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Hooverphonic were introduced to the audience 28 years ago, and since then they keep expanding their fanbase around the globe with every album they release. Based in their native country, Belgium but armed with English lyrics and the inexhaustible songwriting talent of their leader Alex Callier, Hooverphonic have also managed to stay in the music scene despite all the difficulties that may have arisen during their course. One of them might have been the rotation of their front-women until the return of Geike Arnaert after 12 years to the band! Even their participation in the Eurovision 2020 Contest, representing Belgium, had to face its own obstacles as it was the first time in the history of thw contest that was canceled due to the pandemic.

What is certain is that when you have crated such a brilliant career in the music industry, even the difficulties you encounter along the way can be an inspiration for something new and that’s the point where the magic of Hooverphonic begins!

Alex Callier spoke to us exclusively about the obstacles he and his band faced and how he managed to cope with these difficulties! Fueled by Hooverphonic’s new single, “Mysterious”, he announces Hooverphonic’s “next level” and tells us how their next record was created.

What are the next professional steps for Hooverphonic? What is their evergreen creation so far and what is the difference between an “evergreen” and other classic songs of theirs? What are the highlights of the band for him so far? Read everything you need to know and many more that Alex Callier told us in the exclusive interview he gave to SounDarts.gr

So, recently you released your single “Mysterious” that is included in the Australian TV series soundtrack, “Love Me”. What’s the story behind its writing?

It’s a new song but some fans called it the “Battersea 2.0”. They referred to “Mysterious” as being a modern reinvention of “Battersea” which is the opening track of “Blue Wonder Power Milk”. We wrote it last year and it was just a great song for the series and its trailer. The series talks about three people: a father, a son and a daughter and they have to move forward after their mum or his wife, died and all three do that in a different way and in a different speed. I had written that song already before but sometimes you do stuff and afterwards it’s really like a match-made-in-heaven because Geike is singing “are you ready for the next level” and basically the father goes to fast to the next level, the son doesn’t want to go to the next level and the daughter goes on her own speed to the next level. It’s a good series and it was just fun to have this opportunity to make a track for that.

Why do you believe that your fans called it “Battersea 2.0”?

I think fans hear some “Battersea” in there because you have the strings and the up tempo beats, like break beats. The influences come from the 90’s or something and I think that’s what gives fans the idea it’s the “Battersea 2.0”.

Is “Mysterious” actually portending “the next level” for Hooverphonic?

Yes, actually it’s an in between single because at the moment we’re in the last mixing phase of the new album. It’s also quite influenced by the 90s, there are a lot of break beats, a lot of old school hip-hop and trip-hop influences with Geike singing on top of it and with a dark, melancholic mood. The new album is almost ready and hopefully the next single is going to be released at the end of February, so we’re already moving forward. For the fans it’s going to be a little bit more waiting though.

How come?

Because, I don’t know if you know, but streaming services support a track only when it’s brand new, and for them it’s brand new when it’s released on streaming services. So the old way of releasing an album now is like: first you release a single, then you release the album with another single which is almost impossible now because from the moment a song is online on Spotify or Apple music or whatever, then if two months later you decide that’s going to be your next single, they don’t support it anymore because it’s like an old track to them. So now you need to release all your singles before the release of the album if you want them to get the attention and the priority on streaming platforms. This is kind of the new way of releasing albums. Maybe we went back to the 60’s! I think a lot of bands just released single after single after single and then they compiled them into an album or something. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones did it and I think we’re actually back to that kind of era where the singles are really important, but then again we’re a band who likes to make albums. We’re not only into singles, so we’re trying to find a good balance between releasing singles and at the same time we’re still going to release the album this year. We don’t want the fans to have to wait too long before the album is out there.

Fortunately, because I imagine there will be intense impatience from your fans.

It’s going to be normally from the end of January, beginning of February, and every month since then you’re going to hear new tracks constantly. At the end the album is going to be out there. But it took us a while because we’re negotiating still for a deal. Now we’re in the final round as well and then we can proceed. We already have the plan and we already know how we want to do it. It’s an album that is completely electronic in a way. I programmed and played it partly during Covid of course, and so all the beats, the strings and the samples are programmed and it goes back to our beginning, I guess to when we also did make mid albums like that actually.

Can your reveal any more details about your album?

