New: Clouseau "En Dans"
Hard to miss it in Belgium: the new CD of Clouseau is in the shops. Preceded by
the fine single "Ik Geef me Over" , and with sureshot hits as titletrack "En Dans" or"Bergen
en Ravijnen", and in a funny sleeve drawn up by Marcel Vanthilt.
Clouseau, the band, not the inspector, started as a bunch of friends back in
1984. Only Karel Theys, the bass-player, had some previous experience in a band
with The Employees. 1987 sees them coming
out of the garage for the first time : they play Marktrock in Leuven en get a
record deal for their first single "Brandweer".
Songs
"Anne"
44,5 sec. - 87 Kb.
song : Geert Hanssens
Produced : Roland Verlooven
Year : 1989
Record co. : HKM
"Dansen"
39,2 sec. - 77 Kb.
song : Berghmans, K.Wauters, Savenberg
Produced : Roland Verlooven
Year : 1989
Record co. : HKM
"Daar gaat ze"
44,5 sec. - 87 Kb.
song : Jan Savenberg
Produced : Roland Verlooven
Year : 1990
Record co. : HKM
In '88 they have a small hit with "Alleen met Jou" (Only with you)
and win the Baccara-trophy in the squad of Raymond Van
Het Groenewoud.
In 1989 they participated in the preselection to determine the Belgian delegate
to the Eurovision Song Festival. Clouseau finishes second (behind Ingeborg), but
now has a foot in the door. The breakthrough comes immediately with the single
"Anne" and an album "Hoezo ?" (How so?). Screaming
teenagers all over the place and smashed record sales in Belgium are the consequence.
The Netherlands follow, where "Daar Gaat Ze" (There she goes) becomes
a big hit. The 2nd album "Of zo" (Or so) also proves to be very
successful.
1990 is a year which can only be described as the year of "Clouseau-mania".
Everything the boys touch turns to gold.
Manager Hans Kusters : "They really appeal to the teens. Simple songs,
but also lyrics in the form of "She comes, she goes or she is". No fuss
about apartheid or the nuclear missiles. Clean, cute, sometimes rocking, sometimes
slowing, always charming melodies with innocent and easily recognizable love-
and dance stories."
In 1991, the Benelux is getting too small for the group so they (or at least
the record company) decide to try to storm the European market.
This time they are appointed to participating for Belgium in the Eurovisionsongcontest
(where the finish very low with "Geef het op", despite the very high
hopes Flanders was posing in them). They record a CD in English called "Close
Encounters" (mainly consisting of adaptations of their own Dutch songs)
of which they sell 200.000 copies in the slipstream of Roxette's European tour
of 1992.
The 2nd English-language album "In every small town", however,
is a complete commercial failure. Frontman Koen Wauters starts a career as a television
presenter and race-pilot (Paris-Dakar), kicks a few old friends out of the band
and refocuses on the Dutch market with the CD "Oker" (Ochre)
in 1995.
On the album "Adrenaline", only the two Wauters' Brothers
remain. The album shows a more adult Clouseau. They have successfully survived
the hype and are starting to produce decent material again, without the necessity
to "score" or match the sales figures of the 1989-1990 craze.
What about the band members that were left behind :
- Bob Savenberg has ventured to a successful solo career (e.g. the duet with Dutch
singer Stef Bos in "Breek de stilte" and his solo CD "Vuur en Vlam").
He also presented "Ultratop" (the Belgian hitparade on VRT) and has
a small company that builds websites. In 2001, he did the show "Popstars"
for VT4.
- Tjenne Berghmans has played in about every other Belgian group (e.g. The
Scabs, Betty Goes Green ...) since he left
Clouseau.
- Karel Theys, formerly of the Employees, was at the base of another Kloot Per
W project, de Lama's in 1993-94.
In 1997, they release a compilation album "Clouseau 1987-1997"
and have a celebration on their 10 years of existence. Koen Wauters (although
hard to recognize amidst all the publicity for Belgacom) finishes another Dakar
at the beginning of 1997. He also continues his television career (Familieraad,
Koen & The Gang, Wedden dat ...), and fights off a female stalker in his bathroom.
In 1999, he marries Carolijn Lillipally (who was a VJ for MTV-Europe).
In 1999 Clouseau conquers Flanders for the umpteenth time, on this occasion
with the new CD "In Stereo".
In a production with a lot of violins by Jean Blaute (see RvhG,
Kate's Kennel ..) and with songs that were written
by people such as Frank van der Linden (of De Mens), Jan
Leyers (of My Velma & Soulsister),
Mark Vanhie (The Bet, Sarah) and others, and pulled by singles
such as "Heb ik ooit gezegd" (a Van Morisson-cover) and "Altijd
meer en meer" the group even makes it back again as a headliner at Marktrock
(where it all had started). This leads them to a new live-album, simply called
"Live", released in 2000.
In 2001 they opened with an album with nothing but slow songs for the Dutch
market - entitled "Ballades" - but in recording their next album
they deliberately stepped away from this trend in ever slower songs. En Dans
- wrapped in a funny cover hand-drawn by Marcel Vanthilt,
who also sings on one song - was released in November 2001, and contained much
more uptempo songs, taking them back to the starting days of the band. Most striking
track was certainly the title song "En Dans", Clouseau in an
festive disco-outfit. However the first single that was taken from the album was
a ballad "Ik Geef Me Over"
(I surrender) with a video that caused some controversy due to the smoking habit
of Koen. Through the usual visits to radio stations and a break-in into the BigBrother
house, the CD certainly didn't miss it's start, as it deserved platinum for 30,000
copies in the presales, and entered the album-charts at n°1. On the live-front
it remained fairly quiet, working towards two gigantic gigs in the Sportpaleid
in Antwerp in the month of December.
Band members (original line-up) :
- Koen Wauters (vocals)
- Kris Wauters (keyboard and guitar)
- Bob Savenberg (drums and backing vocals)
- Karel Theys (bass)
- Tjenne Berghmans (guitar).
Buy CD's of this band at
Albums :
- Hoezo(Hans Kusters Music - 1989)
- Of Zo (Hans Kuster Music - 1990)
- Close Encounters (EMI - 1991)
- Doorgaan (tot je niet meer op je benen kan staan) (EMI- 1992)
- In Every Small Town (EMI - 1993)
- Oker (EMI - 1995)
- Adrenaline (EMI - 1996)
- In Stereo (EMI - 1999)
- En Dans (EMI - 2001) Compilations :
- Clouseau Live (Hans Kusters Music - 1991)
- Clouseau 1987-1997 (EMI, 1997)
- Live (EMI, 2000)
- Ballades (EMI, 2001)
Watch it : This site pays royalties, and was built and maintained in
accordance with the terms and conditions negotiated with SABAM,
the Belgian society of copyright-holders. Consultation of this site is free, but
this exludes downloading, reproducing or public performance of any part of this
site. Please do not copy. Link!