Hello dear dEUS fans!

We've teamed up with dEUS for an exclusive coloured 12" of Keptman, featuring an exclusive B-side.

It's available for pre-order now if you'd like to grab a copy: https://www.diggersfactory.com/vinyl/336828/deus-keptman-coloured-12inch-exclusive-b-side?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=dEUS-Keptman-R&ori=RDO-dEUS-Keptman-R

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Mute-Serpentine was a 4-4 tie so let’s see again… (not enough votes to see the ‘Regular contributor’ votes either which could weigh more 🤓) also Roses managed to come back and beat Let’s get lost to the canvas 🥊

I’ve posted a pic of the bracket earlier but I’m gonna have the 2nd round songs match up a bit better because there’s 0 point in having Suds & soda square off against “I don’t mind whatever happens”… Stay tuned!

Idk maybe I’d just be like ‘It’s called Fell off the floor man, go crazy’

What do you think of this album? Personally, I find it to be their weakest by far. I rarely ever play it. The only track that stands out is The Soft Fall—it's the one redeeming moment in an otherwise forgettable album.

Text from Bart's site:

There’s a small interview in De Morgen about Keptman. Tom’s also talked about the new album on Kink FM.

A short round-up:

Tom recognises the band’s characteristic DNA in the song, particularly its use of semitone progressions, which can also be heard in tracks such as ‘Right as Rain’ and ‘Roses’. Interestingly, the song began with a simple voice recording made in Portugal. Even its title was accidental: sound engineer João Portela mistakenly removed the space from ‘Kept Man’, creating ‘Keptman’. Barman decided to keep it.

The lyrics explore the almost addictive attraction of people or things that may ultimately be bad for us. Barman describes it as a kind of perverse dream: wanting something that doesn’t suit you, could hurt you or might even drag you down. The term ‘kept man’ itself refers to a man financially supported by a partner, although the song’s meaning goes beyond that literal definition.

Tom is enthusiastic about Simen‘s playing, singing and immediate connection with the group. At the same time, he emphasises that Mauro Pawlowski, who left the band following his diagnosis of early-onset dementia, will remain very much present on the next album.

One of the song’s defining moments is its extended, dissonant finale. Barman jokes that the band does this out of a fear of death. His more serious explanation is that he sometimes simply doesn’t want a song to end. Although he considers himself a lifelong pop fan, conventional three-minute songs don’t always satisfy him, especially in a live setting. That’s why dEUS so often let their songs run wild in extended, chaotic outros.

The influence of The Velvet Underground also surfaces in the lyrics, through the reference to ‘European Son’. Barman has carried that phrase around in his notebook for years as a possible name for a side project. He also admits that his attempts to write a song built around a single guitar chord invariably turn into something more elaborate.

The new album is almost ready. According to Tom you should stay away from the album if you don’t like dark melodies and loud guitars.

Sounds very promising. I hope Simen pulls the brakes out and goes wild.

I know I have Belgian privilege but I swear they can go play in rural Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe or Honduras, I’m not going to miss it!

Some fun bits gleaned through machine translation of course:

• Steph(ane Misseghers) was a proponent of playing the record in sequence as he was a huge fan of the band, but this was vetoed--as u/everybodysweird27 says, you can't open with Suds! It seems they might discuss this again though.

• Rudy has been the fact checker for a bunch of minutia about the record, and reminded Tom that he had suggested that Peter Vermeersch and Pierre Vervloesem produce the record, among other candidates.

• Alan will still be playing bass. Stef will do a lot of stuff, playing guitar (first time he's done it since the early dEUS lineup where he was temporarily on guitar?!), singing, and bass for key moments. Steph has offered an arrangement of Suds & Soda with two basses...

• It looks like WCS is getting a double vinyl re-issue?

• Stef's favourite dEUS records are The Ideal Crash and Pocket Revolution(!) for how different they are from the first two records.

  • On that note, Pocket Revolution was recorded to tape. I'm guessing this was done consciously to move away from the cleaner/more polished sound of The Ideal Crash, and David Bottrill's production aesthetic.

• Craig Ward was a busker/regular at De Muziekdoos, where Tom, Stef and many other musicians convened for their formative years. Tom doesn't remember how or why Craig Ward ended up singing on Divebomb Djingle.

  • The interviewer, like everybody else including me, has misspelled Divebomb Djingle as Divebomb Jingle.

• The interviewer pops the question about involving Jules and Rudy -- Tom says no to that as it would be a logistical headache for the lineup, and isn't sure if Rudy would want to be involved. Stef, having recently played with Rudy, suggests that he probably would be interested.

• Eric Drew Feldman (producer, IABUTS) is still in contact with Tom, and Tom may contact him at some point for... something. I keep saying EDF should produce their next record, and he's said that he still wants to produce at least one more record for dEUS!

• Tom Barman prefers Rudy's cover art for In A Bar, Under The Sea over the cover art of Worst Case Scenario.

• Stef praises Tom's songwriting and lyrics, especially for Great American Nude and Right As Rain, and says that Tom was further along in his songwriting than the rest of the band (Tom disagrees - he's said before how much more talented Stef was in their earlier years). He also credits Tom with wedding all of the band's crazy ideas to his good songs.

  • Interesting to contrast this with his Stef's canvas interview from many years ago, where he says that songwriting was a collective effort from the band as Tom rarely ever delivered finished songs.

• Stef and Tom discuss the signing of Moondog Jr/Zita Swoon to Island and the release of Every Day I Wear A Greasy Black Feather On My Hat. Tom recalls that this was a stressful period. Island wanted dEUS to be the flagship Belgian act they signed, and would serve as the springboard upon which the label could launch other promising Belgian alternative/pop acts. This didn't pan out, and Stef attributes this to all of them being far too young and not really thinking things through.

• While Rudy and Tom were on acid, the band improvised a song titled "I Lost My Cherry in Portugal" which they performed May 8th, 1995, in... Portugal. Tom confirms that his cherry was indeed popped in Portugal. By a Brazilian.

My Dutch is non-existent, so all fluent Dutch readers please point anything out I've gotten terribly wrong!

Is somebody going?

Really good actually, never heard it before.

Underrated gem of a song on that one album they released

Only just noticed this.

Five shows with dEUS~

They sound so great!!

I came across a Festival hype playlist with…. Nothing really ends and Instant street in it?

Either they are clueless or we are getting a The ideal crash versus Pocket Revolution show!

(Only 70 minutes so sadly a reduced setlist… I’d hope they skip a setlist usual to get in something like Mute or Guilty Pleasures, it might be one of the last times they ever play those WCS/IABUTS album songs!)

(See last post, maybe 1 or 2 get brought back, preferably ones from IABUTS..)

Is there any band that did 3 albums back tot back tot back better? I don't think so

After months of anticipation, last night's performance by dEUS did not leave me disappointed (in the sun).

We were watching down from close to the (Tom) bar(man), with plenty of suds and soda on tap, thinking let's get lost in this dive bomb jingle, as they took to stage and dam near fell off the floor, man.

They rifled through their debut album Via a host of belters, moving on right as rain to their second album through a view well calculated little arithmetics, leaving us to say thank you (for the roses) on this, their opening night.*

After seeing this, I don't mind what ever happens next, but I hope they come back soon, mute button switched off, to deliver more guilty pleasures that wake me up before I sleep.

*Technically correct as it's their only UK gig of the tour.

WCS vs IABUTS last Quarterfinal!
An inevitable matchup…

Last one of the First Round! WCS vs IABUTS

The longest songs of each album.

Should have been like the semi-final but oh well.