LOU & THE HOLLYWOOD BANANAS

Project of Brussels-based producer Lou Depryck, "the ingenious tintin of Belgian pop music".

Francis "Lou" Depryck is one of the most curious figures in the Belgian pop-world: Started out in the late sixties, when he joined Liberty Six (see Francis Goya). His debut for the group wasn't a real success : the single "Je suis pop et tout à fait dingue / Qu'est-ce que ma soeur fait dans la machine à vapeur" sold only 200 copies."

Luckely for Lou, this was not an omen for what was about to come. His aliases are too numerous to count : Pop, Billy Belushi, Dario Ramirez, J.P.Hawks, B.Buster, Bass Master I, Gene Steinbecket, Lee Kane, Marylin Mansfield ...

In the seventies, he teamed up Sylvain Vanholme  for Two Man Sound, which had several hits in the seventies with adapted Brazilian carnival songs.

In the late seventies and early eighties he tried to make it as a solo-artist. Usually, this resulted in pretty poor records, but there was one big exception : "Kingston Kingston", a ska/reggae-song in French when this new Jamaican style of music was just beginning to conquer the European mainland. The song became a big hit in Belgium and France.

In "Wit-lof from Belgium" he explains his method : "I'm driven by the desire to be number one. I'm hooked to the feeling of having a record somewhere, somehow rising up the charts. I want to be number one in originality and in commerciality." He certainly developed a nose for talent and marketing.

Even more than as an artist, Lou de Pryck is an established musical producer. His biggest claim to fame was his production and song for Plastic Bertrand "ça plane pour moi" of 1977. Later on, he even started to claim that he also did the vocals on Plastic's first 4 albums ("J'ai composé, produit et chanté ses 4 premiers albums. J'ai chanté à sa place, tout le monde sait ça! De 1976 jusqu'en 1980"). In the middle of the eighties, he hit the jackpot once again, this time with the sensuous Viktor Lazlo.

Lou is also a good source to explain the difference in the development (on the musical front) between Flanders and Wallonia : "Wallonia has always been a bit of a dull place. Take New Beat. The Flemish make 80% of the productions, just because they react faster, more intelligent and are more opportunistic. When I'm asked to go listen to new groups, either I'm confronted with old-fashioned heavy metal, or else I see the "France-syndrome". Typical. They just are way too concentrated on those French things, from Goldman to Niagara. Perhaps Charleroi is an exception."

Nowadays, Lou is still in the music business, as a producer for his own record company "Buy my record", with labels as Miracle! and Cactus, and artists such as Viktor Lazlo, David Linx & Le Grand Jojo. His portfolio still mentions Lou & The Hollywood Bananas, so I suppose he still makes music himself from time to time.

Members :
- Lou Depryck (vocals ...)
- ...

Albums :
- Kingston Kingston (Vogue, 1979)
Singles :
- Casanova / Roxy (RKM, 1978)
- Kingston, Kingston (Vogue, 1979)
- Hollywood, Hollywood  / Pas une autre que toi (Vogue, 1980)
- Hong Kong ska / I won't never let you go (Vogue, 1980)
- Pas peur du loup / Pourquoi (Vogue, 1980)
- Troisième dimension / Si t'etais dans mes chaussure (RKM, 1981)
- Time warp / Big bad wolf (RKM, 1981)
- J'suis en de samour / Cooky paradis (RKM, 1981)
- Les petites rues de Singapour / le regard des filles (RKM, 1982)
- Oh look at me now (RKM, 1983)
- Tout le mond à l'eau / Frenesie (Polydor, 1987)
- Mange des tomates / Message (RKM, 1989) 

Websites :
- Lou Depryck, Friteur d'Or, op frites.be