From WAF via Spitsroeden to Kadanz

On March 31, 1979, the Utrecht gay cabaret Spitsroeden experienced its first performance. After two successful shows, the core members formed the basis for the pop group Kadanz three years later, which managed to reach a wider audience – and even several Top 40 rankings.

In the late 1970s, not only did the number of gay and lesbian activist and social groups increase, but so did the number of gay and lesbian cabaret, theater, and music companies. The yearly Pride Parades (‘Roze Zaterdag’) festivals, and a network of COC venues, small and large theaters offered a stage to groups like 'Supertamp', 'the Softies', 'Miss Sonnica' and 'Tante Gré', 'Lesbiafonia', 'Tedje en the Flikkers', and 'Het Valsche Nichten Koor'. Professional theater companies like 'De Nieuwe Komedie', 'Proloog', and 'Het Werkteater' launched their own productions, based on the personal experiences of the gay actors from those companies.

Within this range of amateur, semi-professional, and professional theater groups, Utrecht's gay cabaret 'Spitsroeden' occupied a special place. While most groups primarily challenged the discriminatory norms of heterosexual society, Spitsroeden, with a mix of sketches, monologues, and songs, focused primarily on gay people themselves. In the programs Valse Vruchten (False fruits) (1979) and De Code van het verlangen (The Code of Desire) (1981), they offered audiences both recognition as food for thought. An example of the former is an ode to "de baan" (Dutch for gay cruising area), the pleasure of night time cruising in parks. An example of the latter was a song denouncing the mutual condemnation of various activist groups.

Working Group Atheist Faggots

The core members of Spitsroeden—Frans Bakker (a student at the School of Journalism), Kees van den Berg (a student at the school of social work), and Herman Schulte (an art history student)—knew each other from the COC. Kees and Frans had been friends before. All three were active in various working groups within the Utrecht COC branch in the 1970s and together founded the Working Group Atheist Faggots (Werkgroep Atheïstische Flikkers, WAF). The WAF was a response to the growing attention that religious COC members were demanding and receiving within the national association and the Utrecht branch. Frans and Herman, in particular, wrote satirical commentaries in the local COC-magazine Seku, which sometimes led to heated discussions. One of the hot issues was how a gay man or lesbian can connect with a faith or church that had suppressed their feelings for centuries and nowadays – at best – only tolerate them under restrictive conditions (being 'allowed to be, but not allowed to act' or only in a stable, monogamous relationship).

As critical COC members, Frans, Kees, and Herman targeted their fellow relgious members, as well as others, both inside and outside the COC, who followed fashions, were blinded by ideology, or were operating with good intentions but poor results. According to Frans, some men were "deeply moved" by their criticism of the men's movement in those years.

Because Frans and Kees had been making music from early age—both had records to their credits—the leap from writing critical and satirical articles to a cabaret group wasn’t that big. This was especially true at a time when music and theater were becoming increasingly intertwined with political and social action. In 1978, the three started the gay cabaret group Spitsroeden. John Brobbel and Hein Kastelein also participated in the first program, and Arjen Oosterbaan in the second.

Confronting nudity

Spitsroeden didn't shy away from confrontation. Kees van den Berg, in an interview for the local radio and TV company RTV Utrecht, still vividly remembers the very first performance during the opening week of the new COC building on March 31, 1979: "Frans came out naked and said:

What's a gay cabaret without some confronting nudity? Where's that straight guy who turned a blind eye to my dick?

And at that very first performance my father and mother were in the audience and said: "We really enjoyed it, but was that necessary at the beginning?" I said: "Yes, it had to be."

Although a third theater program (to be called Stuk of De scherven van het geluk ) was in the pipeline, Frans (singer, composer, and lyricist), Kees (keyboardist), and Herman (lyrics and percussion) decided in 1982 to specialize in music and continue as the pop group Kadanz. The group was supplemented by Martijn van Tour (bass guitar) and Eric van der Wal (drums). The first single, "In het donker" (In the dark), was self-released in a print run of 1,000 copies and plugged by Frans and Kees themselves. With great success, followed by TV appearances and a record company inviting the group to record an LP. During the recording of that album, Donkerblauw (Dark blue) (1983), Martijn and Eric left the band and their places were taken by Eddy Hilberts (guitar), Steven Kip (bass guitar), and Ben Jansen (drums). In 1985, the group called it quits, only to pick up again four years later – now without Kees van den Berg – for a time with drummer Eric van der Wal, who also played in the early years.

Top 40 hits

Kadanz charted in the Dutch Top 40 with the singles "In het donker (zien ze je niet)" (In the dark (they don't see you)) (1983, at number 23), "Intimiteit" (Intimacy)(1984, number 30), "Dagen dat ik je vergeten" (Days that I forget you), and "De wind" (The Wind) (both 1989). "In het donker" also appeared several times in the (lower half of the) Radio 2 Top 2000 around the turn of the century. Kadanz's heyday coincided with that of other, then-popular Dutch-language groups such as 'Doe Maar', 'Het Goede Doel', 'Toontje Lager', and 'Het Kein Orkest'. The members of the latter three bands and those of Kadanz often met at the Utrecht café 'De Zaak'.

Kadanz's best-known songs, such as "In het donker" (In the Dark) and "Intimiteit" (Intimacy), resonated with a wide audience because the lyrics were multi-interpretable. The chorus of "In het donker," for example, opens with:

In het donker zien ze je niet / Als je zwijgt dan horen ze je niet / Dus hou je adem nu maar in en stik niet. (In the dark they can't see you / If you keep quiet they can't hear you / So just hold your breath and don't choke).

According to Frans Bakker, the song is "about threats, going into hiding, fleeing from violence," but for others, the lyrics were about gay people who don't (dare to) come out of the closet. In a song like "Intimacy," about the lost intimate familiarity between two (ex-)lovers, their gender remains unmentioned, so the feeling is applicable to all gay, lesbian, and bisexual people who have had a similar experience. Kadanz's most popular songs are still listened to and watched by thousands of YouTubers every month.

‘Im Dunklen’

In 1993, Frans Bakker moved to Curaçao and became a radio presenter and newsreader. This marked the end of Kadanz's previous line up, or what remained of it. Later albums featuring Kadanz or Frans Bakker failed to achieve the same success. A curious new release is the hard rock version of "In het donker" (In the Dark)recorded in 2022 and sung in German by Frans with the Dutch heavy metal band Black Knight ("Im Dunkeln"). In 2025, the 1998 album "Aan of Uit" (On or Off) will be re-released by Red Bullet. Frans has been living in the Netherlands for several years now.

Herman Schulte focused on his work as a painter of realistic portraits and scenes, such as the interior with visitors at the Utrecht gay café 'De Wolkenkrabber' (2007-2008). Kees van den Berg continued to work for gay liberation in various roles. He continues to do so, including as an ambassador for elderly queer people and as a team member of Queer U Stories. He also forms a music duo with Ingeborg Hornsveld, performing songs about queer topics such as the Utrecht persecution of sodomites in the 18th century and the aggression-disrupted Roze Zaterdag (Pride Parade) in Amersfoort in 1982.

Maurice van Lieshout

Kadanz: music and visuals