"John Dear Mowing Club" evolved from the band "Smutfish", with guitarist, lyricist/poet
and painter Melle de Boer as the main founder of both projects.
Melle's music, his gloomy lyrics and his ability to make putting things into perspective funny again, 
make critics compare him to (amongst others) Green on Red, Lambchop and Johnny Dowd. 
Melle himself likes to describe his style as Country Noir.

Melle (Delft, 1972) grew up listening to American singer-songwriters of the likes of Neil Young,
Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. In 1995, he graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy of Arts in Rotterdam.
Next to working as a painter, Melle decides to found his band Smutfish in the late summer of 2002.

They record their first album 'Lawnmower Mind' in 2003 at the holiday cottage of Melle's father which is situated in the Brabantse Kempen.
 The album is self-released by the band in 2004: it is well received.
 Local journalists claim the album to be "the best CD to have been released in The Hague in 2004".

The Volkskrant features 
a very positive review of their performance: "Melle de Boer's pleasantly gnawing performance and 
the magnificent and restrainted playing of his experienced bandmembers make songs such as Tear Factory into
sinister gems resting on a bed of beautifully expressed male sorrow."
The second album 'Through a slightly open door' is released on Munich Records.
In 2007 the band are
 signed by the German label Hazelwood that is to release their third album.
In April 2007 Smutfish tour Holland and Belgium while appearing as the support-act and accompanying band
of American singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston.
In September 2007, Melle announces a significant change of bandname from Smutfish to John Dear Mowing
Club. He claims to have decided that their old bandname did not fit the current material;
"It seemed as if we'd outgrown it. The release of the new album equaled our chance to say goodbye to
Smutfish and welcome the John Dear Mowing Club".

The album 'John Dear Mowing Club' is released in November 2007. The CD will also be available on ITunes.