The sad loss of two music icons from the Low Lands, Henny Vrienten and Arno Hintjens, inspired this little Nits story about the music of time passing…

Freckles – We waren jong toen de dag begon

In the beginning… there was a tent. I know that strictly speaking, TENT wasn’t their first, but this second The Nits album certainly was the spark that ignited the fire… Young Nits whose beginners’ white skin was still very prone to freckles, but they delivered a very determined and strong piece of canvas with TENT which – they weren’t surely aware of at the time – would last them for a lifetime. It was tight and taut and square, but there were also some really beautiful melodies present as in Hook of Holland or Umbrella.

It’s great fun to rewatch this live recording of Tent made at Paradiso in 2014. Henk seems a little amused by the lurking anachronism of it all, possibly hiding beneath the stark, straightforward rhythm and unwavering progression of the song, but in reality if there were the slightest hint of something anachronistic in their performance of Tent, they most certainly embraced it with great love and care. In fact their tour “The First 10 Years” will for ever stay one of the most memorable I saw them play.

This pure end-of-the-seventies Nits pop sound is still flattering. It still becomes them. Over the years Nits only continued to show that they were able to put up tent on whatever camping ground of the larger scene of music that they had set their heart on. They are for ever exploring their own sound which would never become fixed or sterile. Come to think of it the name of this second album would turn out to be quite prophetic. Nits will always travel light – preferably with four letters only -, so it would enable them to set up home wherever their instruments would lead them. Such an astounding trip that would ensue from this openness of their musical minds! Sun-tanned music of the open air…

I particularly remember the song Ping Pong, which is quite a forgotten little thing, but in the hand of the mature Nits this number evolved into something truly remarkable, dense and malleable. I was impressed I can tell you!

The songs of TENT all possess a unique personality, even in the early days Nits never had to repeat themselves, a characteristic which would set them apart from many a pop band. Even after Michiel Peters left the band and Nits were losing a very clever and agile composer of songs, it never weakened them. It is quite simply an astonishing tour de force that Nits have delivered so far. Only, it makes me somewhat melancholic sometimes. Time doesn’t stand still. Nits are still writing their musical history, which is for ever deepening and becoming more beautiful and fascinating as they grow older. The songs stand out. Did you hear them in the crowd? Coming somewhere from this small, flat corner of Holland. “OK, we gaan door”, Henk reassures the audience…To be continued.

“Het mooist is de stilte tussen wat is geweest en wat moet komen” (Henny Vrienten)

And in the end … there was a house, a Nits building, one of the finest homes of music ever constructed, in a landscape of imaginary mountains. Who would have thought?! All out of that little TENT …

Joke Roelandt, April 2022