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Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com. Welcome to Raw Impressions. Mondays, music, mini-episode.
This week, a very special interview with Carlos Van Hichte. His last name is Dutch, spelled H-I-J-F-T-E. I'm probably pronouncing it incorrectly. Carlos, I'm sorry.
Okay, here we go. Carlos was a booking agent extraordinaire. I would say. He began booking shows.
When did he? You know, I was running a venue in Eitof, in the Netherlands. And I was quitting that. And up until then, I only had booked very few shows outside of my venue.
But then I decided, well, the venue, five years, that's enough. I wanted to do bigger things and other things. And so I queued who I had booked two or three tours for, said, you have showed us Europe. We want to show you the US.
So they had their first country, whatever show happening, and they invited me as a tour match. That was their first US tour. That was their first US tour. That was complete.
Really? Yeah, I didn't know that. That's what Kim told me. Yeah, at least I'm sure.
I was in New York once, maybe twice. But other than that, I had no clue what I was running into. But the same for them. They had no clue what the whole thing would be like.
So they invited me. And we had a van that seated five people. And we were six because we had a cell man. So we had a bath on top of the equipment that someone had to lie down all the time.
Otherwise, it was impossible. And we went from New York. We went south. And all the way down to the Orleans.
And then from New Orleans to San Diego and from San Diego to Seattle. And from Seattle back to Boston, basically. Wow. So that was the 80s.
That was the 80s. We were very young. 1986. 1986.
Yeah. Wow. We carried like a huge video. Nowadays you do like this.
But at that time it was like big machines for batteries and big machines as being the camera. So that was the tour. And then half, you know, they saw it was very picky on the back there. So the first one we went to DC and was there waiting for us.
And then there was a whole range of opening acts. But firehose? No, maybe firehose didn't play. But we might, what?
The second truss that we had very clearly. And then dinosaur showed up. And somewhere in the midwest. I can't remember.
It was maybe Chicago. It was beyond, it was actually in the deep midwest. Because we drove all the way there. And it was our very first tour.
And it was the first time that Jay and Murphy had ever really been outside of Massachusetts. Okay. Not true. Maybe they hadn't been to the midwest.
But they had certainly been out of Massachusetts. And we drove as far as Michigan. First, because that's where I lived. Like, we're up in Jackson, Michigan.
We're just close to where Steve grew up. Okay. Steve is from Lansing. So we stopped in Jackson and we got out of the car and Jay and Murphy looked into the sky.
And they said, I've never seen so many stars. Which was amazing. It was a beautiful dinosaur, or dinosaur. We were dinosaur.
We were not here. But we met up with a zombie cube, maybe. I don't remember where exactly. I'm sure it could be traced.
But Kansas City, Kansas. And that's where we joined the tour. The Carlos was on this first. Yeah.
I think, I can say, we did like five to ten shows together. And we felt fine with each other. And it was like, we shared motel rooms probably. And whenever there was no motel, there was people's houses.
We stayed at Mercurier's house. Or in my dad? That was the last show we played was in Buffalo. And you would have, I would imagine that would be where you played or you stayed with Mercury Rev.
And Mercury Rev and flaming lips have a very intense connection. Because the producer who produced Mercury Rev went on to produce the later flaming lips records like a really black soft bullet. That is a Mercury Rev and it's an album, I would say. But that's the last show we played with Sonic Youth and it was the most.
No, that's not true. It's not true. It's not true. Okay.
Because I'm very positively sure that you came down all the way to Oh Look. You played Maxwell's with Sonic Youth because in Buffalo, we learned how to play with Lee. We played Cortez the Killer with Lee. We did this epic version of Cortez the Killer with Lee.
And I think, but I'm 99% sure that we repeated that in... In Hoboken. In Hoboken. I don't know.
Didn't you? And we did the show in CBGB's but I'm not sure if you were on that bill. But anyway, so there was definitely a big connection between me and Dinosaur. Because I was discovering the country but I was also discovering all these people.
It was like, oh my God. I, you know, I, I, I, a lot of new friends. Yeah, I mean, and you met Steve Elleany on this trip as well. Steve was it?
Yeah. That was, you know, and we didn't have internet. We, I think we barely had facts. Maybe not even facts.
No, we didn't have facts. We had phone numbers and, and, and, and, and boys guys. And then we started sending, um, um, uh, text messages and no, it was, it was just making a call. I don't remember where you, oh, that's the other time.
