John Dirven

<body> <p>This page uses frames, but your browser doesn't support them. New album John Dirven : ³The road goes on² <br><br> opening picture edited by designer Julia jarvis : julia.jarvis@pandora.be , photography by Joost van der Hagen : hagenj@xs4all.nl <br><br> Biography: John Dirven was born in Arnhem 19 October 1951. His father was a flying instructor attached to the Dutch Squadron of the Royal air force in Langham UK, being transferred to airfield Deelen, he and his family settled down in Arnhem. Living there until his tenth year, the Dirven-family moved to Uden. (airbase Volkel) So in a nutshell : John was a baby, went to kindergarten , to elementary school , to grammar school, became a teacher, studied history, studied Dutch literature, studied speech therapy (logopedia) a.o. , got married, got three children, got divorced and became a guitar-player ! Worked at a primary school, a grammar school and the university for adult education, teaching Dutch and history. He first picked up the electric guitar at the age of 30. Meanwhile a passion for writing all kind of lyrics, from elementary school until now . Writing became CO2 ! In the seventies he was a freelance journalist for the KRO (Dutch network) writing for a magazine called: ³Studio². <br><br> His first musical activities took place in a joint called ³de Zwaan² in Uden. The weekly sessions of the locals. John joined Bens Blues Band, the band of the pub. That¹s where he met the saxophonist - singer Bertus Borgers. <br><br> http://www.bertusborgers.nl <br><br> Bertus encouraged John to record some of his songs. Bertus produced the album and so his first record was born in 1983. Together with Marcel van de Beeten a.k.a. Mec, friend for life and guitarist-singer-songwriter. <br><br> http://www.renecreemers.com a.o. <br><br> note: read the interview ³Gitaarplus² April 2003. <br><br> From that day on the only thing that mattered was music. Until 1989 John played in al kind of formations with several guests : <br><br> Blue Ltd. : Theo Wijdeven bass guitar <br><br> http://www.ents24.com/web/artist/66655/Ad_Van_Meurs_The_Watchman.html <br><br> and Dre Klaassen drums, featuring: Bertus Borgers, Rosa King, Hans Dulfer en Rob Hoeke. <br><br> http://www.rosaking.nl<br> http://www.hansdulfer.nl<br> http://home.iae.nl/users/vdmark/hoeke/rhsdisc.htm <br><br> For a while Rob Vrolijk was the lead vocalist of Blue Ltd. and Bart van Dongen played the piano. <br><br> http://www.apex-group.nl/users/reedslowly<br> http://www.bartvandongen.com/about_cv.shtml <br><br> At that time we did not realize what we were doing, we got into the bus and we did our thing. Ask Rob, ask Theo, ask Dre, ask Bart, it was great ! We did our own thing with excisting songs. We had sound and it could have been religion. <br><br> note: For all bands from the past look at the photogallery. <br><br> Another band of importance was The Jesse Gang. Fred Hoogendoorn drums, Wim van den Oord bass guitar and Richie Severeins guitar. A sturdy kind of macho band with some very good musicians and Jack Daniels, ZZ Top and Johnny Walker on the playlist. Very nice gigs and lots of fans. They officially split up in 1990. Richie went to Blue Blod in Belgium and Fred and Wim are now together in the Gundogs. <br><br> http://www.gundogs.nl/ <br><br> Simultaneously John was playing with the Backbones in Eindhoven. <br><br> http://home.iae.nl/users/vdmark/ehvsemuz/hustinx.htm <br><br> And all the time, Rob Vrolijk entertainer singer, was John´s musical friend over the past 25 years. They started playing in Blue Ltd. in the eighties. And many more to follow projects (Roberto Trompettie and the Tooters, the Meuk a.m.m.), always with lots of humour and anarchy. After a gig on the radio, the reporter was fired for not aborting them, so you can imagine that there was some chemistry out there. Recently Rob and John started Coldbrewski a heavy alternative rock group. Line-up: Rob Vrolijk vocals, John Dirven guitar, Roland Dijkink bass guitar, Sven de Waal drums, or line-up Rob Vrolijk and Jarvis Perception. It's the ultimate