KRAAK FEST 25 HIGHLIGHTS: De Vlaamse Primitieven

When did you start playing and recording together?

Well let's dive back into the past and get nostalgic; Jan & me both met while we were studying 'Jazz Guitar' at college. I always saw/heard him wandering and playing around the campus. I liked his style very much and got quite intimidated by it - so I used to 'keep my cool' pretending his coolness didn't affect me (that's the way of the self- doubting warrior). Even with this kind of 'don't enter my bubble with your coolness’ attitude' some pivotal moments took place:

Jan and his - soon to be - girlfriend (now ex-girlfriend) attended a show of my previous/now defunct band. The girl and me knew each other and had some mutual friends. I still see them sitting there at the table at ‘Café Cabron’ – that’s the moment we first started to verbally communicate. It ended with the words: ‘See you on Monday at the Jazz Studio’.

This brings us to the second pillar – the playing;- Rehearsal space was scarce, as music freaks we constantly wanted to practice. So there was this kind of ‘janitor’ closet that was empty and wasn’t being used. So I’ve printed and laminated a sign that screamed: ‘FORBIDDEN FOR STUDENTS’ and started practicing there. Suddenly I heard knocking on the door and I whispered; ‘Come in’ – it was Jan entering the room. I told him to close the door quickly so no one would discover the secret ‘practice room’. We started talking about jazz-standards.. After that talk it was clear that we shared a mutual love for standards like ‘Beatrice’, ‘The Days Of Wine And Roses’, ‘Stella By Starlight’ etc… So we started to play these standards in our secret practice-room. It didn’t take long for us to figure out we were both inspired by the more ‘out-there’ approach of facing these classic jazz tunes. It started out as interpreting a jazz standard but it ended up being a Dadaïst car crash. That’s the starting point for our exploration of sounds – our friendship started right there.. in that ‘secret ‘practice room //

Than life began to happen – I dropped out of my jazz ‘studies’ and started a nomadic excistenzZz. Jan painstakingly refined his chops on the guitar at Royal Conservatory Of Brussels . By this time our ways departed for a while but we still met up at irregular times to jam. When we met it became much more free and cosy. ~ Cosy like hearing liquid paint – you get it ‘’’’’. But there was no consistency in those meetings.

Skip forward some years; life has worn me out and took me for quite the ride – Jan finished his journey at the conservatory and has - rightfully - earned his ‘Master Of Guitarrrr’ degree. I came back from a very bohemian life – living in trailers, traveling, squads… you name it. The 21st century disease of sniffing, coughing & isolation roomed about and an abrupt/radical change of love, life and environment came into place. Visited all the twilight bars at the edge of loser-town and suddenly - BOOOM BAM PAW - arrived in Antwerp, dropped the pick, studied the masters John Fahey, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn etc. Re-connected with Jan and held these improv sessions on a regular/steady basis. These moments – or rehearsals as some like to call them – are special moments that don’t resemble the usual feel of a rehearsal – it’s more cathartic than that – Jan is my soul brother.

There are some nice descriptions of your jams on Bandcamp, like how “‘Honing & Gal’ was recorded deep into the night after the Suzan Peeters & Tanz Mein Hertz gig at La Cheminee in BXL” What do your recording sessions usually look like? Also, do you often get inspired after going to gigs together?

Our recording sessions all take place in my ~living room ~. When we first started this project we needed to get our shit together – so this translated in having ‘rehearsals’ (i hate that word) for days on end. We did like these marathon sessions in my apartment – before there was any furniture –

from Friday till Monday. It starts out with getting turned on by listening to some records, talking a bit about our lives, do a warm-up impro… After that we just press the ‘record’ button. From there on - we don’t know what’s going on, or what’s happening, or what happened or what ‘s going to happen – you get it. We’d play until we get a smile on our face– how good does this sounddddddddd ~ We jam for hours – taking Amanita M. for a ride.

After all the improvising/recording we listen to our recordings and we transcribe the things we like and put them into context. Jan and me have tons of fun; a night in my living room will involve music, art, philosophy, loooooong conversations about the source of religion and share absurdist thoughts & jokes. We also listen to a lot of records together! The ‘Experiment In Metaphysics’ record by ‘Perry Leopold’ is a holy grail for us. Other records we listened to a lot together is Boyd Rice – Music, Martinis & Misanthropy, The Strawberry Alarm Clock – Wake Up, It’s Tomorrow etc. Before each gig we have the ritual to listen to The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators to get the juices flowing.

