THE ESSENCE The Essence may be a well-kept secret among wave fans in Belgium, but in Spain, France and the rest of Southern Europe, they caused a sensation in the eighties with hits as ‘A Mirage’ and ‘Only For You’. Connoisseurs know that the gentlemen from Rotterdam released a number of excellent albums in the eighties and nineties. They continue to perform to this day, and even hope to release new work in 2024. We recently saw them perform at the Liège NewWave festival, and subsequently had a conversation with singer-guitarist Hans Diener. Photo © Luc Luyten / Who Cares Hello Hans. Thank you for this opportunity to interview you. I recently saw The Essence perform in Liège, and I was surprised that this was your first performance ever in Belgium. The Essence may be an important new wave group in other countries in Europe, but in Belgium I would rather describe you as ‘cult’. Do you agree, and how do you explain this? I agree with you, Xavier. Both the Netherlands and Belgium have never been a priority for our English record company at the time, in terms of marketing and promotion. It eventually grew that way. However, we are changing this, as you can see. You actually found a label that was willing to support you and release your records, but under the name The Essence. In 1985 the debut album ‘Purity’ was released. How did that happen? After we got a contract, I changed the name Movement to The Essence, because the first name was too close to the New Order record title. We went to London and recorded our first album ‘Purity’ there. ‘Endless Lakes’ was the first single from there, and later we released ‘The Cat’ as the second single. I wanted to write a song that was more poppy, with a flamenco riff. The result, 'A Mirage', became a huge hit. The story of The Essence begins in the early 1980s. If I remember correctly, the first mention of a band was in 1983, although it was still called ‘Movement’ at the time, which I suspect is a nod to New Order. Can you tell us how the group came about? How did the desire to make your own music arise, and how did you meet the other band members? The band started because I was looking for some bootlegs of The Cure, which is how I met with Jerry, the first bass player. This resulted in me playing with Jerry and Ol, the first drummer.We played some covers for a few weeks and did a few gigs, until I wasn't interested in playing covers anymore. I then wrote and recorded several songs myself. These demos were sent to various labels in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, after which serious interest arose from the UK label Midnight Music. www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 8 - The follow-up album 'A Monument Of Trust' from 1987 was your real breakthrough. ‘A Mirage’ even became a world hit. How was that possible? After ‘Purity’ was released, I continued writing, also using synths. I wanted to write a song that sounded a bit more pop and with a kind of flamenco riff. ‘A Mirage’ became the single from the second album and was a huge hit, especially in Southern European countries. It became a big hit in Spain, among others. I can imagine that such a big hit also brings challenges for a band. You were a small group from the Netherlands, and then suddenly you are stars. People are also asked to perform internationally, which is not always easy. How did you approach that? When ‘A Mirage’ became a hit, it was inevitable that we had to go on tour. Meanwhile, Jerry and Ol had left the band, and I temporarily used another bassist, Akki, and drummer, Jack. Our light engineer Menno then temporarily took care of the synths. Your third album ‘Ecstasy’ contained another big hit: ‘Only For You’. This time, France in particular was crazy about the song, where‘AMirage’was succesful in Spain
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