2003
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
And may this be the best New Year ever for each of us.
See ya!
Mickey
12/21/2003 – 12/27/2003
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Monday, December 22, 2003
Well, I’m back in the land of the living again and since we’re just three days away from the Big Feast: MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU!!!
– Peace
Eric
12/14/2003 – 12/20/2003
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
seems like Eric and Perry took over my fever when we rehearsed last friday… their both in their beds now! What a bunch of weak nerds we are, except for Mickey and Skokie, that is… We had to cancel our rehearsal yesterday, because without a singer and bassplayer a band won’t play very well!
And because of me we’ll have to cancel our planned rehearsal friday, that’s because some rich high Ludwig-boss asked me to have dinner with him. (Maybe I can talk him into giving me a nice double-bassdrum kit with 11 toms and 3 snares or something!) As you probably know I play Ludwig drums as an endorser and besides that I sell them to shops in Holland, Belgium and Germany. Now this very important guy asks me to go and have dinner with him, and now I’m wondering to wear a suit or not… Naahhh fuck that I’ll wear my “helldriver”-shirt…
Anyway, we’ll have our rehearsal sunday and I’m more looking forward to that than the dinner because the new songs (and new set!) we’re practicing are very, very, very cool.
Cheers,
Woody
12/07/2003 – 12/13/2003
Saturday, December 13, 2003
My advice: Read Eric’s Memoires ! A hilarious, but true, story about the Travoltas in Italy earlier this year. Click JOURNAL in the navigation bar.
your beloved webmaster,
Friday, December 12, 2003
i’m almost near finishing our contest winner’s song, entitled ‘Tommy’s Song’. Tomorrow I’ll lay down the vocal tracks and mix the song this weekend, it should be up early next week!! Finally!!
Besides that, I wrote a new tune, currently untitled, and abandoned working on ‘All We Really Want Is Rock ‘n Roll’, for 2 reasons: The title is stupid and the song was more Oasis that you and I could handle, so that one is in the trashcan.
The multi-layered vocal ballad ‘All that I love’ is a beautiful and subtle song, but I have doubts if this one would fit on the new Travoltas-record.
that’s it for now, have a great weekend!
Perry
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Except for my very first band, Birdbrain, I’ve exclusively been playing in metal bands up till now. In 1991 I joined a band called Crystal Lake (nowadays called Crustacean). At this moment we’re on the verge of recording our 3rd full length album, so we’re still alive.
A brief survey of all bands I’ve played in during the last decade:
Birdbrain, Crustacean, Spina Bifida, Master, Acrostichon, Walker, Outburst and Slayer Coverband.
Travoltas and I go way back, 1991 to be precise. Vince and I lived at the same students’ house back then. We had our fair share of hip-hop and industrial projects. Back then I helped Travoltas out by driving their van and tuning their guitars. In the late nineties I lost track of Travoltas. I got myself a new job, I fell in love…etc. In 2001 I moved back to Tilburg after me and my girlfriend broke up. I met Vince again and it so happened that he invited me to join Travoltas on their club nouveau tour and be their roadie.
For their 2002 USA tour I was promoted to ‘sound guy’ and that’s what I’ve been doing for Travoltas up till now. Must have been over 200 shows I’ve seen, amazing! I am a true fan for real…
Why a metalhead would be interested to play in Travoltas? Well, 13 years of metal madness had me looking for another band, another genre. And what do you know… Vince decides to leave Travoltas. Convenient? Not necessarily. Travoltas without Vince, it takes some getting used to, also for me. I’ll surely miss his company and will do whatever it takes to make up for that loss. Hope to meet y’all soon!
Cheers
Mickey T.
Monday, December 08, 2003
it’s Woody again, back in town, recovered and full of energy! I’ve been in my bed for 7 days man, that sucked. Good thing was to rent all “back to the future”-episodes again…
Yesterday we had a rehearsal from one till six o clock, which we spent on 5 songs, the 5 you’ll see mentioned by Perry when you scroll down. I think we did very well, at least it felt great doing new songs after such a long time playing songs we played over 300 times! We don’t know exactly yet because not all the songs are finished, but I think this is gonna be the best travoltas-record ever… everything you love will be on it, from happy to sad, from fast to slow, from well, let’s finish it first anyway.
Also, Mick is doing a great job as our new guitar-player, he turns out to be a very nice and funny guy and one hell of a guitar-player! Rock on Mick!
-woody “james” stix
11/30/2003 – 12/06/2003
Saturday, December 06, 2003
Woody has been pretty sick last week. He has some flu kind of illness that makes his voice sound real low like Barry White used to have. We all know what happened to Barry White, so I pray he’ll get well soon.
Oh yeah, Skokie, what did you use when you wrote the message below? Must have been some allergy to chocolate… I’m anxious to hear your song song when it’s all finished.
– See ya,
Eric
Friday, December 05, 2003
You remember I was working on that song ‘Rock&Roll Star’ a while ago? Well, I picked it up again. I’ve been tinkering with the keys a little and now I’m starting to get somewhere. A perfect mixture of organ and synths, HAHAHA (evil laughter)! The rest of the song is pretty much ready. Maybe some minor alterations to the vocal parts and then it is time for some exposure. ‘Exposure Skokie?’, I hear you think… ‘Exposure to ME, Skokie?’ ‘YES SKOKIE PLEASE!’, I hear you say! Mmm, we’ll see about that..
Monday, December 01, 2003
This will be my last post on the weblog, and then i’m officially handing over the blog-keys to mick. Just wanted to thank you all for attending my last 2 shows. It was great seeing everyone one last time at the 013, a very cool last show even if you guys didn’t know yet… and we had a lot of fun at that silly baja beachclub show. So if you were there, a big THANK YOU! and if you were there on our heavy metal monster 2002 tour a big thank you to you too! see ya soon,
your homie,
-vince vice
Sunday, November 30, 2003
well, Perry already told you about it, but we’re off! Rehearsals for our upcoming album started last Friday and will continue in the next couple of months. And indeed, it’s good to play new songs! It gives me a thrill to know a new album is coming up and that we’ll tour a lot again next year.
