NEWSARCHIVE

Period : June 9-20, 1999
In this issue : Hof Van Commerce, Zita Swoon, Soulwax, Groep Jezus, Arno, TMF-Awards, Hooverphonic, Kris Dane, Daan, Frontstage-Monsterboard.

June 20, 1999

The really hungry readers are starting making complaints that there hasn't been any new news here since a week or so. And right they are !! I'll give them a complete refund. To the last penny.
The others might be interested to learn that :

HERMAN is the name of the brand new album of 't Hof Van Commerce, that has been released on Kinky Star, last Thursday. The first reactions that are in are quite positive, talking about a very varied album with more extreme sounds than on the first (rather commercial) "En in Izzegem". The single "Mag et ntwa mjir zin?" apparently is a sort of an inbetween-track, merging the catchy tunes of the first one with the more heavy beats of "Herman".

ROCK FOR SPECIALS is a festival that is specifically aimed at handicapped people. For the third time, this festival will take place in Evergem, on June 30th and July 1st. The bands that will play for the always very enthousiastic audience are : Das Pop, Gorki, Zap Mama and Arno on Wednesday. Likalo, 't Hof van Commerce, De Mens and Clouseau on Thursday. Info about tickets at 09/253.63.53.

FRIENDS OF FOLK. Erwin Libbrecht (of Kadril and the producer of the new folk bands such as Laïs, Ambrozijn etc ...) has had the honour of compiling a number of cd's with folk music that will be released by the company Arcade Music. The series will be called "Friends of Folk". So far, there are three volumes available, each containing about 20 different artists from all four corners of Europe, and beyond (Alan Stivell, Kadril, Tri Yann, Dervish, Rum, Clannad and the likes).

ZITA SWOON has a new single : finally "My Bond With You And Your Planet : DISCO" has been released. There is also a video out (watch out for it on TMF's Alter@). For the moment, the single is out as a promo for the radio stations only (containing two versions of the song, a "radio-edit" and the original), but later on it will also be released for the eager masses.

PEER. The guys from the Belgian Rhythm & Blues Festival in Peer (July 16-18th) want the world to know that Ruth Brown & Her Band will NOT be performing on July 17th on the Festival, as was announced earlier, but that a replacement has been found in the person of Wilson Pickett. Even more important could be the news that they have a brand new (and very good) website : it's at http://www.break-away.be.

SOULWAX. The record company of Soulwax (Play It Again Sam) has had a good AND a bad idea : they have compiled a new cd of the band with live-tracks from their impressive tour in Belgium and Holland (including the casio-act!). The bad news is that they are putting out the album as a "special edition" of "Much Against Everyone's Advice" (link to Fronstage-shop), so that the fans have to buy this a second time. David Dewaele has been quoted saying he wanted their fans to give their original CD as a birthday present to their friends and buy the limited edition. Ha Ha Ha. :-(

VERDUR'ROCK. DAAU (with their flamenco project Alma Flamenca), Electric Groove Temple, Senser, Wizards of Ooze, Speaking T, Melon Galia, Moxie will be at the Verdur'Rock (Namur) on Saturday 26 June 99. But the question remains : will you?

ZWEMDOKROCK in Lummen is complete : Vandal X, Daan, Extince, Noordkaap, Bloodhound Gang, The Afghan Whigs and Praga Khan. Place to be : sportvelden St.Ferdinand, Lummen. Date : Saturday July 10th. Tickets are 400 frank in presales, 500 frank at the counter.

June 14, 1999

JESUS IS A GROUP
Just at a time when it almost became official that "Rock is dead", there is help coming from an unexpected (and also threathened) source : "Groep Jezus" (that is "Group Jesus" in English) is a band from Overijse (Iwein Segers, Seppe Vandenhouten, Floortje Vanderlinden, Maarten van Hecke). Very promising is the fact that they are being taken care of by Rudy Trouvé (see Dead Man Ray or dEUS or Kiss My Jazz ...): the band has just released a first cd (a three-track mini-cd called "Please") and will finish the recordings for a full-cd with Rudy Trouvé somewhere in September. They have also been signed by the label Heavenhotel (label of the likes of Mitsoobishy Jacson, Daan, Gore Slut ...).
Despite the Dutch name, the group sings in English and describes their own music as "Autumn music, yet also Spring-music. A mix of sobriety and sudden explosions. Happy and then suddenly down again.". The musical quotes vary from The Smiths & Lemonheads to Hans de Booy and Björk.
A few audio-fragements and more can be found on the Groep Jezus-page
Contact : Waf Producties, Kokerlaan 3, 3090 Overijse. Tel : 0032.(0)2/687.58.20

