Period : July 8-23, 2001
In this issue : Millionaire, Monza, Hooverphonic, Lokerse Feesten, Marktrock,
Boterhammen in de Stad, Chapeau Europe
July 23, 2001
TIM VANHAMEL'S MILLIONAIRE What
is that great single you are not hearing on the radio? Yes, it's the wild &
crazy debut single "Body Expericence Revue" ,
by an exciting new development in belgian rock called Millionaire.
Millionaire is one of the two bands that can claim the legacy of the late but
great Evil Superstars (the other of
course being Mauro). In Millionaire, it's guitarist
Tim Vanhamel (also known from his guitar work for dEUS
on the Ideal Crash tour) and drummer Dave Schroyen that have found a new
breath of life, together with guitarist Ben Wijers, bassplayer Bas Remans
and sampling Aldo Struyf (Orange Black,
Vive la Fête). Although "insiders"
have been boasting about the talent of the band, they had kind of a rough time
getting their stuff out: First they were signed to Luc
Van Acker's label, but then the deal between Les Enfants Terrible &
BMG broke off and suddenly there was no money to release the already recorded
album (which will go by the name of "Outside the Simian Flock").
Luckily, they were later picked up by PIAS, and now have a record deal for 4 albums
with them. The album was produced by 'Z', the Slovenian producer that worked with
Autopulver and Kent before. The references: Parliament, Funkadelic, Beck, Queens
Of The Stoneage ... The release date of the debut album is set for September,
while a 2nd single will precede that in August.
MONZA & HOOVERPHONIC OPPIKOPPI
Just as last year, Flanders is spreading it's sons out to parts of the world where
they speak a little bit of Dutch: this year the delegation to the South-African
Oppikoppi-festival - in an exchange
program with tPukkelpop - will be no other then Monza and Hooverphonic.
We give the advice not to pose thorny questions such as "ben jie nie een
beetje een brulboei nie?" or"heb je het nie een beetje hoog in
je bol nie?". To illustrate the perils of such a venture, here's two
recent incidents with the Belgian press:
When the press had the audacity to not get the superlatives out of the box while
reviewing the gig of Hooverphonic at Werchter, Alex Callier felt compelled
to put them in their place from his column in Bonanza with "First
I'd like to apologize to collected press, because no-one was allowed in the frontstage,
and the journalists missed our show because of that. That was kind of a misunderstanding,
but we certainly have had to pay for that. Not that we were slaughtered, but the
reviews were certainly not very positive".
Or when Humo gave some staunch criticism of the somewhat overstrained performance
of Monza at Werchter (besides some vicious remaks about the looks of the frontman):
"Stijn had to convice Meuris yet again that he did good in changing his
old - on our ears perfectly capable - band Noordkaap
for - at least that was what it looked like from where we were standing - Jason
Newsted on guitar, someone from Europe on keyboards and a suspicious looking accountant
on bass ... The tool for convincing us ... wasn't the song, but the bombastic,
to stadion-proportions blown opus that should at least be referrred to as tractatus
or capitulum", Stijn Meuris wrote a letter to the editor the week
after saying "in regards to your - let's say 'peculiar' - little review
of Werchter in Humo nr.29, undersigned felt the urge to modify the undoubtedly
godlike face of your reporter somewhat. Rest assured, I haven't stuck with that
idea, for his caring mama might get worried or i'd stand a chance of getting my
knuckles bruised. Bad idea. Let's stick to an everlasting hostility then, shall
we".
Enough with the mudslinging : meanwhile things are going great for Monza,
thank you (you are tóo good). At this very moment they are finihsing the
last mixes of their debut album with producer Jo Frankcen in the Motormusic studio.
The release date is set for October 1st. A successor to the current single "De
Stad kan zo koud zijn" will follow at the end of August.
July 9, 2001
Here are some of the big festivals that have now completed their line-up. As
usual, I have absolutely no tickets to give away. Yay!
LOKERSE FEESTEN (Belgitude : 16/14)
Cheap festival in Lokeren (doh) with :
Friday August 3 : Vanilla Coke + Stubru
party
Saturday August 4 : De Mens, Das
Pop & Kelis (USA)
Sunday August 5 : Automatic Buffalo & Camden (Luc
de Vos & Axl Peleman), Fischer
Z (UK) & Praga Khan
Monday August 6 : Monza, Roland Gift (Fine Young Cannibals, UK) & a surprise
act
Tuesday August 7 : The Whodads, Arno,
Maceo Parker (USA)
Wednesday August 8 : Mauro, Frank Black &
The Catholics (USA) & Zita Swoon
Thursday August 9 : Hiphop/Dance night with Moiano, Luke Slater, Carl Craig, DJ
Lefto ...
Friday August 10 : D.A.A.U., Afro-Cuban
All-Stars (CUB) - The Wailers (Jam)
Saturday August 11 : Riguelle &
Hautekiet, The Sign (USA), Rob de Nijs (NL)
Sunday August 12 : Tom Helsen, Robert Plant
& The Bombunk MC's (FIN), followed by an Alter8-party with the Dewaele
Brothers.