Yesterday I was asked to record some vocals for The Wonderyears, a band founded by my brother and Vincent in 1992. I joined them some time after that. We recorded a demo, did some gigs and that was all, we “split” in 1993. And now my brother and Vincent re- recorded some of the songs we did back then and asked me to do some singing. I don’t know what they want to do with the songs, but they all sound pretty good.
But anyway, the new Travoltas album is gonna be a cracker! I’ll tell you that! Wanna hear something already? Nah… not yet… not yet… Patience is a good thing.
– Eric
11/23/2003 – 11/29/2003
Saturday, November 29, 2003
today i’ve been working on a cool tune called ‘All We Really Want Is Rock ‘n Roll’, and as the title may suggest, this is about the good life! Yesterday we had our 1st rehearsal for the new album (with Micky on guitar!!), it’s great to play new material after playing our hit-catalog a 1,000,000 times.. We rehearsed new 4 songs, continuing next tuesday when we’ll add a couple more.
I’ve also completed a song called ‘All That I Love’, I wrote this over a year ago, but now I’ve finally found the right arrangement for it, with a tremendous amount of vocals in it. Ok, back to work, talk to you soon!
good stuff,
Perry
Sunday, November 23, 2003
an update on the new album: i’ve completed 5 tracks and working on 4 other ones at this moment. Our new guitarist Mick dropped by yesterday with some songs he’s been working on, aswell as Skokie and Eric. Also Vince came up with a great song. So far these are the tracks that are finished and ready to be recorded:
-Rushing Into Tomorrow
-Told You So
-Can’t Stop
-Alive And Around
-The Highschool Reunion
ok, now i’m gonna go back recuperating from last night’s beerdrinking mayhem,
head hurts, need asperin..
keep on truckin,
Perry
10/12/2003 – 10/18/2003
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Persbericht:
Op donderdag 20 november in Xtra Cultuur bij Omroep Brabant-televisie een persoonlijk portret van Vincent Koreman, gitarist van de Tilburgse poppunkband Travoltas, producer van talloze rockacts en de man achter Powerslaves, een succesvolle verzamel-CD met elektrocovers van de legendarische hardrockband Iron Maiden. Met: beelden van de Travoltas-jubileumshow in 013!
Dusss allemaal kijken!
gr.
Sunday, November 16, 2003
some words from the songwriting front (isn’t that why we started this log anyway?!): i’m about to finish three more songs this coming week, hopefully i can finish the demo’s of 8 songs before the end of the month. In the meantime we even found time to finish ‘Tommy’s Song’ (remember? contest?), so that’ll be up before november has ended. Well, gotta run cuz Saint Nicolas is about to pass my house on his white horse with his spanish servants (no, i’m not stoned, it’s a tradition in Holland..) and I really don’t wanna miss it this time..
keep on truckin’
Perry
11/09/2003 – 11/15/2003
Friday, November 14, 2003
My bass-amp has exploded. Well, I don’t really know what’s wrong with it, but last Sunday, right before The Apers were on a blue flash came out of the top. Short circuit or something. That’s not good, according to the repair-guy. Hope he can fix it. Shit.
– Eric
I hope you all have recovered slightly from the shock of last sunday!? wow, It still puts a smile to my face when I think of us playing TRUCKSTOP ‘papshoewadiewadie’ MOTORLODGE. Anyway for all of you in the TILBURG region, i’ll be dj-ing at extase this sunday for another edition of Club Underground:
DJ’s:
Vince RA-X (angelmaker recs, bunker, kommando 6)
Elec Terra (club underground)
acid/breakz/electro/techno/idm/weird shit
entrance = free – starts 21.00 – ends 03.00
if you wanne see a fat tattoed guy in his 30’s not even making an effort to mix his very good choice of current and old electro techno records – this is the place to be, if you want to see something new and exciting – watch discovery channel…
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Do you want your (Travoltas)photos featured on the site? Mail your digital pictures to info@matthewstar.com and we’ll put them up!
Monday, November 10, 2003
Once again, thanx for making our 13th anniversary-show one to be never forgotten! Go to the “the band”-button, click it, choose Woody and add this show to my favourite travoltas memories!! I really had the best show ever. I was weakened by a fever that kept me in bed the 48 ours before the show (that’s probably why the intro of ‘step on the gas’ sounded a little strange…), I felt better at once when I saw so many people showing up and going mad!
High-five to: Everybody in the audience yesterday, the ex-Travoltas members, crew, The Apers and One In A Million, my family and friends, Perry, Vince, Skokie and Eric. I love you guys.
-Woody
What a day, what a show! This really meant a lot to us, the best crowd ever. Travoltas-fans ARE THE BEST!!
So, everybody ready for the next 13 years?!
Love,
Perry
Thank you all so very much, bands & crew & visitors! This crowd was the best i’ve ever seen. Would you guys mind very much following us around to every show? Rock on and enjoy the cd! (and don’t forget to download the tracks online now)
-vince
First of all: THANK YOU ALL! Yesterday was great! This show we’ll never forget. You went wild and so did we! Besides, I met a lot of people and I hope to see you again on our next tour. We’re really anxious to get on the road again! See ya’ll soon and keep in touch!
– Love
Eric
11/02/2003 – 11/08/2003
Saturday, November 08, 2003
I just got a call from my brother, who asked me if I had any tickets left. It’s sold out! Well, that’s great news! I’m sorry for those who haven’t got one, but you’ll have plenty of time to get tickets for our 25th anniversary in 2015.
But anyway, see you all tomorrow. It’s gonna be a hell of day!
– Peace
Eric
Monday, November 03, 2003
the presale of the 013 ANNIVERSARY concert has just crossed 226 TICKETS! That means that if you want to be there, you better hurry up and get some tickets soon, because it’s almost SOLD OUT! And trust me, you really don’t want to miss out on this concert….
rock on homies,
-vince
10/26/2003 – 11/01/2003
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Your beloved webmaster,
it’s vince here. just to let you know i’m still alive & kicking! the infamous PeVi production team is still working their ass of on the new RIPLETS cd, and of course working on the preparation of the 013 show… I’ve heard presale has almost crossed 200 tickets, but it’s not sold out yet (I think) so get yer tickets people – get yer tickets now!
rock on,
-vince
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
in about 10 days it’s anniversary-time. Preparations for this 13-year-milestone are in full swing now. Ticketsales are going well, but there are still tickets availiable. I mention this, because I had word that they were sold out, which is not the case (yet). So if you want them get them!
