Beaver

Beaver originated in Amsterdam, Holland, around 1988 when singer/guitarist Roel Schoenmakers, drummer Eva Nahon, and bassist Klaas assembled the group as a post-punk retro-rock act. The bassist Klaas departed abruptly in early 1991, leaving a vacancy that Guy Pinhas filled temporarily after borrowing him from the local band Windows for a single performance. Lead guitarist Tos Nieuwenhuizen, already a noted figure in the scene, also passed through the lineup briefly before both musicians moved elsewhere—Pinhas joining American doom legends the Obsessed on bass and Nieuwenhuizen serving as a roadie for the same act.

Their exits cleared space for bassist Milo Beenhakker and guitarist Josja de Weerdt, whose arrival stabilized the band and enabled appearances at European festivals alongside stoner rock acts such as Kyuss and the Obsessed. With this consistent roster in place, Beaver refined a laid-back, psychedelic, hard rock approach and gathered enough material for their first full-length release, the Holland-only 13 LP in 1996.

The follow-up, 1997’s The Difference Engine, emerged far more quickly, written and tracked within a matter of weeks before Elegy Records issued it and secured additional festival bookings. During 1998 several members worked with ex-Kyuss guitarist Josh Homme while he assembled Queens of the Stone Age, and the resulting split EP attracted the notice of Man’s Ruin founder Frank Kozik, who promptly added the band to his roster.

The off-the-wall Lodge EP appeared in 1999, marking Nieuwenhuizen’s return and introducing jazz inflections; the group then toured with Spirit Caravan. Mobile, the third album, was captured across two separate sessions—the first cut short by de Weerdt’s departure—and reached stores in early 2001, only a month before Man’s Ruin declared bankruptcy. Stranded by the label’s collapse, Beaver withdrew to Holland to pause and reconsider their path.