Somewhere, hidden in the back of a canalside bar, plays Holland ’s best kept blues secret....Men in Blues.  

Over the last 30 years, Chris Koenen (guitar) and Aad van Pijlen (bass) have played together in many different bands, often together; for example: Livin’ Blues, Himalaya and Tilt-team. During this time they have toured several countries and recorded and produced their own records.  

Since 1999 they have been playing in Leiden in a blues café, sometimes accompanied by Willem van de Wall(slide guitar) during their weekly jam session. Willems band-o-graphy is quite simple: he always ended up in the same band as Aad, enriching the music with his soulful slide-playing. However, they didn’t have a drummer until they invited Martijn Groen (a regular on the Dutch jazz and blues scene who, amongst many other performances, played twice at the North Sea Jazzfestival) for a gig outside of town. They musically ‘matched’ and during the next couple of years he learned to play their style of blues. The line up was completed when they were joined by talented piano player Frans Heemskerk, who proceeded to challenge the band to write their own songs.  

Together they are Men in Blues and with their groovy blues repertoire, which covers Big Bill Broonzy, the Stones, Bob Dylan, Canned Heat and of course those songs of their own, its definitely time to leave that blues pub on the canal and let everyone everywhere know the Dutch can play the blues!