The story of how "LIKE WENDY" was formed is quite peculiar, normally bands join because they are friends, or school buddies or simply recruit musicians, but in this case, and according to their own site. In the late 80's, a group of friends who usually joined in an Amersfoort (the Netherlands) Pub to talk about music while taking some drinks shouted one day they wanted to form a band. It's not strange for a group of friends after some drinks, to start creating bands
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The story of how "LIKE WENDY" was formed is quite peculiar, normally bands join because they are friends, or school buddies or simply recruit musicians, but in this case, and according to their own site. In the late 80's, a group of friends who usually joined in an Amersfoort (the Netherlands) Pub to talk about music while taking some drinks shouted one day they wanted to form a band. It's not strange for a group of friends after some drinks, to start creating bands, but these guys went further, they designed a fancy logo in the beer coasters, and soon went to rehearse, but they discovered that the courage given by alcohol to form a band is not enough to make it work. After seven years Bert Heinen (one of the pub guys) had gathered enough material to release an album and he started to send some demos to different magazines and after a good response from Background Magazine and his lead to a contract with LabraD'Or records in 1997. In 1998 with Bert in the Guitars, Keyboard and vocals plus Marien in drums and additional keyboards, "LIKE WENDY" releases "The Storm Inside" with a very melodic approach to MARILLION, PENDRAGON, PALLAS AND IQ. The albums consisting of the demo tracks plus two new songs, was quite simple but pretty effective and received favorable comments of the critics. The next year, the duet releases "Rainchild" which is an evolved version of the first album, keeping the style intact but with a more professional sound. With the new century the third album by "LIKE WENDY" sees the light. "Songs from the Moonlit Bay" proves to be different from the first track, "Falcon Suite" is a 21 minutes epic, but it's not only the length, they go a step back and receive the direct influence of "GENESIS", the guitar work is clearly reminiscent of "STEVE HACKETT" and the sound is clearly oriented towards Symphonic rather than Neo Prog. "Summer in Eden" is released in 2002, but doesn't have the same quality of "Songs from the Moonlit Bay"; the sound is a blending of "Foxtrot" and "PENDRAGON" with very little variations, so it sounds pale in comparison with the previous albums. "Homeland" (2004) marks a change, the band turns into a one man project because Marien leaves the band, with the only participation of a trumpet player named Jos, in the song "Flood". The sound changes again, and I'm able to listen a clear "PINK FLOYD" influence, but keeping the original style almost intact, except for some electronic touches. The saga of "Like Wendy" ends in 2005 with the release of "Endgame", this time Bert recruits another multi-instrumentalist called Mark-Jeroen Heek (with no specific mention of which instrument each member plays), the result (not because Heek, but more because the idea was exhausted) is disappointing, very simple and with a poppier approach, which is not wrong "per se", but the bands sounds too predictable. Everything points towards a band that has dissolved, their official site http://www.likewendy.nl/ is in construction for a rather long time and the Geocities site has no change since January 2,000. I believe that if Bert Heinen is able to recapture the essence of "Songs from the Moonlit Bay", he's able to give us some solid albums, but only time will tell. Iván Melgar - Morey