Um, I think we were about to be signed as a Steve. I, I think it was, had they just finished the EDOL record at the time? This was the EDOL tour. It was the EDOL because this is what this, the amazing thing is we finished the tour and then we drove back home and, uh, we were listening to EDOL and there was the record and it was, you know, express my tears skull.
Yeah. And it was a quiet moment and Jay said, I think we're all up with Sonic Youth. What do you say? And I felt, he said, I think we're in love with Sonic Youth.
And it was the most, like, it was the most earnest and truthful. I mean, because we, of course, things became much more contentious with us later, but that tour was like, we were opening, I mean, I, I, I idolized Sonic Youth for many reasons, artistically because of the way that there used to guitars and alternate, alternate tunings and, and I just, we just loved it and we loved the tour so much. And we had this beautiful moment, this beautiful little quiet moment that I think we are in love with Sonic Youth. And I was like, Jay, we are, I'm like, we are in love with Sonic Youth.
And then we were, I think, I don't know, I really don't know. My history is well, obviously, well, well known for partial facts. We all know that. That's something that's important to know.
That's not very specific. That's the specific things. But, but yeah, I think then we, then we were assigned to SST and then we did do the, you're living all over me record, which is then what brought us, was the reason that we were, because Carlos, what happened was, then that because of these connections that Carlos is speaking of, he became the booking agent for Big Black. So he, I'll be in his band, and you're up.
Did it also, Pussy Galora? Pussy Galora, so he was like, these are the really big bands that I loved. I mean, Big Black, Pussy Galora, Sonic Youth, these were the, these were the bands that, I was, we were part of that scene and that was something that was so important to me as a kid. And then when we were assigned to SST, that was like the pinnacle.
That was it. And then Carlos brought us to Holland. I did. And you know, and with phone calls and, you know, I have no good, anyone else was involved.
By the time, because the whole Sonic Youth tour was set up by SST, by, uh, Globe? Yeah, I think it was called Globe. And, um, so I had, you know, those guys knew me and I know those guys, so they sort of maybe helped out at some level, but, um, you know, it's one day they were at my train station. And I expected three people, there were four people.
That was the first surprise. Surprise! We brought yans. We brought yans.
We brought yans. We brought yans. Our friend that spoke, our friend that spoke German, he spoke German so we thought we would have it with us. Because I believe we did.
We did. We did. I think, you know, like I showed you the other day in my agenda from that year. I didn't see that.
I'm sorry. I didn't bring it today. Ah. You're going to take pictures of it from me.
No, it's very basic. It's like, it's like all these, um, and then it's, it, it, have, every page, when there's a touch cake. It's very specific. But then it says German show, Belgium show.
And I know someone says Italy, Italian, and I generally, you know, I lose it. I didn't make, you know, it was, I was pretty good. I was not good enough. It's like the baby boas for the second and third child.
Just gets less. It's true. It's true. You want the first few days of the baby being born, then after that you don't care.
You're like, oh, I can't. I can't keep these detailed notes anymore. Oh my goodness. Oh my gosh, Carlos.
It's so sweet to hear your voice and to hear you talking about all these memories. I just love it. What a gift for me to wake up to today. Oh, I was thinking about a couple of things when you were talking about, you know, that trip with Sonic Youth to the US and gosh, I mean, I'm thinking immediately, of course, about the difference between now and then traveling the US, right?
Like you have no GPS, no, I mean, did you guys just have huge maps in the car in the van that you were like unfolding and like, were you working together to try to? No, you had these, you had the Atlas, Randy MacKown. Yes, right. Yes, yes.
And the flip, right? The flip book. And then you would like, was it like a spiral bound book and then, you know, whatever. I was trying to spiral.
Okay, not sure most of our love. Oh my gosh, I used to use something similar in that, like a Thomas guide. It was called in Los Angeles when I lived there, but it's like, it's a map book, but um, you know, and then you're navigating it just hoping, right? That everything is correct.
And by no means the most fastest or efficient way. It's just what the map says. Right? No, but you know, the mass kind of, um, told us to get from city to city into the city.
Yeah. It's a big old thing. And so I have a little notebook that says, you know, for three to the right, stop, uh, trying to find the left. Yes.
