Because there were persistent issues with the intonation and the Bill Lawrence pickups which never got the sound Akkerman wanted quite right.Īs a result while Gordon Lightfoot and Rik Emmett adopted the Akkerman as their main axes, Akkerman himself gave up on the Framus and continued playing his Hamer modified Les Paul.Ĭome the eighties and Akkerman starts working with Robbert De Vos, a talented luthier and Akkerman still has some Framus Cascos at home and De Vos was asked if he could make them playable instruments. Now one thing you will likely see when you type in "Framus Akkerman" into the image finder is that untouched examples such as this one are a rare sight indeed. I want to play festivals too, I also want to travel around and do gigs but it's become so difficult to do so thanks to dance music.Īnd don't mention Focus, Golden Earring and Shocking Blue as they are bands from the past, in the case of the last one, they don't even exist anymore after Mariska died. So I told him the truth: I have been working for 25 years and counting, writing my own music, honing my craft as a musician but rock bands always get the cold shoulder in The Netherlands because it's far easier to book a DJ. At which I went "Fine rub it in why don't you!" at first he didn't understand what I meant. The Ex-boyfriend of the niece of my sister in law is one such DJ and he went on about all those festivals he played and how much money it made him. I was in college when Gabber broke big and the Gabbers themselves were NOT nice, the best way to describe them were "Hippie Bashers" I was alt rock and with my long hair became a frequent target for what they called "Alto bashing"Īlso Gabber and other dance genres made it impossible as a band to have steady performances, as people were more quickly to book a DJ rather than a band.
A year later, Cherry Red issued The Focus Family Album compilation.That brings back BAD memories. In 2016, Van Leer shifted personnel again to include drummer Pierre van der Linden, guitarist Menno Gootjes, and bassist Udo Pannekeet and released the studio album Focus 8.5 / Beyond the Horizon and Live In England.
In 2010, Nike used "Hocus Pocus" in its Word Cup commerical, Write The Future, renewing global interest in the band.
#HOCUS FOCUS SONG SKIN#
In 2002, Van Leer reformed Focus with a new line-up releasing the albums Focus 8 (2002), Focus 9 / New Skin (2006), and Focus X (2012). After splitting again, they reunited for one-offs in 1995 and in 1999. Focus then disbanded, with the original lineup reuniting in 1990 for a Dutch television special.
#HOCUS FOCUS SONG CRACK#
Easily one of the flat-out strangest songs ever to crack the American pop charts, the single peaked at number nine in the spring of 1973, by which time Focus had already exchanged Havermanns for bassist Bert Ruiter and issued their third album, Focus III, which yielded the minor hit "Sylvia." In the wake of 1974's Hamburger Concert, the band streamlined the classical aspirations of earlier efforts to pursue a more pop-oriented approach on records like Ship of Memories and Mother Focus though roster changes regularly plagued Focus throughout the period, none was more pivotal than the 1976 exit of Akkerman, who was replaced by guitarist Philip Catherine for 1978's Focus con Proby, cut with British pop singer P.J. With the subsequent addition of guitarist Jan Akkerman, the group issued its debut LP, In and Out of Focus, in 1970, earning a European cult following thanks to the single "House of the King." Dresden and Cleuver were replaced by bassist Cyril Havermanns and drummer Pierre Van der Linden for the English-language follow-up, Moving Waves the record generated the hit "Hocus Pocus," a hallucinatory epic distinguished by Akkerman's guitar pyrotechnics and van Leer's demented yodeling. Best remembered for their bizarre chart smash "Hocus Pocus," Dutch progressive rock band Focus was formed in Amsterdam in 1969 by vocalist/keyboardist/flutist Thijs van Leer, bassist Martin Dresden, and drummer Hans Cleuver.
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