INTERVIEW MONSTRE - DE KEEFMEN: "Funny things don’t seem to happen to us"

A l'issue de leur classement dans le Top Monstres du 29 Juin 2025, De Keefmen, Henri (guitares, chant), Peter (basse) et Arjan (batterie) ont aimablement accepté de répondre à notre questionnaire Monstres. Qu'ils en soient grandement remerciés!

Taste question: Which artists have influenced you the most, and what can you tell us exemples about this influence? Who is the artist you dislike and why will he/she never influence you?

Henri: I am a huge fan of everything John Felice did with The Real Kids. Same thing for Fred Cole with Dead Moon. And off course all the obvious sixties bands like The Remains, The Seeds, The Sonics, The Troggs, The Byrds and closer to home Cuby + Blizzards, The Outsiders and Q65. Captain Beefheart, Otis Redding and Johnny Cash are other faves of mine. All those mixed together define my style of playing, singing and songwriting. Together with the Teenage Shutdown and Back From The Grave series!
For more recent work I really dig The Oblivians, The Gories, Reigning Sound & The Dirtbombs. Practically every band Greg Cartwright or Mick Collins have ever been in. But also The Ar-Kaics, The Whiffs and CIVIC are fantastic!

 

 

Arjan: My biggest musical influences are: The Beatles, The Troggs, Brian Wilson, The Kinks, Herb Alpert, Motown Records, Joe Meek productions, Lee Hazlewood productions, Link Wray, Alfredo Mendieta, Back From The Grave vol. 8, Planet Pimp Records, Andre Williams’ ‘Silky’ LP, The Fall-Outs, The Waistcoats’ ‘In Our Eyes’ LP, Thee Cybermen’s ‘Strange & Cruel’ LP, Man or Astroman? etc… The list goes on.

Peter: Difficult question, I used to have a list of artists and bands I like, but on the other hand I don’t like everything they do. It can be just albums, songs, parts of songs. For example, the first Damned record is pure gold, with killer basslines. The ones after that just don’t cut it for me. Safe As Milk (Captain Beefheart) was a huge inspiration for us, you might not hear it, but we played that one really a lot.

 

 

Intellectual question: Which 'non-musical artist (filmmaker, writer, painter...) played an important role in the way the band evolved…

Peter: Jan Arends, as he wrote the bundle “Keefman”. The stories are raw, unfiltered, rebellious and have a dark sense of humor. Guess that suits us well.

Henri: Oh yeah definitely Jan Arends, That’s where we got our name from and what started it all!

 

Arjan: Films inspire me as much as music does. Some of my favorites directors are: Kubrick, Polanski, Carpenter, Tarantino, DePalma, Scorcese, S. Craig Zahler etc. Some of my favorite movies are: The Terminator, Robocop, The Exorcist III, Psycho 2, Combat Shock, Lost in Translation, The ‘Burbs, Back to the Future, Westworld, etc… This list also goes on.

History question: Can you sum up the life of your group?

Peter: We started De Keefmen after our previous combo The Miracle Men called it quits. We went from a 4 piece to a 3 piece and wanted to do something in the vein of Byrds, Reigning Sound, but ended up doing the bold caveman garagey thing. We made recordings in our rehearsal space and a Spanish maniac by the name of Koko wanted to release THAT. But we wanted to record it a little better and cut a mini album while at it. 

Henri: Yes, Koko can be considered ‘the Godfather’ of De Keefmen. He reached out through myspace back in the day and got everything going. We cut a 7” for Vinyl Junkie Rekkids and the great brothers of Kuriosa did a 10” record. That’s what got us to Spain for our very first tour in 2009. After that tour we hit the ‘studio’ again (all DIY) and we got picked up by Dirty Water Records which really got things going for us to another level. With big shows at GoSinnerGo, Le Beat Bespoké, Primitive! and more semi-professional tours in Spain, Italy and the UK! We recorded and released a couple of extra 45’s and our second LP. Everything happened within a period of 5 years before we called it quits in 2014. Quite amazing what we did in such a short period of time. And now after 10+ years we’re back with a 7” and LP to do it all over again!! Jihaaa!

 

 

Champollion question: What is the meaning of the band's name?
 
Henri: De Keefmen is phonetically written after saying Cavemen in Dutch. And that’s what it means as well. We tried to clarify that on our Mirror of Time record by including a the cover Be a Caveman (as Be a Keefman) by The Avengers which is also a great song by the way ! But a lot of people outside The Netherlands still pronounce it wrong and some of them even think we’re great fans of Keith (KEEF) Richards. Hahahaha.

 

Buddy question: Who has helped you most in your band's adventure and without whom you wouldn't have had the same evolution?
 
