concentrating on the smaller vanues and Metal-clubs alike…
Hugo: Cool! Great times… Particularly the smaller type festivals is where one shared the stage with some really good bands. Not only Metal, we also played with Rock, Punk and New Wave bands. When we played with Metal bands we often got to hear something like; “That singer is allright, but those peculiar Hippies around him…” Whenever we played with Blues or Pop bands it worked the other way around, saying something like “What the heck are them deserving musicians doing with such a ‘loudmouth’ on vocals”…
Did you also do the more commonly known clubs / Metal bars such as the ‘DYNAMO’ in Eindhoven or the ‘AMERICAN BAR’ in Middelburg?
Hugo: No… plenty of bars though, and youth centres; almost all of them down within the regions of Groningen and Drenthe
You also played with a string of Dutch HardRock / Metal bands…. There also was – or at least from your side – inter action with a number of domestic acts such as VAULT and ANGELDUST… Altoghether a considerable source of connections band-wise…
Hugo: We played with ANGELDUST, ASGARD, VULTURE, JEWEL, MYSTO DYSTO etc… VAULT was a little earlier (’82 / ’83). As for MYSTO DYSTO, believe it or not, but back then, they were not much of being appreciated by other bands… Most did dig their LP, but they surely did not look like the real deal in their lift-off stages; too overdressed with blouses that were just too neat, combined with way too tight, red! coloured leather pants! Their image improved at the MANDATOR times… I still am in touch with Marcel Verdurmen; we train at the same gym here in Stadskanaal…
There is some RISE & BURN originals though, but it seemed the accent was on covers and the live-thing instead… Has there ever been plans to bend this towards recording a thing or two either tape or vinyl?
Hugo: If it was for me, we surely would have…. However, when things really got going with the band, I was being replaced, ha ha… Rene Muthert was my successor… Rene has not been with the band for too long though… He went over to join LIGHTNING which fell apart shortly after… Years on Rene married celebrity in the making Patty Brard…
When we are talking originals, could you name a few…
Hugo: There was a whole batch, composed by Hendrik Jan; I can’t recall any of them titles though…
Then again, it is quite remarkable to find a band without any proper promotional devices such as a demo, gigging at a large scale… How did you guys pull this off? Connections or a mighty good manager?
Hugo: Down here in Groningen and Drenthe everyone knew everyone in the music scene. Me, myself, I had a little stint in the selection and programming of small-scale acts down the local youth-centre ‘De Kwinne’ in Stadskanaal. I programmed my own band ha ha.. By the way, in those days I nearly managed to get HELLOWEEN over to Holland for the very first time… Their MLP was just being released and we were looking for a band for this Metal festival. I must have that letter of Kai Hansen somewhere, him being guitarist and manager at the same time… Anyways, it did not work out as they were asking 1500 guilders! And we had a budged limited to a 1000 guilders… 1500 guilders including P.A., lighting and they also did their own share of promotion for that sum!!
Eventually, the members that were RISE & BURN parted ways, and, as you mentioned earlier, you were being replaced by Rene Muthert…. Has there been any other line-up changes other than Rene handling the vocals, and did the switch-over in the vocal department also bring a new, musical direction?
Hugo: Well, as mentioned earlier, Muthert left shortly afterwards and the Vermeulen brothers went over to the ‘Conservatorium’ (instructional school – musical department) in Groningen. Muthert went on to play with Peter Bootsman (NEW ADVENTURES), Carl Carlton (now with Peter Maffay) and VITESSE, LONG TALL ERNIE & THE SHAKERS etc…
Did this mark the end of your career as a singer, or have you been involved with any other act after the RISE & BURN days…?
Hugo: I never played with any other band afterwards… I have been manager to RASKAL RUDY (’89 – ’93); top-notch act in the likes of BLACK CROWES, GUNS & ROSES etc… Very successful in local territories… They played with the upper regions of Dutch Rock such as HERMAN BROOD, NORMAAL, DE DIJK etc… I do have good recordings of that band; demos and CD but ahm… it ain’t METAL!
Altogether special times, but also the right time for that sort of music, back then in full swing with all its clichés, such as the studded wrist-bands, tiger-print pants and the ‘real’ Metalhead image… Must be weird to find this whole thing getting back to life again at present….
Hugo: Man, time of my life! I now have 3 kids and ‘try’ to act ‘wise’ although I think back at those days quite regularly… There is some good music being produced at present though… I do listen to early 80’s Metal every now and then, but also lend my ears to KAISERCHIEFS, WOLFMOTHER and similar styled bands… I am still in the music-bizz though… From ’99 I am selling singles and LP’s on a full-time basis through eBay… Yes, I am also selling the expensive stuff such as SATAN 7”, BLITZKRIEG, VAULT, MYSTO DYSTO (of course) etc…
Did it ever cross your mind to resurrect RISE & BURN for just one occasion?
Hugo: Oh no! The Vermeulen brothers surely won’t be up for that!
Any contact address?
maniac45@inn.nl

(Paul)

MEMBERS:

Hendrik Jan Vermeulen – guitar
Floris Vermeulen - bass
Hugo Koch – lead vocals
Etienne van Leeuwen – drums
Modifications:
Rene Muthert – lead vocals (to replace Hugo Koch)

DISCOGRAPHY:

No demos or vinyls out, only rehearsal tapes & live-shows