July 11, 2000

EL FISH IN THE PAN ?
Strange Situation , this much is clear, as the news reached us that Filip Casteels, the singer and guitarist for the blues/world/rock/anything goes band El Fish has decided to leave the band!
All further gigs from the current tour will be cancelled, apart from one last gig at Marktrock Leuven on August 14. Although Jan Ieven, Steven De Bruyn and Rohal De Ridder are pondering what steps to take next, this will be the last concert in the current line-up. The tour "A12" with Geert Waegeman and the Alibi-collective in the Fall will not be cancelled, although there will be some alterations in the lineup.

AN PIERLE'S TOWER REMIXES
Just as her label-mates Zita Swoon had the opportunity with "Disco! adventures", Warner now has released a remix-cd, where 8 people have had their hands all over An Pierlé's new single "Tower". This 12" is sold seperately, but is also included with the "Mud Stories" album now.
The contributions are from DJ MIg One (of Starflam), Jo Bogaert (as himself, and as Technotronic), DJ's Geoffroy & Marius, Buscemi and Eavesdropper. There is also an "acoustic tower" by Jo de Bakker & Jo Bogaert, and a version with the Hermes Ensemble, a string quartet which also accompanies her on stage sometimes.
After appearances at Werchter and Dour, she is also confirmed for the festival Les Nuits Botaniques (who released their first batch of names, see their site), where she will be doing her stuff as "Gis & Pierlexa" on the first evening.

July 4, 2000

THE MELVILLE'S SHOWCASE
"Welcome on the musical trip of The Melville's: sensual Latin Rock, sober ballads and swinging traditionals with gentle ease." says one bio. "Desert folk that can be discovered as a trip between the world of J.J. Cale, Skip James, Beck and Calexico...", says another. Two descriptions of a relatively new band called The Mellville's (named after the author of Moby Dick).
The band was formed by Remko van Damme and Dag Taeldeman, and includes musicians that have played with bands as Wawadadakwa, El Tattoo del Tigre and Klezmic Noiz.
The Melville's have found a haven with Shut Up & Eat, and are releasing their debut four-track cd "Got to go" , on July 6th in Cartoon's/Kladaradatch Café in Antwerp. You're all invited, as the fun of a free gig begins there around midnight.
More info on The Melville's at the website of Shut Up & Eat.

July 3, 2000

KLOOT CLONES THE RAMONES
If this project is a "Gabba gabba hey hey" or a "Somebody put something in my drink", I still don't know, but there's quite an extraordinary going on on the website of Kloot Per W (Stricktly Rocker, Lama, Kreuner, Mister...): in an attempt to convince the world that the Ramones were "one of the most influential rock bands of the last 50 years, at least as important as Elvis, The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, Kraftwerk, Jimi Hendrix or Frank Zappa", KPW is gathering as many musicians as possible to bring a version of a Ramones-song. Acts from all kinds of genres and even countries are responding, including Red Zebra, Golden Green, Whim Punk, JMX, Fence, Neven, de Bossen, Perverted, the Paranoiacs, de Lama's & 't Hof van Commerce ... All this can be witnessed as it unfolds from his website, where there's already at least an hour worth of MP3's to listen to. Don't expect finished sounds or polished mixes, this project is low-budget and grassroots-alternative. We enjoyed the contributions of The Bad Preachers (bulldozer rock), Kin Without the Blood (core metal), Neven (techno), Ransom (not quite Hanson), de Heideroosjes (live) and the afrorhythms of Shake and Lack (la Fille d'Ernest).
1.2.3.4. to Klootperw.com.

LOKERSE FEESTEN
We missed the barbecue at the press conference, but nevertheless we learned that the programme for this years' Lokerse Feesten is once again "fully completely".
The place to be is the town square of Lokeren between August 5 and 13, where there's three free gigs of quality bands each night.
5/8 : The Paladins, De Heideroosjes, Kid Creole & The Coconuts
6/8 : An Pierlé, Kirsty MacColl, Nits
7/8 : Janez Detd, Stars Of Ska - The Ultimate 2 Tone Revu, Marc Almond
8/8 : Abel, Bob Catley & Band, Bob Geldof (IRL)
9/8 : Venus, Hothouse Flowers, Laïs
10/8 : Starflam, DJ Lefto, De Puta Madre, DJ Trish & Kash, Pills, CJ Bolland, Ken Ishii
11/8 : Metal Molly, Luka Bloom, Arid
12/8 : Postmen, Aswad, Zap Mama
13/8 : Das Pop, The Scene, El Tattoo Del Tigre
Each night, there will also be a different DJ (eg. the Flying Dewaele Brothers, Alex Callier of Hooverphonic, Cinérex,
All the info you can take at www.lokersefeesten.be

July 1, 2000

1 minute of silence . And then the party started again. The show must go on. Or doesn't it?

June 27, 2000

UNCLE MEAT RESET
At the time of "Underneath" (1996), the Belgian "alternative metal" band Uncle Meat, was quite hot : they had it produced by Colin Richardson (Machine Head, Fear Factory), they had a song that featured on the MTV soap "The Real World", they opened for KISS and Biohazard, ... and then ... two key members of the band left, and never came back. Thing rapidly grew quiet around and about Uncle Meat (whose name is also a Frank Zappa movie and album, btw, but there is no other similarity between the two).
Until now, because they have reassembled a band with a new guitarist and singer. Together they have been slaving for almost nine months in a homestudio, but now it's alsmost there : the third Uncle Meat album called "R.E.S.E.T.". To promote the album, there's now already a first single, entitled "Waves" , giving evidence that the music has evolved to less metal and more stonerrock.
More info from the official pages of the band at unclemeat.musicpage.com.

NEW MEURIS BAND WILL BE CALLED MONZA
In an interview with people from Headtrick's site Café Belge, ex-Noordkaap frontman Stijn Meuris revealed the current name for his new band : Monza ("Monza! Komen optreden!" ... het klinkt alleszins goed).
The language of choice will still be Dutch, be the result probably very different ("could still be rock, or blues, or filmmusic. But it kicks ass". A first single of Monza can be expected in October, a first CD in March 2001. The first concerts will happen in and around September.

K'S CHOICE SPLIT ?? ... NOT
Strange : Surf-Inn, the "youth"-site of Concentra (Het Belang van Limburg, Gazet van Antwerpen, De Genoelselderen Post), carries an article on how K's Choice are not splitting, and on how Gert Bettens has not decided to leave the band. In a reaction, Geert Poisquet of record company Double T says "I also heard the rumour, but that is a big fluke". Poisquet confirms the planning for a single in August, and the release of the title-less album in and around September.
(update : both the single and the album will be called "Almost Happy", releasedate for the album = September 25).