It felt like coming home: as if time had stood still. Almost ten years after he left the Volkel rock band BZB, guitarist Paul Rademaker was suddenly back on stage with ‘his’ band at Festyland in Volkel in early October. A surprising, but for him a logical return after the departure of guitarist Leroy Schuckman: “The circle is complete again.”
Rademaker left the BZB in 2015 after no less than 23 years. His healthcare company could no longer be combined with the band’s busy touring schedule.
However, the recently released documentary ’30 Years of BZB: Real Friends’, about the unbreakable friendships between band members, made him think: “Nowadays BZB only plays about nine to ten shows a year, instead of several a week. Then I thought: that would suit me now too.”
Paul was invited to watch the documentary. “Then things go through your head. It’s one big family, a tear ran down my cheeks,” he says. Not much later he was in a pub with the band members. “Erik (Jans) said: ‘Damn it, Leroy is going to stop’. He was in despair and asked if it was something for me. I said: ‘If you ask me, I think I will respond very enthusiastically.’ The next day I was asked and I immediately said yes.”
Paul made his return at Festyland at the beginning of October. He played the last six songs as a literal farewell to Leroy and as a new start for himself. “I had already seen the band play that Friday and thought: oh dear, I should be able to do all that soon. I was nervous, my fingers are a bit rusty. But as soon as I stepped on stage, it felt like old times. It ran smoothly, full of energy.”
Although he has not yet mastered the entire set, he is looking forward to the adventure. “I’m ready. It’s come full circle again. I’m back at my old home and that’s special. We’re looking forward to going on the adventure together again.”
“I saw that sparkle in everyone’s eyes again.”
Coming back feels like a fresh start for Rademaker. “We used to rehearse all day long with a beer. Now it’s a lot more professional. I think we go into the rehearsal room more often. There is a new energy. Erik is writing and I saw that sparkle in everyone’s eyes again.”
Paul sees himself as a worthy successor to Leroy. According to him, they are almost cut from the same cloth. Others also notice that he is back in the old nest. “People suddenly want to take a picture with me again.” Even colleagues from his healthcare organization De Nistel asked him for an autograph.
“We’re going to have a party together”
However, he still believes that his earlier departure was a good decision. “I was always on an express train with the club. When you play so much, you put everything aside for the band. When that disappeared, it gave room for other things. It has brought me a lot.”
His children, now almost sixteen and eighteen years old, experienced little of his first BZB period. That’s going to change now. “One of the conditions for my return is that we have a big one at a number of shows partyrent a bus and take our families with us. We’re going to have a party together.”
