On Saturday 8 June, we’ll celebrate the 80th birthday of living legend Roland Van Campenhout along with him.
Roland is the son of a jazz musician who died young, but he himself only started playing music later in life. He learned to drum during his army service. At the age of twenty, he established the William & Roland Skiffle Group. His first show was, in exchange for a macrobiotic meal, at ‘Trefpunt’, the café of Walter De Buck. He didn’t get paid, but he could drink for free. Back then, already. He also appeared on stage with folk duo Miek & Roel, and after that he began Roland & the Blues Workshop.
The breakthrough came at Jazz Bilzen in 1968.
In the seventies, he went to play in the band of Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher. He tagged along on tour and headed out around the world, even to Singapore.
Colloquially, Roland is the loveable, bearded blues musician who never arrives on time and leads the life of a nomad.
Roland is an example for many, the discoverer of many (such as Pieter Jan De Smet, Steven De Bruyn), but was also the ideal sidekick of many (such as Blaute, Wannes Van De Velde and Charles & Les lulus (Arno)).
Roland is well versed in the blues, but also in reggae, country, jazz, world music and folk. His musical curiosity is broad. Career, planning and marketing are far from his mind.
Get to know our Flemish Dr. John better through his famous quotes:
‘Chaos is bliss’
‘But actually I’m a skiffle guy (editor’s note: skiffle is a sort of music that came about 100 years ago in New Orleans, derived from Dixieland, folk, blues and jazz). But I am also a lover of inventing soundscapes on the spot and of creating things you’ve forgotten again after 10 minutes. So my interests can definitely be broader than blues."
"Time doesn’t exist for me. We are here, and in 3,000 years we won’t be anymore."
"That on-the-road feeling is a lifestyle. It often happens that I’m in Antwerp in the morning, in Ghent in the afternoon, and in Brussels in the evening. I have to move.’
‘I don’t get that often though, that I’m nervous during a performance. Except maybe that one time I played at De Muze in Antwerp and Ferre Grignard came in. I almost died on the spot when I saw him, with his very imposing appearance, his stern gaze – they say that I have that too, by the way. But fine, I recovered and gave it more than my best."
Roland will definitely give it more than his best on June 8 at AB.