But anyway, I’ll get back to business now. See y’all soon!
– Eric
Sunday, October 26, 2003
We’re just about 3 hours home from our one-show-tour in Switzerland. We played the Fismo club in Einseideln. Einsiedeln is a small town in the Swiss Alps and is all covered in snow right now. Since we don’t see a lot of those landscapes in the Netherlands, it was really beautiful to see something like that.
But anyway, we did a good show. Special feature was that two guys called Hasi and Fido celebrated their birthdays at the Fismo, so by the time we got on stage, a lot of people were already in the best of spirits. Needless to say we’d had some drinks ourselves.
By the time we got to the hotel, we were all pretty much tired as hell. I slept very well, I must say. Thanx to all in Switzerland and hope to see you all soon!
– Eric
10/19/2003 – 10/25/2003
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
And about the anal bit Perry told you about… well, I know what to eat on the day we cross the Swiss border.
– Greetings
Eric
Monday, October 20, 2003
Sorry I haven’t been around for a while, but Vince and I are in the studio producing the brand new Riplets album. Things are going pretty well, today’s the last recording day, we start mixing next week.
Hopefully this week I’ll be able to work on our own songs again, I’ve got a handful of new ideas lying around!
I’m looking forward to the show in Switzerland, always nice to play out there IF we make it across the border cuz those guys at customs tend to be a bit anal about entering their beautiful country.
Anyway, I gotta run, back to the studio!
Good stuff,
Perry
10/12/2003 – 10/18/2003
Saturday, October 18, 2003
Oh, one other thing: thanx to everybody who was at the show in Grootebroek. I had a great time playing there! Unfortunately we couldn’t do an encore, because of some minor miscommunication with the DJ. But hey, it was great! Hope to welcome you guys at the anniversary-show.
– Greetings to all!
Eric
Friday, October 17, 2003
I hardly can find the time right now, with the anniversary show coming up next month, but in between I’m still working on that song I told you about last week. Trying to come up with new ideas for the chorus, cause something’s missing right now. The working title of the song is ‘Paid Smile’, so now you wonder what that might mean! hmm..
Anyway, tickets for TRAVOLTAS’ 13th anniversary show are HOT, so if you want to be there, you have to be quick! For more info on where/how to buy yours check www.013web.nl
See you later gal-i-gator!
Monday, October 13, 2003
As some of you out there might know, I also run a recordlabel called Angelmaker Records, which specialises in electro music and general weirdness. I just wanted to let you know real quick that I’ve just released a new album called POWERSLAVES, an electro tribute to IRON MAIDEN, which features 14 Maiden classics reworked by some of the biggest names in the electro underground + … a kick ass version of POWERSLAVE by THE PAT BENEDICT ORCHESTRA, a.k.a. perry and a nice version of WASTED YEARS by RA-X, a.k.a. yours trully.
check out the site at www.angelmaker-records.com or listen to the album online at:
http://www.vpro.nl/3voor12/luisterpaal/luisterpaalmain.shtml
keep them headz ringin’!
-vince
Thursday, October 09, 2003
while waiting between soundcheck and gig last weekend i took some time listening to some demo’s perry made for some new songs.
i must say, seriously, this sounded like the best ever written for travoltas, which is promising for our forthcoming album… yeah, it blew me away!
one song is an uptempo travoltas style feel-good lovesong, with some eighties-sounds added. another one was more of a slowtempo song, with a kind of melancholic feel to it. it starts off nice and slow and starts rockin more and more… well, in words i can’t discribe music, i guess you’ll have to wait for the album to come out. it’s gonna be brilliant, i’m sure of it!!
woody
Monday, October 06, 2003
Today I’m dusting off a song which I wrote about 2 years ago while recording Club Nouveau in the US. It’s a song, inspired by a girl named Lori (Hmm, where did I hear that name before?), that was originally based on the Spandau Ballet song “Cut a long story short”. A lot of good music came from the 80-ies! Well, it still needs a lot of work, but I thought I’d tell you anyway. I’d better get to it now. See ya!
09/28/2003 – 10/04/2003
Friday, October 03, 2003
just wanted to let you know that our homie ROKIE and his wife DIYET will be joining us at the show in Grootenbroek on SATURDAY, so if you want to shake hands or get an autograph (hey, I would..!) this is the show you gotta be at. And let us not forget the rocking of the crowd of course, that’s a good reason to come to ANY TRAVOLTAS show!
see you there!
cheers,
-vince
p.s. perry… E.L.O.? THE CARS?
Monday, September 29, 2003
All day I’ve been working on a new tune. The beat is a sample from a great band from the 70’s and 80’s (i’m not gonna say which one, before all you bastards steal my ideas) with a lot of synths and guitars layered on it. The tempo is great, it’s like a walking tempo, if you would listen to this on your headphones while walking down the street, you’d feel like you’re a fuckin’ king!!
So the score is around and about 8 tracks, we’ll just keep on writing until we have enough to choose the best from.
But maybe I should shut up and start writing some lyrics, which is never my favourite part.. anyway, someone’s gotta do it!!
later!
Perry
Sunday, September 28, 2003
we had a meeting yesterday and we talked some serious shit. well, you won’t be bothered anyway so here’s some other stuff we discussed:
-my big time lazyness
-drinking champagne from plastic glasses
-our very special gig in …, the …th of november
which is gonna be real cool, you guys are gonna be surprised.
of course, we ended up in a bar drinkin beer talkin bullshit. yes, it’s a hard job, but someone’s gotta do it…
lator
woody
Thursday, September 25, 2003
wow, this weblog thing is really taking off huh? just dropped off 2 new tracks at perry’s crib. Both are uptempo punkpop songs, you’ll like em, believe me. I’m still working on a special november show. It’ll be something special for sure.
