RUMPLESTITCHKIN

Inventive and fresh young rockband from Brussels.

The groundwork of rumplestitchkin (not the character from the fairy tales, but something closely resembling that) was laid out in the collegeyears of four friend that were desperately trying to play "Three imaginary boys" of The Cure. Slowly but surely they started writing songs of their own, swapped drummers, and recorded a first demo (thanks to Will Tura they got to record it in the famed Studio Caraïbes in Brussels). The first gigs came, and a second demo - again thanks to Will Tura - was made, on the basis of which they were selected for competitions such as Marktrock Leuven in 1997 ("When Rumplestitchkin participated in the Marktrock Podium '97-concours, someone described their music as 'pingelrock'. They hadn't looked at it that way. But that description fitted their music quite well. Rumplestitchkin makes a melodic kind of rock in which synths try to match the guitar violence. Sturdy pop songs, combined with a whistle-along-tune, a jazzy ballad or elements from a theme park soundtrack . A lot at once, but still it sounds they way it is supposed to sound) and finally the Rock Rally in 1998.

In that contest, the band got to the finals effortlessly, but in those finals they didn't win from the likes of Das Pop, Fence and The Nothing Bastards (later renamed to L.Santo). The jury babbled about "a bit of Evil Superstars, a bit of early-eighties mad-wave, a bit of check this out as it is worth it" and the other reactions in the press were praising as well.

The group managed to get a record deal with B-track, and started recording the preparations for a full-cd in 1999. But when B-track (earlier with Tom Helsen, Betty Goes Green ...) was bought by one of the major labels, the group was back on the streets. Thomas Devos in Humo : "suddenly there was no record deal anymore, and we even coudn't do a planned gig at the Texan South-by-Southwest festival ... quite a blow. In that period I wrote a number of songs for my mother, folksinger Vera Coomans (seee Rum, Madou etc), French chanson, very nice to do, but quite difficult as well. If I go to one of her gigs and see that the audience becomes silent from the songs I wrote, I sometimes think : damn, why don't that happen with Rumplestitchkin?"

A new haven was found at the Brussels record company Oyster (Neeka, The Romans, Golden Green ...), who brought the band in contact with Frans Hagenaars (earlier with Belgians such as Evil Superstars, Metal Molly and Dutch bands such as Bettie Serveert and Caesar). The result was a title-less mini-album with four songs, a showcase for their talent as they are all four of completely different styles.

The bio of the band describes the style of rumplestitchkin as "een voorliefde voor melodieuze gitaarrock\pop, afgewisseld met een jazzy ballad, een scheut kermismuziek en hyperkinetische uithalen. Van een hectisch grootwarenhuis naar een rokerige bowlingzaal. Van een trektocht in de bergen naar een zaal vol 'aerobicende' meisjes met blozende wangen. Van een bende dronken infanteristen op de Transsiberische naar een zonsondergang in Liberia. Synthesizer-en orgeldeuntjes vangen het teveel aan gitaargeweld op en zorgen zowel voor meezingbare riedels als de juiste breekbare noot."

One track of the EP, the "Liquido"-kind of song "Honey's Dull" (earlier also in a live-version on the Rock-Rally CD of 1998) started a remarkeabla climb in the de Afrekening and meant the breakthrough of the band, which was rapidly halted when Oyster Records went broke only a couple of weeks after the release.

Band members :
- Sam Pleysier (keyboard, vocals)
- Olivier Onclin (drums, percussion, vocals)
- Wim Van Driessche (bass, vocals)
- Thomas Devos (guitar, vocals)

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- Rumplestichkin (EP, Oyster Records, 2000)

Websites :
- bio of the band at Oyster Records
- Rumplestitchkin fansite