A full history of the band Hooverphonic ("Hooverphonic")
Содержание
Hooverphonic is a musical group from Belgium, formed in 1995. Despite the fact that at first their work was classified as trip-hop, today Hooverphonic's music is difficult to attribute to any particular genre. Over the years, this band has managed to expand its sound, covering such styles as electronica, electropop, rock and much, much more!
A little about the band...
True fans of Hooverphonic know that the original name of the band was different... Namely - just Hoover. And there is a rather interesting story connected with this moment... The thing is that one day the band members realised that they have the same name with... hoover company! And to avoid any legal problems it was decided to add the ending "phonic". And that's how Hooverphonic came to be!
As mentioned above, Hooverphonic is a Belgian band whose popularity came in the mid-1990s thanks to their unconventional take on trip-hop.
Since then the sound of the band has changed a lot: at least - it acquired psychedelic, pop and orchestral elements. Hooverphonic's music was very relevant, especially on TV: the band's tracks could be heard both in numerous commercials and films... It's not for nothing that the guys even have their own significant fan base all over the world!
Initially the band consisted of Alex Kallier (bass) and Raymond Geerts (guitar). The soloists were of various kinds, often changing... Among the most famous ones we will single out: Lisje Sadonius (from 1996 to 1997), Heike Arnart (from 1997 to 2008, and from 2020 to present...), Noemi Wolfs (from 2010 to 2015) and Luka Krøisbergs (from 2018 to present...)...
In their home country, these guys are real heroes of the music scene! Starting with "Blue Wonder Power Milk" (1998), - all their albums (including compilations and live recordings) reached the top ten of the album charts, and five of them even became leaders... Actually - about all this in detail and in order.
Getting started and succeeding with "Slipping Beauty."
Initially known as Hoover, the band was formed in 1995 by guitarist/programmer Alex Callier, keyboardist Frank Duchene and guitarist Raymond Geerts.
The band recorded their first demo with vocalist Esther Liebert. Soon Hooverphonic signed a contract with Sony, but at this very moment Liebert leaves the band... This is the reason why Lishe Sadonius was the vocalist on the recording of the band's first single.
Hooverphonic's major debut hit track was "2Wicky", a hard trip-hop soundtrack to the 1996 film "Slipping Beauty".
New albums, successes, and members of...
The hit track was followed by the full-length trippy "A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular". The record was packed to the brim with gorgeous breakbeats and samples. It was by the time the album was released in the United States (which was in 1997) that the band renamed themselves Hooverphonic. As noted above - to avoid confusion with another band called Hoover, as well as problems with the hoover manufacturer...
Shortly afterwards, Lishe Sadonius left the band, as she was interested in a solo career and touring countries... Then an 18-year-old vocalist named Heike Arnart was invited to take her place. So, Heike participated in the recording of the next album - "Blue Wonder Power Milk" (1998). Less eccentric, but no less rhythmic than their debut - this album was a success: several songs were even featured in films and commercials. What's more: they were still on TV ten years after their release! That's a real success...
And then, before recording "The Magnificent Tree" (2000), Duchene leaves the band... Thus, the trio Hooverphonic released their third full-length album, which became their big achievement! The work reached the third place in the album chart in their home country! And then - it went on...
First number one!
In the same year 2000, Hooverphonic wrote the theme music for the European Football Championship! They then released the concept album "Hooverphonic Presents Jackie Cane", which became their first number one! This was followed by "Sit Down and Listen to Hooverphonic", recorded live with an orchestra but no audience. "No More Sweet Music", a double CD featuring remixes, was released in 2005.
Leaving Sony...
In 2006, Hooverphonic left Sony in protest! The fault was the lack of support from the label, which failed to release a collection of singles, which was labelled as a contractual obligation.
In 2007 the band signed a contract with PIAS to release the psychedelic "The President of the LSD Golf Club". But shortly after its release Arnart dropped out of the team, who decided to pursue a solo career. Not daunted, the band started looking for his replacement.....
After receiving thousands of applications from all over the world, Hooverphonic finally decided on a young Belgian girl named Noemi Wolfs, who, by the way, had almost no musical experience. Their first album with such a line-up called "The Night Before" was released in 2010. Its title track became their most popular single, reaching number three in the Belgian charts! The release also marked the band's return to Sony...
"Hooverphonic with Orchestra"
In 2012 the band released the album 'Hooverphonic with Orchestra', which contained newly arranged recordings of previous hits, as well as a cover of a classic song by Bristol band Massive Attack called 'Unfinished Sympathy'. The album went on to become another number one, followed by the live 'With Orchestra Live', which also topped the charts!
Interesting facts about the band
Now let's get to some interesting facts about Hooverphonic....
Basically - Hooverphonic is a trio!
The line-up has changed many times over the years, but Alex Kallier and Raymond Geerts have been the backbone of the band since its inception in 1995.
Luka Krøisbergs tried out for Junior Eurovision and The Voice contest
Luca attempted to sing for Belgium at the 2013 Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
Five years later, the girl tried out for the television competition "The Voice", singing the song "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" performed by Marilyn Manson. All four coaches turned around to her, and Luca decided to join Alex Callier's team. She ended up winning the season!
The original 1983 composition is by the British pop duo Eurythmics (Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart). Read the story of the song.
They have collaborated with famous artists and songwriters!
In 1998, Hooverphonic toured Europe, supporting Moloko, Fiona Apple and Massive Attack, among others. Alex says they learnt a lot from the tours and also made friends with bands and artists such as The Cure, David Bowie and Fleetwood Mac!
They performed at the opening ceremony of Euro 2000
Their most nerve-wracking concert, according to Alex Kallier, was at the opening ceremony of the European Football Championship in 2000. The ceremony took place at the King Boudwijn stadium in Brussels. On this occasion Alex wrote "Visions". By the way: there were more than 50,000 spectators at the stadium, and about 1.5 billion more watched the broadcast from home...
In total, the band has released 16 albums...
Hooverphonic have released 16 albums since their inception! In 1996 they released their debut "A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular", which spawned the international hit "2 Wicky". Eleven more studio albums, two live LPs and three compilations followed. Their latest album, Looking For Stars, was released in 2018.
Hollywood loves Hooverphonic!
Yes, yes! Hooverphonic's music has proven to be very popular in the media, film soundtracks, commercials and TV series. For example, their hit song "2 Wicky" can be heard in a number of films: "Slipping Beauty", "At the Edge of the Sun", "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer", "My Best Friend" and "Forever Midnight".
Alex watched Eurovision 2019 in a restaurant toilet!
All of the band members are big fans of this contest, especially Alex:
"I watch Eurovision every year with great enthusiasm! Last year (2019) one of my closest friends decided to have her birthday party on the night of the grand final... I tried to talk her into having a Eurovision themed birthday party with snacks and flags. But she decided to have a "normal" birthday party in a restaurant. I ended up watching the final of the contest on my phone in the toilet of the restaurant. I just couldn't miss it..."
Hooverphonic represented Belgium at Eurovision 2020
Best songs
Having talked about the band, learnt its main features and interesting facts about it, the only thing left is to enjoy its best creations... Here is a selection of the best Hooverphonic songs!