Hey you can still sign up for our newsletter, and our trusted newsletter fans will get all the news first! So if you want to be hip with the in-crowd, sign up. We promise not to bother you too much with useless info.
anybody seen woody?
– honda jackson
Monday, September 22, 2003
Good to see you again, man!
Cheers to all!
Eric
09/14/2003 – 09/20/2003
Friday, September 19, 2003
Just added 2 more shows:
SPECIAL PREMIERE PARTY FOR “BLUE CRUSH” DVD:
TH NOV 27th Aquariana Antwerpen Belgium
SA NOV 29th Tropicana Rotterdam Holland
The shows are both in swimming pools and have a very special surf theme. I don’t know how you can get in yet, but i’m looking into it. Should be real summer fun in the fall!
-vince
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Perry
Monday, September 15, 2003
glad to share with you that i’m working on a brand new song, currently under the name of ‘Baby, what have you done’. It has a slow beat-tempo and it’s about a woman that arrives in a little town and upsets all the men (and ofcourse all the women beacuse of that..) out there, setting up the citizens against eachother and disturbing the once peaceful daily routine. Ofcourse, I will not reveal how this story ends, you’ll have to buy the record for that one (or download it for free on the internet, you bastards..). Anyway, in other news: Our contestwinner Mr. T is now joining me in composing his song, he sent me some nice lyrics, hopefully i can finish the song anytime soon.
Good stuff to you all,
Perry
09/07/2003 – 09/13/2003
Saturday, September 13, 2003
pass the word..
Friday, September 12, 2003
Letting you know that i’m half way recording the song for our contestwinner: Tommy ‘Mr. T’ Bergen! The drums, guitars, bass and organ have been tracked, i’m still working on the lyrics, so the vocals have to wait a bit.. hopefully this song is finished by the end of next week.. I’ll keep you posted!
Perry
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
just confirmed 2 new shows in SWITSERLAND, on the 24th + 25th of October, TRAVOLTAS wil be rocking the alps into an avalanche! more details to follow. We’re also working on some stuff for December, so we can bring 2003 to a good end.
what else is new? ENDLESS SUMMER the song will be used for a documentary about ghetto kids going on a surf trip. This is a very international production, with Hungarian, Letvian en American moviemakers, and the soundtrack from Norway (Ralph Myerz) en Holland (TRAVOLTAS) so that’ll be something to look out for!
also the plans for the album and the tour are starting to become clearer for us. we’ll keep you posted,
now go play some travoltas cd’s!
-vince
Monday, September 08, 2003
woody
Friday, September 05, 2003
But who the hell is James Webster? Dear James, could you be more specific on who you are and what the hell you’re doing on the weblog?
– Eric
Thursday, September 04, 2003
just wanted to bring to you: the blood brothers… if you like RUSH (like me) and like old punk (like me) chances are you will also like the blood brothers. But be warned, most people think they are very annoying! check www.thebloodbrothers.com – We’ll talk soon my friends,
-vince
Wednesday, September 03, 2003
it’s been a while since I wrote you something, but here I am again. I’ve just come back from my holidays. My girl and I went to France, rented a house in some small village and did whatever we wanted to do, which wasn’t a lot. I still haven’t got a new computer (I blew up the last one) so I’m using someone else’s now. But a new episode of the Memoirs will come in a short while. I’ll be back soon…
– Peace
Eric
Maybe our next album should be more Foo Fighters-like? With Perry on drums and me on guitar and screaming my lungs out? Yeah right, that’s an idea.
Still it’s very difficult to decide which way to go with our next album, while all five of us like a lot of styles in music. I think it’s a good thing to think and talk about it a lot, and of course write songs, a part in which I’m trying to participate too, this time. Well, we’ll see.
And while we’re not decided yet, I’ll give the drumming lessons to my four little students this afternoon, after I’ve done the dishes (ROCK’N’ROLL!!!) because my kitchen looks like a dressing room after a Travoltas show…
cheers,
woody
Monday, September 01, 2003
What’s up? Just a quick check in after the weekend. I’m still recouperating after the lowlands thing. I did get to see the fabulous Dave Grohl in action and see detroit hipsters ADULT. doing their new wave of new wave thing. The spades show went pretty well, but when I heard and saw it back on tv I couldn’t hear my guitar which bummed me out.
The show on saturday with TRAVOLTAS however was really excellent and we had a lot of fun over there with those crazy Oberhausers! We played a good set and the crowd called fur a “zugabe” which we happily gave em. Looking forward to the next show on the 13th!
-vince
First of all: good to see Woody’s 1st entry in the weblog!!
Just came back from the Lowlandsfestival, where I witnessed a legendary performance by the Spades (with our own Vinny!!), they thrashed everything at the end of the show, it was a blast. The rest of all the bands pretty much sucked (unless you’re into teenboppers Sum 41 or those emo/goth-morons from AFI..), so it was a long wait before the Foo Fighters entered the stage. WHAT A FUCKING GREAT SHOW THAT WAS!! These guys really know how to rock, this was definitely one of the most impressive shows I’ve seen in the last few years.
I think I’m gonna hit the sack now, hopefully I’ll dream about Dave Grohl asking me to play drums on the next Foo Fighters tour..
talk to you soon,
Perry
Sunday, August 31, 2003
Yes, at last I figured it out! Now I know how to put a message here so you can read all the ins and outs about my life. Normally the only thing I can manage on a computer is to push the “on”-button and hope the thing will still work after that…
So, just got back from our gig last night in Oberhausen, Germany, home at last after two nights sleeping at Erik’s couch. (Thank you Erik, but still I prefer my own bed.) The gig was cool and we sold “shitloads of crappy shirts and CD’s” and I sweat my ass off drumming and selling all the stuff. When I finished I looked up to the stage, and there he was: Elvis Himself!!! Or maybe not… but this imitation Elvis played by a German Turk was a lot of fun to look at. Yes, we had a great time in Oberhausen and I will talk to you soon.
