Minny Pops

Often stern, frequently humorous, and sometimes both at once, Minny Pops are post-punk experimentalists who have combined dark wit and jagged electronics throughout their lifespan. Led and fronted by Wally van Middendorp, they crept out of Amsterdam's underground Ultra movement in the late '70s, and released their debut 7" and album, Drastic Measures, Drastic Movement, before the end of the decade. Into the '80s, they became the first Dutch band to record a session for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 program, and continued to record inscrutable if engrossing material for Factory and Factory Benelux, starting with "Dolphin's Spurt," a Martin Hannett-produced single that put the group on the U.K. independent singles chart in 1981. During irregular bursts of activity following their comparatively accessible second album, Sparks in a Dark Room, they've lengthened their discography with projects ranging from the 1985 album 4th Floor to a clutch of typically enigmatic singles issued across the late 2010s and early 2020s. Named after a line of Korg drum machines, Minny Pops were founded by Wally van Middendorp in September 1978. Van Middendorp had previously been a member of Tits, a punk band behind a single released earlier that year on Plurex, set up by van Middendorp and fellow Tits member Sam Tjioe. Van Middendorp (drum programming, vocals), joined by Frans Hagenaars (bass) and Peter Mertens (guitar), first performed as Minny Pops three months after formation. The following March, the band issued a Plurex 7" containing "Footsteps," "Nervous," and "Kojak," the latter enabling van Middendorp to work out his Telly Savalas impersonation. Van Middendorp, Hagenaars, and new guitarists Dennis Duchhart and Stephen Emmer subsequently recorded the full-length Drastic Measures, Drastic Movement, issued in September 1979. The 7" EP Live, excerpting gigs in the band's native Amsterdam and Delft, followed in 1980, as did a session for John Peel's BBC program -- with van Middendorp flanked by synthesizer player Wim Dekker, bassist Lion van Zoeren, and guitarist Gerard Walhof -- transmitted in December. Peel, an early supporter, had played all three songs from the studio debut. Dates supporting Joy Division and New Order effectuated Minny Pops' association with Factory Records. Teamed with producer Martin Hannett and engineer Chris Nagle, the band, with Pim Scheelings filling in for Walhof, re-recorded the Drastic Measures, Drastic Movement highlight "Dolphin's Spurt" and paired this tighter-wound version with new song "Goddess." The Factory single entered the U.K. independent chart in February 1981 and peaked at number 23 during its five-week stay. By the end of 1981, Minny Pops had ceased performing, having also opened for and/or toured with the likes of Scritti Politti, the Comsat Angels, and the Names (across the Netherlands), and performed in Canada and the U.S. (including a New York date with Suicide). The band's most prolific year resulted in 1982, during which the lineup featured core members van Middendorp and Dekker, plus bassist Pieter Mulder and drummer Orpheus Roovers. Switching to Factory's Brussels-based Factory Benelux offshoot, and continuing to produce themselves, they first released the "Time" 7", trailed shortly thereafter by second album Sparks in a Dark Room, and then another single, "Secret Story," issued on Factory proper. Additionally that year, Dekker and Mulder branched out as two-fifths of Smalts (who released the Werktitels EP on Plurex), and Minny Pops, with help from Dennis Duchhart, composed music for the play Poste Restante, a recording of which was released on Plurex in 1983. Minny Pops split up in August 1983. Plurex ground to a halt around the same year with a back catalog of releases from additional Dutch bands such as Nasmak, the Young Lions, and the Tapes, as well as Eric Random and Pere Ubu's David Thomas. In 1984, the nascent LTM label, eventual stewards of the core Minny Pops catalog, released a 7" single of "Een Kus" (previously available on a magazine flexi-disc) and "Son." Over 1984 and 1985, van Middendorp and Dekker, under the guise of Streetlife, released two Factory 12" dance singles in the vein of Cabaret Voltaire, Colourbox, and labelmates Quando Quango. Minny Pops temporarily resurfaced in 1985 with 4th Floor, a set pitched between the band's earlier output and the Streetlife singles. The album was issued on van Middendorp's short-lived Prime, a subsidiary of Megadisc, for which the musician worked as label manager (preceding stints with other labels, independent and major, throughout the following decades). In the 2000s, LTM reissued the bulk of the Minny Pops catalog. Expanded editions of the first two albums were supplemented with Secret Stories, a compilation featuring both sides of the "Dolphin's Spurt" and "Secret Story" singles, as well as all four songs from the John Peel session. Van Middendorp, Dekker, and Mulder reconvened in 2012 for a series of Dutch, English, and Belgian gigs with Mark Ritsema and Thomas Myrmel alternately assisting on guitar. They capped the year with "Waiting for This to Happen"/"Glistening," produced and released by the Charlatans' Tim Burgess. Subsequently based out of the U.K., van Middendorp kept Minny Pops afloat with a cast of associates near and distant. During 2019 and 2020, they released the tracks "Slow Car Fast Car," "Dat Dead Dad Dog," and "Dat Dead Dog Dad," as well as the Outernationale Remix EP, followed in 2022 by "Experience [Piano Version]," a collaboration with Pihka Is My Name. All of this material was issued by Dekker's Blowpipe label.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo