The Mellotones - Not the Same (2005)

Tracklist

01. No Sympathy
02. Can't Won't Don't
03. The One
04. Muddy Waters
05. Tumbleweed
06. Dead Man Walking
07. You Gotta Have a Man
08. Song for a Friend
09. Swamp Thing
10. King of the Jam
11. Not the Same

This band was founded in 1993 by singer/guitarist Mike ‘The Kid’ Donkers and bass player Jules ‘Lord Julius’ van Brakel. Both Mike and Jules were dissatisfied with the band they were playing in and decided to get together one Sunday afternoon. Mike had a love for Texas blues, particularly Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Anson Funderburgh, and Jules was crazy about Ronnie Earl and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

It didn’t take long for them to decide they should form a new band together. “But where are we going to find a drummer?”, Mike asked. Jules said he knew just the guy. This turned out to be Jules’s rhythm partner, Guido ‘El Guido’ Willemsen. Mike and Jules decided right there and then they would quit their bands and form a Texas Blues trio. One morning soon after that Mike literally woke up with a name for the band – Mike & the Mellotones. This was, of course, based on such names as Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble and Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets.

When Mike & the Mellotones came on the Dutch blues scene, there was no other band like them. It seemed like everybody was trying to copy the Chicago blues sound and they all sported hats, shades, beards, and Gibson guitars. Along came Mike & the Mellotones with greased-back hairdos, Fender Stratocasters and sharp suits, introducng Dutch blues audiences (and soon international blues enthusiasts) to their particular brand of Texas blues. They took the blues scene by storm, often playing long sets for wild crowds.

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