Every Thursday I look back to the past.
Today I am looking back to the very beginning, the start of this new band called ‘Soulwax’ and their first demo ‘Finga In The Jar’.
Here’s some of the story, as told in their own words:
At age 15 David had two good friends: Piet Dierickx and Stefaan Van Leuven. Both passionate skaters.
David: “On Wednesday afternoons, all skaters went to the Zuid square in Ghent. And I really wanted to be a skater, but without the skateboard.”
Stefaan: “David always wanted a guitar, it was always on his mind. He had to get that guitar.”
David: “I couldn’t pay attention in school, I was always thinking about guitar solos. Slash and Jimi Hendrix for example. Back then I thought: “I want to be able to do that. So I spent every night playing my guitar in my bedroom.”
Stefaan: “Early 1991 my parents let me choose between a camera and a bass guitar because I got good grades in school. David actually forced me to get the bass guitar.”
David: “So Piet had to become the drummer, but he didn’t have any money. We all chipped in so he could buy a small drum kit.”
Stefaan’s grandparents had a shack in their backyard, near the Sneppebrug in Ghent, which became their rehearsal space.
Stefaan: “That place was like every boy’s dream. We were already composing our own songs, but also played cover versions of our favourite tracks.”
David: “Our first rehearsals took place in September 1991 and we started out by playing long jam sessions.”
Stefaan: “We were there constantly, playing music and experimenting with it. Because we had three members, somebody had to be the singer. I put the mic up and I was totally ready for it. Suddenly someone knocked on the door: it was Stephen, David’s brother.”
Stephen: “I already tried to form a band and become a lead singer. I gathered a few people around me but I couldn’t find a rehearsal space for over a year so we got nowhere. I knew David and his friends started rehearsing with their band so I went to check it out.”
They were fiddling around and stuff, so I said: “Can I try?”
David: “It was kind of a magical moment, the first time Stephen sang with us.”
With Stephen as their lead singer, all the band needed was a name. “I still remember the two potential band names I had written down on a piece of paper,” David recalls. “The first one was ‘The Brother Band’ and the second one was ‘De Stropkes’ (people from Ghent have the nickname ‘Stroppen’)” he laughs.
Stefaan: “Oh yeah, Dave definitely came up with De Stropkes! But at the time it was hip to have a band name that consisted of two parts like ‘Pearl Jam’ or ‘Soundgarden.”
Stephen: “So we ended up with Soulwax, you know: of the soul in the wax… it’s very naive, very naive!”
Soulwax recorded their first demo ‘Finga In The Jar’ in 1993, which contains four original tracks and was recorded by producer Peter Bulckens. The sound was very influenced by stoner rock bands.
Stephen: “We really liked Kyuss and Monster Magnet and all these bands – it was super underground at that point. I think this idea of being with a bunch of guys making really loud music seemed like good fun.”
I can’t remember how I got my copy of ‘Finga In The Jar’, but I think someone messaged me and donated his copy, because he liked what I was doing on my soulwax.info website.
If you want to hear how they sounded on this first recording, you can check out Dmitri’s upload on Soundcloud:
I once got this giftcard to ‘press your own music on a record’. But since I am not a musician, I pressed the demo on this transparent acetate record. I don’t have it listed on my website, since it’s a novelty and not an official release.
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