ABOUT BEEQUEEN (A SHORT HISTORY)

Beequeen is a collaboration between Dutch musicians Freek Kinkelaar and Frans de Waard, who work primarily in drone and dream pop/ambient music. Since 1988 they have released over 20 albums on various labels around the world. Beequeen was formed late 1988 in order to be able to perform as support act to the Anglo/Dutch experimental rock band The Legendary Pink Dots. Named after a piece of art by German conceptual artist Joseph Beuys entitled "Bienenk–nigin", Beequeen played their debut performance on 13 January 1989 at the Ekko Club in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Beequeen is based around laptop artist Frans de Waard (born 8 August 1965) and vocalist/instrumentalist Freek Kinkelaar (born 30 May 1966). In 2007 vocalist Olga Wallis (born 29 March 1982) was added to the line-up. Beequeen's music can best be described as experimental dream pop/ambient music. Beequeen live shows are rare; over the past 21 years, Beequeen played around 40 shows including a short American tour in April 2003 and a show in Reykjavik, Iceland. All their shows are available for download via our Music For The Head Ballet website. From 1988 to 2002 Beequeen's music was primarily in the instrumental experimental ambient/drone field. Highlights in their catalogue over these years are Time Waits For No One (1994), Music For The Head Ballet (1996) and The Surrough Gate (1997). In 1995 Beequeen released the albums Sugarbush; the first-ever cover album in the world to feature covers of titles only. The music is, in fact, completely different. Thus the album features covers of, among others, A Beautiful Noise (by Neil Diamond) and Return To Sender (by Elvis Presley) set to completely different music! Starting with the album Ownliness (2002), Beequeen opened their music up to pop-music song structures and vocals. Since then, their music has developed into a unique combination of experiment and pop-music. Simultaneously to their 2008 album Sandancing, a 10 inch album featuring eight demos of that album was released. Beequeen are currently working on their new studio album titled Port Out Starboard Home.

Plinkity Plonk records
In 1999 De Waard and Kinkelaar formed their own label entitled Plinkity Plonk records. The name was a reference to a particularly unfriendly review of a Beequeen record. Over the years Plinkity Plonk records have released more than 20 albums/singles by artists such as De Fabriek, Legendary Pink Dots, Darren Tate, Mirror and Beequeen. Most of these are limited issues in hand-printed covers.

Side projects
Beside Beequeen De Waard is active as, among others, Freiband, Kapotte Muziek, Goem and Zebra. He is also editor of the online experimental music magazine Vital and runs the Moll and Korm Plastics record labels. A short profile and links to music here.
Kinkelaar is also active as Brunnen and The Beautiful Glass Bottom Boat. He writes for UK music magazine Record Collector and plays guitar in a big band.

Abridged album discography
1. Mappa Mundi (1989)
2. Scala Destillans (1990)
3. Fond (1991)
4. Der Holzweg (1993)
5. Time Waits For No One (1994)
6. Sugarbush (1995)
7. Music For The Head Ballet (1996)
8. Long Stones And Circles (1997)
9. Stetson (1997)
10. Split (1997)
11. The Surrough Gate (1997)
12. Do Be Do (1999)
13. Treatise (2000)
14. A Touch Of Brimstone (2002)
15. Natursymfonie (2002)
16. Ownliness (2002)
17. Gund (2003)
18. Aughton ‚ The Patient Books (2004)
19. The Bodyshop (2005)
20. Seltenturm ‚ Beesides 1989-2000 (2007)
21. Sandancing (2008)
22. Sandancing ‚ The Demos (2008)

External links
Korm Plastics website
Freek Kinkelaar website
Beequeen digital live archive

Frans de Waard website
 
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