Band Member Biographies

This is where you can get up close and (not very) personal with the band members. Scroll down or click on one of the names below.
Henk Michel Pete Phil Trevor
Henk
Name: Henk
Instrument: Vocals
Date of birth: Dinnertime on January 24th 1968
Place of birth: Breda, Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands
Date of arrival in Brussels: Summer 2003
Favourite bands: Queen, U2, Annie Lennox, The Cure, Alan Parsons Project, Average White Band
Favourite bands younger people might remember: U2, Kaiser Chiefs, Anouk
Musical influences (vocals): None specifically. “Those who can do something good that I can’t are great and I envy them, those who do something I can do should not have been famous”
Previous bands played in: The Windows (New wave/Symphonic rock), 1985-87;
CBBand (rock), 1987-1993;
Various bands around The Hague (funk/blues), 1994-2000;
Soul Control/LVB (funk/disco), 2001-2004
Gear (live): Shure SM58 Beta microphone;
Rolls PM50s in-ear monitoring
Singing teacher: Mr. C. Ompactdiskplayer & Mrs. T. A. Pedeck
Person who introduced me to the music scene: It was a dark night and I was still in the Roman Catholic Church …. Better leave it at that ….
Person I’ve played with for the longest time (and with whom I still play): Johnny “Fingers” Hird, the meanest Jazz guitar man in the Brussels area
Favourite web sites: http://www.takethis-live.eu; http://www.xpats.be
Greatest achievement: Losing my hair
Burning ambition: Doing it more region specific
Michel
Name: Michel
Instrument: Drums
Date of birth: The same day as Elvis Presley and David Bowie, but not the same year!
Nationality Belgian
Favourite bands: Queen, Toto, Robben Ford, Take This ;-)
Favourite drummers: David Garibaldi, Steve Gadd, Vinnie Colaiuta, Simon Phillips, … the list is too long to name them all!
Main bands played in since 1986: Backstreet, Rockin’Roland, Roberto, Tom Beryl, Rosa Carnier, Motown 90, Eddy Vincent, Plagiat Beatles, Sweet Family, Mary-Ann SCOT Country Band, Hot Stuff, …
Main bands (current): Take This, Mark Marshall band (blues)
Occasional bands: Sébi Lee (Rock 'n' Roll), Scarrs (Pop-Rock), Eighteen Wheels (Country-Rock)
Gear (live): Yamaha Oak Custom; Brady, Craviotto or Yamaha snare drum
Gear (other): DW drums
Drum teacher (for years and years!): Dominique Hamet (who gives lessons in Brussels)
Person who introduced me to the music scene: The late Roland Deschamps
Person I’ve played with for the longest time (and with whom I still play): Boule! Ex-drummer with Take This and singer-guitarist with Backstreet
Favourite web site: http://www.drummerworld.com
Pete
Name: Peter (and other names - see minutes of early AGMs)
Instrument: Guitar and backing vocals
Date of birth: 5th September. Year = number of Heinz varieties
Nationality: 95% Scottish and 5% French (I like a good bottle of wine)
Date of arrival in Brussels: 1970
Favourite bands: Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Outlaws, Eagles, Yes, Toto, It Bites, ...
Favourite bands younger people might remember: The Beatles
Musical influences (guitar): Jimmy Page, Tony Iommi, Eddy Van Halen, Southern Rock guitarists in general i.e. Lynyrd Skynyrd, 38 Special, ...
