Johnny Berlin
The Flemish province of Limburg straddles the border between Belgium and The Netherlands and is home to 5 piece indie band Johnny Berlin. Featuring Paul Renner - vocals & guitar, Laurens Renner - synths & vocals, Roberto Beck on Drums, Tom S. Downing - Lead guitar and Jean Letour on Bass.
Musically they hark back to the golden days of 80's electronica with some punk undertones. A time of Kevin Keegan, Spandau Ballet and bad haircuts (such as yours truly's disastrous Afro). Great vocals, cool keyboards and catchy riffs this is a nice band.
To cut a long story short, the band took it's name from the legendary 19th Century pimp Johannes "Johnny" Renner. Born in Berlin in the 1920's he wandered depression torn Europe before establishing himself in Belgium in the 30's. Johnny was one of the first people to open a brothel on Chaussée d'Amour (The Highway of Love) between Liege and Saint-Trond and went on to establish a series of bordellos in Brussels, Antwerp and Amsterdam. He died a rich man in 1965 leaving two wives and four children. Two of his grand children went on to form a band....
I've just been listening to their album, Find What You Love And It Will Kill You, and it's excellent stuff. Taking a trip over to the bands My Space account, they site their influences as Joy Division, Morrissey, Philip Glass, Smashing Pumpkins, Interpol, Sigur Rós, Nirvana, Talk Talk, oasis, Front 242.
The following video is taken from this album and gives you a taste of their style.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Suki Jenkins who gave me a copy of this excellent album and helped open my eyes to what's out there in the great wide Belgian music scene.
I'm ashamed to say I've been over here in Belgium for 5 years now, on and off, and haven't really progressed beyond listening to the odd Deus album. Still it's never too late to explore new music. In the course of the next couple of weeks I'll check out some more Belgian's finest and post my impressions on the Zone. Stay tuned.
To cut a long story short, the band took it's name from the legendary 19th Century pimp Johannes "Johnny" Renner. Born in Berlin in the 1920's he wandered depression torn Europe before establishing himself in Belgium in the 30's. Johnny was one of the first people to open a brothel on Chaussée d'Amour (The Highway of Love) between Liege and Saint-Trond and went on to establish a series of bordellos in Brussels, Antwerp and Amsterdam. He died a rich man in 1965 leaving two wives and four children. Two of his grand children went on to form a band....
I've just been listening to their album, Find What You Love And It Will Kill You, and it's excellent stuff. Taking a trip over to the bands My Space account, they site their influences as Joy Division, Morrissey, Philip Glass, Smashing Pumpkins, Interpol, Sigur Rós, Nirvana, Talk Talk, oasis, Front 242.
The following video is taken from this album and gives you a taste of their style.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Suki Jenkins who gave me a copy of this excellent album and helped open my eyes to what's out there in the great wide Belgian music scene.
I'm ashamed to say I've been over here in Belgium for 5 years now, on and off, and haven't really progressed beyond listening to the odd Deus album. Still it's never too late to explore new music. In the course of the next couple of weeks I'll check out some more Belgian's finest and post my impressions on the Zone. Stay tuned.
Comments
I'll look forward to reading your opinions
Cheers my friend
Hope all is well with you this evening