DAAU
DIE ANARCHISTISCHE ABENDUNTERHALTUNG

New: D.A.A.U. "Life Transmission" One of thé Belgian albums of 2001 is - certainly according to me - the third CD of the Anarchists. With a live reputation that's always growing, they now also succeeded in capturing their adventurous and playful nature coherently on a CD. >>> Buy this CD at Proxis <<< >>> 794 Bfr - 19,69 Euro - 17.39 $ (op 10 okt. 2001) <<<

Highly original band from Antwerp who combine folk, classical instruments and the excitement of rock. Their aim : to break the barrier between classical and pop music.

"Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung! carries a German name.  This is a quote from the German author Herman Hesse from the book "Steppenwolf". It goes :

Anarchistische abendunterhaltung!
magisches theater
eintritt nicht für jedermann
nur für verrückte
eintritt kostet den verstand

which means:

Anarchistic evening entertainment!
magical theater
entrance not for everyone
only for the insane
entrance costs sanity

The group is composed of four young men, all from Antwerp and classically trained musicians. Their music is a (instrumental) mix of eastern European folk-music, pop, klezmer, classic and jazz with heaps of energy, especially on stage. They have been compared to a whole range of bands and have been characterized both as pop, jazz and classical. They have been quoted as saying "we are classically derailed and play with a rock intention".

They came together for the first time in 1993, and the year after  the band took part in contests for the first time and won the prize for the best musicality on the street music-contest in Balen. They also played in Avignon (France) and won the first prize in a national contest organized by "Jeugd en Muziek".

A year later they released their first (self-titled) album (Jack & Johnny Recording, later distributed by Columbia). It is full of "Drieslagstelsels".

The main fame of the band is based on their stage act : breaking strings and sweat drops dripping of Simon's cello. "No two performances are the same. But just when you think that all coherence is lost and they're just improvising without any scheme, they can surprise you with sudden rests or a piece of a dEUS or old blues song."

For the second album ("We need new animals", release June 1998), the group didn't hurry, because there were quite a bit of changes : de group got signed by Sony (classical), for the first time they worked with singers (An Pierlé on "Broken", Angélique Willkie (ex-Zap Mama) on "Dip 'n Dodge"), a producer of some reputation was hired (i.c. Phil Evans), the mixing was done by Michael Brook at the Real World studio's, the recording sessions took place in Spain (in a church & hotel in Ronda, a place that was bought by Filip Eyckmans of their management Musickness). Lastly, the name of the group was changed to a smoother DAAU (although that can be easily confused with the Ghent-based group Thou).

The musicians themselves already gave an almost perfect description of the album, two years before it was finished : "We still can go a long way tearing down barriers between music genres. In the beginning we thought we had come at a crossroads : either we evolve into a band that makes supersensitive, highly developed acoustic music. Or we allow even more influences of the music we listen to, like rock, rap & dance, to creep in. We were in doubt, but we decided in the end we don't want to limit ourselves. We will walk in both directions. We have chosen not to choose and now there's no way back." On their second CD the musical influence have multiplied : reggae, flamenco, Arabian themes , loops, electronics, jazz ... enter in the known mixture.

In between their own recordings & concerts, the band is also a very active member of the so-called "Antwerp scene" : They played a track on the second release of dEUS' 'SUdS & SOdA', all band members can be heard on the Think of One album "Juggernaut", Cinérex asked the group to perform the music on their debut album "Exit all areas part 2", they accompany the sweet An Pierlé and her white ball on stage ...

After they concluded that the previous album "We Need New Animals" - out on the prestigious Sony Classical - was not really the way the band wanted to go, the Anarchists changed course yet again: on "Life Transmission", every track is an adventure in itself, with the unifying thing being that it's instrumental music now usually backed up by beats & percussion and with a "dub feel" to it. Another novelty on the album was that Adrian Lenski, another brother, joined in on piano.
A month before the release in April, they already released the dancy "Voodoo Sim" as a promo, and the same track also featured on the B-side of the first real single from the album "Mary Go Round", a catchy tune that's characterised by the vocals of Ya Kid K (once with Technotronic & Hi Tek 3). The other "vocal" track, "Piano Dub" sung by ex-Zap Mama Angélique Willkie, also got a single release, albeit in a remix with the not very obvious title "oembwaweebhoewadijabedabetundee mix", done by their producer/technician Phil Evans.

Band members :
- Buni Lenski (viool - Neckholzdose)
- Simon Lenski (cello - Dikholzkörper)
- Roel van Camp (accordeon - Ziehsack)
- Han Stubbe (klarinet - Holzspritztöte)
- Adrian Lenski (piano)

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung (Jack & Johnny Recording / Columbia, 1995)
- We need new animals (Sony, 1998)
- Life Transmission (Sony, 2001)

Websites :
- official site of the group at Sony Belgium
- Interview with Simon & Roel in 1998
- My review of "Life Transmission"
- DAAU at Ultra Magazine.
- pictures of DAAU at the Nandrin Festival 1998.
- Video-interview with Buni Lenski at Canal Plus, or at KingKong
- Hanno Bunjes maintains the most informative fansite
- Presentation of "Life Transmission" at Radio1's Cucamonga
- Adrian Lenski has a site of his own, including a crazy DAAU-diary
- Elissa & Mandi Apple are probably DAAU's biggest fans

Forum :
- Read the messages/questions about Die Anarchistische AbendUnterhaltung
- Add your message, question, cd- or concertreview ... about DAAU