More information : www.lokersefeesten.be
MARKTROCK LEUVEN (Belgitude : 45/23)
Marktrock Leuven will be held from Monday August 13 until August 15, and, ordered
by stage & day these are the names that will be performing : Oude Markt (entrance 300 Bef) :
- Day 1 : Judith (NL), Voice Male, JukeBox 2000 (the interactive dutch-song juke-box),
Bombfunk MC's (FIN), Krezip (NL) & Lords
of Acid
- Day 2 : The Dallas Explosion (who
won Marktrock podium), Twarres (NL), Laïs,
Eagle-Eye Cherry (UK), Travis (UK) & El
Tattoo Del Tigre
- Day 3 : Emmi (NL), Mauro, Das
Pop, Wheatus (USA), Finley Quayle (UK), Frank Black & The Catholics (USA),
Fun Lovin' Criminals (USA) & James Brown (USA) Vismarkt (free) :
- Day 1 : Asimov, Elysian, Zornik, Josh Joplin
Group (USA), Darling Nikkie, Bastian (NL)
- Day 2 : Lester, Pieter-Jan Desmet, Yum,
Millionaire, The Kids
- Day 3 : Strangle The Parrot, Sharko, Vive
La Fête, Abn, The Sheila Divine (USA),
Daau, Monza M. De Layensplein (free) :
- Day 1 : Sioen (Man Pierlé), Snipe (the band of "big Brother"
Jeroen), Patsy (female singer in the Bonnie Raitt region), Di-Rect (NL), Papermoon
(cover-band with Isabelel A, Hans Francken, Herman Cambré, Ingrid Mank,
Vladimir Geels & Tom Van Stiphout)
- Day 2 : Admiral Freebee (2nd in last year's rock rally), Mintzkov Luna (winners
of the last rock rally), Mo'ses (Ronny Mosuse), El
Fish & Roland (together), Les Truttes
(disco covers)
- Day 3 : Stache, Lunascape (can you believe this : they don't have a record contract
for the moment!), Blues Lee (freaked out blues), Danaë (actress gone singing,
hit "Little girl in me"), 16 Down (Nl), De Kast (Nl), Ben Crabbe &
The Young Presleas (they are Paul Poelmans, Bart Buls, Marty Townshend & Michael
Schack, & they aim to produce "powerpop from recent and not-so-recent
music history) Hogeschoolplein (free)
- Day 1 : Avalon (the band of Donna-presenter Caren Meynen), Made In Belgium (cover
band), Wawadadakwa (wiha), Samy Y Sandra
Sandoval (Col)
- Day 2 : Dobrojean (D Capital J), Flip
Kowlier ('t Hof goes guitar), Band Zonder Banaan (Nl), Youth Waves (St.-Maarten)
- Day 3 : Spencer The Rover (ex-Stormdaisy, ex-Ivan's
Land), Jonesy (the new band of Guy - Scabs
- Swinnen), Mika (reggae from Brussels with
a greek-russion female singer), Seven Eleven (NL), Clave Del Son (Cuba) &
The Travelling Woodstock Show (Rudolf Hecke
& friends go psychedelic).
More info at the information-rich www.marktrock.be.
BOTERHAMMEN IN DE STAD (Belgitude : 14/1)
This free festival is a series of midday concerts to please the civil servants
(and other passersby) in Brussels - organized by the Ancienne Belgique:
Monday August 27 : Wawadadakwa & De
Mens
Tuesday August 28 : Bert De Coninck, Kris
De Bruyne & Roland
Wednesday August 29 : Flip Kowlier, Laïs
Thursday August 30 : Jukebox 2000
Friday August 31 : Fluxus, Fay Lovsky & Wigbert,
Michel Bisceglia
and on the same day, but in the evening : Think
Of One, Monza & D.A.A.U.
More information : http://www.abconcerts.be
July 8, 2001
CHAPEAU EUROPE
Tonight,
July 9, sees the "cultural opening" of the Belgian presidency of the
European Union. To make us citizens feel good about the whole thing, the governments
(we have at least 5) are organising a big celebration in the centre square of
Brussels.
A spectacle has been prepared by the Ancienne Belgique and Créations du
Dragon (also responsible for the "festive" opening ceremony of Euro
2000). They came up with the idea of "Chapeau Europe" (an allusion to
Magritte's often portrayed man with hat): the "grand place" will be
changed into a complete scene. On the left big waterwall where images of Europe
will be projected on, on the right a large carrousel with Belgian imagery, in
between a large catwalk and above it all a fireworks display. More than 200 artists
will take part, with musical contributions by Lais,
Jean-Louis Daulne, Raymond
van het Groenewoud, Starflam, Jaune
Toujours, Toots Thielemans, El
Tattoo del Tigre ...
The 1.30 hr. show will be transmitted live on RTBf and via the internet at skynet.be
at 22:30, while Canvas will show highlights of the event a little later. We're
already paying for it, might as well enjoy it then, ain't we ?
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