Woody “Computer” Stix
Saturday, August 30, 2003
In a couple hours we will head for Germany to play at The Garage Craze Fest in Druckluft/Oberhausen, come check it out cuz it’s gonna be fun!
Yesterday we had a long meeting after we rehearsed. A lot of things happened in the past few years and sometimes we have to reflect and see what the future can bring us. We talked a lot about how our new album should be like. I mean, we’re writing new songs, but we don’t have a clue where it’s going yet. So we’re trying to figure ot what kind of sound suits us best, what we do best and what we want the most. This is not an easy task since we’re around for 13 years and released 6 full length albums and lots of other stuff. It’s getting harder to keep the ideas and the songs fresh everytime.
Anyway, like I said, it’s time to hit the road, so we’ll get back to you all soon!
Have a great weekend,
Perry
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
I’d like to ask your attention for the following:
On our forum (TRAVOLTAS – general) we have a little poll, in which we’d love YOU to participate!!
And while you’re there, you can sign up for the forum as well and become an active member of the TRAVOLTAS COMMUNITY!
Spill your guts on TRAVOLTAS or any other matter! See you there! Oh, and don’t be shy to start your own topics!
Monday, August 25, 2003
cheers,
Perry ‘does Barry Manilow know you stole his wardrobe’ Travolta
I’m really on a roll now, completed ‘Can’t Stop’ and working on a brand new one called ‘The Highschool Reunion’.
I’m also working on Skokie’s ‘ Rock n Roll Star’ and ofcourse my good old ‘Rushing into Tomorrow’. These past couple of days have been very fruitful. I’m having a lot of ideas for these songs and other tunes, so I hope I can keep this flow of ideas rollin’!!
later…
Perry
08/17/2003 – 08/23/2003
Friday, August 22, 2003
today I’ve worked pretty hard if I may say so myself. I layed down the vocal tracks for ‘Can’t Stop’, after I finished the lyrics this morning. I fooled around with some drumsounds and vocoders aswell, but it didn’t work so well so I guess I’ll just stick to the basics. This afternoon Skokie came by for a cup of coffee and to let me hear his new song ‘Rock n Roll Star’ which turned out pretty well. The vocal harmonies are really impressive, can’t wait to rehearse these with the rest of the guys. I’m still working on the lyrics of ‘Rushing into tomorrow’, this is a tough one though..
OK, time to fix a quick dinner..
good stuff,
Perry
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
love,
Skokie
08/10/2003 – 08/16/2003
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
This coming Friday August 15th, Spijkenisse, The Netherlands!
Venue: ”Binnenstads”-festival, main stage
Showtime: 16:10-17:00 CET
Be there or be ….where?!!
Today I’ve been working on two songs, ‘Can’t Stop’ and ‘Rushing into Tomorrow’. ‘Can’t stop’ is an upbeat song with a funny synth-hook, a bit of an eighties feel. Today I’ve made a demo, recorded everything besides the vocals. Tomorrow I’ll take another listen, maybe it needs something more or less, we’ll see.. The lyrics and vocal melodies are finished, except for the middle piece. ‘Rushing into Tomorrow’ is a bit faster, more powerpop orientated. Still I haven’t decided what feel it should have, although I’ve recorded, again, everything besides the vocals. Only a small part of the lyrics have been written for this one, but the vocal melodies are in my head. They have a more dramatic flow, like you may know from ‘I’m Sorry’ (Endless Summer), ‘City Toxic’ (Club Nouveau) or even ‘The One WIth the Sun’ (Modern World).
I still have to work on ‘Modern Citizen’, which I have layed to rest for a while since I can’t come up with a good middle piece, I need something that brings the song somewhere else suddenly. But I’m really satisfied with the lyrics and the vocal harmonies..
talk to you later,
Perry
Monday, August 11, 2003
What do you think?!
08/03/2003 – 08/09/2003
Saturday, August 09, 2003
We have something special for out newsletter subscribers and trusted internet fans! Remember we told you about the JAWBREAKER tribute? yeah, yours truly rocking out with: NERF HERDER, FACE TO FACE, SPARTA, RIDDLIN’ KIDS, BAYSIDE and many more up & coming bands in the poppunk/indie rock field….
We did the song BAD SCENE, EVERYONE’S FAULT which is also the title of this killer comp on Dying Wish Records. And you can hear our song right here:
http://www.dyingwish.com/ecard/ecard_trav.html
It will only be up for a limited time, so go there now & check it out!
have fun,
-vince
Friday, August 08, 2003
Today I bring you a message from Eric, our beloved bass player. He wants you to know, that right now he’s not able to post in this blog, because of problems with his computer (and he’s not the only one!!) Just so you know! I’m still convinced it has something to do with the high temperatures. Oh, in a few days you can read the sequel to Eric’s memoires, part III (must be part IV then 🙂 ..), when he can write it, that is.. Alright, go take another dive!
ltr.
Skokie
Thursday, August 07, 2003
happy birthday dear Viiiince, happy birthday to you!!
Er is er een jarig hoera hoera,
dat kun je wel zien dat is hij,
dat vinden wij allen zo prettig jaja,
en daarom zingen wij blij,
hij leve lang hoera hoera (3x)!
And nog many years he! Skokie
i’m turning 31 today, in the year that celebrates travoltas 13th birthday….I’m really looking forward to opening the P.O. box later today to see all the precious gifts sent to me by loving Travoltas fans worldwide. Let me start by thanking you in advance for sending me such nice birthday presents! goodbye,
-vince
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
The almighty ‘Skokie Venom’
Monday, August 04, 2003
i just finished a new demo, sounds like gary glitter meets 60’s beatmusic…also finished up the drumtracks on the other 2 demo’s, and they both pretty much ROCK ASS! hey on the downlow for you my friends, a SUPERTIP: go to www.worldinvaders.com and proceed to ‘MIXAGE’ – there, download the OLD SCHOOL MIX by U-MASK. The entire mix is 150 MB (65 minutes) and it’s a non stop mix of some of my favourite electro records by some german (I think) dj. check it out for ROBOT VOICES and 80’s SOUNDS. It’s free, it kicks ass and totally rules. go there now!
