Quazar

Quazar from Utrecht / Amsterdam, The Netherlands, initially consisted of Gert Van Veen AKA MG ("Magic") and Erik van Putten AKA Eric Cycle. Both had played in a band before, but they were not all that successful in those days. In 1989, van Veen was a music journalist for a national newspaper, 'De Volkskrant'. He wrote some articles about "The New Dance Craze". Together with the famous resident DJ of 'The Roxy' club in Amsterdam, Eddy De Clercq and Eton Crop member Corné Bos, he produced 'Pay The Piper' A-Men. It is generally argued to be the first Dutch house record, although Peter Slaghuis from Rotterdam was a pioneer too. Van Putten, van Veen and De Clercq had their first underground hit with 'Dish & Tell' as House Of Venus, part of which was sampled by Prince. The first Quazar record was 'Seven Stars'. It was picked up by a broad audience (even mellow-oriented DJ's played it), but it was definitely a milestone for hard (euro) techno. The second release, 'Here & Now', is also quite experimental. It features an intro by Urban Dance Squad guitar player René van Barneveld AKA Tres Manos. The remix edition features the often underestimated, slighty melodic techno tune, 'Midsummernightsdream'. Quazar rose to "world fame in The Netherlands", when they were featured in the classic documentary, 'House gewoon uit je dak', in the Impact series by the Dutch VARA-television. They even managed to penetrate the booming market for (album) CD's. Their outstanding first album 'The Seven Stars' sold well over 10.000 copies. Later attempts were made to appeal to a more general audience. Their tracks became more song-like in format, and vocals (by Farida Merville) got more emphasis. Unfortunately things didn't quite work out for them. Gert van Veen still uses the name Quazar for his projects.