2/07/04
| ..About Bernthøler.. |  |
| (..the band of my youth) |
In September 1981 we decided to form a Band with 3 good friends of mine :Manu, Drita and Pol. The line up was: Manu Drita Pol, and me, Simon.
We decided on the name " Bernthøler " from a single of Virna Lindt , "Attention Stokholm".
We never tried to make it big, the purpose was only to make music in the kitchen , then in the library , smoking or drinking in the evening , looking at the stars and dreaming.
On December 8 1981, along with Jean Charles, my brother, we made our first Video. It was with"The Choice" (aka "Adrian & Jonathan").
(avalable on the LTM compilation )
In April 82 we created our first single , Japanese Garden/The Others . The line-up was :
*Drita on lead singing
*Pol on Bass
*Manu on Synth (Korg and String)
*Simon on Guitar ("Japaneese Garden") and Saxophone ("The others")
*Perry Rose as guest on Guitar ("The others") and voices("Japaneese Garden")
In June 82 we shot our second Video with the help of my brother Jean Charles , it was:"Japanese garden".
Perry left us in October 82 and , after several gigs in November 82 , we stopped for a while.
In early 1983 the band met up to have a think about our future and we decided to carry on.
In August 83 created our second Single , best known under the name of " My Suitor ".
(Also video avalable on the LTM compilation )
The line up was :
*"My Suitor" : Drita on vocal , Simon on Emulators , Piano and Synth's
*"Emotions" : Drita on Vocals , Pol on Bass , Manu on synth's , Simon on guitar.
This single was surprisingly well received in Belgium , especially in Brussels and in the north of the country .
We made a deal with the young English Blanco y Negro record label . After 3 years working with a Rythm-box , we hired our first drummer called Gino , who was a hell of a Drummer , making more noise than a herd of wild horses. He was sacked after 3 months , and we took back our old Roland TR-606. Manu played guitar and I took on the keyboards. In spring 84 we recorded a 12" with a long version of "My Suitor" , made by Wim Mertens and Drita , and "Lunacies" , a more sophisticated jazzy ballad . The line up was then :
*Drita on lead singing
*Pol on bass and fretless bass
*Manu on Synth String Multivox
*Simon on Folk-Guitar, reverse Electric-guitar and Hammond B-3 Organ
Around that time, we also recorded a first Demo Session at the L.B.O. with the supposed follow-up to "My Suitor" , a folk ballad called "You grabbed me by the hand" .
In September 84 we hired another drummer named Pierre , who remained with us until the end. In December 84 we completed our last recording sessions at the L.B.O.
On April 30 th we gave our last concert with Drita , and then split up after a gig with Nikki Mono because of too many internal problems , no support from the record company , and no real will to carry on.
Since then , "My Suitor" became a kind of Cult-hit , and is to be found on some compilations .
In 1997 I put together a collection of our best recordings , including "My Suitor" , "Lunacies" , "You grabbed me", and other stuff , and began to receive mails asking for it.
Due to the increasing enquieries for the compilation , an official record with 14 tracks , 3 Video tracks and an extended booklet with pictures and sleevers'note is since 2004 avalable on the english independent label LTM . You may also find there the record of Ink , new project of Drita .
If you once get a copy , let me know what you think of it and send me a Mail simon.rigot@advalvas.be
You'll find more detailed dates on the Bernthøler page made by Dirk Houbrechts in the Belgian pop and rock archives http://houbi.com/belpop/groups/berntholer.htm , also and the very accurate Bernthøler | Merry Lines in the Sky by James Nice (© 2000 ) who later worked hard to put together the LTM compilation
In January 2000 we were asked to have a Bernthøler reunion , but Drita didn't want to , and we decided to do something with Sarah Bogart (who already covered "My Suitor" in 1999) as guest singer, Pol and Simon as original musicians , and Lydia (Simon's girlfriend), for some very nice indian inspired Tim Buckley cover of Song slowly song . But it's not Bernthøler .
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Many thanks to SMG from London for the translation help