10 juni 1999

ARNO GOES "ARTY FARTY"
Publishing company Imschoot, specialized in expensive art books, has published a book in coöpereration with Arno under the title "Arno, A White Ass European Cowboy", although "book" might be a poor description of the thing at hand here. The pages are made of vinyl-records (cut out in rectangular shape, it's not the goal to play them on a pick-up). On these records there are the labels of 17 albums that Arno has selected as being very important in his life (including Bob Dylan, The Ventures, Dr. John, Tom Zé, P.I.L., Kevin Coyne, Sonny Boy Williamson, Rod Stewart, Jacques Dutronc, Humple Pie en Robert Wyatt). These labels can be unfolded and hide 34 mostly unpublished photo's that give an overview of "his exceptional carreer on and off the stage. Arno as a young beginner, stonded, as a rock'n'roll animal in front of a huge crowd, in his hotel-room, as a superdandy ...". The goal of this publication is clearly aimed at becoming a collector's item : it exists in four modes (black and red vinyl, unsigned or signed+numbered) that will be published in a in between 10 and 3000 copies and will cost between 4.500 and 1.500 franks (223-37 euro). It can be bought at the "better book- & cd-store" of at Imschoot uitgevers, Burggravenlaan 20, 9000 Gent, tel 09/222.55.08, fax 09/222.55.07.
Even better news is that Arno has started with a number of try-outs for the offensive he will be waging in the Fall ("Le European Cowboy" will be released in September, in a French and International version) : recently he performed a show at "Zotte Morgen" in Geel. On their site you can find a nice review and some pics of the 50-year-old in this small venue.

TMF IS GIVING OUT AWARDS
Now that TMF has succesfully managed to surpass MTV as far as video-clip-viewing goes in Flanders - the station seems also eager to make it's mark on the rest of the music scene in this country : with this purpose they will hand out the first "TMF Awards" later in the year. In the months ahead, viewers will be able to express their favourites in some 20 categories such as "Best Boysband", "Best @lter 8 act", "best group", "Best live-act", "Best nieuwe act", "Best videoclip" etc ...).
The actual handing out of the awards will be done during a "grand show" on October 22 in the Zillion in Antwerp, with a bunch of Belgian and international stars attending the ceremony that is of course also broadcasted live.
Humo's Pop Poll, The gouden Prospers and the Zamu-Awards are already crying for their mums.

June 9, 1999

HOOVERPHONIC CUTS OUT LUNG
After "Club Montepulciano", "This Strange Effect" and the wonderful "Eden", Hooverphonic have put out a fourth single from their album of last year "Blue Wonder Power Milk". This time it's a more danceable, funky track called "Lung", featuring the prominent bass of Mark Plati (who was the producer of the album, known from his productions of for the likes of Janet Jackson, Talking Heads, Prince and Natalie Imbruglia, and his programming on David Bowie's Earthling). The lyrics are probably about the biology lesson of "dissecting a frog" as they go "Let's open it, be strong, cut out, it's lung".

DAAN IS EVERYWHERE
A big interview in Humo today, a live show on the Dutch Radio (Leidsekade Live, June 12th, together with the upcoming band Arid), a second single-release from his album "Pro-Fools" ("Boots") out in the shops, a contract to pay a second visit to Pukkelpop this year (with Dead Man Ray who will have a new album out by October or so), free advertising on the popular show "Het Leugenpaleis" (I'm Daan from Leuven from Dead Man Ray from Berchem ...), a single with another project of his called Supermarx ("De Koning van Vlaanderen"a funny song about his annoyance with yellow-black signposts), and now in the Belgian Pop & Rock Telex also ... bref, it is absolutely impossible to escape Daan Stuyven these days. In Belgium that is.

KRIS DANE - BOY, 26
Kris Dane, who has a history as a drummer with dEUS (at the very beginning until he got replaced by Julle de Borgher) and 801 KD Concept (finals of the Rock Rally 1998, described as "wayward funk, Captain Beefheart madness, lingering cello's, trumpet and guitarlicks à la James Blood Ulmer all put together in an adventurous group-sound"), now has a second album out.
A year after the almost unnoticed "Fe is a male mystic", there is now "Boy, 26". Once again it seems to be a combination of a singer-songwriter à la Mike Scott of the Waterboys and a funky animal such as Prince, as is witnessed by this excerpt : "Goldmine". To be discovered.

FRONTSTAGE-MONSTER ALLIANCE
Jobsite "Monsterboard" and internet-CD Shop "Frontstage" are putting on a joint initiative (probably their names known better) : a talent contest.
Bands who want to participate (no genre or other limitations it seems) can send in a demo to Monster.Be, Elisabethlaan 54, 1780 Wemmel. Those who are selected will get to play on the Lokerse Feesten (on a seperate stage, August 7), and will be able to put a song on the "Monsterstage"-cd.
The winner of the contest will headline a tour that Monsterboard will be undertaking in and around the opening of the new academic year (October '99).
So : who knows what the VDAB and Proxis are plotting now ?

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