SWEATER

Powerful band from Diest who make music in the best tradition of Hüsker Dü, The Lemonheads and Buffalo Tom. Or as they say it themselves "sweaty rocksongs".

The group rose to the occasion of the 1994 edition of the Rock Rally (Belgium's prime talent contest) and became third in the final. Jo Smeets said about this : "We thought the gig at the Rock Rally, this may sound arrogant, was very very good. I knew we were going to finish in the best three. Winning however was out of the question, cause that place was for Evil Superstars.
The Rock Rally wasn't a freeway to success. We still had to do everything ourselves. But that's how it has to be"

With the prize money, the group buys some studio time, get a record deal and releases two singles. After this, it gets very quiet around the group.

Luckily enough, they reappear in 1997 with an excellent single "Lovebirds" and with a full album "Talking to Earl". They have a record deal with Peer Music (That's "A publishing company in New York, they own the rights to almost all old well-known songs. A lot of the songs Helmut Lotti performs are from Peer Publishing. So in a way, Helmut has financed our record. I don't think he knows" said Jo Smeets in RifRaf.)

The singles of the album get a big reception by the public and the album is received favorably by the press "Sweater make beautiful, fresh, uncomplicated pop songs that make their way to your skull effortlessly and remain there, pleasantly swinging. Life sounds beautiful in the songs of Sweater, but in each song there's a twist, a grinning little monster".

In 1999, Jo Smeets (who had become a journalist for Het Belang van Limburg by then) called it a day : "After 7 years we're calling it quits. We got bronze during the Rock Rally of '94. We have played about 300 times on big & somewhat less big festivals. Parkpop The Hague & Marktrock Leuven were beautiful ... Studio Brussel made 'Haunted Soul' and 'Lovebirds' into small radio-hits, for which we thank them. Al our singles, with the exceptions of 'Everything' made it into "De Afrekening". So why do we quit ? The options were getting limited, and only Elvis lives forever. Thanks for your attention. No need to mourn."

Members :
- Jo Smeets (guitar, vocals)
- Jo Buvens (bass)
- Peter Fizgal (guitar)
- Arnout Hellofs (drums)

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- Talking to Earl (Peer Music, 1997)
Singles :
- Haunted Soul / Waiting for the train (Yellow Yellow, 1994)
- Write your own song / Ice will melt (Yellow Yellow, 1994)
- Everything / Lonely (Peer Music, 1997)
- Lovebirds / Stop me (Peer Music, 1997)
- No such thing (Peer Music, 1998)

Websites :
- Official website of the group.
- Jo Smeets writes for Surf-inn, a entertainment site of rug.

Forum :
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