PERVERTED (BY DESIRE)

Very loud and experimental band from Nieuwerkerken.

Perverted started out back in 1984 as "Perverted by Desire", a result of a number of experimental projects(Ensemble Jean Dumoulin, Ah-Rates, Cadavre exquis, Manifobia, ...). The first five years went by without released recordings (apart from a number of cassettes that were distributed among friends) and with only a few gigs.

After a few changes in line-up (Bo Lemaître came to play the bass, Genis Ugly took the (John Lydon-ish) vocals) they recorded their debut album "Dance Music For Dying Soldiers" in 1989, in the Studio in Amsterdam with the strange name "Koeienverhuurbedrijf" (cow rental company). "The reception was overwhelmingly positive and their uncertainty was slowly but surely changed into self-confidence".

For the second album, "La Sigla Del Sadico Esperto", they got Kramer (a deranged new-york centipede - who has played with and produced for himself and Butthole Surfers, Bongwater, B.A.L.L., Shockabilly, Galaxie 500, Dogbowl ...) to sit behind the mixing desk. "Kramer, who had just had some heavy relational problems, plunged himself on this work, with as a consequence a hard, torn album filled with hidden sounds and screeching feedback. And - not unimportant as would turn out later - the introduction of Finnish! Even Humo was lured in sounding their praises about this cd, a move they have not repeated with later releases".

For the third album, the group went to Kramer's Noise New Jersey studio. Technically, this meant a big step forward, both on the recordings side and on the musical side. "The choice to do more tempo changes and sound experiments and a bad choice of record firm (Manifesto, who also released Sigmund und Sein Freund e.a.) were the causes of Kuvun Huuto not being a 'millionseller'. But the press and the hard-core music lovers cherished the album nonetheless." In 1995 the CD was re-released in North-America and Japan by Shimmy Disc. On the CD there is also one remarkable contribution by writer JMH Berckmans.

After Kuvun Huuto, there is a breakup with bass-player Bo Lemaître. Enter the new blood of Willem G. (aka Zeert) on bass and Bavd on drums. Under the shortened name Perverted they swiftly record "Poetic Terrorism In An Era Of Grief". "Call it a get-even with the frustrations the change in lineup brought with it. An urge to prove that Perverted wàs Perverted by Desire. That an appendix had been cut off but not a vital part. It became an interesting album with the most poppy material the band has ever produced (although we challenge everybody to apply the golden rules of pop to our music, that will be a laugh!)" - the bio says. Much to its delight, the band played a gig at the historic New YorkCBGB's a few month afterwards.

Shortly afterwards, the put "For Lonely Men To Jerk Off To" to tape, their fourth album with Kramer, their third at his Noise New Jersey Studio. "Perverted is one of the most underrated bands in Belgium." wrote Jacky Huys : "On this cd the band puts the emphasis a bit more on the guitars, but still offers incredibly fascinating collage of distorted vocals, bizarre tempo changes, multi-layered lyrics ànd Sex-pistol-references."

After some physical setbacks between the end of '95 and the middle of '96, the group slowly got to up to speed again by playing live. In November 1996 they released the vinyl single "Perfect day for a violent death" from the previous CD. It wasn't until the end of 1997 that they recorded "Båtsman far" (back in the Koeienverhuurbedrijf). The tour after this record (now with booking agency Tout Partout) brings them - amongst other things - to the AB where they open for their idol Mike Watt (Perverted dedicated the song 'Hose' on "For lonely men" to Watt's band Firehose), on Rock Herk, and in zaal België, Hasselt, where they gave a retrospective concert spanning their entire "oeuvre", with a number of guest musicians (Vandal X ...).

In the spring of 1999, bandmember of the first hour K.Rel leaves the band. The remaining trio says it survived this amputation and has plans to start playing gigs again starting in the fall, and to record a new album around the year's end, probably with a guest role for Amarjeet Singh, a tabla-player from the golden temple of Amritsar and part of the loose group of guest musicians around the band for some time.

Band members:
- K.rel (guitars, vocals, keyboards)
- Dez / Bo Lemaître / Zeert - Willem G (bass)
- Genis U(gly) (vocals)
- Bavd S. (drums)

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Albums :
- Dance Music for Dying Soldiers (Semaphore, 1990)
- La Sigla Del Sadico Esperto (Shimmy Disc, 1992)
- Kuvun Huuto (Manifesto, 1993)
- Poetic Terrorism in an Era of Grief (1995)
- For lonely men to jerk of to (Gap, 1996)
- Båtsman far (My First Sonny Weismuller Recordings,1998)

Websites :
- Tout Partout, their booking agency

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