The Story of US

Somewhere in 1975 Jos (lead-guitar), Paul (drums) and Ernest (bass) formed a band, covering songs by Steely Dan, Eagles, Moody Blues and the likes. Through Jos they discovered symphonic rock. Soon they started to write and compose their own music, with Jos as the main composer. They named the band Saga (unaware of the fact that there already was a Canadian band by that name!). In Guido the band found the much needed keyboard player. Their efforts resulted in the recording of 'To Whom It Concerns' in 1978.    

The album was far from perfect but... very distinctively Saga. Paul had done the lead vocals on “To Whom...” and because the band decided that everything they recorded had to be achievable in a live concert, a replacement drummer took his place behind the kit. Unfortunately Paul’s drumming was badly missed so he decided to swap back to drumming. In the years to follow Jos went back to playing bass and acoustic guitars, while Ernest focused on keyboards. Other musicians came and went and in 1983 the band called it quits.

 

We take a big leap to the summer of '98. While on holiday in France Ernest got 'pleasantly aroused' by listening to Genesis CD’s and when he learned that Paul still enjoyed playing in bands he got 'the itch, bought a synthesizer and took lessons to 'get back into shape'. At that time Jos was not very interested in starting playing again but a little over a year later Jos suddenly showed up with a bass-guitar and an acoustic twelve string. From that moment on every Friday night was reserved for... US. Jos playing all guitars, Ernest on keyboards and Paul on drums. The concept was simple, Jos usually came up with the idea and the basic concept of a new song. While rehearsing his songs grew and got more final. The results of which landed on a very limited edition CD called 'The Wizzard of Us', recorded at home, on a tiny 8-track digital workstation. The practice schedule was enhanced and the Friday night sessions changed to Sunday morning sessions in a small studio, which gave US the opportunity to play 'full steam'.

 

Being in and around this studio led to the idea of re-recording 'The Wizzard'. During the preparations some songs of 'The Wizzard' were replaced by others. After all Jos had not stopped composing and later songs were considered more appropriate for the CD. While recording the need of a dedicated electric guitar player with his own distinguished style was noticed. Peter de Frankrijker was asked to complete the already recorded tracks which he did splendidly. It resulted in 'A Sorrow In Our Hearts'. No surprise he joined US after that. Soon the now four members of US started working on tracks for a new CD.

 

To overcome all the cumbersome travelling and the high costs of recording in a hired studio, they decided to build their own home studio in Paul's garage. It was a simple but effective studio and was dubbed "The B'SUS" for Blood Sweat and US. They bought a 24-track harddisk recorder plus accompanying whistles and gizmos. Before recording the new album, the band set out to find a singer to allow Jos to focus his attention on his guitars and bass. Sympathetic southerner Stephan drew their attention with his sotto voice charm and distinctive mellow husky sound. He turned out to be a real nice guy and fitted perfectly into the group's passe partout. So with a new singer and a new studio, US set to work.

 

The new CD, Eamon's Day, was recorded, produced and finished in about six months over early 2003. It was quite a hectic process of inventing the songs and the recording process all at the same time. Peter turned out to be the preferred fader jockey and was glued to the production chair to fiddle with frequencies, conquer compressors and position the panning. The five songs that make up Eamon's Day (including the epic half-an-hour Life In Progress) were trusted to The Polyurethane Disc and released into the wild. Eamon's Day has known fabulous succes all over the world. Evaluation copies were sent out to magazines, website and radio stations and the reviews ranged from 'very good' to the outright 'extatic'.

 

In November 2003, US performed the opening slot on Dutch sympho festival ProgFarm. This was only the second time US performed live on stage, and the first time before an audience this attentive, knowledgeable and discerning. US played well and enjoyed good reviews for that gig. But a tour schedule was shelved after Jos revealed his new song ideas.

