Fighting in a small truck

Without a band bus, rockabilly band Batmobile would never have been able to reach forty years, singer Jeroen Haamers is sure of that. “All those miles and nothing to do but talk and mess around, then you forge the deepest friendships.” Since 1983 he has been discussing the course of the band in detail with his brother Eric (bass), best friend Johnny Zuidhof (drums) and regular soundman Eddie Alderden. Are they playing rockabilly or psycho-billy? Shouldn’t the drums on that one song sound more like Johnny Burnette, or should they sound like Gene Vincent? By the time the heated discussion about this has been settled, they will already be deep in Germany.

On fire

When Haamers still steps in for a performance, he becomes that 18-year-old boy who secretly wants to become Elvis Presley and has been arguing about this with Zuidhof for forty years now, because he is more like Cliff Richard. For a long time those conversations took place in a Volkswagen van, until it caught fire on the highway on the way to the boat to England. The band played throughout Europe in the 1980s and 1990s.

In recent years, Haamers has become addicted to the Chevrolet Suburban, a more than man-sized, extremely strong colossus from 1978. “A small truck.” It is a nine-seater, it drives 1 in 3 with a gas tank. At the front is a winch that he recently used to pull down the poplars around his farm in Bavel. Inside everything is American big and finished with chrome and fake walnut. “I think it’s nice to arrive at a festival like this, then people look back.” The only drawback is that it is not very reliable: the tire came off during the first trip and Haamers calculates a little extra time for each trip because he prefers to drive calmly with a small truck.

There are Elvis foot mats and an Elvis license plate, but otherwise it is a band bus with no music. He’s not even sure if the radio works. When he is alone, he sometimes plays something on his phone (Elvis), but never with the band. “The boys are going to get pissed off about that.” They also agreed that they are not constantly on the phone, so what remains is to talk.

Many quarrels were made and settled in the band bus. Like that period when Johnny only wanted to tour, while Jeroen preferred to give his voice a rest and was a little homesick. Drinking was also a point, not everyone thought the same about that. “I think you can’t get to work tired, so not on stage either.” In Tokyo, the disagreement in the band escalated to the point of blows. It took a lot of trips to make up for it. After that the rule was: don’t drink on the way there.

That policy has now loosened somewhat. “You also have to give each other some fun.” He has mellowed a bit in that area and no longer pursues his Elvis ambitions, although he proudly notes that they have had a well-running band for forty years that even has something to do with it. In terms of what constitutes good or bad music, they do not soften. Never. Otherwise it would be quiet in the Chevy.