Spasmodique was an underground rock band from
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
,
The Netherlands
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Nether ...
from 1981 to 2005.
Sound
Spasmodique formed at the height of
new wave's popularity and existed somewhere near that genre's
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...
fringes. They sang almost exclusively in English. Early demos reveal a sound not dissimilar to
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.
Sumner and Hook formed the band after att ...
, including prominent basslines, baritone vocals, dark lyrical themes and minimalist guitar. Later in their career, their music was sometimes described as
goth. Their last album was more musically complex and had a hard rock edge, similar to the work of
Billy Duffy
William Henry Duffy (born 12 May 1961) is an English rock musician, best known as the guitarist of the band The Cult.
Early life
Duffy was born and grew up in Manchester. He has Irish and Jewish heritage and ancestry. He began playing the gu ...
. Their musical influences also included
The Swans
Swans is an American experimental rock band formed in 1982 by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. One of the few acts to emerge from the New York City-based no wave scene and stay intact into the next decade, Swans have be ...
and
The Sound.
RED SUN RECORDS online MUSIC store
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History
1980s
Spasmodique was formed in 1982 by singer/guitarist Mark Ritsema, guitarist Arjo Hijmans, bassist Martin Doctors van Leeuwen and drummer Reinier Rietveld (formerly of Quando Quango
Quando Quango were a British electronic music group, formed by The Haçienda DJ and Factory Records A&R man Mike Pickering, Hillegonda Rietveld and Reinier Rietveld. Their unique sound influenced the underground dance music scenes in New York ...
). They released a self-titled five-song ep in 1986. The same year, they recorded songs for an opera that were later released on their album ''North''. In 1987 Spasmodique released their full-length debut ''From the Cellar of Roses'' and toured with Umberto di Bosso e Compadres. The next year they released another album with three new studio tracks and five live tracks, ''Start to Believe/Someone's Out There to Get You''. In 1989 they finally debuted a single, "The Square", and released another full-length album, ''North''. By the end of the decade, the band had grown more popular internationally, with growing audiences in Germany and Austria.[Dutch Rock & Pop Institute]
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1990s
1990 would see the birth of Spasmodique's master work, the album ''Haven''. Upon completion of the recording sessions, Hijmans left the band. The band promptly replaced him with Niek den Braven and Hans Brusse and released the non-album single "Spilling". The next year saw more personnel changes when the two new members were replaced by guitarist Raymond Gerrits. Spasmodique almost came to an end then, and embarked on a farewell tour, but the public's enthusiastic response convinced them to stay together. They released ''Who's Afraid'', a compilation of demos and outtakes. In 1992 the band took a break from live performances that would stretch over a decade.
2000s
In 2000 Spasmodique began work on what would become new album ''Villa Delirium''. It was released in 2002. That same year the book ''20 Jaar Spasmodique, From the Cellar of Roses'' was published, detailing the band's history and discography. In 2005 singer Ritsema
Rudolf Ritsema (3 October 1918, Velp, Gelderland – 8 May 2006) was the director of the Fondazione Eranos (Eranos Foundation) for over thirty years and the editor of the ''Eranos‑Jahrbuch'' serial (beginning with its vol. 38 published i ...
left the band, effectively ending Spasmodique.
Post-Spasmodique
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Mark Ritsema has continued to record and perform with his new band Raskolnikov
Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Родион Романович Раскольников, Rodión Románovich Raskólʹnikov, rədʲɪˈon rɐˈmanəvʲɪtɕ rɐˈskolʲnʲɪkəf) is the fictional protago ...
.
References
External links
Spasmodique distributor Red Sun RecordsSpasmodique official siteSinger Mark Ritsema's Web page, including Spasmodique lyrics and other information
{{Authority control
Dutch musical groups
Dutch post-punk music groups