What happens when the music stops?

 It’s every boys wet dream: rocking a stage, touring with a band of buddies and having chicks at every gig in awe for you. Sounds like the life you never want to leave. But what if you do? What happens to those that step off stage and shake off that turmoil of sound and song? A little get together with two former stage-gods from Rotterdam gives some insight in what it’s really like to be a musician. Jerry Hormone (ex-Ragin’ Hormones, ex-Apers & ex-the Quotes) and Marc Nolte (ex-the Quotes & ex-Face Tomorrow) open up and share their fair share of crazy anecdotes and deep thoughts. 

How long did you rock the stage for? 

Jerry: I started my first band, The Ragin’ Hormones when I was sixteen, but we only played, like, two shows a month. Things got more serious when I joined The Apers, at the end of 2000. With that band we toured relentlessly: club shows in the Netherlands every weekend, thirty plus date tours across Europe and the States. In 2005 I’d had enough and quit The Apers, semi-retiring from rock ‘n’ roll at the age of twenty two.

Marc: I’ve played for twelve years with Face Tomorrow, played in some hardcore bands before that, toured with Elle Bandita last summer and a year or so with the Quotes. All in all, for the last fifteen years I suppose.

 
Marc Nolte doing a signature solo.

When did you know you had to become a musician?

Jerry: When I was fourteen. You had Nirvana and Green Day on MTV and I really wanted to do that. I couldn’t play the drums or guitar though and I thought I was already too old to start learning how to master those instruments, so I figured I’d become a roadie. Carrying amplifiers around isn’t much fun though...When I did get a cheap guitar and found out about power chords and The Ramones, the rock star dream turned out to be rather simple to obtain. 

Marc: I was pretty late in picking up an instrument. I guess I was seventeen and some friends in highschool asked me to play guitar in a band so we could perform on the school’s performance night. I had never played guitar before, and I only had a month or so to learn, but I thought it would be pretty cool…So finally, after practicing hard for a month we did this show. And I have to admit, I had and have never since been so nervous for anything in my life. I literally had trembling knees and I was afraid I’d fall over if I’d only move for just an inch. But, seeing the crowd react to the music was magical. We even started a moshpit on a Neil Young cover, haha. And how shitty that may sound in hindsight, I had never felt more alive. I knew: this was what I wanted to do. 

Jerry Hormone enjoys holding his guitar up high too.

When did you know you had to quit? 

Jerry: It was at some festival somewhere sometime in 2005. 2004 had been a slow year and in 2005 The Apers didn’t really draw that much people anymore, at least not like we did in 2002 and 2003. Anyway, at that festival the audience was tiny, spread out over a huge field and boring. When I played with The Apers, it was a very physical thing. I wasn’t just strumming the chords, I put everything into it, going ape, which took a lot of energy. I didn’t get much energy back at that show and figured I hadn’t for the last one and a half year. Audiences were shrinking, I couldn’t pay my bills¸ but most of all: I’d gotten bored of it.

Marc: I basically had the feeling that I’d gotten everything out of the band that was in it. We made three records, each of which felt relevant at their time, but I don’t think we had another one in us. Plus, it just wasn’t fun anymore. The creative synergy had more or less faded to a level at which writing songs together was 99% frustration and 1% fun. It took us four years to write our third record ‘In The Dark’ and that process was so tiring that I decided it would be my last record with Face Tomorrow.  

What was your ultimate rock ‘n’ roll moment?

Jerry: There are some highlights like playing a sold out CBGB’s in New York, two times the Lowlands festival, seeing your videos on MTV, touring Europe and the States, throwing up on the hood of an expensive red sports car, encounters with girls whose name I can’t remember...It’s all pretty corny, cheesy and stupid, whatever’s good to your ego, anyone in a semi successful band has the same kind of rock ‘n’ roll experiences. 

