Matador

Kicking off Matador’s Revisionist History Series for 2023, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Bettie Serveert’s debut album, ‘Palomine’. Heralded in its original four-star review by Rolling Stone as "untamed and free as pop gets,” this 1993 classic will see its first pressing by Matador since the album's original release on June 23rd on limited-edition translucent orange vinyl, accompanied by the “Brain-Tag” 7”, which was included with the original pressing. A deluxe digital edition of the album is out today on streaming services, featuring three era-appropriate bonus songs (two of which are drawn from the ‘Brain-Tag’ 7”) – “Smile”, “Maggot”, and “Get The Bird”. Newly remastered versions of the music videos for “Kid’s Allright,” “Palomine,” and “Tom Boy” are available to watch on YouTube.

“Looking back on recording the Palomine album, we were as green as grass,” say the band’s Carol van Dyk and Peter Visser, “but we loved music and most of all, we loved playing our own songs. When we started our band in the summer of ’91, we never had any ambitions, never thought about a 'career' in music, beyond maybe playing a gig to two. But then Matador Records responded to our 1st demo, offering us a record deal, which started the ball rolling and it changed our lives for ever! ‘Pal o’ mine’ will always be like a dear friend to us and even after 30 years, we still enjoy playing those songs.”

While a debut album, ‘Palomine’ marked the second time around for Bettie Serveert. The band first formed in Arnhem in 1986, first calling themselves Betty Serveert, with bassist Herman Bunskoeke, guitarist Peter Visser, and singer/guitarist Carol van Dyk. At that time, Bunskoeke and Visser were also playing in a more established band, De Artsen, and decided to focus on their main gig. Betty Serveert ceased to exist after 6 months and van Dyk joined up as De Artsen’s sound engineer. By late 1990 De Artsen had split. Bettie Serveert, as they now called themselves, reconvened, joined by drummer Berend Dubbe. A seven-song demo was recorded in December 1991 and one copy ended up in the Matador Records mailroom.

It’s important to note that nobody in this band is named “Bettie Serveert.” The name – which translates into “Bettie served” (as in tennis) – was suggested by drummer Berend Dubbe, who had seen a tennis-instruction book by famous Dutch tennis player, Betty Stöve.

The reissue serves as the latest entry in Matador Records’ Revisionist History series, our ongoing campaign to jog the record-buying (and streaming!) public’s memory about our many catalog items now poised to celebrate a significant anniversary. Over the course of the year, Matador will mark these anniversaries with new reissues and re-pressings. Each release will be accompanied by rare live footage, unreleased music, photos, and videos.