this is the result of an interview my sister and I did with klaas from Deus back in may. the actual script is written wonderfully by my big sister and taken from the university paper in which it was printed. so full credit there and big big thanks!
Caroline Payne caught up with dEUS on the British leg of their tour at the Zodiac, Oxford.
Friday was a bad day. Immense and extremely frustrating delays on all
trains (British Rails explanation was that there had been a lightning
strike that had blown up the signals and communications - that’s a good
one!) and a Challenge Anneka-style taxi ride to the venue made everything
just that little bit worse. To top everything off, I completely missed
the interview that had been arranged. However, we arrived just in time to
witness dEUS taking to the stage. Having completely given up on the idea
of interviewing this truly wonderful band, I had a sudden flash of
inspiration - seek out the tour manager and GROVEL! Well, perhaps not
grovel, but apologise profusely and see what would happen. To my delight
and relief I was given ten minutes with the band after the gig. Maybe
Friday wasn’t such a bad day after all.
I spoke to Klaas Janzoons, violin and keyboard player for dEUS. The band have just released the much anticipated new album, The Ideal Crash and are currently touring, promoting it around Europe. Klaas seems to be a
little weary, but is he enjoying it?
"Yeah, its fun but sometimes its not fun."
Why not?
"Because we’re doing this already for a couple of years, well, five or
something and well, after some time you want to go home and go to bed."
Its been a very long tour hasn’t it?
"Well this one has been all right. Actually, when did we start
touring...Danny? [ he turns to question dEUS bass player] He doesn’t know.
I think we’ve been touring about one and a half months now and its going to
be a long one. Well be finished by the end of October, November maybe."
What do you really enjoy about touring?
"Good parties, good gigs, nice hotels, nice cities, lots of people to meet."
What do you think about the reaction of the audience to the new material?
"Tonight? They were not really wild but I think they appreciated it,
although they were talking a bit."
It was a bit of a surprise to see the crowd just standing there tonight,
usually dEUS gigs are considerably more volatile. Having said that, the
only other city that I have seen the band play is London where people tend
to get more into the swing of things. The band look forward to playing
London dates and when asked, Klaas responded with an enthusiastic,
"Definitely!"
dEUS have received great critical acclaim for all of their albums, most
notably for the eclectic nature of their material. With each release,
there have been significant alterations to the sound, not least because of
the changes to the original line up of the band. It seems that with each
new member, the music took on a completely new personality. Rudy Trouve,
one of the original members, left the band after the release of the first
album, Worst Case Scenario having given it a harder, more rocky edge. he
was replaced by Craig Ward, the only member not to come from Belgium. He
is from Scotland. Stef Camil Carlens left the band at the end of 1995,
having seemingly influenced the slightly weird aspect that dEUS have
become known for. He was replaced by Danny Mommens, the bands current
bassist. Singer, Tom Barman, drummer, Jules de Borger and Klaas, have all
been there since the release of Worst Case Scenario. Klaas has seen all
of the changes that have occurred and agrees that the music will be
significantly affected.
"Of course, everything affects the sound. We have new line ups, new
instruments, we have new influences, we have a new country to record in,
new moods, so... It must be very difficult to make an album that is in the
same style."
For Instant Street, the first single to be released from The Ideal Crash,
dEUS have made a video that has received a great deal of airplay.
Directed by Tom Barman, the bands singer and guitarist, it is set in a
nightclub and at the end it all goes very strange. There is a bit of a
dEUS-do-Steps dance routine that is highly entertaining and looks like it
was great fun to record. I asked Klaas whether this was the case. With a
huge smile he replied,
"Ohh, extremely fun! We recorded it in three days and before that had two
days of practising but all the dancers, well a few of them were friends of
ours, but we got to know them all really well. They’re very nice people.
The recording was fun as well. We were making fools of ourselves in
Antwerp."
Did people stare? (the dancing is quite odd!)
"Of course! All the time! When we were recording in parts of Antwerp, it
was like if you were to go to the Bronx in New York, so everyone was
giving us comments. We crossed a few times a very big er, traffic...er,
dangerous cross-roads and ignored looking and just crossed and of
course...[smiles wryly] well, we had to re-do that about seven times!"
Well, its a good thing that dEUS didn’t come to blows during the recording
of this video! Well have to see what they come up with for Sister Dew,
the next single from the album, it will have to be mighty impressive to
top that fantastic dance routine!
ã CAROLINE PAYNE 1999. ARTICLE APPEARS COURTESY OF SPARK AND THE AUTHOR.
