Beef

They were already veterans in different genres of the Dutch music scene when they joined forces in 1999 to become an All Star Dutch Reggae Massive: Beef!

Their early recordings, released only on cassettes (the 1.1Gr.Fm Sessions), have become collector items. Same goes for the 10 inch EP release “Babylon by Beef” (Drunken Maria/1999). By the time the band delivered their first full studio album entitled “Flexodus” (Partners in Crime/1999), they had already established their live act to be known for it’s energy and craftsmanship.

Record company Pias picked up on the buzz, signed the band and had them record their self-titled 2nd album in England. Under productional leadership of singing legend Bitty Mc Cleann, “Beef!” was created.

“Late Night sessions”, the first single from the album, reached out to an even bigger audience when airplay on radio and television took off. Same goes for their live show reputation with the Special Request Horns joining their line up for the big shows.

2002 was the first year that the band was invited to the Nuit Tipique festival in Burkina Faso. Later, in 2005, they were voted “the most popular foreign band to attend the festival in the last 10 years” by the festival visitors.

2002 was also the year the band won the prestigious “Zilveren Harp” for their contribution and promise to the Dutch Pop Culture.

Michel Schoots (Urban Dance Squad) is responsible for the production of their 3th album “Last Rudy Standing” (PIAS/2005). He took the band into the ICP studios in Brussels and on a different musical path. This resulted in an album with singles like “Cashing the Money” and “Last Rudy standing”. The latter was used by Amnesty International in their “Control Arms” campaign, in which the band took up the role as Ambassador.

2007 started with the recordings of a new studio album and a release of their live album “Last Rudies Live – the singles” (the first release on their own label “Beef Foundation”). It’s also the start of “the Sneaky Previews Tour”, the tour in which the band will give their audience a glimpse of the new material…

“The Rudies are on a Mission again with shit that’s gonna hit … the fans!”

check: http://www.beef.nl



Beef is also a Spanish indie rock band

Beef was started by former Bach Is Dead member David Rodriguez in 1993 and has since become one of the foremost groups in the Spanish indie scene. Beef’s first album, “Beef Songs,” was released in 1994 on a fledgling label founded by Servando Carballar and went unnoticed due to the fact that it was not properly promoted. Soon Carballar’s label went under and Beef, free of any ties, was signed to the label Acuarela (then a sublabel of Elefant Records) and the EP “Beef Sings” (which is comprised of material recorded before “Beef Songs”) was released in 1995. David Rodriguez then began to rehearse with his current band: Juanjo (also in Stereorent), Joanra (now in Love Of Lesbian) and Blas (also in Penuria); and gave the first live show with this line-up.

In March 1995, Acuarela records got Beef a deal to work with well-known producer Kramer, who had previously worked with Sr. Chinarro and Galaxie 500 among many others. The band moved to New York in March 1995, and with Kramer’s help they recorded their second album, “Beef Tongues,” which was received to critical acclaim and reached #1 on the Spanish charts. This album would be reissued on Elefant Records in 1999 as “Sings Tongues,” bundled with the tracks off of the first album.

By 1996 Beef were fully under the Elefant label and their next EP, entitled “Adult Oriented Rock,” is released and unanimously chosen Best EP of 1996 by critics.

1997 sees Beef releasing its third album, the acclaimed “Fi Qasr Sheikh Al-Dabant,” which introduced a new side to their particular ironic vision of rock: mutant dance tracks like “Martínez” and dandy instrumentals such as “Belmondo” live together in harmony with shots of fleshy rock and other eccentricities in a poignant album in which the band, with charming naïveté, considers their most commercial record.

Its 1998 follow-up, “España a las ocho,” features a sound more characteristic of Beef with cameos by Mark Cunningham and a free mixture of guitars, samples, humour and avant-garde extravaganza which has characterized the band from their beginning.

Beef release their fifth album, “Misery and Lies,” in January 2000. The album is produced by Wharton Tiers, legendary producer of some of the best American noise acts of the last 20 years including Sonic Youth. The result is Beef’s most rock-oriented album, leaving aside the avant-garde and concentrating more on guitars.

On May 2002, after a short hiatus, Beef releases its sixth album, entitled “La Bohème.” The album is recorded in Pere Serrano studios, produced by the band and mastered in NYC by Wharton Tiers. With this album, Beef offers us one of their best collections of songs, all with a very solid sound and very catchy lyrics.

“La Bohéme” makes clear the excellent moment Beef are going through. Beef make a big statement with this album: you can play guitar rock in 2002 without being retro or without having prejudices against any other genre.

The group’s most recent release (on El Ejército Rojo) is 2005’s “Victoria Principal”.



There was also a London based band called Beef. Their recordings were compiled on an album titled “Low Slung Town”, the name taken from an earlier single, in 1991.