MY VELMA

Belgian trio performing melodic rock, consisting of :
- Jan Leyers (on a solo-path after 10 years with the band Leyers, Michiels and Soulsister)
- Filip Cauwelier (bass-player, beat-provider for the hiphop-group 't Hof Van Commerce, later also solo as Flip Kowlier)
- Joost Van den Broek (drummer for Soulsister and De Mens, Riguelle & Hautekiet ...).

The band came about when Soulsister hadn't been officially declared "dead" yet. For Jan Leyers, the band initially was a hobby-project to fill a gap in the career of Soulsister. The group came about when Joost Van den Broeck invited Leyers to jam with a friend of his. They started playing without having any songs. Jamming became rehearsing, and after a few months they felt there was more "in it".

The band's name comes from a Raymond Chandler thriller "Farewell, my lovely". Leyers in an interview with Humo : "I thought that the film with Robert Mitchum was impressive. It's about a rather dumb gangster Moose who's searching his girlfriend Velma. If he finds her at the end of the film, she shoots him cause she has become the girlfriend of a mighty mob-godfather in the mean time. To me, Velma is the dreamgirl that is either unreachable, or that is in real life less good or special that the idolized version in your head. It's about a quest that's doomed to fail. Touching, isn't it?"

My Velma's music is rather distinct from that of Soulsister (melodious rock with guitars, instead of soulpop). Jan Leyers : "Soulsister was a kind of marriage between PP's taste and mine. My musical instincts are completely different. I didn't start playing music by imitating Ray Charles or Steve Winwood as an eleven-year old as he did. My roots are in beat music."

They initially released two singles with EMI Belgium "to get some feedback" : "Running a bath", and the great and ominous track "Shower of love" (both clean behind the ears). After these songs got received rather favorably, the group signed with Mercury in the Netherlands. They recorded a full CD in October 1997 and released "Exposed" in June 1998. The song of the album that got most attention was "Clear".
All songs were written by Jan Leyers, but for a few he has cooperated with Jane Wiedlin (of the GoGo's - known from songs as "Our lips are sealed" and "We've got the beat") and Pat McDonald (of Timbuk 3 - known from songs as "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades" and "Standard white Jesus").

The ambition : "My only ambition is to fill all the days 'till the end pleasantly with writing songs on my guitar. I like the Viking-feeling : hit-and run; hit a city, do your thing there very intensely, and then move on. With Hugo Mathysen is was philosophizing the other day on the question what on should do : do you hàve to be ambitious and try to force your destiny, or is it better to let yourself be guided by the waves. The conclusion was : "The best a man can do is = hang around actively".

In 2000, Jan Leyers scored a big hit here in Belgium with a song he wrote for the soundtrack to the Jan Verheyen movie "Team Spirit": a surprising n°2 spot in the charts with the song "Only Your Love Will Do" . The soundtrack for this soccer/friends flick also included the older My Velma song "Shower of Love". In interviews, Jan Leyers declared that My Velma was perhaps not dead and buried, but "running on the slowest possible break", meaning there are no plans to continue this band.

Band members :
- Jan Leyers (guitar, vocals)
- Filip Cauwelier (bass)
- Joost Van den Broeck (drums)

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- Exposed (Mercury/Polygram, 1998)
Singles :
- Running a bath / Coral (EMI, 1996)
- Shower love / The one that's sorry (EMI, 1996)
- That's how it feels (Mercury, 1998)
- Clear (Mercury, 1998)

Websites :
- Interview with Jan Leyers (in Dutch) by Het Nieuwsblad
- CD-review of "Exposed" by Het Nieuwsblad (Dutch only)