Hell yeah we get inspired by going to gigs together; the programming of KRAAK, De Nor, Sound In Motion & Klankhaven – that’s where it’s at for us – it really shapes our aesthetic universe. God bless the freaks. The feeling of melancholia and world-weariness comes from being ‘real’ – show your true self in every situation whatever the consequences. Being your own naked- self will guide you to the place where you belong. You just need to get a grip on yourself!!!! That’s not always an easy proces and you have to deal with a lot of judgement. But yeah, guess who’s having the most fun! ~~

Your “Improvisation II – Kinderen van Dronevolk” was written as a response to Jef Mertens’s “Dronevolk.” Can you tell us about your first encounter with this DIY-documentary and how it shaped you and your music?

I first saw Sylvester Anfang at the legendary Yellowstock festival – That’s what guided me to the ‘Dronevolk’ documentary. They played an incredible set of who knows how many hours – the music, combined with the cultish iconography they’re known for, the combination of traditional folk, the occult, psychedelic wizardry and black metal symbolism hit me hard as a teenager. I couldn’t make sense of it – and that’s what great art is supposed to do; to confuse you so hard that afterwards your not able to tie your own shoe-laces!! That show was great and I met Glen Steenkiste that day while I was playing tapes of obscure psychedelic records on a boomblaster I bought on a flea-market. All the musicians involved in the ‘Dronevolk’ documentary were paving new ways to approach music – they set the standard for the DIY scene in Belgium – the repercussions of it are still felt today - as shown in our music. We don’t sound all that much like the artists featured in that documentary – but we tap into the same source material and try to make it our own. Jan was a really big inspiration and was pivotal in developing our sound as he collects all these exotic instruments. When we first started, he brought all these instruments with him. I recommended him that documentary and he loved it. After seeing the docu together we set-up a table full of instruments and surrounded ourselves with all sorts of guitars, banjo’s, zithers etc… and started working on the free-form tune ‘Kinderen Van Dronevolk’ – as an hommage to those artists that paved the way. Jan is working on an album with Ernesto (Sylvester Anfang/Bear Bones, Lay Low) so it’s a full circle right there – it’s gonna be a killer album!!

As you guys “like to wear [y]our influences on [y]our sleeves,” can you name a few that you are currently influenced by?

Yeah for sure – contemporary artists that we’re influenced by; Glen Steenkiste, Jef Mertens, Liam Grant, Glenn Jones, Chris Rainier, Jon Collin, Brecht Ameel, Edgar Wappenhalter, Dennis Tyfus, Venediktos Tempelboom, Elko Blijweert, Jeroen Stevens, Gabriela Gonzalez & Gaute Granli, Pat Murano, Varkenshond, Anla Courtis, Buck Curran, Kadonnut Manner, Builenradar etc.. All these people are keeping it real and are driven by pure love for the craft! The fact that they’re all friends/ acquaintances makes this even cooler. We also set up shows on a regular basis for a lot of the artists mentioned here; to show our appreciation towards their work! My girlfriend and her friends are painters; the way they see the world, their absurdist way of thinking and fooling around is so great. We love the way painters shape the world around them to an unexplainable transmutation. You’ll feel the presence of a painter when you meet one; you will burst out in tears from laughing or get a headache from sheer confusion– So here’s a big shout-out to Louise Mrazkova, Arth Verrydt & Laura Vandenbroecke – They help us out a lot - creating artwork, posters for shows… you name it. Reconnect the arts in the digital age & remember ~~ Eternity Is In Love With The Productions Of Time ~~ Thanks for having us at KRAAK festival!! We love you!!!

Catch you in the cosmic-giggle // De Vlaamse Primitieven

De Vlaamse Primitieven are on Bandcamp/Instagram ~ their debut album Lucht Van Een Andere Planeet is out on Carbon Records & Pang Pang Records March 8, same day as KRAAK Fest! Get your tickets for this Het Bosian hang this way <3