Doe Maar was a Dutch ska band with punk and reggae influences whose career peaked from 1978 to 1984. They are one of the most successful pop bands in Dutch history. 'Doe maar' translates as go ahead or just do it. History Early years and debut album Doe Maar was formed in 1978 by Ernst Jansz (CCC Inc., The Slumberlandband). Piet Dekker, with whom Jansz played in The Slumberlandband (1975) and The Rumbones (1977), introduced him to Jan Hendriks and Carel Copier in the spring of 1978 at the farm of Gé van de Donk, who later became their sound engineer. Recordings from this meeting exist on which they played, without any rehearsal, all the Dutch-language songs Jansz had written at that time. Copier came up with the idea of the name after hearing the never officially recorded song "Doe maar". When Jansz was asked to form the resident band of that year's Festival of Fools, he added five more members to the band: singers Truus de Groot (later Nasmak), Anouk Strijbosch, Wim van Oevelen (the band's eventual tour manager), and clowns Mart de Corte and Jan Bogaerts. Afterwards, the 9-piece line-up was reduced to the original four: Ernst Jansz (keyboards, sax, percussion), Jan Hendriks (guitar), Carel Copier (drums), and Piet Dekker (bass). Dekker turned out to be a songwriter as well. One of his songs appeared in 1979 on a sampler album titled Uitholling overdwars, made up of new Dutch-language bands. The band also released their self-titled debut album on the Telstar label, omitting the sampler track "Blozen" ('blushing'); along with the ska and reggae influences in "Hé hé", "Als de morgen komt" ('when morning comes'), "Regen" ('rain'), "Je liet me staan" ('you left me'), and "Er verandert nix" ('nothing really changes'), which became their trademark sound, there were also punk, rock 'n' roll, and calypso influences on this first album. The critics weren't impressed. "I fail to see how this lot will make a positive contribution to the future of Dutch music" — Muziek , January 1980 Entering the new decade, Doe Maar hit the bubbling-under charts with the Caribbean/Indonesian flavoured "Ik zou het willen doen" ('I'd like to do it'), and the album sold 2000 copies. But it wasn't enough; Dekker left after falling out with Jansz. The band seriously considered splitting up, but not before finishing their spring tour. Joost Belinfante, a multi-instrumantalist with whom Jansz