Gotcha! is a Dutch funk band founded in 1989; their music, a mixture of sixties-trip-rock with funk and hip-hop, is influenced by George Clinton.

History

1989-1993

Gotcha! took part in national band contest de Grote Prijs van Nederland; they settled for bronze but were offered a record-contract. In 1991 they released their debut album ''Words and Music from the Lowlands'' included the singles "Da Ten Is Mightier Than the Sword" and "Mathilda the Wicked Witch". In 1992 they previewed new tracks on a radio and TV concert with 17-year-old rapper Michael Parkinson of later Postmen-fame standing in for Ten. The studio-versions of "Naked", "MTV-ling" and "Where Have You Been So Long" appeared in 1993 on ''GOTCHA! GOTCHA! GOTCHA!'', but the rock 'n roll-lifestyle that the band bought into had taken its toll. Singer/guitarist Robadope Ro and rapper 'Rockattack Ten' staged a fistfight during a gig in France and the original line-up fell apart. Ro lived down his Gotcha!-years by DJing in

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; upon his return to the Netherlands he joined freakcore-band as a guitarist and songwriter. Drummer Martijn Bosman moved to Beeswamp in an attempt "to recapture that Gotcha!-vibe". Percussionist Rudi Conga performed with Hipbone Connection.

1995-1998

Gotcha! continued in a new line-up including guitarist Koen Fu. In 1995 they released ''Four: It! The Terra-P-Funk from Beyond Space'' (single: "Babies"). Ten left a year later to pursue a solo-career; he recorded two albums, toured with George Clinton and moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

(although New York was his first option). Ro, Bosman and Rudi reunited as founding members of Ro & Paradise Funk; they released two albums that found critical acclaim, but no commercial success. The band were forced to split when a hernia kept Ro grounded for a year. Bosman went on to play with upcoming-stars Ilse de Lange and Kane. Rudi spent the summer of '99 performing as a vocalist with the one-off band Kor en de Amigos at travelling-festival De Parade; he then took over Martijn's column-page in free music-monthly ''FRET''.

2002-2005

The remaining members staged a comeback-tour and released a live-album as well as a Dutch-language-single ("Je Moet Je Bek Houwe", about the fine art of keeping your mouth shut). Nico 'Kid Crash' Noot shared rhymes with junior rappers De Moordgasten, the omitted MC Krimson and

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-frontman Def P. It became their biggest hit ever. Meanwhile, departed members Koen Fu and I-Repeat found commercial success with their reggae-band

Beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

. Ro, also a drummer and compere for De Grote Prijs, formed breakbeat-soulband OlaBola with Rudi and former RPF-organist Nico Brandsen. Their debut-single "Problems" was originally used in a TV commercial and secured them a string of festival dates. By early 2005 Ro fell out with Brandsen and OlaBola broke up. Rudi and Martijn appeared at the

Pinkpop Festival The Pinkpop Festival is an annual music festival held at Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is usually held on the Pentecost weekend (''Pinksteren'' in Dutch, hence the name). If Pentecost falls on an early date in May, the festival is held later in Jun ...

as JunkieXL's touring musicians; they backed former

Republica Republica are an English alternative rock band formed in 1994. The height of their popularity spanned from 1996 to 1999. The current line-up consists of Saffron (vocals), Tim Dorney (keyboards), Johnny Male (guitar), Conor Lawrence (drums). T ...

-singer Saffron among others.

2008-2019

In 2008 music-monthly ''OOR'' published an article on Gotcha! as part of a lookback on Dutch pop-music's 50-year history. A reunion of the original band was considered; Ro agreed but eventually quit the music-scene altogether. Thus members of both line-ups merged into Gotcha All Stars; they toured from 2009 till 2011. The same year Rudi and I-Repeat formed , a reggae-band playing converted covers of classic Dutch-language songs by artists as Andre Hazes,

Willy Alberti Willy Alberti (born Carel Verbrugge; 14 October 1926 – 18 February 1985) was a Dutch singer, who sang in Dutch and Italian. He was also an actor and a radio and TV personality. Alberti was born in Amsterdam as the third of eight children to Ja ...

and (the latter ending up on a re-recording of her own hit "Mooi Was Die Tijd"). They are planning a follow-up to their 2011 debut album. Members of Gotcha! and Jah6 also performed in Rudi's covers band The Graaffy. In 2016, Dutch leading music website Maxazine.nl announced E1 Ten was leaving the band. In January 2019, E1 Ten finally released 'The Lovefunk', with the help of amongst others (ex-) Gotcha!-members Martijn Bosman, Michael Parkinson, Janice Williams and Rudi de Graaff.

Discography

External links

* no official site known

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from North Holland Dutch funk musical groups Dureco artists