The Motions

Biography

There are/were at least two bands named The Motions: 1. a sixties beat band from The Hague, The Netherlands 2. a youthful rock band from Columbus, OH, United States 1. The Motions were one of the earliest and more popular bands from the thriving The Hague beat scene in The Netherlands. Founded in 1964, The Motions were effectively a continuation of Shadows-esque guitar combo, Ritchie & The Ricochets (who supported The Rolling Stones in The Hague in 1964), but under the new name they focused on...

There are/were at least two bands named The Motions:

1. a sixties beat band from The Hague, The Netherlands
2. a youthful rock band from Columbus, OH, United States

1. The Motions were one of the earliest and more popular bands from the thriving The Hague beat scene in The Netherlands. Founded in 1964, The Motions were effectively a continuation of Shadows-esque guitar combo, Ritchie & The Ricochets (who supported The Rolling Stones in The Hague in 1964), but under the new name they focused on typical sixties beat, with Rudy Bennett (real name: Rudy van den Berg) as their lead singer and Robbie van Leeuwen as their guitarist and songwriter.

Major Dutch chart hits include Wasted Words (#3 in 1965) and Why Don't You Take It (#3 in 1966), whereas their début LP, Introduction To The Motions (1966), is regarded as a Dutch beat classic.

The succesful line-up of 1964-1967 fell apart when Van Leeuwen left the band to form the hugely successful Shocking Blue. More line-up changes followed and The Motions eventually called it quits in 1971. They never had great chart success in The Netherlands post-Van Leeuwen, but 1969's Freedom (penned by Leo Bennink and Sieb Warner) was a modest hit in both the United States and Japan.

The Motions most successful line-up (1964-1967) was:
Rudy Bennett - vocals
Robbie van Leeuwen - guitar
Henk Smitskamp - bass
Sieb Warner - drums

During The Motions' existence, as well as after the 1971 break-up, frontman Rudy Bennett recorded as a solo artist. Robbie van Leeuwen and Henk Smitskamp moved on to Shocking Blue, whereas drummer Sieb Warner had a brief stint (1969-1970) with Golden Earring.

2. In a world full of assumptions and predeterminations, everything about The Motions encourages skepticism. The first, and most obvious, observation is the average age of it's members can't be more than 18. (It's 17.) Next, they come from Columbus, MS...and nobody ever mistook that town for being a musical hotbed. Finally, you think back to who you were when you were that age, and you're quite certain that most folks that age can barely get their homework done, much less write original music and impress a crowd. And right then, that's when Toby, Max, Kyle and Miles walk on stage, plug in their instruments and proceed to blow away every preconcieved notion you might have had. In fact, that's what The Motions have been doing for a while now, and they've captured that spirit on their debut, self-titled album. Sure, it's a record with the classic trappings of youth-- it's got your yearning, it's got your enthusiasm, it's got your emotion and it's got your wide-eyed observations. But it also displays a remarkable understanding of what it takes to make a great rock record. It draws from it's influences, but creates something new and vibrant. It demands repeated listens--and respect. Yes, respect is something that The Motions are finally getting--but it's not stopping them from continuing to seek out new influences and grow as a musical outfit. And all that respect isn't stopping first-timers from being skeptical. As a matter of fact, you can find evidence of both at their next show. Just look for the folks with their jaws on the floor. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.