-vince
07/27/2003 – 08/02/2003
Saturday, August 02, 2003
Yesterday I got back from my vacation, I had a great time, just chilling out on the beach everyday and having a few bevies in the night. For a couple of days we rented a car, and discovered some beautiful beaches, without any humans in sight! So with a clear head and a burned nose, I’m ready to work on new songs. I got plenty of new ideas that I’ll be working out in the next couple of weeks. It’s good to see it’s summer in Holland aswell, so I’m sure I’m gonna catch a few sunrays every now and then.
Keep on truckin’, talk to you soon!
Perry
Friday, August 01, 2003
I proudly present you the next episode of Eric’s Memoires! Today he takes you to April 19th 2003, the day Travoltas went from Livorno to Torino (both in Italy f.y.i.) to play in EL PASO! So, are you curious yet? No? Hmmmm…. It’s a veeeeeery cool episode! uh,.. and uh.. well, it’s very interesting too! JUST READ IT! (click JOURNAL in the menu)
By the way, I’m still working on the biggest Travoltas picture collection ever, soon to be shared with YOU! As I said before, it takes a lot of preparation time..
Oh, and Skokie told me 🙂 that he’s busy writing a very cool song. The song is called ‘Rock and Roll Star’, and is of course about his own life! HIT MATERIAL!
Well, that’s it for now! Keep checking up on those new developments (and there will be lots of those, oh yeah!)
ltr.
MatthewStar
Thursday, July 31, 2003
I finished a new song yesterday! the riffs just came to me and I recorded a demo for it in a matter of hours. kinda sounds like a cross between pavement and weezer. I’m also finishing up the drumedits for another song which is an uptempo rock ‘n roll song,
with some different chords than usual which makes it sometimes sound a little sonic youthish….. AND I have a great new idea for a 3rd one with more of a hardrock/deus feel to it, i’ll try and record that one asap. I think tonight or tomorrow…. Finally the ideas start flowing,which is what I need to start working on a bunch of songs. Don’t know if any of these will fit the new album, but we’ll see when we have accumalated more stuff…. feeling good!
-vince
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
I haven’t been working on any songs the last few days, I just don’t feel like writing travoltas songs right now, so i’ve been doing some other stuff. I’ve been doing some remixes for rapper TAREEF which was a lot of fun, and i’ve been working on the artwork for the iron maiden tribute sleeve. Also finished some cool electro tracks for ra-x. Not much news over here, the summer isn’t really the best time for serious work, now is it? We have been working on some new stuff (releases, shows, more), but i’ll let you know when everything is confirmed…
rock on,
-vince
07/20/2003 – 07/26/2003
Thursday, July 24, 2003
been working on edits from some drumtracks we have. I thought it’d come in handy when recording demo’s for the new album. But for some strange reason when you edit ‘real’ drums to much, they start to sound like the drumcomputer you’re trying to get away from… The track we did with THE UNCONTROLABLE really kicks ass. it’s for a compilation on Crucial Response Records, check www.crucial-response.de which is somewhat of a famous label, or so I’ve been told. I think there’s more labels interested in that band, and I’ll keep you posted on the developments… The tommy bergen song is not coming along yet, but i’m still working on it (or thinking about it, really) and i’m working on a travoltas mp3 page with only rarities. That’s 3 downloadable tracks each month, acapella’s, live stuff, never released stuff etc etc. the problem is that mp3.com is being sold and i’m trying to find out how that affects us.
cheers,
-vince
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
just getting ready to go to the trusted studio 195 in wernhout… I’m helping out the UNCONTROLLABLE with a song for some hardcore compilation, practised the lyrics, the voice is in good shape… I’m ready for screaming! I also wrote the lyrics for that song and it’s called SxWxAxSxTxIxKxAx, your basic anti nazi hardcore song I gues. If anybody is interested in hearing it i’ll put it on the net when it’s finished. Any news on the new travoltas album you ask? no, not really, i’m just working on some ideas. Anything god? I hear you asking again, no, not really….
btw. the tilburg kermis has started and that’s just like living in hell. all tilburgers MUST agree that 10 days of working man entertainment might be a tad overboard, and i’m getting really sick of the generic trance music blasting from the speakers.Can’t go ANYWHERE in the city without crossing that stupid thing!
have a good one,
-vince
– Eric
07/13/2003 – 07/19/2003
Saturday, July 19, 2003
just finished a scorching acid/elektro track for the OUT TO BOMB label with my alias RA-X. It was fun cranking the machines up to overload again! Next tuesday i’ll be singing a song for THE UNCONTROLLABLE starring RIES X of REACHING FORWARD and TONY SLUG (all round punk legend..) and tomorrow, me and eric will try to work on the TOMMY BERGEN song, tentivly titled T-TIME! (OR GO TOMMY BERGEN GO!) and inbetween that stuff i’m working on some tracks with rapper TAREEF for his album AND getting together a tracklist for the GOLDENBOY album. So yeah, i’m keeping busy while the rest of the world slacks off on a holiday..!
have a good weekend,
-vince
Thursday, July 17, 2003
so within a few hours i will take off, spending 2 weeks far away from tv, phones and computers! just relaxing on the beach.. I’ve been re-writing parts of ‘Modern Citizen’, changing rythms and the bridges. When I come back I’m gonna make a demo for it, see how that comes out. So everybody, talk to you in a couple of weeks!
Keep on truckin’,
Perry
been working on some chicago house tracks today. I know most of you reading this just hate tat kind of music, but it’s just one of the +/- 100 styles I really dig. If you get a chance check out LA DRID AUSTIN & PAUL JOHNSON, deep house, with a very minimalistic vibe and a very ‘black’ feel to it. As far as new TRAVOLTAS material, well, I can tell you one thing, there won’t be one inch of house in it! I’m also working on Tommy’s song, and I keep coming back to the same chorus, maybe we’ll just gonna have to keep it then…I haven’t heard eric’s song yet, looking forward to that. Well Skokie has also left the building to go on a 2 week vacation in France and Perry is leaving the upcoming weekend, so that only leaves me & eric to hold down the fort! Hey, ‘renegade’ is starting on tv, gotta go!
