In April 1984 Burma Shave first came together. No one could have thought then that more than twenty years later the band would still exist. Its name was chosen from a song of Tom Waits and based at The Hague (the Netherlands), Remco Prins (guitar, vocals), Paul Martin (lead vocals), Niels Göbel (guitar), Michiel de Vos (bass) and Lennart Bess (drums) played their first gig in November of that year. At that time, their music was clearly influenced by new wave and early-eighties pop.