Biography

Only Entertainment was formed in April 1994. Dave (bass, vocals), Jack (guitar), Daan (guitar) and Richard (drums) think it's time to start a funny coverband mainly to perform live. The other bands the members are in do play their own songs (Toner Low, Krush, Danny Ramirez, BRS). The Rijnsburgians (near Leiden) decide to play fifty years of rock 'n' rollhistory in punkrock-versions, if only to get a good laugh. American westcoastpunkrockbands like Bad Religion, NOFX and Lag Wagon are taken as examples. Songs from Elvis Presley, Bryan Adams and the movie Grease are part of the repertoire of Only Entertainment. The band experiences climax after climax without ever putting a decent demotape out. Quite early in their carreer the fourpiece does shows in a few bigger venues, like Het Paard (The Hague, December 1994) and De Eland (Delft, February 1995).

Late June 1995 there's a first photoshoot: at a Katwijkian televisiondealer in front of his collection of televisions. The pics are inspired by the Bad Religion song which bears the same name as Only Entertainment and deals with the influence of t.v. at society.

In 1996 Only Entertainment visit Germany three times. In Holland they play with the likes of Armand, The Beatles Revival Band and De Heideroosjes. During the turn of the year 1996/1997 the band plays at the Oude Zaal of De Melkweg (Amsterdam), which is packed with sevenhundred people. The day after the members of Only Entertainment talk to Roadrunner Records. The recordcompany is interested in the band after listening to a live-tape. During May and June of 1997 Only Entertainment records their cd for Roadrunner at Bill & Ted's Excellent Recording Studio (Amsterdam). In the meantime Only Entertainment spreads their name across the region between The Hague and Amsterdam. The band does shows with all kinds of bands, such as Occult, Isis and Beaver. The cdrelease however gets delayed and delayed and in early 1998 the contract the band had with Roadrunner Records was cancelled.

After an (almost final) tour across the region in February 1998 (opening for Travoltas and Dollybirds) Only Entertainment, temporary with female vocalist Irene in the line up, decide to finish their activities for a while. Dave, Jack and Daan use their spare time to start Roadkill Rekordz. In April 1999 the 7" Vinally is the first release on their label, it's a splitsingle with Only Entertainment and The Titfaces (a former band of Richard and Daan). Only Entertainment do a final tour, supporting Undeclinable Ambuscade (among others) and ending with an awesome gig in front of an audience of 2500 people at the Berghpopfestival on 5 June 1999 in Noordwijk. Dave, Jack, Daan and Richard had dressed up as a couple of Village People, but forgot to play the discoclassic YMCA.

During May the Roadrunner recordings are bought by Roadkill Rekordz and Wot Nxt Foundation and finally in September 1999 the debutalbum 'Never Judge A Record By Its Cover(s)' was released.

Only Entertainment kicked off their Never Judge A Record-Tour on 11 September 1999 at a sold out Join-club in Noordwijk. In the months to follow more gigs were played in the western part of Holland. Only Entertainment mostly did headline-shows during the final months of 1999 or played gigs with no other bands at all. During 2000 the band had some more live shows in the region from The Hague 'till Amsterdam, but also in other parts of Holland. Throughout the year Only Entertainment did do some festivals, like Northfest (Noordwijk), the Elektra Tuinfeest (Sliedrecht), the Access Festival (Venhuizen) and Zomaarpop (Oirlo). Several local bands played on the same bill with Only Entertainment. To name a few: The Titfaces, Left In The Middle, Daily Fire, Griffin, SmoguS, Golly Golliwog, Esion, Myosotis, Missfortune, Tsunami, Black Yoghurt and Montany. In 1999 and 2000 the band also did gigs with some national acts, such as Tröckener Kecks, the Beatbusters, 7Zuma7,Longshot, Dreadlock Pussy, Mark Foggo and The Bouncers. Those are mainly ska-bands, by the way. Early 2001 the members of Only Entertainment were preparing to do their long awaited final show. After several delays this was set to be Saturday 1 September. Before ending the band some more gigs were played around The Netherlands. The delay led them to finally play a show at their hometown. Only Entertainment did a gig at a birthday-party in 1999, but never had been given the opportunity before to be on a stage in the center of Rijnsburg. Mid June 2001 this finally happened at an open air-festival with shows by Alice Deejay and Milk Inc. as well. After having returned to some clubs and areas they played in 2000 Only Entertainment had their final gig at the beginning of September in LVC-club in Leiden. This last show on earth marked the release of the minicd So Long… And Thanx For All The Booze, with unreleased recordings by Only Entertainment and a cd-rom part containing the other bands the members are in. Both band and club being unaware of the popularity Only Entertainment had at that stage, the LVC on the night of September 1st was sold out from the start and a cold glass of beer became a rarity 'cause temperatures rose to a high level that night. Throughout the evening a crowd had been standing outside of the LVC waiting to get inside. Aware of this fact Only Entertainment nevertheless had no choice but to start their final show around 21.00 hours. Luckily for all those wanting to see the band's last live appearance Only Entertainment played two long bits of 75 minutes each. The famous singer Leidse Kees did a short gig of about 15 minutes in between and after the final show Dr.Fröbel threw a good ol' disco-party and some more stuff was going on at the other floors of the LVC. Unfortunately for a whole bunch of people who liked to see Only Entertainment one more time, it took them all night to get inside of the club. Several people even didn't get the chance to enter the LVC in time and only came in after Only Entertainment had already ended their final show. The band-members know they can never make up for that and eternally apologize. On the other hand Only Entertainment also thanks all of those who supported the band from April 1994 to September 2001 and also all of those who did show up at their gigs but didn't support the band, yet still were supporting in a certain way. Only Entertainment means everyone from Vlissingen to Hoogeveen and from Meerlo to Grootebroek and all people in between and of course those in Germany. Eternal thanks further more to Roadrunner Records in Hilversum, Bill & Ted's Excellent Recording Studio in Amsterdam, Wot Nxt Fnd in Leiden and everybody that lent a hand on September 1st.

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