Interview with The Maureens: ‘The Beatles have a lot of close harmonies, they’re a real inspiration’

Dutch, summery 60’s-infused band The Maureens have released their single ‘Alison’, the first track from their upcoming fourth album Everyone Smiles, which will be released in January.

The band, which formed in 2012, comprises Hendrik-Jan de Wolff (vocals), Wouter Zijlstra (bass), Stefan Broos (drums) and Ruud Oude Avenhuis (guitar), who are located in different cities in the Netherlands: ‘I’ve been in The Maureens since 2016, I knew the drummer from another band we were both in, Breitner,’ Zijlstra said. ‘The band name is inspired by Maureen Tucker, the drummer in The Velvet Underground. Besides the link with her, it fits – and sounds – good with our West Coast pop-style songs’.

Originating from the central Utrecht music scene, the band now operates from the rural east of the Netherlands. It hasn’t changed the sound of The Maureens: the melancholic songs of de Wolff exude the same love of melody and harmony, offering the perfect soundtrack for a late summer night, although the band gives you that same warm feeling just as easily on a Sunday afternoon in midwinter. It’s sun-drenched guitar pop inspired by the greats of the golden 60s and 70s, songs you hum and tap along to.

‘Many of our songs are about love and loss’

The upcoming album Everyone Smiles will comprise 13 tracks, including ‘Alison’ and ‘Rainy Day’. Last month, they released ‘Alison’, a slice of vintage 60’s pop that hooks you from the jangly guitar intro and warm harmonies: ‘Many of our songs are about love and loss,’ Zijlstra said. ‘Hendrik-Jan mostly comes with 70% of a song – verses, choruses – and he first makes a demo. Then he tries it out with Stefan, our drummer, and the songs that work out fine end up in our practice room. I sometimes add a part – like a bridge – and, together, we make the other 30%. He’s a very good songwriter. ‘Alison’ is about coincidences that can change life forever, for example: how you can accidentally meet someone having a coffee and it can change your life forever, it could be something romantic or a friendship. Hendrik-Jan already had the intro and I made the cool bass loop.’

As the song goes: “Make a call on a coffee break. End up with the love of your life. Never talk about this old keepsake. With origins in ‘75.”

Zijlstra admits that it can be hard to talk about songs to which someone else wrote the lyrics: ‘Sometimes, it’s hard to say something about someone else’s feelings and lyrics but Hendrik is an open person and he can accept that,’ he said. ‘All band members bring their own part to the song and when it’s finished, it’s “our” song. ‘Sometimes, there are a few lines that we change because something else sounds better with the chords, everything is tryable!’ They made the decision to sing the songs in English rather than Dutch because of their sonic style: ‘Most of our favourite bands are English and we like that language, so English fits better for the music we play. We’re all big 60’s fans, Hendrik is a big Beatles fan. Me, personally, I am a big fan of The Posies (an American power pop band from the 80’s), we like them, all four of us. We’re maybe a little sweeter (laughs). My father is a musician, I’m also the drummer in his band. He introduced me to bands like The Rolling Stones, Status Quo and ZZ Top and from there, I added my own influences, for example in our next single ‘Rainy Day’ (which will be released tomorrow on 20 October).’

Amazingly, he picked up the guitar when he was just six years old: ‘I had a little guitar and my father taught me some chords, I never really had lessons,’ he said. ‘When I was 16, my father played in a blues band. One day, his drummer quit and he said “Could you drum in our band?!” I’d never played the drums before, I just had to pick it up, I got it after a few goes – I was a little nervous!’ 

‘We’re always working for on catchy songs with three-part harmonies’

‘She’s A Dreamer’, which appeared on their album Something In The Air (2019), is one of the standout tracks for me, with its complex layered melody and unusual chord progression – E, Am, D, G, Am,D, G, Em, Am, D, G and E7 – and big, singalong chorus: ‘Hendrik-Jan came with the picture for the song. I’m the second singer on it, we normally have two singers,’ Zijlstra said. ‘I think Hendrik-Jan is the lower voice and I have the higher one, we’re always working on catchy songs with three-part harmonies. The Beatles have a lot of close harmonies, they’re a real inspiration to Hendrik-Jan. The song is about Hendrik-Jan’s mother, it places her in her youth. Mostly, when Hendrik-Jan has an idea for a song, I’ll listen to it at home and create a nice bass line, a hook. This one is melodic like ‘Alison’. You can hear it, you can keep it simple but we work to make it sound catchy.’ 

Next up will be the second single from the album, ‘Rainy Day’: ‘It’s a long song with a long guitar intro,’ he said. ‘Today, I cut 30 seconds from the intro for the radio version, that’s the first time we’ve done that, but radio stations like shorter tracks. It’s a little more rocky than ‘Alison’, there are more rock guitars on it. It’s a song about long gone dreams and the hard part of a relationship.’

As ‘Rainy Day’ kicks off: “Carrie, don’t tell me what I should have known. I’ve started a life of my own. Once I came calling but now I’ll survive. I’ll surely fall but I’ll try to make it alone.”

Zijlstra has already had the pleasure of meeting one of his musical heroes, The Posies’ frontman Kenneth Stringfellow: ‘I was in the studio with him for three days and another band I played with, Bruckenbauer,’ he said. ‘He was a very kind person. Sometimes, you think to yourself “I’m recording with a big rockstar” but they’re just normal people, too.’

The band has played venues such as Paradiso (Amsterdam) and Tivoli (Utrecht) and went to England to play the Liverpool Cavern Club a couple of years ago. A Spanish tour is set to happen, after it was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID. Liverpool turns out to have been a brilliant experience: ‘It was a sort of a festival. David Bash invited us, he organises it every year. He asked us a few times and we hope he does it again next year: we would love to play at ” International Pop Overthrow” in Liverpool again. We have a new guitar player, it would be a really nice experience for him, too. The Cavern Club was such a great experience. We went one day to Manchester, me and Hendrik-Jan, there are a lot of bands from there, like Oasis. It was very cool to walk around – there’s a record shop on every corner!’