Ro-d-ys

Biography

RO-D-YS (pronounced 'Roadies') were a Dutch beat band of the 1960s from the town of Oude Pekela in the province of Groningen, The Netherlands, fronted by Harry Rijnbergen. They started in 1965 as a covers band, playing songs by The Kinks, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and the like. At this time they were still called Popular Pipers Boys Band. In 1966 they got signed and changed their name to Rowdies, but later they found out that there was already a band with that name, so they changed their...

RO-D-YS (pronounced 'Roadies') were a Dutch beat band of the 1960s from the town of Oude Pekela in the province of Groningen, The Netherlands, fronted by Harry Rijnbergen.

They started in 1965 as a covers band, playing songs by The Kinks, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and the like. At this time they were still called Popular Pipers Boys Band. In 1966 they got signed and changed their name to Rowdies, but later they found out that there was already a band with that name, so they changed their name to Ro-d-ys.

They released a couple of singles and an LP (album artist=Ro-d-ys]Just Fancy) in 1967. Both singles ('Just Fancy' and the classic 'Take Me Home') were big hits in The Netherlands (#3 and #8 in the Top 40 respectively). The LP sold very well in The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.

Expectations for 1968 were sky-high, as the band released their more experimental and sophisticated psychedelic album, Earnest Vocation, produced by Hans van Hemert, who had also been at the helm for Q65 and Group 1850.

The album was somewhat a concept album based on the classic late 19th century novel, De kleine Johannes ('Little John') by Frederik van Eeden, a fantastical adventure of an everyman who grows up to face the harsh realities of the world around him and the emptiness of hopes for a better afterlife, but ultimately finds meaning in serving the good of those around him.

The album did reasonably well, but its singles performed disappointingly. Harry Rijnbergen briefly quit the band, the group sacked their manager and in 1969 hired a female singer (Annet Hesterman) in an attempt to re-gain the momentum. To no avail. By the end of the year RO-D-YS had disappeared.

After his RO-D-YS years Harry Rijnbergen released a few singles with other bands, notably the already existing band Zen (which he briefly joined in 1970) and his own new band, the short-lived Harley Jay. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.