Your countries are very, uh, grid like, unlike in Europe. In Europe, it's like, it's impossible to explain it that way. But because of the, it made it easier. And then you would call the person who were handed, they would read the directions over the phone to you.
And you would say, I mean, I don't remember, I actually, I don't remember that time being difficult per se. I think it seems difficult for neither. But, you know, but as we were doing it, then I don't remember ever being really lost. I don't remember ever, you know, it's just you got there and it wasn't, it wasn't too much of it needed to even someone would hop out and use a pay phone.
People would generally answer their phones, you know, um, so, uh, yeah. Oh my gosh. No, it's just so wild. It's just so wild now.
Think about how different it all is. I remember that Thurston had this huge boombox. Yeah, this boombox changed my life in many ways. It was a few pretty crucial ways.
I heard Daniel Johnson on this boombox for the first time, among all the other crazy music that they were collecting while on the road and sharing with us. And you know, I had to carry that thing. Some days I just smashed it into, into a Thurston's knees or something like that. So at some point you went down on it, Carlos the destroyer.
That's like, oh, on the boombox. I remember that. And there's, there's places on that tour that, you know, I can, I can see it and you probably can see it, but no other person will be ever being attached to him. But it's always a fun memory.
Like, that's, this is a story of thing. Oh my God. You carried it around. What's that?
Oh, I was just going to say you're talking about, you're bringing up that boombox, Lou, jogged my memory to the other thing I was thinking about when Carlos was talking about being in the U.S. with Sonic U of one directions, but two, the fact that he said they had such large video equipment and you know, not everyone thought to do that. I mean, how incredible at that time, because it was a lot more inconvenient, you know, it wasn't like, you know, you can just easily document so much, you know, you had to really make an effort. Oh, can you hear that?
Sounds like a tornado on my end. But I'm just thinking about, wow, like that's a interesting thing because, you know, dinosaur, you weren't taking a huge camcorder with you on tour, right? You know? It's not cute, they were audience.
Well, that's what I mean, right? It's a, it's a multimedia art. It's like, they weren't just the music. They were also thinking about like this greater picture of what they were doing.
And I think that's really interesting. I didn't know that. And so I'm kind of just loving that little fun back. I think that's it.
That's it. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool because that's like a real dedication to it. Sorry.
That's a real dedication to it because it was so wildly inconvenient. I'm sure. Since he got out, bad things keep happening. Cape Fear, a new series, he's now streaming on Apple TV.
Why? Why would I hurt you? Why starring Academy Award winner Javier Bardem. Why?
And Academy Award nominee Enie Adams. He's coming after my family. Cape Fear, now streaming on Apple TV. Subscription acquired for Apple TV.
But it was kind of a toy to have around because, you know, Luke can confirm that being on tour is a lot of boredom. And so we had this machine and we sort of did all kinds of weird stuff with the camera. So when I look back at all the material, it's not always very high standard filming. Yeah, right.
Which is the beauty of it, I think. You're capturing more of the mundane, right? And just that's the art, right? Because it's like the just everyday kind of like slug of being on tour and doing that whole thing.
And, you know, Luke did that later. It seems like when he was out with Sabato, he has all these videos of himself with like a smaller transporter. I do actually was when interestingly the tour that I took it on was one that was a lollipop-lucator that dinosaur played the main stage. I was with Sabato and Kim and Thurston were on the side stage doing some of Kim to kitten.
Okay. And Thurston played solo where he played kind of like early versions of songs that became like self-obsessed. And sexy, like early versions of that. And they were playing the side stage.
So we were actually sharing side stage with Kim and Thurston. Okay. And Julie obviously was kidding. I'm Julie K for a song for a single art.
And was it a little blues and white song through for all sort? No. No. No.
I think that they probably, I think that they headlined later, maybe a year later. It was, they were just doing it as side stage artists. Okay. Oh, interesting.
Dinosaur were, dinosaur junior were playing with Allison Chain's Fishbone tool. I can't remember, but it was very, it was very. I was at that show. What?
I think I was at that show. Yes. Now that I'm thinking about it, but I, it was in St. Paul too.
Down in Harriet Island. We were on that leg. Oh, okay. We were on the last leg of the Southwest.
I don't think I have no memory of seeing dinosaur junior though when I was younger. I don't, anyway. I grew up in Minnesota in St. Paul, which is, there's the Twin Cities are called St.