partyrockcombination when dancing and laughing is the main issue. Fleetwood Mac, Jimi Hendrix, Dr. Feelgood, but not covered they do their own thing with the songs. Whilst making believe that the songs are written by Rob himself hahahahahaha. He is a rock and roll animal. <br><br> www.leeft.nl<br> www.jarvisperception.com <br><br> general: Lots of gigs in several combinations were the result over the years 1983-1989. <br><br> One of those opportunity bands ended up in Take it for Granted in 1987. The first official TIFG was: Bart van Dongen keyboards, Ruud Sempel bass guitar and Don Heijne on drums. <br><br> note: I had to come up with a bandname. The name Take it for granted became the ! name of the band. It¹s from my all time favourite war movie ³The guns of Navarone². David Niven is being lectured by Gregory Peck, and Gregory says: ³You better take this for granted². Whatever ! Yes ! It¹s a statement and TIFG lived up to it. <br><br> When playing in Deurne one time with Bertus Borgers, Bart van Dongen, Sjoerd van Bommel (Back to Basic, Frederique Spigt a.m.m.) en Ivo Severijns (Herman Brood a.m.m.), John met Netty Driessen, she was the sound engineer that evening. <br><br> http://members.chello.nl/~w.m.huetink/bass/basarchief/severijns.html<br> http://www.popinstituut.nl/index.htm?dat/index.htm?4686 <br><br> She also was the drummer and singer in the local band. And John was invited to do some shows with them. Bonki Bongaerts played the piano (Mr.Albert Show, Bots, Armand a.m.m.) <br><br> http://home.iae.nl/users/vdmark/ehvsemuz/btsleden.htm<br> http://home.iae.nl/users/vdmark/ehvsemuz/dirty.htm <br><br> Musically Netty and John found each other. She also played the bass guitar very well and she replaced Ruud Sempel in 1989. From that day on Take it for granted never would be the same. Bonki Bongearts joined TIFG in 1990 and in June 1991 he ended his life. On the first album Dirven and Driessen he plays the piano and the organ. <br><br> note: Being a promessing, creative, innovative band TIFG received subsidy from Brabantpop. <br><br> www.Brabantpop.nl <br><br> They kicked ass and they played, played and played. 16 years Take it for granted ended in the beginning of 2003 <br><br> Take It For Granted was founded in 1987 by John Dirven. The music was a rough variant of blues-rock as played by Rory Gallagher, Jimi Hendrix a.o. In 1989 Netty Driessen (bass guitar, vocals) joined the band and they had a great time. Until !!!!!!!!!!! 1-12-2002 Netty Driessen won the! price in the category singer-songwriter "Grote Prijs" (the ! Dutch competition) Paradiso Amsterdam, being the best Dutch musician in this category. Netty wanted to go her way with just an acoustic guitar and John still wanted to go electric. :) So that's what's happening now............. <br><br> http://www.groteprijs.nl/home.php3 <br><br> Netty and John shared stages with : Pat Travers , Walter Trout, Hans Dulfer, Bertus Borgers, Rosa King, Popa Chubby, Aimon (a.k.a. Samuel Eddy), Jeff Healy, Michael Lee Firkins, Ana Popovic, Nicko Christiansen, Thys van leer, John Lagrand, Hans van den Burg (Gruppo Sportivo), and many many others...... <br><br> http://www.waltertrout.com<br> http://www.pattravers.com<br> http://www.popachubby.com<br> http://home.wanadoo.nl/musicswp<br> http://www.aimon-music.com<br> http://www.anapopovic.com<br> http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/8267/solos1.htm<br> http://www.cogsci.uiuc.edu/~daniel/gstp.htm<br> <br><br> Netty and John have proven to be a good match for writing songs. This band felt most comfortable in the trio configuration. They recorded 8 albums of which 7 were recorded at their own studios. The Blueskitchen in Vlierden. Being self-willed, all activities regarding the production and release of the TIFGranted albums were executed by Netty and John. Autonomy was the keyword. Not distracted by commercial considerations Netty and John could work on albums with quality in mind. Blues-rock is a broad and often explored field in music, TIFGranted's main goal was to make a variant that stretched the borders