Peter, De Marley'kes are still often introduced as being a Marley cover band, but isn't that in fact a too limited description for what you guys are doing?
Peter Gubbels (guitar, vocals): "We started covering Marley songs and translating the lyrics into Dutch as a bit of a joke. One of the first things we did was 'De Wrede Wapper', an adaptation of 'Crazy Baldheads', written as a protest song against the planned Lange Wapper bridge. Since then, we don't just cover Bob Marley tunes anymore, but also Peter Tosh, Dawn Penn, Toots & The Maytals, and so on. Sometimes our interpretation of the song stays quite true to the original, but other times we might choose to digress quite a bit. It all depends on how the mood strikes us, although I have to say the comedy factor has risen quite a bit since Hans Daans (horns, vocals, red.) joined our ranks. (laughs)"
Let's stick with Bob Marley for the moment. What does he still represent to you guys?
Peter Gubbels: "From the songs we've adapted we noticed his lyrics are still very relevant and, strangely enough, applicable on both local Antwerp politics and national politics as well as on international affairs. His music hasn't lost an ounce of strength in all these years."
Does the fact you guys preferably pick songs that are still relevant today automatically exclude the possibility of covering a love song, for example?
Peter Gubbels: "No, not at all, we just go in search of songs that capture our imagination. One example is 'Is This Love', that we've also done a version of for which I have to give Steven (Van Gool) credit by the way for the superb translation he came up with."
Listening to the songs of De Marley'kes, one might consider what you guys do to be a piece of cake, but how labor intensive is it to adapt a song from English?
Steven Van Gool (bass, vocals): "Very often we get a first idea just by listening to the song. That can be just one line or a couple of words, so then it becomes a case of trying to adapt the rest of the song. At times that can be quite a challenge because you have to try and maintain the same "standard" throughout the entire song. (general laughter)"
Peter Gubbels: "Some words or expressions are very hard to translate and finding the right way of phrasing something can keep you occupied for weeks at a time. How would you translate "natural mystic" in Dutch for example?"
The different members of De Marley'kes are all involved in different side projects. Are you just a bunch of friends getting together and having some fun or is it a bit more serious than that?
Peter Gubbels: "We haven't been at it for that long yet and in this stage of the game the fun part is still very pivotal, yes. That doesn't mean I wouldn't like this project to grow into something bigger, though, but at this moment that time hasn't arrived yet."
Steven Van Gool: "A good amateur is sometimes better than a bad professional, so that's why I haven't got a problem with calling it a hobby project at this moment either. Everybody in the band is highly motivated about what we are doing and that's when I as a "professional musician" know things will probably work out."
One could wonder why no one thought of doing something like this before.
Steven Van Gool: "I have to admit it's a bit of a shot at an open goal, yes."
Peter Gubbels: "Being the first at something is never bad of course, but that being said, there have been a few similar songs in the past, although that was already a couple of decades ago. Reggae in Dutch is just doing very well at the moment; just look at Flip Kowlier or Campina Reggae, who are doing far from bad. At the root of all of that was the Doe Maar revival at the end of the nineteen nineties."
You're mentioning Dutch spoken reggae there, but there's an unmistakable touch of Antwerp dialect in your songs. Would it be a lot harder to convert the songs to Standard Dutch?
Peter Gubbels: "For me personally, that would be a lot harder, yes. In my pronunciation you will always hear I'm from Antwerp and that means that when I sing in Standard Dutch or even English it will just sound fake."
Does the fact you're "but a cover band" limit you in any way where concert bookings are concerned?
Peter Gubbels: "As I've already said earlier, we haven't been at it for very long yet, so we still have to wait and see what's going to happen there. I have noticed the band name can create somewhat high expectations, though."
Steven Van Gool: "People sometimes think we're some kind of Flemish Wailers or something and that's of course not what we're about."
Peter Gubbels: "If you pronounce the band name in Antwerp dialect it means something like "it's just songs" and that's exactly what De Marley'kes are about: playing music and having fun!"