Paul Minneapolis. And they're just right across the Mississippi River from each other. And you've probably been to the Twin Cities then, at least Minneapolis, like First Avenue. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So I grew up right in the heart of downtown St. Paul and my parents are both music lovers.
And so I had a lot of music in my life, you know, growing up and, and they're both artists. So, yeah. Okay. Well, lucky.
Yeah. Yeah. It is true. Lucky me.
I agree. I agree. I grew up like right where we are now. Really?
We're at a smaller village. What's the name of the village? Host. Host.
This is why my mom is strong. So 20 minutes away from here. And it's very agriculture area. Yeah.
And it's like farmland. So anyway, my parents didn't have any interest. Growing up on the farm is not bad here. I mean, were you milking cows?
No, we didn't. But you know, it was, it was a mixed bag to start with. And then we moved and then my mom said no more animals. So we went straight into agriculture.
Yeah. Yeah. My parents both studied and lived in Holland in Harlem. And the art school they went to had a sister school there.
Sorry. Did you hear me? I don't know. Okay.
Yep. Oh, so they went to Minneapolis College of Art Design. And they, and so when they were, when they were in college, they both at different times, they didn't know each other while in college. And they both studied and lived in Harlem.
And but my parents loved, loved the Netherlands so much. My middle brother's name is Holland. So it's a special place in our family. And my dad ended up living overseas and for two years, he liked it so much.
Okay. So I remember feeling like I had to go there someday. You know, I had to see this place, but I have not been to Harlem where they lived. I don't think the school exists anymore.
It was a long time ago. At this point, the wind got to be too much. We resume the conversation when the conditions got better. But Carlos, I want to know if you're retired now.
Are you retired? I don't know. Are you tired? Are you tired?
Are you tired? No, no. I'm fine. Are you retired?
I'm out of the business. How long are you? Ten years. Oh, wow.
Okay. And so, you know, at some point, I was just, I think, I'm not sure. I was having this conversation ten seconds ago, but I got bored. It was like, you know, you go on tour and as a musician, you're on the stage.
You serve the hero of the night. All the girls want you. But as a booking agent, it's sitting here. Some people want to talk to you.
And like, start doing this. You're totally excited. Don't be happy about being on the road, being with your favorite people. And, you know, all these great shows that help some people, I know, do this work.
They become cynical. Yeah. And they become talking about the good old days. Yeah.
And stay because of this money. And there's all kinds of not fun things. Yeah. Yeah.
Time to bow out. Going back to dinosaur. What else? I'll talk about us.
Look at him. Look at him. Cute. Lou is.
Did he just age so well or what? Isn't he the cutest? I mean, look at him. He's aging in reverse, right?
He's Benjamin Button. Do you know that movie? He's going back. And we played with this .com and the show.
I talked to the lead singer, guitarist, and I said, really love your show. It's inspirational. They said, oh, yes. Well, you're not the original bass player of Dinosaur Junior.
Ah. And that's like the best thing that anyone could ever say to him. That is like, that is like my. It really is.
It's the most I have to say. Vanity. Yeah. That's what I'm saying.
You look so good. He thinks that I'm like a younger member of the band that was hired to play there. Because you throw yourself around. That's.
I love that. So exciting! Okay, today's our time. I was feeling very old yesterday for various reasons.
And when I told me that, I had a fan speed rock. I had a fan speed rock. I was blessed with his observation last night. What about dinosaur Juneau?
One thing which happened, you know, at the time, the timeline is kind of vague because in my channel it says dinosaur arrives on Tuesday on Wednesday, first gig, and then shows in a row. But that's somewhere in that tour. You had kind of a big break. And you stayed in my part for maybe a week or so?
We did. And then me and Monique decided to take a break. And we went to my parents. And so we were at my parents.
And I had given you guys my phone number, or my parents' phone number because I had a phone number. How's that phone number? And at some point, my mom comes to me. Somebody is calling.
But I think he's ill because it was Jay. And Jay was talking in his typical Jay way. And he's worse than the phone. Jay, I still have not recovered from trying to speak with him on the phone when I was 16 years old.
Like hello? Yeah. But you had imagined my mom. Your mom?
Oh my God. He was complaining. I got him on the phone. And he was complaining not about no, but he was complaining about murder.
