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Somewhere in 1991, when no-one seemed really interested in playing garage punk anymore, bassplayer
Miss Jean decided that she wanted to put such a band together anyway, with her (then) boyfriend Eric
Danno. Within a couple of months a steady line up was ready for the world - whether the world was ready or
not. Ad 'Ace' Van Dijk on vocals, Eric Danno on Vox organ, Andre Elskamp on guitar, Miss Jean on bass
and Jan 'Wickie' Vrolijk on drums. After a no-holds-barred period of going through wild versions of just
about all the classic 'Pebbles-type' songs they could dig up, the band (by then named Ace-Tones, after a
crappy old organ) were invited to record an album for the German label Music Maniac, known for their
releases of Dead Moon, The Fuzztones and others. Wickie was by then replaced by Rob Louwers, an old
friend of Ace. They had played together in the 70's/80's in the punk band the Treat (according to reviews,
one of Holland's brightest hopes in the early eighties). Rob had also played in the eighties reunion of the
legendary Q65. The release of this album (released in 1993 as "Teen Trash, Vol.6") brought some
enthusiastic reactions from all over Europe, and even the United States.
What followed was an EP on the American Tombstone-label, an EP on the Dutch Lada label (in shocking
pink vinyl), and their 2nd album (called "Sixteen") was released late 1996 by Henk's Crazy Diamond
Records (Holland). The bands latest releases are the album "In Your Eyes", on the Perfect Sound Forever!
label (Holland, 1997) and a track on the "Trendy" punk compilation (on Trend Is Dead records, USA 1998).
A new song has just been released, called "OUWE PUCH", being the first (and last) Ace-Tones song in Dutch ever! (It's free to download this song!)
Click to download (free)
All over Holland, the Ace-Tones gained quite a reputation as a live band, playing local smalltown clubs to
the famous Amsterdam Paradiso and the prestigeous 'Noorderslag' festival in Groningen. Jazz-veteran
saxophone player Hans Dulfer jammed with the Ace-Tones on Vpro national radio, and Ace-Tones Eric and
Rob toured Europe with Rudi Protrudi (the Fuzztones) as Link Protrudi and the Jaymen. Two years (and lots
of Ace-Tones gigging) after this, they teamed up with Link Wray himself, no less, and recorded an album
together called "Shadowman" and a live album called "Walking Down A Street Called Love". Also with
Link, they played for the BBC (Radio One and BBC TV Scotland), and toured Europe and Australia (!) as
Link Wray and his Ace-Men.
In the fall of 1998, lead singer Ad "Ace" van Dijk moves to Canada; although the Ace-Tones never officially
split up, there will be "a drastic decrease concerning the gigging frequency". Ad will probably put together a
similar band in Canada, Eric plays garage beat (and sings) in The Napoleons, Rob drums in
Rough'n'Tumble and rumour has it that Jeannemieke and Andre are planning a surf combo... but the legacy
of the Ace-Tones will always remain.
Latest news is that our drummer Rob has joined the Fuzztones!
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