POESIE NOIRE

Controversial electrowave group of the eighties. Or as Oor put it : "One of Belgiums most disputed groups, who are characterized by a huge productivity and a constant urge for change".

Their intellectualist "wave" music (how else could you describe a group who names their "Best of" "Existential despair, metaphysical distress, onthological ungludation and cosmic meltdown") ensured them a small but stable following. Later on they evolved into more electronic and dance-oriented music, influenced by the underground success of the pioneer-band Front 242.

Or as Jo Casters explained in "Wit-Lof from Belgium" : "I started making music from the age of 14. I have done about everything : hardrock, folk, punk. Groups enough here in Genk. I started singing because that was always the hardest thing to find for a group. A few months later we made our first record. We were heavily influenced by Front 242 and Neon Judgement, but wanted to be on the more poppy side. That's why Paul Haig and Fad Gadget are also among the inspirators. In short : electronic pop".

Frontman of the band Jo Casters is best known for his role in the New Beat-craze. Together with Herman Gillis (co-Poésie Noire-member) and Roland Beelen (director/producer for Antler Records) he forms the infamous production trio "Morton, Sherman and Bellucci". They mainly produce themselves though, with dozens of different pseudonyms like "Taste of Sugar", "Erotic Dissidents" and "Secrets of China".

After the new-beat period, Jo Caster took his Poesie Noire project yet again in a very different direction : the album "Marianne" of 1991 was almost purely a pop-album, and earned the band several radiohits ("Just to be me again" is surely the best-known PN-song). Temporary members of the band for this album were Joppe Steengoedt and Frank Ermgodts, both of the formation Pop Gun.

Band member and electronics-wizard Herman Gillis (see besides Poesie Noire also Company of State, Volt, Running Cow ...) has later been hailed as the inventor of the so-called "Sherman Filterbank", an electronics-device that was used in recordings of big international names such as Chemical Brothers, Madonna, U2 ...

After the project grinded to a halt in the early nineties, Jo Casters went to work organising events, but later returned to the music bizz as an A&R-manager for the belgian branch of Arcade. As and he took care of such projects as Murcielage (los americano's) or Darling Nikkie (which is Nikkie van Lierop aka Jade 4U, see Lords of Acid, Praga Khan ...).

Members :
- Jo Casters
- Ludo Camberlin
- Herman Gilis
- Marianne Valvekens
- ...

Buy CD's of this band at

Albums :
- The Gioconda smile (Antler - 1985)
- Hum and haw (Antler - 1986)
- Tales of doom (Antler - 1987)
- Tetra (Antler - 1988)
- En grande colère (Antler - 1988)
- Pity for the self or we'll teach you how to dance (Antler - 1989)
- Love is colder than death (Antler - 1989)
- Oblivion (Antler, 1989)
- Marianne (Antler, 1991)
- Tabula Rasa (Antler, 1991)
Compilation :
- Existential despair, metaphysical distress, onthological ungludation and cosmic meltdown (Antler - 1988)
- Complicated 1984-1989 (Antler - 1990)

Websites :
- The band has an official website at http://poesienoire.anby.net/ as poesienoire has been overtaken by the porno industry
- Poesie Noire overview at the site of Stephane Werquin

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