BIOGRAPHY

MoNoMeN was a new wave band that existed from 1978 -1981. The band played original material.

MoNoMeN is from the Netherlands, from the town of Arnhem on the river Rhine., the town that is well known from the 1977 movie ‘A bridge too far’.

The bands original line up was:

Frits van Erpers Roijaards, guitar
Robert Schakel, leadguitar
Ed van Kasteren, vocals
Ronald Mulder, bass
Jan Dries ‘Rokus’ Groenendijk, drums
Hans van Woudenberg, sax


The MONOMEN is an offspring of the punkband Berlin Schweinhund that started in 1977. Berlin Schweinhund for instance played that year at the big party of the Arnhem Art school (later ArtEZ) in December 1977.

Berlin Schweinhund formed the core of the orchestra that accompanied the performance of the famous Austrian performance artist Hermann Nitsch during the Arnhem Performance Festival in September 1978. This punk band was end of life by the end of 1978.

MoNoMeN has played in almost every Arnhem venue, in bars like De Show, and De Buik. But also in musichalls like Musis Sacrum and Stokvishal, where new wave bands like Ramones, Talking Heads and Blondie also made their appearance. MoNoMeN played in many other Dutch music halls like O42 and Doornroosje in Nijmegen and in the famous Paradiso in Amsterdam and in Ei van Columbus in Deventer.

The band’s music is energetic and it’s repertoire is made up of mostly up tempo songs written by members of the band. Songs are written by Frits van Erpers Roijaards, Robert Schakel and Ronald Mulder. Arrangements were usually worked out by the band as a whole.

The Dutch painter and artist Dick van der Meijden (who passed away on November 28 2022) was in the early phase of the band the manager, coach and producer. He is also well known for designing the covers of the albums of the famous Dutch rocker Herman Brood, for instance the album Shpritsz.

The musical background of the members of the band is diverse. Ranging from punk, new wave rock, pop to jazz and electronic music.Think of bands like Captain Beefheart, Kraftwerk, Talking Heads, Beatles and Devo.

In the spring of 1980 the single Come in handies/Square on both sides was released on the ´1000Idioten´ label. In the summer of 1981 the band started working on the recording of an album that was never finished.

During In this last period the band also did some recording for the Dutch radio. The did a session for Vara´s Popkrant, which was quite successful. Sadly, the original recordings have been lost due to fire.

After the band broke up, the cassette MoNoMeN Hystery was released on the THAM THAM label containing an oversight of the music of the MoNoMeN, augmented with one song by Berlin Schweinhund titled ´Speed it up´.

Early 1980 the band went through some turmoil which resulted in Frits van Erpers Roijaards and Ronald Mulder leaving the band. Robert van Bolderen and Wim Jacobs stepped in on guitar and bass respectively. Both were member of the shortly before deceased band Neon Lily´s. The frontman and singer was the cartoon artist Hanco Kolk. In the summer of 1981 the band fell apart altogether.

Their last live performance MoNoMeN did was a reunion gig in Amsterdam on the occasion of the 50th birthday of former coach/manager of the band Dick van der Meijden in june 1995. Because singer Ed van Kasteren had disappeared, Erik Walet did the vocals.

Some members of the MoNoMeN joined the rather successful show of Arnhem musicians ´Plan A´ that was staged in the Arnhem Schouwburg and in Paradiso in Amsterdam in 1981. The posters of these shows were published along with some MoNoMeN posters in the book ´Arnhem Pop Posters 19862/1988´. The design of these posters was done by Ronald Mulder bass guitarist of the MoNoMeN and graphic designer, and with all due respect not by the late Hans Walter the singer of the Arnhem band Meneer Jansen. Plan A was the debut of the band of MoNoMeN singer ‘Van Kaye and Ignit’, in which also MoNoMeN guitarist Robert Schakel played for some time.

After MoNoMen drummer Jan-Dries Groenendijk made quiet a name for himself as a composer and sound designer for movies and videos and also as a writer.