MyGen
Profile GeneratorSleeze Beez first started when Jan Koster and Chriz van Jaarsveld decided to put their own group together after playing in different bands. Koster enlisted the aid of Red Bullet Records' President Willem van Kooten, telling the prominent Netherlands music executive that he had a world class band with material to match. One problem...there was no band and the duo only had one song to their name.
Van Kooten's faith in Koster was such that he went ahead and put up the finances for the recording session. In the meantime, Don van Spall and Ed Jongsma joined the band and they started work with established Dutch producer John Sonneveld. Halfway through the album Screwed Blued and Tattooed which featured the hit Stranger Than Paradise, singer Andrew Elt hooked up with the band. The album was released in the summer of '88 in Benelux. After a sold out Dutch tour, the Beez signed a lucrative deal with U.S. based Atlantic Records who released the Billboard-charting album worldwide in '89. Sleeze Beez toured the U.S. in the summer of that same year opening for Skid Row and performing over eighty headline club shows.
Back home in Amsterdam, the Beez almost immediately started work on their next album. Powertool took three years to complete due to continuous struggle between the band and the label. The physical writing was done within a few months, but the actual recording and release seemed to take forever. Finally, in the summer of '92, the band and label settle all differences. With renewed force, the Beez recorded Powertool in as little as two months.
Recording in England with producer Gary Lyons, the album was released in January 1993 with the first single I Don't Want To Live Without You entering the Dutch charts. But all wasn't well across the "Atlantic", and the band, dissatisfied with the lack of promotion and support they were receiving, left Atlantic Records.
With mixed feelings, the band regrouped, stronger than ever, and instantly started writing new material, determined not to waste any more time. After locking themselves up for three months, the band presented Willem van Kooten with twelve brand new tracks convinced they soon would be recording another album. Willem, ecstatic with what he heard, immediately sent the band into the studio to record the Beez "baddest" album to date.
Insanity Beach was recorded and mixed in Holland before the end of that year producing a rugged, hard-edged, more aggressive sounding Beez. With producer John Sonneveld back in the saddle and the band co-producing, everything was recorded in one room to catch that "live" feeling. With all members of the band involved in the writing process for the first time, the band's style and direction has taken a radical turn. The first single taken from the album Gun Culture was evident of the new Sleeze Beez sound. It sparked major interest with US, Japanese and European labels. Sleeze Beez planned to play various festivals in Holland before embarking on a European tour, but alas the band disbanded with vocalist Andrew Elt and guitarist Don van Spall forming the pop/rock band The Moon and drummer Jan Koster, guitarist Chriz van Jaarsveld and bassist Ed Jongsma forming the punk/rock band Jetland.
Sleeze Beez may reunite in 2006 if enough fans and promoters show interest!
