Hank the Knife and the Jets was founded in 1974 in Arnhem, the Netherlands. The band emerged from the scene surrounding Long Tall Ernie & The Shakers. Its founder was Henk Bruysten. Other founding members included Alan Pierre Beek, Jan van Haaften, Rob Mijnhart, and Hans van Geffen. The band plays rock ’n’ roll, instrumental rock, and rockabilly with strong influences from surf music and guitar rock in the style of Duane Eddy. They achieved their breakthrough in 1975 with the single “Guitar King”. The song reached No. 2 in the Netherlands, No. 3 in Belgium, and No. 4 in Germany. That same year, they released “Stan the Gunman”, which reached No. 1 in the Netherlands and Belgium and No. 9 in Germany. The album The Guitar King was released in 1975. It failed to match the success of the singles. In 1976, “Yesterday Star” followed, once again charting in several countries. After that, the commercial impact of their releases began to wane. In 1977, the original lineup disbanded. Later singles such as “Crazy Guitar” (1980) were released under slightly altered band names. In 2002, the album First Gear was released. This was followed by Black in 2007 and Six Bass Man in 2011.
