Ir. Vendermeulen (Mikkel v/d Meulen, Amsterdam) is best known for promoting the ultracool sounds 1950's / early 70's. He does this by DEEJAYING, playing SAXOPHONE and THEREMIN, recording and releasing MUSIC, running the TARDAM RECORDS label and the ABC-Agency bookingoffice and PRODUCING events.
SOME HISTORY :) In the early 80's, young Mikkel ran a 2nd hand clothing store in Haarlem: Rip Kirby Ent. Besides clothing he sold records, magazines, posters, jewelry and other cool vintage stuff.
It was during these years that Mikkel organised his first parties, in and around Haarlem and Amsterdam, where he played records from his extended R'n'R/R'n'B/Soul/Ska-collection.
Through the years his musical taste developed, but always that fantastic sound of "The Golden Age of Music" kept his main interest.
DE TEUTONICS
In '98 deejay-duo De Teutonics was formed, together with good friend Gerrit-Jan van Ham, specialising in what they called "Bule-Bule à Go-Go": a blend of French YéYé, 60's Europop, Soul, Beat, Jive and Crazy Cover-versions from all around the world, all spinned from original vinyl on vintage turntables. The duo worked together for 5 years.
AMSTERDAM BEATCLUB
In early 2003, as a reaction to the poor nightclub-action at the time, a group of friends and colleague-deejays (Ir.Vendermeulen, Charley Rhythm, Wilf Plum, Eddy de Clercq, Piet Popcorn) started Amsterdam BeatClub. Their goal was to bring the cool sounds of the fifties and sixties back into the clubs. The very first ABC parties took place at ultra-small Amsterdam underground venues and proved to be a great succes.. so more parties came and venues grew!
Nowadays, Amsterdam BeatClub is produced by Ir.Vendermeulen and considered an important organisation for Vintage Music in Holland, with a steady following from around the country and outside.
TEASE-À-GOGO
Burlesque was a part of the Amsterdam BeatClub-events since 2003. In 2007 Ir.Vdm teamed with Charley Rhythm & Koos van Dijk to do a series of Burlesque-nights at The Comedy Theater in Amsterdam, called Tease-à-GoGo. They were Holland's first Burlesque all-nighters, feat. classic & contemporary burlesque shows, live music, freakshows, deejays. Now Burlesque in Holland had the platform it needed and a Dutch Burlesque movement could develop. The parties where an instant succes and run a couple of years. After this other Burlesque events developed, some of which still run succesful today..
DEEJAY
As deejay the Ir. likes to dig deep in the vaults of music history. He is known for his hard-grooving sets filled with steaming, often obscure, but always soulful music, played from the original 45-RPM's. Main ingredients are: R'n'B, Soul, Boogaloo, Rock 'n Roll, Beat, Mod-Jazz, YéYé, Funk, Ska, Surf, Exotica, Popcorn and 60's Garage ..all 50's/70's dancefloor fillers!
Sometimes dj-gigs are done using his vintage turntables, even spinning from his rare 78RPM-records collection, sounding just fabulous!
SAXOPHONE
Saxophonist Ir.Vendermeulen, sometimes using his a.k.a "Mr. Mills", works with various musicians and groups.
He plays tenor and baritone-sax with CC Jerome & The Savoys, backing int. artists such as Natty Bo (UK), Otis Gayle (JAM), Laura Ashleigh (UK), Cody Lee (UK) and Earl Jackson (UK). Some other projects are The Skepticals, The Kopasetics and the Hello Weeners.
He also played and/or recorded with bands & artists like West Hell 5, Working Voodoo Club, Georgina Peach, Lee Towers, Gizzelle, Dylan Kirk, Bonnie St. Claire, Augie Burr, The Spinshots, Mike Sanchez, the Mighty Typhoons, the Guituraculas, Pachuco Jose, the Firebirds, Les Greene, Don Diego Trio, Si Cranstoun, Sue Moreno, Maison du Malheur, Fumaca Preta, Lady Marmalade & The Beatnik Cats, the Velvedettes, Tony Slug Experience, La Sirène, Jacqueline Taïeb, The Anacondas, Savage Beat, Messer Chups ao.
Theremin
Sometimes Ir. can be heard as thereminist, for instance in "Music To Be Murdered By", a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. With The Anacondas, a live soundtrack was made during projection of the Cult-movie "King Kong vs. Godzilla" (Jap.'63) for Rocket Cinema.
At Amsterdam BeatClub (est. 2003, produced by Ir. Vendermeulen) you can enjoy the fantastic wild and groovy music & culture of the 50's/60's. Many clubnights and festivals are organized at different venues and apart from deejays & live-music the parties often feature Go-Go Dancers, Burlesque performers, sideshows and cult veejay-visuals.
Ir. Vendermeulen runs a booking agency, where bands, deejays & acts can be booked: ABC-AGENCY. Check it out folks!
Together with long time friend Goffredo Santovito and Fabrizio Carrieri, Ir. Vendermeulen founded TARDAM RECORDS, a records label specialised in releasing 50's / 60's dancefloor music on 7" records.. check the Tardam catalogue HERE!
There are many plans for more projects, shows, parties and recordings in the future ..the best is yet to come!