-vince black
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
– Sweet dreams
Eric
Monday, July 14, 2003
1 more day of mixing and then the Goldenboy album is finished! I’m really happy with the way it turned out, but you’ll all here it when it comes out, so keep your eyes and ears open for this one! Haven’t been writing a lot for the Travoltas, but I managed to finish the lyrics on a song called ‘Model Citizen’. It’s not the straight-forward beach/girl story, as I find it hard to ignore all the stuff that’s happening around us nowadays. I’m trying to come up with a cool middle piece (the ‘middle 8’), but the music, words and melody of all the verses, bridges and chorusses have been completed. On friday I leave for a 2 week holiday with my girlfriend, my first holiday in 4 years! We never had the time cuz there was always a tour or something else that kept me from enjoying a summervacation. . Hopefully I’ll come up with some new tunes out there, between swimming, sunbathing and drinking cocktails/beer/gin-tonics..
Talk to you soon,
Perry
07/06/2003 – 07/12/2003
Saturday, July 12, 2003
– Peace
Eric
Hi again,
enjoyed the first episode of Eric’s Journal? Part II is coming up in two days, as promised. Currently I’m working on an extensive photo collection of TRAVOLTAS. Some of you diehards might recognize some golden oldies, but the mere majority you haven’t seen before!! The collections will contain pics of Travoltas on tour, in the studio, or ‘A Travoltas Party!’ (!), and all right out of the secret vaults! I hope you understand that putting all that online takes a lot of preparations. But, just wanted you to know, that it’s coming up! To give you a little sneak preview.. what about this classic??
Friday, July 11, 2003
on 29-7 a special compilation is being released. it’s called BAD SCENE, EVERYONE’S FAULT and it’s a tribute to a legendary pop-punk / pre-emo band called JAWBREAKER. The line up on that compilation includes some big names and of course us, and we’re responsable for the title track of the compilation:
-Bigwig : Ashtray Monument
-Bayside : Chemistry
-Face to Face : The Boat Dreams From The Hill
-Name Taken : Want
-Duvall : Busy
-The Travoltas : Bad Scene, Everyone’s Fault
-Riddlin Kids : Jinx Removing
-Counterfit : Million
-The Aeffect : Boxcar
-For Amusement Only : Shield Your Eyes
-Fall Out Boy : Save Your Generation
-The Reunion Show : Unlisted Track
-Sparta : Kiss The Bottle
-Nerf Herder : Chesterfield King
-Kill Your Idols : Do You Still Hate Me?
-The Gamits : I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both
-Goodnight Bad Guy : Jet Black
So check out the site of DYING WISH RECORDS: www.dyingwish.com for more info and the artwork and keep checking back, because in the next couple of weeks there will be a special e-card preview of the TRAVOLTAS cover available on that site! We’ll keep ya posted! have a good weekend,
-vince
Thursday, July 10, 2003
this is vince, just wanted to let you all know i’m working on a new song today, for now it’s titled DO THE EVOLUTION BABY and i’ve been working on a nice glockenspiel & cello break in the midddle of the song which is turning out really great. couldn’t find the right reverb sound for it, but now I’ve added it and it sounds really nice, i’m still struggling with the boogie woogie piano riffs in the verses, and i’m trying to create a ‘running’ bassline which is basicly a bassline which changes around through the verse. It’s got some late beach boys era qualities I think, but hey my voice doesn’t sound anything like carl wilson, so right now it sounds like dinosaur jr….i’m starting to get more really cool ideas though for the next album, and i’ll keep you posted on em! thanks for dropping by,
-vince
Haha,
just read Eric’s memoirs on last April’s Italian tour. If you want to know what all your friends are talking about, go and read the journal section. MatthewStar told me that the next part of Eric’s Journal will be online this coming monday. :))
yours truely,
Skokie
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
another word from your beloved webmaster MatthewStar. And has he got some news for you!! From now on you can talk about your favourite band (and anything else for that matter) in a new and improved TRAVOLTAS FORUM! To use it, you have to sign up first, but once you did that… WOW! Be sure to check out all the great functions. Oh and uh, don’t worry about the colours and stuff. I might just do something about those..
bye bye (zwaai zwaai),
MatthewStar
I just made the announcement live on RADIO 2, and here it is…. drumroll…. TOMMY VAN BERGEN. We almost disqualified him due to his persistent loging in (we’re talking every 30 seconds here…) but the truth is he really is the 100.000th visitor to our site. So mr VAN BERGEN, send us your personal info asap through email, and we’ll start writing you a song. And we will now get back to the business at hand, mixing the GOLDENBOY album and writing songs for our new album. Thanks to you all!
THE TRAVOLTAS:
-vince / perry / skokie / eric / woody
TUNE IN TO RADIO 2 RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE I’LL MAKE THE ANNOUNCEMENT LIVE ON THE RADIO.
thanks to all you guys, you are the best fans any band can have!
let’s go for a million visitors…
thanks,
-vince (still posting on perry’s computer…)
please leave a message in the guestbook or on the forum, ok? that will make it much easier to find out who our 100.000th visitor is on this site. There is also a chance this might already happen today, so keep coming back to check it! thanks for dropping by…
-vince (on perry’s computer)
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
in english:
100.000 TRAVOLTAS FANS CAN’T BE WRONG!
This is a special week for all TRAVOLTAS fans and Internet users. Sometime within the next 3 days the magical barrier of 100.000 visitors will be broken on the TRAVOLTAS website www.travoltas.com! Earlier this year we also crossed 50.000 downloads on www.mp3.com/travoltas and the band wants to mark this with something special.
Thanks to the counter we can see who the 100.000th visitor is and he or she wil get something really special from the band. Something truelly unique and one of a kind…. YOU WILL GET YOUR OWN SONG! The band will write and record a personalised song about you and your life, record it and send it to you on a cd and add some goodies, cd’s and shirts as well! The song will also be put on our mp3 site, making it available for the rest of the world to hear…
TRAVOLTAS would also like to thank ALL the fans that have visited the site these last couple of years,
love & mercy,
Vince / Perry / Eric / Skokie / Woody
– See ya soon!