Previous bands played in: South Creator (1973) - School Band (you've got to start somewhere);
Gold (1975-79) - Hard Rock (1 single released);
Brandy (1980-85) - Southern Rock;
(In parallel) J&B Band (1983-86) - Acoustic Country-Blues-Rock;
Midnight Special (1986-1990) - Pop Rock
Gear (live): Guitars: Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul;
Amp: Vox Valvetronix AD120VT, VC12 pedalboard
Gear (other): Guitars: Ibanez double-neck (6- & 12-string), Jenson (Telecaster model) customised, Takamine electro-acoustic ('97 Santa Fé Ltd model);
Amps: Supreme "Kitty Hawk" 100w (Mesa Boogie submark), Marshall mini-amp (thanks Henk)
Music teacher: Can't remember her name. She was very pretty with long brown hair and blue eyes I was only 10 at the time pity :o(
Person who introduced me to the music scene: Me - the big door of the Music World was in front of me, I opened it and walked straight in I didn't bother knocking
Person I’ve played with for the longest time (and with whom I still play): I played with a guy called Bill Dardenne in most of my previous bands (around 11 years). He was a fabulous drummer and musician. He taught me a lot about being a rock musician. Sadly, he was killed in a car crash in 1986. I still miss him a lot
Favourite web sites: http://www.takethis-live.eu; http://www.celticfc.net
Greatest achievement: Still being alive after a few mad years in the early rock 'n' roll days (Gold and Brandy)
Biggest regret: Selling a Gibson Les Paul 'Gold Top' ('60s model) for a handful of BFs, because I needed cash at the time
Burning ambition: To be able to play the whole of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' on the guitar - and it can be done, I've heard it
One thing I want to do before I go: See Glasgow Celtic win the Champions League - Guess I'm going to have to hang in there
Phil
Name: Phil
Instrument: Bass guitar
Date of birth: Ask my agent!
Place of birth: Hornchurch, Essex, England
Date of arrival in Brussels: November 1973
Favourite bands: Ten Years After, Small Faces, Deep Purple, Eagles, Status Quo, Rory Gallagher, Queen, Thin Lizzy, Police, Fleetwood Mac, Toto
Favourite bands younger people might remember: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Placebo, Muse, Boy Patient, Shakira
Musical influences (guitar): Rory Gallagher, Flea
Previous bands played in: The Potential Blues;
Second Time Out;
The Ivory Bath Band;
Liar
Gear (live): Fender American Series Standard Jazz Bass;
Ampeg Portaflex PF-350 amp and PF-115HE cab
Music teacher: Couldn't afford one!
Favourite web sites: http://www.bbc.co.uk; http://www.myspace.com/boypatient
Greatest achievement: Finishing a Brussels gig when I really should have received emergency treatment in hospital!
Burning ambition: To play bass with Flea in my living room
Trevor
Name: Trevor
Instrument: Guitar; backing vocals; reluctant lead vocalist (before Henk came along)
Date of birth: Earlier than Henk, less early than the others
Place of birth: Wickford, Essex, England
Date of arrival in Brussels: August 1992
Favourite bands: Pink Floyd; Genesis; David Bowie; The Who; The Beatles; all that old rock and psychedelic stuff, really
Favourite bands younger people might remember: Robbie Williams; Madonna; Blur; not much else
Musical influences (guitar): Mark Knopfler; David Gilmour; Gordon Giltrap; Albert Lee; John Williams
Previous bands played in: On the Verge (old pop/rock originals), 1979-81;
Dorothy Perkins and the Perculators (covers), 1981-82;
The Perculators (post-Dorothy P, covers), 1982-84;
Polyorchid (covers), 1984-85;
Willard (folk rock), 1985-87;
Dusty Bees (folk rock), 1987-94
Gear (live): Fender Stratocaster (American Series);
Vox ToneLab LE preamp/multi-effects;
Marshall 9100 dual monobloc amplifier;
Vox AD212 2x12 stereo speaker cabinet
Gear (other): Roland GR 20 GK guitar synthesizer;
Various electric guitars;
Various acoustic and electro-acoustic guitars;
PC-based recording studio (SONAR X1 Producer Edition)
Guitar teacher: John Wright, when I was 11. He was really good
Person who introduced me to the music scene: I found it on my own. I just looked and there it was!
Person I’ve played with for the longest time (and with whom I still play): Pete and Phil, Take This. 17 years and counting!
Favourite web sites: http://www.arsenal-world.co.uk; http://www.google.com (if this succeeds in getting us more Google hits!)
Greatest achievement: Starting this web site
Burning ambition: To finish this web site