Murder being like a child. You know, at that time, I think you're barely with 24. He was 12, right? Yeah, he was 22.
We weren't young. Very young adults. I was the youngest. I was 21.
Jay was 22. We're probably 23 at that point. But it was the first time. But still.
It was. It was the first time overseas. That's like, listen, early twenties for young men, it's still you're very young. The blue Jay thing happened.
Oh my God. The thing is that Carlos is such a really a ray of sunshine. He always has been. I mean, always been this just incredibly positive, smiling presence.
But he booked some of the most, the scariest camps. Swants. You booked swans. Ah!
And the butthole servers. Swants was definitely the butthole servers are scary. He brought all of these incredibly, that's a thing. Carlos needs to talk.
More people need to talk to Carlos about his past because in 1986, you know, whatever, late ladies, late ladies, the scariest, coolest bands. Carlos was the connection. Oh my gosh. You brought them to Europe.
And swans. Swants. Did I tell you my? The swans didn't want to sleep on my floor?
They didn't. Swans did not want to sleep on my floor. Oh my gosh, they needed a hotel room. Oh, yeah.
Your eye was difficult for the work. I'm surprising. You know, like ten years later and so many tours later, he came up to me to apologize for all the headaches he had caused. Really?
Yeah, he was so sweet. I'd love to see him. I hope he stays a friend, but he definitely shares some history. Did you know that I was asked to play bass for swans?
No, I didn't. After I was kicked out of dinosaur junior, we had shared, we were sharing a tour manager. Steve, um, Steve from Leeds. That's all you need to know.
Steve with the leather jacket from Leeds. Very, very. Also, beautiful little dude. Big smile on his face.
But he ended up working for swans. And when he found out that I was kicked out of dinosaur, the last tour I did with dinosaur was with seed from Leeds at our TM. And he said, you know, swans need a bass player. And he made me call Michael, Michael, like a giraffe from the swans.
And swans were like, no, I don't think I've ever really rhapsodized or just explained my love of that band. And how that band, everything, all of the angst in that band was me. I lived that band. Every album was my, was my progression into adulthood.
A dark, it was super dark. Children of God, it was like, ugh, money. Money, love. You know, so anyway, I had to call Michael, and I said, I kind of didn't want to do it, honestly.
I was like, because I knew enough about the band. People told me enough stories that I knew that, like, going from James Askis to Michael Jarrack could possibly, I mean, my life would become even more difficult and the communication would become even more agonized. So I called Michael Jarrack. I had to call him, which was, I mean, very, very.
It's gabby. Oh, yeah. I don't remember the exact conversation, but I said, can I take my girlfriend on tour? He said, I don't think that was possible.
Didn't happen. So thanks. I feel like if I had joined swans at that moment, like to this, right now I would actually be covered in tattoos. Yes.
That would be a very different person. One of the first ones I've brought over was Scratch Action. That's pre-Jesus, Lizard Odell. You're giving me so many great hashtags, Carlos.
Hashtags, scratch. No, scratch action was totally fun. They were, they were Texas people. They were very communicated.
They were really nice guys. They were so like part of the family. And I think Ray Washington was, you know, her favorite. Ray, a legendary drummer.
Ray Walsh. You know, it's like thinking back of all this is like really fun and talking about it's more fun. So Carlos, do you just come around then to just say hi to everyone when they're in town and hang out and visit? Yeah.
That's got to be more fun, right? You know, it's nearby. Yeah. Yeah, there's definitely more fun than being involved and having small business.
No responsibility at all. Exactly. And you can just come and go. You can be like, hey, let's go to dinner.
Let's not, whatever. You're not on the clock, right? It's like, so you did this with him last night. Yeah.
So came up with him last night? Oh, he was there last night? Oh, yeah. So that's also like 35, 40 minutes away from where I had my house.
Yes. So I'm out there. Am I welcome in your farmhouse? That's the other question.
You're welcome in Greenfield. Can I come to your farmhouse? Yeah. It's the end of mini music Monday.
From our impressions. Thank you for listening. Since he got out, bad things keep happening. Cape Fear, a new series, he's now streaming on Apple TV.
Live when I want to hurt you. Live starring Academy Award winner Javier Bardem. Live and Academy Award nominee Indiana. He is coming after my family.
Live. Cape Fear, now streaming on Apple TV. Subscription acquired for Apple TV.