IVAN'S LAND

Sympathetic band from the region of Leuven, which a few good and radio-friendly singles in the middle of the nineteen nineties.

The precursor to Ivan's Land certainly was Stormdaisy, a band formed in 1990 with in the centre the flamboyant frontman Günther van Passel. However, Stormdaisy never got to the stage of studio-recordings (although there is a one track, "Co-Co" on the soundtrack of the film "Boys"), because in 1991 he died from the results of a tragic accident during a mountain walk in the French Alps.
The songwriting talent wans't totally lost though: dirk Blanchart recorded a his beautiful song "Sister Kate", and Stormdaisy members Herman Acke Koen Renders could later finish a number of his songs - after a name-change to Ivan's Land.

In 1993 they got gold at the Cactus Stage Awards in Bruges (and this in front of The Tribe and Soulwax), with the jury saying "breathtakingly good because of the great songs and a better presence on stage than the rest of the competitors". Musician and producer dirk Blanchart "took care" of the band, and introduced them to a record deal with the Belgian EMI branch. This led in 1993 to the single release "All in good time", a firmly rocking and melodic song of Koen Renders, that deservedly become a radiohit and gave the band the opportunite to record a full-CD. Later in 1993 they recorded a second single in the ICP studio's in Brussels, "Waterproof".

This CD - titleless as "Ivan's Land" - arrived by the end of 1994, and showed both the rocking side of the band and some more intimate moments, all rooted in garagerock à la Dream Syndicate. As Humo wrote: "In times when it can't move fast enough in rock, the elegant dance that Ivan's Land makes with Lady Pop isn't only a noble initiative, they also pull it off without stumbling on the way there. THe Beatle-esque "All in Good Time" already was a pop-pearl of a quality that's not very common in these parts, and although they never quite match that quality in the other songs, there's still enough beautiful things to find on it ... Well-produced, subtily built-up songs with restrained guitars and inconspicuous keyboards. Even the songs that are lit by feeble candlelight, such as the acoustic "Ice Bear" en "Time" remain upright. Nice debut". On the CD there were a number of songs written by Günther van Passel and a cover of Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep it With Mine", but the rest were songs by Koen Renders and one by Herman Acke. There were two more singles taken from the album, the firm "In the Bedroom" en "No Way Out".

The story of Ivan's Land didn't become a tale of conquest as in the stories of Ivan The Terrible however, as the band stopped their affairs in 1997. Some band members got to play in a band called Los Cinco Muchachas. The songwriters of the band, Koen Renders and Herman Acke, kept on playing together and doing gigs in small gigs, with the focus on their more intimate songs.
After a few years, they included Peter Thijs and Niko Westelinck (the drummer of Mercelis, and in 1999 also solo for a while as Niko) in their band, and found a new name in Spencer the Rover. In this formation they recorded a CD in November 2000 with Geert van Bever, which was released in the Fall of 2001 and is - as their bio said - "the result is more than satisfactory: an album filled with terse miniature songs, covering all the aspects - even the sadder ones - of a love life. You want names? Search somewhere between Neil Young, Ron Sexsmith and Crowded House, and ask some bystanders when you get there."

Members :
- Koen Renders (zang, gitaren)
- Herman Acke (gitaren, backing vocals)
- Rudy Tambuyser (keyboards, Hammond, backing vocals)
- Freek Boey (drums)
- Johan Develder (bas)

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- All in Good Time (CDS, EMI, 1993)
- Waterproof (CDS, EMI, 1993)
- Ivan's Land (CD, EMI, 1994)
- In the Bedroom (CDS, EMI, 1994)
- The Way Out (CDS, EMI, 1994)

Websites :
- meer info over het huidige project van Koen Renders en Herman Acke, Spencer The Rover, op de website van deze groep.

Forum :
- Read the messages about Ivan's Land
- Add your message, question, cd- or concertreview ... about Ivan's Land in the Forum