dEUS is an Alternative Rock band hailing from Antwerp, Belgium. Led by frontman Tom Barman the band makes a kind of music best described as eclectic with influences ranging from punk to jazz. They formed in 1991, starting out as a cover band, but they soon started writing their own songs. Their starting line up consisted of Barman, Klaas Janszoons, Rudy Trouvé, Stef Kamil Carlens and Jules de Borgher. Lots of changes in line-up followed and nowadays Barman and Janzoons are the only remaining members from the original line-up.
In 1992 the band released the EP Zea which was followed in 1994 by their debut LP Worst Case Scenario. Featuring the classic singles "Suds & Soda" (whose video was shown on Beavis And Butthead), "Hotellounge (Be The Death Of Me)" and "Via" it was released internationally with a slightly altered tracklist note to great acclaim. The album's manic intensity and wide variety of genres caused difficulty to categorise it for critics, they eventually settled on art rock, something Barman isn't pleased about. It was followed by the experimental EP My Sister = My Clock. Two years later the band released their second LP In a Bar, Under the Sea which was once again a critical and commercial success.
Prior to the release of 1999's The Ideal Crash Carlens and Trouvé had left the band. They were replaced by Craig Ward and Danny Mommens. As a result Crash was somewhat of a New Sound Album, replacing the manic intensity of the previous two with a calmer and slightly more accesible sound. It spawned one classic single ("Instant Street") and is still very highly regarded. So far it is the only album by the band that wasn't released in the US.
After a brief hiatus the band reformed in 2004; de Borgher, Ward and Mommens all left, and were replaced by Stéphane Misseghers, Alan Gevaert and Mauro Pawlowski. The resulting line-up is the one the band has to this day. They released Pocket Revolution in 2005, followed by Vantage Point in 2008 and Keep You Close in 2011. They were all well received, but didn't spawn any big hits, causing the band to somewhat fade into obscurity though they are still popular in The Netherlands and Belgium.
They surprise released their seventh album Following Sea in 2012, it features "Quatre Mains", their first song in the French language.
The band has managed to gain some notable fans over the years, including Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), Brian Molko (Placebo) and Guy Garvey (Elbow) who contributed to the documentary "Time Is The State Of My Jeans" (2009).
Discography:
- Zea EP (1992)
- Worst Case Scenario (1994)
- My Sister = My Clock EP (1995)
- In a Bar, Under the Sea (1996)
- The Ideal Crash (1999)
- No More Loud Music (2001) (Greatest Hits Album)
- Pocket Revolution (2005)
- Vantage Point (2008)
- Keep You Close (2011)
- Following Sea (2012)
- Selected Songs: 1994 - 2014 (Greatest Hits Album) (2014)
Current Members:
- Tom Barman (1991-present)
- Klaas Janzoons (1991-present)
- Stéphane Misseghers (2004-present)
- Alan Gevaert (2004-present)
- Mauro Pawlowski (2004-present)
Past Members:
- Stef Kamil Carlens (1991-1996)
- Rudy Trouvé (1991-1995)
- Jules de Borgher (1991-2004)
- Danny Mommens (1996-2004)
- Craig Ward (1995-2004)
- Tim Vanhamel (1999-2000)
This band and their music contains examples of:
- Avant-Garde Music: Their first three albums are quite avant-garde, but still accessible enough to be enjoyed by a mass audience. My Sister is My Clock is probably their most avant-garde record.
- Design Student's Orgasm: They are known for their artistically interesting album covers. Not strange, for a group of former art students. The cover of Vantage Point was designed by Don Lawrence, creator of the comic strip Storm.
- Epic Rocking: "Gimme The Heat", "Bad Timing", "Sun Ra" and "Let's See Who Goes Down First" spring to mind.
- Gratuitous Latin: The band's name is Latin for God.
- In the Style of: The band enjoys trying out different musical styles and emulate them into their own. "Roses", for instance, is a parody of Nirvana.
- Miniscule Rocking: "Shake Your Hip", less than a minute long.
- Murder Ballad: "Sister Dew" concerns the song's POV character killing a young girl,and confessing this to the titular sister. Whether she's his actual sister or a nun is left ambigous.
- New Sound Album: The Ideal Crash was overall more calmer and accessible than their previous albums, though it still has it's manic moments. Later albums zig-zagged between that sound and the old sound, though the sound from Crash seems to come out on top.
- Reference Overdosed: The band often namedrops literary, artistic or musical allusions: Captain Beefheart ("Disappointed In The Sun", named after a quote of Beefheart that after visiting the Vincent van Gogh museum he was disappointed that the sun wasn't as bright and colorful as the ones Van Gogh painted), Rickie Lee Jones (The line "And I'm in love with Rickie Lee Jones voice" in "Hotellounge"), pop artist Tom Wesselman ("Great American Nude" was named after one of his paintings), Bad Timing ("Bad Timing")
- Rhyming with Itself: From "Suds & Soda:"It's suds and soda, a brain decoderand can I wait for my decoder
- Sampling: They don't do this often, but it happened a few times:
- "Zea" has a sample from Captain Beefheart's "The Blimp" from his album Trout Mask Replica.
- "W.C.'s First Draft" contains a sample from Frank Zappa's "Little Umbrellas" from Hot Rats.
- "Theme From Turnpike" which has a sample from Charles Mingus' "Far Wells, Mill Valley" from "Mingus Dynasty" (1959).
- Solo Side Project: Tom Barman, the band's lead singer released two solo albums, namely "Live" (with Guy Van Nueten) and "That's Blue!", a collection of snippets from interviews with Pop Art painters, intercut with music. He has also collaborated with CJ Bolland for their duo solo side project Magnus, which is a dance act. Barman is also a special case, because although dEUS still exists most of the early members have left and went on having solo careers themselves, leaving only Barman and Klaas Janszoons as the permanent members.
- Spell My Name With An S: The band's name is written with a small d.
- Titled After the Song: The band was named after a song by The Sugarcubes, "Deus."
- Title Track: Pocket Revolution and The Ideal Crash have one. Worst Case Scenario has a close one with "W.C.S. (First Draft)".
- Word Salad Lyrics: Their early albums had songs like these, like "Suds & Soda", "W.C.'s First Draft", "Morticiachair", and "Fell Off the Floor, Man."
