Artist Info

TAKE 1 – THE STENCH
1998. Peter Vermeersch, Belgium’s favourite musical Chinese twin, disbands the Zappa-goes-Knitting Factory band X-Legged Sally by cutting it in two: the rock half becomes the cunningly named A Group, the improvisation half becomes Flat Earth Society (FES), named after a clique of stubborn Englishmen who persist that the earth is, well, flat. Vermeersch describes the FES sound as ‘music with skid marks and the smell of a welder. And the exhaust pipe just fell off.’

TAKE 2 – THE STAGE
2001. Release of the first two full CD’s: Bonk and Larf, the result of a collaboration with the Flemish actor Josse De Pauw.

TAKE 3 – THE MAD CAT
FES records the soundtrack to Vincent Bal’s film Minoes – the story of a girl who thinks she’s a cat (written by the acclaimed Dutch writer Annie M.G. Schmidt). Some people think FES is a big band, so that’s okay. The CD is nominated for a World Soundtrack Award at the Film Festival Ghent.

TAKE 4 – DUKE GOES BRECHT
2002. Release of Trap, a mixture of jungle-period Ellington, surf guitars and the spirit of Bertold Brecht. As one critic put it: ‘God knows what Vermeersch is trying to tell us, but it sure is spooky and daring.’

TAKE 5
A jazz critic is waiting at a bus stop. Whistles Brubeck. Gets hit by the 9.23 AM to Drongen Statie. That’ll teach him.

TAKE 6 – SATCHMO
2003. The Brussels rock club Ancienne Belgique asks Peter Vermeersch and trumpeter Bart Maris to have a go at Louis Armstrong’s music. They buy a huge pile of CD’s. Listen to three of them. Throw them all away. Shock unsuspecting audiences with uncompromising renditions of St Louis Blues and Perdido Street Blues, and then some. The CD The Armstrong Mutations hits the stores.

TAKE 7 – COLLABORATIONS
2003. FES is invited by Gerard Mortier (De Munt Brussels; Salzburger Festspiele; New York City Opera) to write an opera for the Ruhr Triennale in Duisburg, Germany. Heliogabal is directed by Roy Faudree of Wooster Group fame.
2004. American pianist/keyboardist Uri Caine invites Vermeersch to interpret each other’s music. A successful tour follows.
2004. American avant-garde icon Mike Patton (Fantômas, John Zorn, Marc Ribot) invites FES as his supporting band on his European tour. Patton releases a FES best-of on his IPECAC label. Patton: ‘It’s really unique and engaging stuff. It’s going to blow people’s minds.’
2005. As commissioned by the Film Festival Ghent Vermeersch composes a soundtrack to The Oyster Princess, a silent film by Ernst Lubitsch (1919). FES accompanies the film in theatres in Belgium and abroad.

TAKE 8 – THE WORLD
2006. FES records Psychoscout, including material by Uri Caine, which is launched in Japan, Europe, North America and Australia. A tour follows, bringing the music of FES a.o. to the Vancouver Jazz Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival. Down Beat Magazine likes it.

TAKE 9 – ANSWER SONGS
September 2007. FES revives the forgotten tradition of ‘answer songs’, new songs that comment on an older hit song. The new project is fronted by Flemish singer Esther Lybeert. As FES is not your average cover band, the references to the originals range from 0 to 100 percent.

Line-up: Peter Vermeersch (clarinet); Bart Maris, Luc Van Lieshout (trumpets); Stefaan Blancke, Marc Meeuwissen (trombones); Benjamin Boutreur, Michel Mast, Bruno Vansina (saxophones); Berlinde Deman (tuba); Peter Vandenberghe (piano, keyboards); Wim Willaert (accordion, vocals); Tom Wouters (clarinet, vibraphone, xylophone, vocals); Kristof Roseeuw (double bass); Teun Verbruggen (drums)