This week came Mist, the last Strange Boarders album out, in circumstances no one would have wanted. George Kooymans is terminally ill and since the death of Henny Vrienten last year, the trio is no longer complete. Boudewijn de Groot and George Kooymans tell their story.
Mist certainly had Sounded different if fate hadn’t been so merciless to his two comrades, says Boudewijn de Groot (78). On the title track, for example, Henny Vrienten sings the verses, while he actually wanted to alternate them with Kooymans and De Groot, the men with whom he formed Strange Kostgangers since 2016.
As early as 2020, the three started writing, playing and recording. Corona, first Kooymans’ illness and then also that of Vrienten made working together in the studio impossible. “Had that been successful, certain instruments would have been played by others,” says De Groot. “Henny wanted me to play a few guitar parts acoustically. All choirs would have been done by the three of us, while now the demo versions have been used almost everywhere. George does his own choir, and Henny largely does too.”
In the end, they are details of an album that, due to the circumstances, already writes music history in advance. For example, the last guitar solo by George Kooymans is on it. It is in a song by Boudewijn de Groot, I play the guitar. “I find that moving. It’s just an honor that George did that in one of my songs.”
Friendship and respect for each other’s music characterized Strange Boarders, says De Groot. “I thought it was very honorable to play with George and Henny, it was always easy between the three of us. Disagreements, if any, were always resolved simply. I had stopped performing myself, but the concerts with Strange Kostgangers always remained a party for me, something to look forward to.”
De Groot is not the man to use dramatic words in the final piece of the triumvirate. “I don’t go down that slippery slope of emotion, nor do I get caught up in the sentiment of loss and memory. That makes no sense. When I listen to this record, I think it’s a great record. It’s just a shame we can’t tour with it anymore.”
George Kooymans (75) no longer wants to meet physically. The co-founder of Golden Earring is experiencing the debilitating effects of the ALS muscle disease, which struck him a year and a half ago. Yet he sees in the appearance of Mist a good reason for an interview. This is done via a video connection, from his home in Rijkevorsel, Belgium.
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How are you?
George Kooymans: “It’s going badly. I walk with a walker, I can hardly do anything with my hands. The muscles deteriorate, you just become a little disabled. That goes faster than I thought and that’s shit. I just have to deal with it. With these kinds of rotten diseases it is always said: everything you can still do is taken. Seize the day. I try to do that. Sometimes that is not easy, but it goes.”
Can you still engage in music?
“Singing alone is still possible now and then. Sometimes my voice is suddenly good and I’m lucky. I had a music studio here at home, but it is now being converted for me. Anticipate what’s to come. My daughter is coming to live with me and my wife. In the old studio I keep a small corner for music, I put a laptop there. There are all kinds of possibilities to operate a computer, maybe I can do something like that. Music has been my life and that is kind of taken away from me. I’m still trying to do something about it this way. At least I don’t touch my guitars anymore.”
While they were your extension for a lifetime. Can you still tolerate them in your neighbourhood?
“I’m just looking at it. That’s nice, too. Just like in the old days, when I stood in front of the store as a young pecker, peering at Fenders and Gibsons, with my nose against the shop window.”
Your last recorded guitar solo is on the album of Strange Kostgangers. How do you listen to it?
He grins: “Especially with the idea that it could have been a little better. I hear the restrictions are already a bit in place. I know: that’s itI just couldn’t do more. Still, I think the main thing is: we did it really well. Pride prevails. I think it’s a beautiful record, which we all wanted to finish despite the illnesses of Henny and me.”
I suspect you listen to it with mixed feelings?
“The lyrics were already written before Henny and I got sick, some of them have taken on a different meaning. The Lazy Lovefor example, in that I sing There are still years to go / and they are creeping by. Henny had that with Too little time, in which he sings that he still has so much to do. That’s how he was, an energetic guy. And I sing Love knows no time, a text by The Lau. The striking thing about it is that it seems as if he has looked right into my soul. A text in which you reflect on what you have done and felt, that is very correct.”
Are you still under treatment?
“No, only under control at the hospital in Leuven. And I get physiotherapy, that’s all. There is no cure for this disease, you have to be a bit lucky that it doesn’t go too fast. Sometimes I have those thoughts: yesterday was better than today, or last week I was still able to do this and now I can’t. The more distractions I have, the better.”
I think it’s tough, also for your family. To what extent are you already working on the ending?
“We all have a hard time with it at times, in fact we are already grieving and that puts a strain on everyone. It’s not much more yet, I’m not that busy with it yet. Still, I don’t have to whine about anything. When I look back on my life, I have had a wonderful existence. Few people get that, you have to see it that way.”