 

US re-entered The B'SUS studios in february 2004 to start recording these for the third album. The album was called "The Ghost Of Human Kindness" and features the heaviest parts US has ever played as well alongside true US-styled odd rhythms and lyrical passages. All in all US has become much more than just a re-birth of Saga. Not only have the individual musicians grown older and wiser but the band as a total is also much more mature and more than ever determined to produce the music it loves most: progressive, symphonic rock. Then Paul moved to Belgium, Peter took-up his study and Stephan has his own shop. Individual reasons not to spend much more time on US and again the band split-up.

 

Jos and Ernest decided not to wait and started recording the fourth album. This album; The Young and Restless, has been completed and released. Stephan's warm voice was no longer available but whilst looking for alternatives demo recordings revealed another possibility. So on TYAR you will hear Jos, Ernest and Marijke Wernars doing the vocals. The drums were added by guest drummer Joris ten Eussens. TYAR has been well received and provided sufficient encouragement to start recording a fifth album. It took Jos and Ernest less than a year to complete and release this new CD called “Reflections”. The Wernars brothers have decided to take a break and individually work out ideas or complete songs for a new album.

 

The sixth album; Climbing Mount Improbable, was recorded in 2007/8 and released in April 2008. No changes in personel compared to the previous album. As usual, most of the compositions were made by Jos. It's to early to say how this album is perceived but sales sofar have been encouraging. But than in 2008 Ernest decided to leave the band. It was a hard decision to make but because of health problems and the ongoing stress to keep a band alive he decided time had come to quit. A sad day since from the early days on Ernest had been a keyrole member of the group. Paul gone, and now Ernest had left to. Now Us was a 'one-man-band'.

 

There have been numerous moments at which Jos sincerely considered to call it quits, but in the end music won. Jos decided to give it another try and to do everything on his own. To keep a band alive is a very, very difficult thing, but to find new members maybe even more difficult. Moneywise it was also a big thing because new investments had to be made. It all resulted in the 7th album ' Everything changes'. A lot of things had to be re-invented because drums and keyboards had to be fitted in. Time had come to come forward that Joris ten Eussens had been an anagram to start with and that drums had been done by Jos anyway. Ernest and Jos chose to do so after Paul had left to keep the band idea alive. Somehow there seems to be a tendency that one man bands always run a litlle bit behind and we were now close to that. To replace Paul was a difficult thing to begin with since he had always been with US. He is a great drummer, potentially world class if he could only find the time to explore his many talents.

 

The recordings went well  and funny enough the reviews were the same as usual. No big changes there, some like Us and some don't. Us seem to have listeners all over the world who very well accepted Us in its new form, so Jos felt encouraged enough to make an 8th one, Feeding the crocodile. Not an easy thing. The subject is quite controversial and making such a lenghty piece on your own is also a big task. The album came out and the same things happened all over again. Some people like US, some don't.

 

Than Paul re-appeared and we started working on US album number 10. Although Paul is living in Spain we can do that thanks to the ever evolving technical possibilities. The result was Lindisfarne, released in March 2018. It would be the last album that was actually released on hard copy. In September 2020 US released a new 'album' called 'One Thing Is the Thought, Another the Deed', with only two songs totalling over 50 minutes of music. As soon as it was released Jos started writing new pieces for what would be the next album. Then an old friend of Paul, a very accomplished keyboardist with whom Paul has played in several bands got in the picture. After seeing a Facebook post with some music from the first CD he contacted Paul, suggesting to record some prog music. So we invited Peter-Jan to join forces and sent him the already recorded first track of the new album. He surprised us both with the addition of his Hammond, upon which Jos decided to skip some of his keyboard tracks and give PJ a free hand to incorporate more tracks. The result was breathtaking and from that moment PJ was an invaluable asset to the music of US. He also added a great deal to the mixing and mastering. That's where we are now, from starting as a three piece band, a 4 piece, then a 5 piece, back to three, two, one and now a four piece again. Spanning 4 decades and still loving what we do. At the end of 2021 Jos and Marijke also moved to Spain. Meaning composing and writing will be more of a team effort like it used to be, resulting in our 13th album, called Between The Apex And The Pinnacle.