In any case, the single has been re-released. In addition, the DJ duo Beatcrooks is making a remix of the song, there will be a radio tour for promotion and the band hopes to perform at major farmers’ festivals such as De Zwarte Cross, Boerenrock and the 24-hour Solex Race Festival Brabant.
“It started as a joke and that is how we are going to end it. But we are taking it seriously. There will be new orange overalls, because the old ones no longer fit. They will be professional shows with confetti and fireworks and there will be a tight set list. We will go on stage five to ten times.”
It sounds like a joke, Titt’n that passes for serious. Because it certainly wasn’t that in 1998. A demo single was recorded. “We showed that to Bart van Leeuwen, a Veronica DJ who lived here in the village. I was actually the drummer of the band and I was the second voice on that demo,” Buld reflects. “Van Leeuwen immediately thought that cry was gold, but it had to be sung again. By me, because I had a higher voice. Suddenly I was the frontman of the band.” And he would know that. “We re-sung the song and sent it to Hilversum.”
Two weeks later, those farm boys from Ruinerwold suddenly find themselves in Hilversum. Marco Borsato is pushed from his place, they see DJ Jeroen Nieuwenhuize more often than their parents, sit on the couch with Fabienne de Vries from pop channel TMF. Buld is the face of the band and can no longer walk normally. There will be big performances, where bands like Blof and Volumia will be the support act for the boys from Drenthe. Girls screaming in front of the stage. The singer is even featured as hunk of the week in the Hitkrant.
“The pressure was enormous, we did three performances in one evening. Before a performance I was quickly told where we were. An hour of performance, back in our Chrysler with driver and bodyguard and then we raced with 220 on the Afsluitdijk to the next performance. To deal with that, we filled up with beer. Because you know it can only last a very short time. That turned out to be the case. We were not here to stay. As fast as the doors opened, they closed just as fast.”
Buld tours the country with his friends for three years. They don’t make a lot of money. “We had a contract with a record company, which invested in us and we received a fee. We were happy with that. But in the end, the record company earned 350,000 euros from us and we received 35,000 euros. Divide that by seven and minus the tax authorities, Then you’re left with just a few crates of beer and a dry sausage.”
It is at that time that everyone greets each other by asking if you are horny or if you would like a cookie. “I have spoken to bridal couples who came together thanks to that spell.”
Buld, unwillingly, suddenly became the face of the band in the late 1990s. Other band members are happy that they don’t have that craziness. It certainly won’t be as crazy as it was back then in 2023. “My four children are now between 15 and 21 years old. They sometimes hear the song. They have sometimes asked me what period that was. Then I said: ‘Just look on the internet.’ They were amazed that that was their father,” laughs Buld.
For the band it is now only about one thing, that gold record. And according to Buld, the whole village wants that. That is why the B-side on the single is the anthem of Ruinerwold. “I like that collective thing about this.” And what should happen to that gold record? “We give them to Rudolf and Grietje from the cafeteria. Those were the people who sponsored us 28 years ago.”