Q65

Hairy, nihilistic and uncompromising, Q65 were as popular as The Who and The Kinks in their native Holland, but their success never crossed its borders.

Their bummer vibe was inspired by The Pretty Things, as were their drug songs like Summer Thoughts In A Field Of Weed and 80% O (a reference to hashish that is infused with 80 percent opium).

Q65 played their first shows in May 1965 – their name bastardised from The Rolling Stones‘ covers of Susie Q and Route 66. Their first demo became their first single in January 1966, You’re The Victor.

At the limit of their abilities, Q65 furiously scrubbed scratchy guitars, while a tuneless harmonica droned and Bieler jabbered incomprehensibly. This was R&B as punk, out-blistering The Pretty Things to the nth degree.

Their second single, The Life I Live (1966), was a Dutch Top 10 hit, and in early 1967 they charted again with their most disciplined single, From Above.

They ended 1967 with So High I’ve Been, So Down I Must Fall – psychedelic punk with squalls of distortion and abrupt rhythmic shifts. Too intense and subterranean for the flower generation, it missed the charts.

Vocalist Willem Bieler was drafted in 1968 and following a spell as Circus, Q65 normalised their sound. They split in 1972.