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X-LEGGED SALLY

Avant-gardist band of Peter Vermeersch with a big influence on the more recent wave of groups springing from Belgium.

 
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Their music is a chaotic mix of styles and sources, ranging from Zappa and Captain Beefheart, freejazz and funk, avant-garde to rock".

Since its first concert in November 1988, the lineup of the band has changed quite a bit with musicians that used to play in a large array of bands: Simpletones, Union, Fukkeduk, Anna Domino, Lavvi Ebbel, Allez Allez, Flat Earth Society, Woodentrucks, Univers Zéro, Maximalist!, Beverly Jo Scott, ...

Peter Vermeersch, composer of almost all the songs, worked with Thierry De Mey (in the group Maximalist!) on the music scores for performances by the internationally renowned Belgian choreographers Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker (Rosas) and Wim Vandekeybus.

When Vermeersch gets fed up with the strictness of sheet music for those dance productions, he founds X-legged Sally. A demo-tape is sent to Bill Lasswell (Material, New-York avant-garde scene) who agrees to produce their albums.

From the band's bio : "The band's American première took place at New York's Knitting Factory. An excerpt of this concert was featured on the "Live at the Knitting Factory" record series. In October '91, the first CD "Slow-up", was recorded at Bill Laswell's Greenpoint Studios in Brooklyn. The CD's biggest merit is that it has been able to catch that same intensity that just radiates off the stage at X-Legged Sally concerts. When Vermeersch and co start playing, they leave the speed-limits far behind them, and a truckload of "young" bands in the process.
The second CD, "Killed by Charity", was recorded during the New York heatwave of July '93, also produced by Bill Laswell. Its sound is coming nearer to what the band is doing live today: greater clarity, more humor, more diversity, more volume, ... And it features a cover of Burt Bacharach's "The Look of Love"!
"Eggs and Ashed" is a compilation of pieces recorded between '91 and '94 for choreographer Wim Vandekeybus' performances, and show X-Legged Sally at its most diverse.
"

Vermeersch & Vervloesem get public recognition for their work by broader audiences after their production of "Worst case scenario", the debut of the now famous Belgian band dEUS. They also have a big impact on their mini-album "My sister is my clock", on which Vermeersch and Vervloesem can be heard on piano, drums, guitar, clarinet and bass.

"Fired" of 1996 is the musical testament of the group. The press : "Fired is a live-album which gives a fairly good overview of the band's repertoire. And that's free jazz, heavy rock, speed metal mixed together in a vertigo of melodies and rhythms (these guys are excellent musicians). Sometimes they sound a bit like the freejazz noise combo Naked City and at other times like Frank Zappa (they cover one of his songs City of Tiny Lites). The drums and the bass keep everything together while the keyboards, guitar and horns really freak out. Most of the songs are instrumental, but a few once feature a fucked up singer. This is definitely no easy-listening music, but X-Legged Sally was the perfect band to mix jazz and rock. Most its band members have started new bands and projects, so there is a good chance that eventually a band will pop up which can fill the gap that is left in the Belgian music scene".

After X-Legged Sally, Vermeersch & Vervloesem started all kinds of new bands & projects : theater (e.g. with Josse de Pauw in "Larf"), a freeform big-band with Flat Earth Society (their "Live at the Beurschouwburg" is the first Belgian album released in the year 2000, their "Bonk" is the first of the year 2001) and fun with A Group. Pierre Vervloesem also released two weird solo-albums.

Members :
- Pierre Vervloesem (vocals, guitar)
- Jean-Luc Plouvier (keyboards)
- Michel Mast (Saxophone)
- Eric Sleichim (Saxophone)
- Peter Vermeersch (Saxophon, clarinet)
- Bart Maris (Trumpet)
- Sally C.S. (noise)
- Bruno Deneuter - Paul Belgrado (bass)
- Danny Van Hoeck (drums)

Buy CD's of this band at proxis

Albums (X-legged Sally):
- Live at the Knitting Factory, vol. 4 (KFWorks, 1990)
- Slow-up (Sub Rosa / Rough Trade, 1991)
- Killed by charity (Sub Rosa / Rough Trade, 1993)
- Eggs and ashes (Sub Rosa / Rough Trade, 1994)
- The land of the giant dwarfs (Bang! - 1995)
- Fired (Bang! - 1997)

Albums (Vermeersch and Thierry de Mey in Maximalist!)
- Rosas danst Rosas (Schaamte - 1983)
- Maximalist! (Igloo - 1984)
- What the body doesn't remember (Sub Rosa, 1989)

Websites :
- Vermeersch & Vervloesem have a beautiful website for all their projects.

Forum :
- Read the messages/questions about X-legged Sally
- Add your message, question, cd- or concertreview ... about X-legged Sally

 

   
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Last update to this site : December 2001.

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