JANEZ DETD.

Pop-punkband from Grembergen.

The group saw the light of day in and about 1994, and was first baptised as "Jane's Detd." (a name they found in an short film from the DDR about a girl that gets an overdose), with from the start Nikolas - Bones - Vanderveken & Bob as the most founding members. After some fooling around in the garage (with music of the same genre), the chose one day to devote their band to playing punkrock, entitling their very first demo clearly "Punkin' Shit Snobs". This demo gave them an entry ticket to a recording for Green Leaf Records, a maxi-CD in 1996 called "Dignity & Teeth".

After a noteworthy performance on the skate-stage at the Pukkelpop-festival (later on the day Dog Eat Dog would devote their "No Fronts" to the band because they "were impressed by so much positive energy so early in the morning"). All in all, "Dignity and Teeth" became a small-scale success (2500 copies sold, of which 1000 in the first month preceded by the reputation the band already had built themselves in the underground circuit). They toured as an opener for a number of bands (Heideroosjes, Samiam, NOFX, Descendents, Undeclinable Ambuscade ...

1998 meant the breakthrough for Jane's Detd.: the song "Beaver Fever" did become a radiohit on the alternative radio in Belgium. The first full-CD "Bleenies & Blockheads" did leave some room for variation, with tracks ranging from college rock songs to skatecore, from catchy punk to up-tempo ska and surf, and with lyrics that had sick bikini-girls en skateboards as themes. With this album, the band got a rather fanatic following, that helped the band to a place at the Beach Rock festival as "Belgian people's choice". On that day, they caused a small-scale incident by inviting their fans on the stage (a regular feature of their show) and the subsequent storming of the stage by some 300 of them. Later that summer, they also held a strange demonstration at Pukkelpop, where they tried in vain to persuade organiser Chokri to put the band on the line-up of that year's edition by putting up poster of the band all around the festival ground.

The comparisons as they would be the Belgian version of Green Day or Offspring were everywhere. Jacky Huys for instance wrote ""Jane's Detd. are a sympathetic band, that didn't invent the warm water (not even a droplet), but that goes about their thing on "Bleenies and Blockheads" so exuberant, energetic and powerpoppy (Green Day meets Ramones), winking to Thin Lizzy, The Knack, Beach Boys e tutti quanti, that we gladly forgive them the fact that they play the same song twelve times in a row" Or as their bio said at the time "Although these weirdo's have that nerdy, loser kinda look, it's precisely that what makes'em likeable. At first sight they might just be like the kids in your class, bet lemme tell ya, these guys'll blow you away. They're the first band that has the guts to combine raw punkrock power with ABBA hooks. Imagine Green Day vocals with MC 5 guitars and a Hardcore attitude to top it all off, well you're in the right direction." Their live-reputation earned them the title "most booked band" in 1998. They also toured abroad a bit in small clubs in Germany, Poland, Austria and Switzerland.

In 1999, the group parted ways with I Scream Records in a not very pleasant way (they even had to change the name to Janez Detd. to get out of the legal hassle), and signed up for major Virgin. As a guarantee to remain independent, the major established a special sublabel for Janez Detd. (Cabalero Records) that the band will also be able to use a promotion tool for other punkbands they like. Where the previous album had the approval of both the die-hard punks and the general rock-oriented audiences, the move to Virgin caused that they had to defend themselves against the accusationof "selling out" (to which band replies that the Sex Pistols were also on Virgin, and even the Kids on another major). If the plans for the label work out the way that Nikolas & Co foresee it, the old fans will probably come around, they said in an interview with De Standaard : "It's probably going to sound arrogant again, but Janez Detd is a pioneer. Until now, Belgian band had a serious disadvantage in competing with foreign punk bands, because no-one has ever invested in them here. But with Cabalero that is what's going to happen. We will be able to offer the bands good recording facilities and a really fine promotion machine''.

The band's first release on Cabalero became the single "Rock On (Debbie's a Spaz)" in 1999, as a precursor to the self-titled second cd that was released in March 2000 (with the first 3000 copies accompanied by a tag template, with which you could leave the Janez Detd. logo on your favourite blind wall). The album was produced by Jo Francken, and in contained more poppy material, that didn't miss it's effect: the group got to a new platform of popularity here. Especially a witty ska-version of the A-Ha torture "Take On Me" became a hit here in Belgium (even got to the lower regions of the charts) and got a fine videoclip. There was also a lot of touring going on (eg. Pukkelpop, Lokerse Feesten, Marktrock ...), in which the band stood out by going all out with all their weapons at hand : energy, fun, humour, a fine brass-section and a bunch of covers of bad 1980's songs (even including The Final Countdown). Although the band wasn't exactly making a debut with all this, Janez Detd. got an award at the second TMF-ceremony in October 2000 as "Most promising band".

Band members :
- Bones (Nicolas van der Veken) (guitar, vocals)
- Wim Vanhenden(vocals, guitar)
- Bob Haentjens (vocals, bass)
- Bram Steemans (drums)

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- Dignity and teeth (Maxi-CD, Green leaf records, 1996)
- Walk AWay (CDS, I scream records, 1998)
- Bleenies and blockheads (CD, I scream records, 1998)
- Beaver Feaver (I scream records, 1998)
- Saturday (CDS, I scream records, 1998)
- Rock on (CDS, Cabalero records, 1999)
- Janez Detd. (CD, Cabalero/Virgin, 2000)
- Lisa (she's a herpie) (CDS, Cabalero/Virgin, 2000)
- Take On Me (CDS, Cabalero / Virgin, 2000)
- Summer's Gone (CDS, Cabalero/Virgin, 2000)

Websites :
- Janez Detd.com, the official site, don't forget to subscribe to the witty newsletter.
- Janez Detd. presentation at the Vejel Punk & Hardcore site
- My review of the 2000 album Janez Detd.
- Jane's Detd at Demorock 1999
- Interview in Dutch at Surf-Inn
- "Belgiens Punk lebt" sagt der Grenz-Echo
- Janezdetdfreak.com, a site by a Janez Detd. freak
- another interview in 2000.
- Lyrics at Waltertje's Lyrics Site