KANE SINGLES ONLY BOOK
Where Do I Go Now?
Damn Those Eyes
I Will Keep My Head Down
Can You Handle Me?
KANE 'SINGLES ONLY' BOOK - ENGLISH SUMMARIES
SONG BY SONG - MONTH BY MONTH
Don't speak or read Dutch but would love to know what the 'Kane Singles Only' book is about? Then read on.
Before we begin, I can't stress enough how much you need to buy 'Kane Singles only' book. What I write/quote is by no means a fraction on what the book holds and you'll be missing out on the beautiful pictures along with pages and pages about each song, and what other people in the lives of Kane have to say.
Each month I will be adding a summary translation of each single to this page. Again what I write is by no reflection of what the book holds, it has been a huge task to try and condense 2 -3 pages to just a few paragraphs and write what I can in my own words.
Copyright Laws prevent full translations being published anywhere, but I have been given special permission to give you a small summary of each song in English, one by one, month by month. Again I can not say enough on how good value the book is even if you don't understand Dutch, it is a beautifully presented book, so go and get it from Kane.nlso you can follow each month with the translations.
And finally before we begin I have to give huge credit to Jenneke Edwards for all her help with the translation of the book and to Lucy for sorting out the permission to do this.
Chapter 1 - 'Where Do I Go Now' - Dinand
"Not hindered by any knowledge of affairs, not distracted by too much experience, not blinded by success or the lack of that, in the summer of 1999 Dennis and I must have been the most convinced musical extremists of the country."
Dinand writes about his memories from back 1999 when it all began for the Kane journey, his life consisted of dreaming and waiting for magical moments for the dreams to come true. 'Where Do I Go Now' was released in June 1999. It had an appropriate title. Kane in the summer of 1999 had no idea what achievements lay ahead for them and as a appropriate as the title was then it's a song that always comes back to you from time to time with a different meaning.
It was a gamble to take being a rock band at a time when Dance was dominating the radio. But being stubborn, this didn't bother Dinand or Dennis, and so there was no doubt come what may they would make it work. 'Where Do I Go Now' set the bar and the beginning of the path for Kane. Dinand goes on how he love's this song, with it's powerful chorus and strong melody. "‘Where Do We Go Now?’ is very much written by and for that moment in 1999. Clear and simple. It is what it is and that makes it such a strong first single. A song about passionate frustration, written by a mid-twenty year-old, who, as it later turned out, had no idea what he was talking about when it came to either passion or frustration, but like no other went for what was true at the moment."
There was lots of excitement as the song got played on the radio and it climbed play list charts. It was just the beginning for Kane and 'Where Do I Go Now' had laid a nice opening for the 2nd single to follow on....
Chapter 2 - 'Damn Those Eyes' - Dennis
"How do you, as a beginning band, get the attention of a record company? You can tape a demo and send it on a TDK SA90 cassette tape. Then you add a biography in which you mention ‘how hard you are trying to get out there’."
Dennis writes how to make it in the music world, you need to write that one song, a good one that convinces everyone straight away from the first listen and without realising Dinand had already wrote that song and he refers to this song as 'The Ace'.
They laid their demo down between Dinand's home made studio and using a free offer that Dennis got through a friend of a friend in a small new studio. After just 3 performances they was signed to BMG and it was 'Damn Those Eyes' that got the contract. They dropped the demo off themselves that they had previously made.
A few months later they found themselves in another recording studio recording 'Damn Those Eyes' along with another 4 tracks. Aram had joined them by now and Hans was on the drums. They had a few usual producer/artists battles to get what they wanted on the record but after a few drum fill discussions it was done, Dinand had got the ones he wanted.
" And that is why ‘Damn Those Eyes’ is seen as the ace in our hands, our best card...And when do you play your best card? First? Second? It was after ‘Where Do I Go Now?’ it came the second single, the ace." And with the song being recorded right it needed a 'fitting' video and so with a well known director on board it was made like a small movie clip. He writes, "The hero in an American movie doesn’t cry but walks through the rain, which symbolises the pain and sorrow...”
And so in the freezing cold October, a lot of cold water and wind machines was brought in and the video was cut.
‘Damn Those Eyes’ has become the classic, which it already was when I heard it the first time and Kane made an entrance in the Netherlands in a way that surprised many, even today."
Chapter 3 - 'I Will Keep My Head Down' - Dinand
'I Will Keep My Head Down' is the 3rd single to have been released from the album 'As Long As You Want This' and Kane are getting more popular, more the favourable choice and 'a boy's novel is taking off'.
Dinand writes what and who this song is about and the Geisha girl that is in the video. He describes how he can see that the song and the video are far apart from each other yet there is a connection which is rather personal to him.
'I Will Keep My Head Down' is for a very good friend of Dinand's who tragically got killed by a tram at the age of 32, but Dinand talks about the good times they shared with both their business's being beach bars, that both liked to play loud music and compared how their business's was doing. Marc was one of those people that radiated warmth and energy to you upon first meeting, and turned to be a friend who would always be there for you when things got tough.
"What strikes me when I listen to ‘Head Down’ again is how strong the entirety of it is. A beautiful intro, dark verse, nice guitar hook in the pre-chorus and a very strong chorus, followed by a killer bridge. Yes, I would do things differently now, of course, but it inspires me, I notice now. Vocally, I sound totally different now, the band is a lot looser now, we write totally different now, but what appeals to me is the clarity. I want to take that to our sixth cd."
The video was made by students from the University for the Arts (Hogeschool voor de Kunsten) in Utrecht. Due to budget constrains, it was a daring thing to do but it turned out to be a very fitting video which Dinand still see's as one of Kane's best videos which to this day he still finds intriguing. The video was played on all major TV stations and topped in at twenty, not bad for a 3rd single.
"Rest in peace brother".
Chapter 4 - Can You Handle Me - Dennis
"The 16th Chick"
"Sometimes you have songs of which the ‘feeling’ that it interprets is quite in line with the other songs you have made. Call it a misfit. That makes a song not better or worse and often you think differently about it than others. “Can You Handle Me?” was such a song. In the year that it was released (2000) it was the most played song on Dutch radio, an obvious favourite of the public with a chorus that is easy to sing along to."
Can You Handle Me is one of those songs that catches you from the first vocals 'There's something 'bout your smile' Dennis writes. One where Dinand sings the first lyrics and the audience fills in the rest. It is a song that jumps in and is filled with energy. It was the 4th single to be released from the album 'As Long As You Want This', although in the beginning they weren’t sure if it was the right song to release after 3 previous 'heavy' tracks. They talked and debated about it and finally agreed to release it.
Dennis tells the a story of how he was almost 'nicked' for speeding and with no thanks to Dinand being very helpful to the officers, Dennis thankfully kept his licence and car! This happened the night before they set off to Copenhagen, Denmark. This was their first adventure outside Netherlands to make the video for 'Can You Handle Me' which lasted 2 days. The shoot brought Kane much fun with the 15 'chicks' that was used for the 'peep' show in the video and it was this video that brought Dennis his lovely wife. Karen wasn’t at the shoot the 1st day but on the 2nd day upon arriving on the bus, she caught Dennis’s eye straight away, upon he went straight to her to greet her. It turns out those 15 ‘chicks’ in the video are Karen's friends and she had drummed them up for the director. Dennis and Karen have now been together 10 years and married for 4 years. It was also this video that brought Kane a TMF Award.
"It was clear that Kane, with the release of the first album and the four singles that came from that, had presented themselves as the ‘hottest ticket’ in the Netherlands in one blow. Successful shows at Pinkpop amongst others proved that the band was not a one hit wonder. "