dEUS

As part of the 18th edition of the BAREZZI Festival which promotes contemporary music in some of the most wonderful theatres to be found in and around the province of Parma, dEUS, the Belgian indie rock band based in Antwerp are playing the very majestic Teatro Municipale of Piacenza.

The theatre dates from 1804 and has over a thousand seats, many of which have the proverbial bum sat on it, to check out this rather unique group. Of the original members, Tom Barman( vocals, guitar) and Klass Janzoons(keyboards, violin) are still on board the dEUS train which has been on the rails for over 30 years now. The 1994 debut album “Worst Case Scenario” was released on Island Records; indeed they were the first Belgian indie band to get a record deal with a major label! It’s an eclectic album for sure, getting good reviews in Britain too. A lot of pseudo journo labels have been stitched on this band as they are rather hard to define. To my ears there is a lot of Krautrock,a Talking Heads vibe, the immediacy and feel of indie American bands like Eels and Wilco are in the mix as well as a cool euro sense of groove that French bands like Phoenix and Air manage to muster. Some great songs along the way make tonight a really interesting event to attend and hopefully enjoy.

The band tonight along with Tom and Klaas is made up of Stéphane Misseghers ( drums), Alan Gevaert ( bass), and Mauro Pawlowski( guitar/backing vox), the line up that recorded the last album of their catalogue , 2023’s “How To Replace It”, which was generally well received.

The tribal rhythm of the title track from the aforementioned album has the effect of getting quite a few punters standing up and immediately any doubt that some dancing and swaying would not be involved are dispelled.
The band , no strangers to Italy, immediately get to grips with the theatre and revel in this fandom atmosphere. Clearly a band where the whole is much more than a sum of the parts; arrangements and dynamics are part and parcel of their songs where tight interplay and even underplaying instruments creates their vibe and so a distinctive atmosphere and energy. Tom Barman is the natural leader of the band with his assured physical presence and charismatic singing voice sometimes spoken, sometimes played through a vocoder adding that “Je ne sai quoi“ to the songs. Mauro Pawloski is magnificent with his angular, deft melodic licks and rosewood telecaster guitar screams.
Klass’s electric violin is what probably makes the band unique as it howls and soars in the mix as well as adding flourishing touches when plucked.

Tom said this was to be the last show of the year as a new album is being recorded. No new songs then but many good songs are played from their back catalogue. ‘Quatre Mains’, ‘W.C.S ( first draft)’,Instant Street’, ‘Fell Off The Floor Man’, ‘Sun Ra’ and the stoically rhythmically obsessive ‘Bad Timing’ are all groove led songs that want to make you dance even more than sing. The gentle ‘Serpentine’ found on the film “L’Ultimo Bacio’s” soundtrack is a welcome surprise and the haunting “Nothing Really Ends” with the perfect opening line “A plan, it wasn’t much of a plan, I just started walking” is simply glorious.

Truly a band, born in Belgium but with a much much bigger life span. Go check out their past albums , as I indeed did knowing very little about them, and be simply enchanted. Magnificent on record as they are live, dEUS maybe just what’s missing from your day and at last, at least in my case, a God I can finally believe in.