A Few Verifications About My Name

A few verifications

“Euh, what is it what you do?”
I write… songs. Melodies and grooves. Popmusic with latinbluesfunkgrooveR&Brockjazzhumor. I don’t follow the trends. Just keep an eye on them.

“Euh, why that unpronouncable name?”  
I’m not an artist, I’m a musician, that’s why I’m not using a flashy sounding  name. It’s my aversion against the so-called predictable, prefabbed artists I’ve had to hear through the years. Besides, the horror when bandmembers try to figure out bandnames…

“Come on now, gimme a pronounciation!”
Juiced; Joos-TVD.

Singer & player

“The Vanished Dutchman?” I’m dutch and I vanish most of the time…..come back once a year.

“Recording Musician?”
Although I like performing/ entertaining and I did play in a few bands (between 1980-1995), more and more I became aware of my real strengths: songwriting and shape a song into a complete version as I hear it in my head. It’s “hard” work though. Talent is not enough. You can’t push it, it will “push” you! It’s in the back of my head all the time. 24/7. Don’t worry, I do sleep and I like to vanish from time to time.

“Examples?”
I’m like that sponche(joost). I’ve been discovering and collecting all kinds of stuff. Sometimes I didn’t eat, just to have new music was enough to survive. I’ve been touched by great talents (and to me the real artists) like George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Kurt Weil, Leiber & Stoller, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach, Gino Vannelli, Paul & John (beatles), Todd Rundgren and……aah too many.

“DIY?”
I don’t see myself as an excellent player that has to perform to show his chops. I do play and figure out songs of other composers once in a while, for educational purposes only. I have learned to play a few instruments (started out as that muppet Animal drummer), just enough to make records! I’m not a professional sound engineer, but I’ve learned along the way. Do It Yourself. That’s my kick. To put my own creations on “tape”. Play and push record. I already started recording my own songs around 1980…playing (drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals). Learned a whole lot about self-reflection in the meantime. Produced around 43 cassettes (remember it was the analog age!) of work in progress.
Now it’s (vinyl) all comming back, hip again.
Stay in touch: The Vanished Facebook

Lyrics are little bastards

Hai there autumn people!

No, I haven't forget you, I just kept myself busy with the works. I've got 8 completed songs in the can, all more or less ready for the mixdown. I've payed a lot of attention to my vocals, especially the nuances, the precise pronunciation of the vowels. And harmonising. Well, we've got autotune for that? I only use it for effect. Very little. Jacob Collier does a great thing with autotune harmonising, but in the end it's all just a trick. Keep it real boy, your voice is great on itself.
So many different choices to make with all different styles of music. And always the love for funky tracks with a latin vibe got me in an intense mood. As I know my capabilities more, I'm having a lot of fun with singing now. I sweat like a pig sometimes, but that's just a bold expression for the way I work. Intensity. Ok, it was a hot summer.
Ah, yes. Those magic words that fit the melody. Always a challenge to find them. Sometimes they just fall out from my mouth like easy snow. It's a hard and underestimated work though, just look at the picture:

My latest, yet unfinished lyric. Mark the crossed-out words

Where (?) do they (?) all come from?
I've read in one of Todd Rundgren's biographies, that he mostly come up with the words, sing all the harmonies and record them just.at the last moment. I guess a little self imposed pressure has helped me out a lot, but when your mindset is not there, better let the flow come back to you another fresh time.
I use a bit of Todd and David Byrne's method he first used at the "Remain In Light" sessions. He often sings nonsense vowels (oo, aa eee, oe, hiii) at first in a spontanious way and writes lyrics on those vowels.
Reminds me of the action painting of Pollock where you just let it all out, dripping paint from your hands. In blues, when one is singing, it's common to just let it out, even repeat the sentence just to understate or confirm an emotion. It's only natural. Bluespower.