Biography
Diesel was created in October 1978 by ex-Kayak drummer Pim Koopman. The group, at first no more than a hobby project, initially consisted of Koopman (drums, keyboard and vocals) and Rob Vunderink (guitar/lead vocals, composer and lyricist), Mark Boon (guitar, composer and lyricist), and Frank Papendrecht (bass). Their first album, Watts in a Tank, was released in the Netherlands in 1980. One of its tracks, "Going Back to China", was released in the Netherlands as a single in 1979 and became a top 40 hit. Two other singles from this album, "Down In The Silvermine" and "Sausalito Summernight" (also misspelled "Sausolito Summernight"), were released in 1980 and also became charted hits. Late 1980 Boon and Papendrecht left to join Meike Touw's Tutti Frutti. They were replaced by bass player Wijnand Ott and guitarist Hugo de Bruin. Mid 1981 Koopman left the band and Kim Weemhoff took the drumseat.
In 1981, Watts in a Tank was released in the United States. The single "Sausalito Summernight" rose to #25 on the U.S. Top 40. It reached #1 in Canada. Watts in a Tank itself went up to #68 on the Billboard 200. This success prompted the return of Mark Boon and an American tour. At Boon's suggestion, guitarist Bas Krumperman joined the band just before the North American tour, moving the band's sound in a country-rock direction. The band got a distribution deal with Atco Records and recorded another album, Unleaded, in 1982, but it was not a success. In the next few years the group had many new members, such as Leen Barbier (guitar/vocals), André Versluijs (bass), Jan Loomans (guitar/vocals), and Henk Hager (guitar/vocals), before disbanding in 1985.
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