Marc: I played over 500 shows with Face Tomorrow, so a lot of those come to mind, playing big festivals like Lowlands or Pukkelpop for instance, or Bevrijdingsfestival in Zwolle for a crowd of 50000. Lots of great parties too, but one thing that sticks to mind is this; A couple of years ago we played a show in Berlin, and immediately afterwards we drove to Rotterdam to drop off our gear and take a plane to New York to play a few shows there. At the time an A&R manager of a huge label, Atlantic Records, was interested in signing us and kind of wanted to impress. So he had put us on the guestlist for all the hip parties, took us out to fanciest restaurants etc. Well, although I had never been in the USA, arriving in New York kind of felt like coming home to me. So I forgot that I hadn’t slept for two days or something and went to a releaseparty for some ultra hip fashion magazine. It was in a huge mansion in Manhattan and there were two 100-meter lines on both sides of the door. I skipped the line, went up to the gigantic bouncer, told him I was in Face Tomorrow and was immediately welcomed in. The building had a beautiful penthouse, so I went up and watched the beautiful skyline of the city that never sleeps, watching the yellow cabs from above, while sipping on the free-whiskeys they poured. So, standing there, in what felt like the centre of the universe, surrounded by the most beautiful models and actors, and realising it was this band I worked so hard on that got us there, yeah, that felt kind of rock n roll.

Marc Nolte in his good old Face Tomorrow times

Both of you have quitted at least two times. Why start again with another band?

Jerry: I never got bored with playing music, I got bored with the heavy duty gigging in a vain attempt to pay my rent. A job that pays so little, all you can afford to eat when you’re not being fed at a show is white beans in tomato sauce. So after I quit The Apers, I enjoyed playing with The Quotes. And now I enjoy what I do both solo and with The Rubber Hearts, a band I do with Marien and Ivo, both former members of tatatadah: The Apers.

Marc: I just love making music. Especially playing live. The rush and energy you get when your music comes alive on stage through the interaction with a crowd is indescribable.  

Jerry Hormone and the classic 'Almost summer' song

Have you kissed music goodbye entirely?

Jerry: Once in a while, I record songs with Kepi of the Groovie Ghoulies, there’s some solo stuff I’ve been working on for years now, and The Rubber Hearts thing with Ivo and Marien. All of which are fun things, cool stuff.

Marc: On the contrary, I quit Face Tomorrow because I want to be able to do new projects. For Face Tomorrow I always did the management, bookings and promotion myself as well, so it really was a fulltime thing. I would love to do some new projects and focus more on just playing…No rush, but I really would like to do another serious band.

What now?

Jerry: After giving up on the idea of making any serious money doing music I actually like, I’ve started writing children’s books. The books are about a white, pointy eared, vampire teethed little kid called Borre. I’ve written about seventy books now and they’re pretty successful in the Netherlands. And since touring had pretty much destroyed my formal education, I started studying Dutch literature a couple of years ago, hoping to finish that sometime next year. 

Marc: While playing with Face Tomorrow I soon found out that no matter how good your band is doing, you’re going to have a damn hard time making a living out of it, so I started out as a freelance photographer. Something I could easily do besides music and well, basically it’s just another passion. I’ve only been doing that since a couple of years, but it’s great to work on new things.

You’ve had you’re fair share of on the road experience. What would you advice for young, starting bands, be?

Jerry: Enjoy! It’s loads of fun! And when it quits being fun, well, you just quit and find something else you like.

Marc: It’s such a cliché, but you really should Do-It-Yourself! Especially nowadays, the traditional musical ‘industry’ has been broken down and there are absolutely no limits to what you can reach by yourself, just by going for it for a 100%. So don’t focus on getting labels, bookers, managers etc. They’ll find you when you really need them, and in the meantime go for it; mail, call, plan, book, and especially play your asses off!

Check out Marc Nolte's photography here: www.marcnolte.com

Jerry Hormone can be found on his myspace page: www.myspace.com/thejerryhormoneegotrip