Deus (band)

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Deus
Deus performing live at Cafe du Nord, San Francisco.
Deus performing live at Cafe du Nord, San Francisco.
Background information
Origin Antwerp, Belgium
Genre(s) Experimental rock, indie rock, alternative rock
Years active 1989–present
Label(s) V2, Universal
Website www.deus.be
Members
Tom Barman
Klaas Janzoons
Stéphane Misseghers
Alan Gevaert
Mauro Pawlowski
Former members
Stef Kamil Carlens
Rudy Trouvé
Jules de Borgher
Danny Mommens
Craig Ward

Deus (or dEUS[1]) is an indie rock band based in Antwerp, Belgium, currently consisting of Tom Barman (vocals and guitar), Klaas Janzoons (keyboards and violin), Stéphane Misseghers (drums), Alan Gevaert (bass) and Mauro Pawlowski (guitar and vocals).

Contents

[edit] History

The band, whose songs are primarily sung in English, was founded in Antwerp in 1989, but did not get its form until after Humo's Rock Rally of 1992. In the tour that followed through Spain, set up by Filip Eyckmans, they laid the foundation for their sound. Deus displays a bewildering array of influences, including Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Big Star, Sonic Youth, Sun Ra and Mingus-style jazz, Leonard Cohen and the Velvet Underground. Consequently, they incorporate a wide variety of styles, including Pop, Folk, Free Jazz, Prog, Punk and Heavy Metal into their work. They became one of the most successful (and influential) Belgian rock bands ever.

[edit] Past members

Past members include Stef Kamil Carlens (bass), who left in 1996 to focus on his own band Zita Swoon (initially known as A Beatband and then Moondog Jr.), Rudy Trouvé (guitar), who since 1995 has pursued a career in music (Kiss My Jazz, Dead Man Ray) and art, Jules de Borgher (drums) until 2002, Danny Mommens (bass) who left in 2004 because of his other band Vive la Fête and Craig Ward (guitar) who left in 2004. Both Rudy Trouvé and Craig Ward play in The Love Substitutes along with Mauro Pawlowski.

[edit] Records

So far, Deus have released five studio albums: on Island Records, Worst Case Scenario (1994), In a Bar, Under the Sea (1996), The Ideal Crash (1999), on September 12th 2005 their long awaited album Pocket Revolution V2 Records and in 2008 they've released Vantage Point. They have also released many singles, the experimental EP My Sister=My Clock (1995) (originally intended for the Belgian audience and international fan order only but given a general release on Island Records due to popular demand) and a singles collection No More Loud Music (released on PolyGram) with a companion DVD No More Video (2001).

All the albums and singles before The Ideal Crash have cover artwork by Rudy Trouvé.

[edit] Hiatus

From 2000 to 2004, the band took an extended hiatus to allow the individual members to pursue different interests, including a Barman-directed feature film entitled Any Way the Wind Blows. In June 2002 they did however play 6 concerts in Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium, supporting the then-recent CD and DVD release of their singles collection. In 2004 Tom Barman also released the debut album of Magnus, his dance-oriented project with techno producer CJ Bolland.

[edit] Soundtrack

dEUS made the soundtrack for the 2003 movie Resistance directed by Todd Komarnicki, but it was refused. Angelo Badalamenti was brought in to take over the production and he wrote a new soundtrack for the movie.

[edit] Current activities

In mid-2004 they began recording new material and playing live across Europe, and in August the download-only single If You Don't Get What You Want was released. On September 12th, 2005 the new album Pocket Revolution was released. The release of the new album was supported by an extensive world tour of over 130 concerts. The final concert of the 2005/2006 Pocket Revolution tour took place on October 1st in the Deus hometown of Antwerp, Belgium. Deus performed that day as part of the 0110 Festival for Tolerance. This free entrance festival, an initiative of leadsinger Tom Barman, saw possibly the largest number of Belgian artists ever assembled perform that day in Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels and Charleroi in support of Tolerance and to oppose racism, extremism and pointless violence. After finishing their Pocket Revolution tour, the band began rehearsals for the writing and recording process of their next album. In 2007 Deus built their own studio, to continue work on their next album, Vantage Point, which was released in April 2008. The band will tour the world afterwards and could release their next album as soon as 2009.

[edit] Discography

Main article: Deus discography

[edit] References

  1. ^ The band's official typeset is "dEUS", as seen on album covers and the official website.

[edit] External links