of this category, avoiding all clichés. And with success! The band's albums always got great reviews in the Dutch press as well as in Belgium and German press. Typical for this band was that reviews appeared in heavy metal magazines and blues magazines as well as in specialist magazines and progressive rock magazines; Take It For Granted indeed crossed borders! <br><br> note: Our first album Dirven and Driessen was contracted by Warner. The artist and repertoire manager visited our studio. He came to tell us how to dress, how to move, how to respond and many many more things. And from that day on we knew what to do hahaha.............. <br><br> note: I always will be proud of this band ! It will always be my baby. It was an honour to play with Netty and the 100 drummers !!!!!!! We travelled the world several times and the stage and the car was our home. Whatever we achieved, we enjoyed our musically journey. And yes we did it our way! When I officially announced the ending of TIFG, my mailbox was literally blown away by the many warm reactions of the audience. Thank you very very much again. <br><br> www.axis.nl/tifg<br> reviews, interviews, gigs, festivals (Bospop,Hendrixtours), international tours and so on TIFG was in 2-12-1999 album of the day on Beale StreetCaravan, producer Sid Selvidge, Chicago USA and in New York radio WKCR-FM, program DOWNBEAT, airplay on a regular base Studio Brussel Belgium, BBC Scotland, Spain, Denmark, Norway ,Germany, Brazil, many many Dutch programs and even Japan MBS, Osaka broadcasting station......... <br><br> note: Arthur Conley (1946-2003) died 17th November 2003 ("Sweet Soul Music") From 1999 he became a fan and a close, dear friend of TIFG, giving his support and his love to the band. We will miss him, his emails, his phone calls, the visits, his warmth and his humour. <br><br> http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=18978<br> http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Arthur%20Conley.html <br><br> The following drummers of importance played with TIFG : Don Heijne, Peter van Schadewijk, Rob Snijders, Fred Hoogendoorn, Sjoerd van Bommel, Hans Waterman, Jusso Whistler, Bardo Koolen, Edwin Selders, Sander Berkvens and Iwan Wijnen <br><br> WHAT¹S HAPPENING NOW in 2004 ! <br><br> Jarvis Perception : In the summer of 2003 John met Linda Jarvis (London UK) A new band was born: JarvisPerception ! This lady knows how to sing ! Lots of dynamics and lots of soul. Reunited with his dear old friends from 20 years ago on bass Joost van der Hagen and on drums Henk Biesterbos. The live show of the band is best defined as an energetic performance of an improvising nature. <br><br> www.jarvisperception.com <br><br> Music: own material (lyrics and music John Dirven) and.... interpretations of Hendrix, Dr. Feelgood, and many others <br><br> Style: blues rock, soul rock, ballads, songs and humour. Purpose,target, aim and goal: Having a good time and you will have a good time! Creating musical moments,entertaining the audience and pleasing ourselves! Very soon there will be a release of this band. Album: ³In the nighttime² <br><br> John Dirven : At this moment John is recording at the Champ Studios in Lommel, Belgium. It's a no nonsense studio that sounds great! The equipment is cool and the atmosphere is very relaxed and warm. The engineering is done by Rob Jeurissen himself. He's a great guitar player Won Ton Ton remember the hit : "I lie and I cheat" and many many others. He lends us a musical ear and supports us with some fine musical ideas. Contact Rob Jeurissen at: rob.gosia@skynet.be <br><br> The release of this album will be in spring. Album: ³The road goes on² The songs are different from TIFG. So listen for yourself. <br><br> the band: <br><br> John Dirven vocals and lead guitar Linda Jarvis vocals Toon van den Berg guitar Hans van Sambeek bass guitar Sander Berkvens drums <br><br> http://www.huubhenkenharrie.nl/<br> http://home.iae.nl/users/vdmark/ehvsemuz/toon.htm <br><br> Listen to the MP3¹s very soon. And thanks for your attention. <br><br> See Ya! </p> </body>