dEUS Suds & Soda 1994

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dEUS Biography

by Jason Ankeny

Belgian art rock band dEUS have traversed decades of weirdness and uncommonly angular alternative rock, with a sound that's remained hard to pin down and harder to predict since they formed in the early '90s. The lineup has changed over the years, but the band kept their music inventive and multi-dimensional on standout albums like 1999's The Ideal Crash and 2012's Following Sea. Eighth studio album How to Replace It arrived in February of 2023, the band's first new music in years.

dEUS formed in Antwerp in 1991 and was originally comprised of vocalist/guitarist Tom Barman, bassist Stef Kamil Carlens, drummer Julle De Borgher, violinist Klaas Janzoons, and guitarist Rudy Trouvé. They began their career as strictly a cover band, but soon began performing new material, honing an irreverent, free-form live show drawing on influences ranging from folk and punk to jazz and prog rock.

After issuing a four-track EP titled Zea, dEUS mounted a series of London performances that led to a contract with Island Records. This made them the first Belgian-based indie act ever to sign to a major International label. In 1994, the band released full-length album, Worst Case Scenario, winning acclaim for the singles "Suds and Soda" and "Via." After announcing plans to produce their own pornographic film, they issued 1995's My Sister, My Clock; however, in the wake of the record's release, Carlens exited to focus on his side project, Moondog Jr. Trouvé soon followed suit, channeling his energies into the group Kiss My Jazz; with new guitarist Craig Ward and bassist Danny "Cool Rocket" Mommens in tow, dEUS returned to the studio to cut 1997's In a Bar, Under the Sea. The Ideal Crash followed in 1999. Over the next decade, dEUS released only two albums, Pocket Revolution and Vantage Point, before releasing 2011's Keep You Close (which featured guest vocals from the Afghan Whigs' Greg Dulli on some songs) and 2012's Following Sea in relatively quick succession. Output would be minimal for the next ten years or so, with only the compilation release Selected Songs 1992-2014 surfacing in 2014. In November of 2022, the band shared their first new music in years with the single "Must Have Been New." The song preceded their eighth studio album How to Replace It, which was released in February of 2023. Instead of the band's usual meticulous writing and refining process, the songs for How to Replace It grew quickly out of focused jam sessions.

 

 

Tracklist

1		Suds & Soda	4:20
2		Texan Coffee	1:18
3		Secret Hell	4:59
4		It. Furniture In The Far West	0:53