Bettie Serveert
Taken from Allmusic.com:
Bettie Serveert were formed in Amsterdam and existed briefly in 1986 when De Artsen members Peter Visser (guitar) and Herman Bunskoeke (bass) quit their band to join up with Canadian-born vocalist Carol van Dijk, whose family moved to the Netherlands when she was a child. However, with the release of their debut album, Conny Waves With a Shell, De Artsen gained a wider audience around Holland, and with plentiful demand for their live act, Visser and Bunskoeke rejoined; meanwhile, van Dijk was hired as De Artsen's new sound engineer. When De Artsen broke up again in 1990, Bettie Serveert reconvened with new drummer Berend Dubbe, a childhood friend of van Dijk's and a roadie for De Artsen. Dubbe suggested the band's name, after an instruction manual by Dutch tennis star Bettie Stoeve.
Bettie Serveert recorded a seven-song demo in early 1992 that found its way to the American indie Matador, thanks to a friend of the band who worked in a specialty record shop. Matador signed them immediately and released their debut album, Palomine, later that year. Palomine received enthusiastic reviews, and the singles "Tom Boy" and "Kid's Allright" landed substantial airplay on college radio, making Bettie Serveert extremely popular on the campus circuit. They launched an extensive supporting tour of America, and became genuine stars in their home country; they also helped establish Matador as America's emerging indie label of choice, along with seminal artists like Pavement and Liz Phair.
In the wake of Palomine, Bettie Serveert spent around three years on the road, playing with artists like Belly, Dinosaur Jr., Superchunk, Buffalo Tom. When it finally came time to record the follow-up to Palomine, the band was still scrambling to craft more material; although Lamprey was generally well-reviewed upon its release in 1995 and sold decently among the group's college fan base, it proved a more erratic collection than its predecessor.
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