Peter: All the kind people behind the labels that releases our records, starting with Koko from Vinyl Junkie, who released the first and also new 45. The Kuriosa brothers, Gerben came up with the name for our band. Dirty Water, who also produced our one and only videoclip. Hey Girl, who helped out with some tours in Spain. And of course Dennis, our first drummer.

 

Spinal Tap question: What's the most stupid thing that's ever happened to you?

Peter: Playing in a stripclub for hookers and 10 paying visitors, half of them who didn’t came to see us.

Henri: Peter losing his flight ticket on the toilet of the plane on our second Spanish tour when we had a stopover in Germany was pretty crazy. That turned into quite a hazzle at the airport. Also drinking a whole bottle of wine at dinner right before a show isn’t in my personal top 5 of best ideas.

 

 

Question Happy Few: What's the biggest benefit you've derived from your band, and can you tell us about it?

Peter: It’s certainly not money, haha! But all the friendships, crazy road trips and friends make it really worthwhile. 

Henri: For me it’s money, but please don’t tell Peter and  Arjan ;-). 
It’s the appreciation for our own music we get from the people that come see our shows and  listen’ to and release/ buy our records, like to write about the band etc. And of course the experience of being on the road, exploring all these cool and new places and meeting up with all those cool and crazy people that took us as strangers in their homes where we left as friends. All those different cultures you get to carry in your heart with you... you just can’t put a price on that. 

 

 

Art question: What book, film, record and current band made you flash?

Arjan: I’m not a big reader, Film: Ressurrection (2023), Record: Doug Tuttle’s ‘Peace Patato’ LP.

Peter:  Record and current band: I really like Split System 2nd album and live they also delivered. “Alone Again” is the hit for me. Book: The Beastie Boys book was one of the nicest reads lately. Film: very impressed by Steven Craig Zahler’s films. Unique, raw, awkwardly dry and the violence is extremely brutal. What’s not to like?

Henri: Book: The Decade Reeks by Bill Mensema, Film: The Big Lebowski (I like a lot of the Coen Brothers stuff), Record: The Real Kids – self titled, Current band: The Whiffs, fave track: My Vision of Love.

 

Funny question. What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you?
 
All: Funny things don’t seem to happen to us.

Camembert question: What's France to you, apart from the land of wine and cheese? (you're allowed to Google it, the theme is rock and underground culture).

Arjan: I’ve recorded and written most of FLEUR’s records. So I guess that’s it. And I also go on vacation to France for the past 6 years. Also this year! Great, people, weather, wine and food!

 

 

 
Peter: You had me at wine and cheese. 

Henri: After that being said: do you happen to know that song by Sanford Clarke?

Sponsorship question: Who can you sponsor for Les Monstres Sacrés, and how can you convince us to talk about them?

Arjan: Louis Poison from France. I’ve released their album on cassette with my partner-in-crime Peter van Galen on our cassette-only label HARRY RECORDS.

 

 

Henri: Would be fun to read an interview with King Less of the infamous City Trash magazine to turn things round for once! He also returned from the grave recently with a new edition of this late, great magazine last week!

Patriotic question: Make the list (between 5 & 10) of the top records made par artists of our country.

Arjan: France Gall ‘1968’ LP, Antoine et Les Problemes ’s/t’ LP, Jane Birkin Serge Gainsbourg ’s/t’ LP, Jacques Dutronc ’s/t’ LP, Louis Poison “s/t’ (cassette on Harry Records). 

Peter: Clothilde - both EP’s, France Gall ‘1968’, Variations ‘Nador’, Air ‘Moon Safari’ and all the early Dutronc and Antoine stuff. 

 

 
Henri: Definitely Jane Birkin Serge Gainsbourg ’s/t’ LP and Gillian Hills.

 

Patriotic question 2 : Make the list (between 5 & 10) of the top records made by artists of your country.

Arjan: The Golden Earring’s ‘Winter Harvest’ LP, all Q65 7”s from the 60’s, Ro-d-ys’ ‘Just Fancy’ LP, The Motions’ ‘Introduction To …’ LP, 4PK’s ‘Down & Out’ 7”. 

 

Peter: Ro-d-ys ‘Earnest Vocation”, Motions ‘Introduction”, Rondos s/t, Pestilence ‘Consuming Impulse’, Jabberwocky ‘Tractorjockey’.

 

 
Henri: In addition to the above: Cuby + Blizzards – Desolation, Cuby + Blizzards – Groeten uit Grollo, all of The Outsiders 7 inches and one of the best songs ever written and recorded Stengun by Linda van Dyck with Boo and the Boo Boos. As well as Confusion by Marga Peters van Neijenhof & Oliver’s Sinn. 

 

Any last words

All: Thanks so much for this cool interview and please pay us a visit at dekeefmen.bandcamp.com to explore our music!

Merci De KEEFMEN !