Eric
Monday, July 07, 2003
Too bad Woody couldn’t make it, since he is enjoying his holiday with his girlfriend somewhere in Spain. This whole Beach Boys night gives me a lot of energy and ideas for new songs, it’s just amazing how the Beach Boys can do that everytime you listen to them, they really get into your heart and soul.
Well folks, time to hit the sack cuz tomorrow it’s another day of mixing songs for the Goldenboy-album!
sweet dreams,
Perry
PS: please give the following albums a try: Friends, Surf’s Up and Sunflower (ofcourse by the Beach Boys!!)
Sunday, July 06, 2003
Time to take a shower and have some coffee…
– Peace
Eric
just wanted to remind you that TONIGHT on RADIO 1 for all the Dutch fans, there will be a special theme night about the BEACH BOYS, and we will be at the radio station to talk and sing a couple of songs live and acoustic (party style!) The theme night is from 01.00 till 06.00 and will feature beach boys rarities, stories and all sorts of stuff well worth losing a nights sleep over… + plus of course your fav band playing some songs. Last night we got hammered at our local Irish pub drinking a shitload of GUINNESS pints, and I think our buddy Erik will be in bed all day (that is, untill it is time to leave for the radioshow..) We also watched some THE WHO dvd’s and have come to the conclusion that Keith Moon was the best drummer of all times, even beating Dave Grohl, who is second on the list. Furthermore we have decided that JOHAN CRUIJFF is the best soccerplayer of all times beating GOLDENBOY’s nominee MARADONNA by a long stretch. mmmm, This info might be more interesting for the male travoltas fans than the female fans, but hey we had a boys night out anyway! (well, the boys and erik’s girl Renee that is..) More useless info coming soon! Not much work on songs happening today probably….
-vince
06/29/2003 – 07/05/2003
Saturday, July 05, 2003
thanx for stopping by. I just did a gig at FANTASIO last night with a special IRON MAIDEN elektro set. the set went very well, too bad there were only 8 people watching me perform it. That kinda brought me down since i’ve been working all week on the specialy requested set by the Dutch Rock Institute. Seesaw was pretty cool, nice guys & girls and the SPOOKRIJDERS just didn’t show up. How’s that for being a pro…? OK just wanted to let you know that I have a chorus ready and it’s not really about science fiction. it’s gonna be DO THE EVOLUTION BABY. I’ll try finishing up the verses this weekend and i’m thinking of adding a break with only glockenspiel & cello in it in true brian wilson style. the mid section has an elektro breakdown (only a few seconds though) with which i’m really happy how it turned out, because it’s really hard to integrate stuff like that in a song without making it sounds really forced. i’m gonna clean up this mess I live in right now, have a good weekend guys!
love & mercy,
-vince
Friday, July 04, 2003
Have a good weekend!
Perry
Thursday, July 03, 2003
-vince
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
i just got in from a long day of mixing on the GOLDENBOY album, so i’m a bit tired, but i wanted to keep you all posted on what’s going on of course!We’ve been working on a great track called IN A YEAR OR TWO and added some great stringz & mellotron stuff in the break there. It was a lot of fun to hang out in Norway with those GOLDENBOY guys. they are really nice AND they write good songs. Of course the fact that their city BERGEN is inhabited by about 5000 gorgeous scandinavian girls helps a lot too…We’ll continue mixing tomorrow, but now I just want to watch something mindnumbing on tv. BTW: Woody is going on a holiday so he’s not here to post… stay cool,
-vince
In de nacht van zondag 6 op maandag 7 juli is er een ‘Beach Boys’-nacht op Radio 1! Duurt van 1 tot 6.. Dat is natuurlijk al helemaal VET!, maar wat nog veel VETTER! is, is dat TRAVOLTAS daar natuurlijk niet ontbreken!! Meer details kan ik je helaas niet geven, want TOPGEHEIM! ssssssssssjjjt!!!!!!
English:
During the night from Sunday 6th to Monday 7th of July there’s a Beach Boys’ night on Dutch Radio 1. How RAD is that? Well, it gets even RADDER, cause your favourite Beach Boys impersonators are gonna play there too! So, if you’re in the country, tune in to Radio 1 and hear your heroes play some BB hits!
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
Second of all: I’m working on some new material now. I wrote a song and recorded it at Perry’s. It’s not finished though, it still lacks lyrics. I tried to write some, but somehow it’s hard to find lyrics that “fit”. So I decided to leave it alone for a while, hoping my poetical abilities will soon reveal themselves…
Anyway, I’m working on something new now, called “I feel fine”. None of the guys have heard it yet, but I’ll let them have a listen when it’s totally finished. I already wrote the lyrics, so…
Eric
A good way to start a log about ‘the road to a new Travoltas-album’ is that I threw away the 8 songs I finished a couple of weeks ago. I don’t think they were good enough to be on our next album, although they might have been good enough for previous albums.. So now I’m just waiting for the new songs to pop up in my head.. In the meantime, Vince and I are mixing the fabulous debut album of Norway’s Goldenboy. We returned from Bergen a couple of days ago, 10 days of recording.. didn’t see so much sunlight but hey, it’s gonna be a great album!
Last saturday we had a great show in N-Schoonebeek, in the North-East of Holland. There were about 400 people partying like it was 1999 (or 2003 if you want to..). We got pretty drunk after the show, always a good ending of a saturdaynight. Since we’re not planning a lot of gigs for the rest of the year, it’s nice to play once in a while and realize you’re still in a great band, it still gives me a thrill!
Perry
Skokie, a.k.a. MatthewStar, tha webmaster of Travoltas.com
this is vince, posting his first blog on the web..eehh..blog. I’ve been working on some ideas in my head for a new song today, and as soon as I get my new plug-ins to work i’ll record a demo of it. it’s uptempo, kinda loud sounding…. more info about it coming soon!
cheers
-vince