Well, what can I say? Like I already said it’s an album that is probably influenced by the 90’s. It’s an album that is completely programmed, no live drums, no orchestras, if you hear strings in a series, they’re all programmed. It’s an album with me and Geike in a studio. There’s some psychedelic influences, there’s some 80’s and 90’s influences, a lot of synthesizers. I have this friend who owns an old EMS synthesizer, which is like the Holy Grail of the synthesizers. It’s worth like 20.000 euros and he doesn’t use it so he gave it to me to use it on the album and it inspired me. Then I went on a riding trip to a friend of mine who is living in a beautiful mansion in Italy and she also has a beautiful studio. Then it was like this synthesizer that was re owned by Portishead and I wrote a song with that. My brother heard the song and he said, “Yes, it was inspired by the synthesizer pre owned by Portishead but it sounds like Air”, and I said “yeah but I hear a lot of James Bond in this song”, so it’s quite funny how all these things sometimes just happen. I still think it’s fantastic to be in Italy, meet a bunch of people that I’ve never seen before and then some guy said “well, today you’re going to write with this girl and we did! We wrote two songs and they’re both on the album because they were great.

How did you feel while writing the songs for this album since we were at lockdown at the time of their writing?

It was a weird vibe at the time I wrote it. It was during a depression actually, in which I kinda sang at the end of Covid. I never thought I would ever feel this way. I always thought of myself being very positive, with a strong personality but for two years not being able to play and to be on stage, it finally got to me. I still remember that some artists when they’re depressed, they can’t write but for me it was the opposite. It was the only thing that kept me going. So I wrote a lot at that period. From one hand those songs and then the whole kind of getting out of the depression part. In the end, when I listened to the final album this week, it feels quite up actually, it doesn’t feel depressing or something, it’s quite funny, I thought like “oh, this has got to be such a depressing album and people are not in a mood for depression because the world is already too dark and although the lyrics are quite dark, I think musically there’s a good balance.

What did you learn from this difficult experience?

I was gone for a gig in France and when I got back I felt really ok and being on stage again kinda cured me but my doctor had already prescribed me Prozac, before I left. Then I told my wife that I didn’t really need it anymore because I was feeling better but she said “you don’t know. Maybe you will do a relapse or whatever. Take it”, and I did. This was the worst week of my life. I started taking it, and after four days I was going crazy and I had to quit the medication. So, the only thing I learned from this experience is that “the drugs don’t work” as The Verve say in their song.

Have you ever considered using a male singer in your songs?

It’s quite funny you asked that, because on this album there is a duet with a male singer, but it’s not new because we already did it on “The President of the LSD Golf Club”, where I sang a couple of songs, “Gentle Storm” for instance, is a song that I sang together with Geike. On the second album “Blue Wonder Power Milk”, I sing “Dictionary” and “Electro Shock Faders”. In “In Wonderland” we had a lot of male singers, actually, like Neil Thomas and Tjeerd Bomhof singing in a couple of songs each, so it’s not completely new but the new thing on this record is that, at some point you will think that you hear a male but it’s actually Geike who is pitched with a computer and completely re shaped into a man. So that is new! And then there is the opening song where I sing together with her. But the duet I’m talking about is not really a duet, it’s a sample of a male singer we just used and it’s just beautiful together with her. It sounds like a duet but it’s actually her and a sample.

In 2020/2021 you represented Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest, the first time with the song “Release Me” and then with the song “The World Place”. With what feelings do you recall this experience?

To be honest, I really loved it! I know that some people thought it was weird for an alternative band like Hooverphonic to want to go to Eurovision but I just enjoyed it. We told the Belgian television, who kinda asked us, “Ok, we’re going to do it, but we’re not going to change. We’re going with a Hooverphonic song” which often is quite slow and dark and has a lot of dark humor in it and “The Wrong Place” was the perfect example of that. A Hooverphonic-song is either that or the other thing which is very personal like “Eden” or “Mad About You”. Actually I wrote “Release Me” for my dad who died the year before and so “Release Me” was talking about the last weeks when he was in a lot of pain and couldn’t speak a lot, and he was actually asking to be euthanized but it wasn’t possible because of the Belgian law. So there were the two extremes of Hooverphonic, one song, really personal, very close to the bone actually and then the other song reminding kinda the Tarantino-style of stories. The audience liked “Release Me” better, that’s for sure because in the online event, we ended up quite high, I think 5th or something, whereas with the “The Wrong Place” we finished at the 19th place, but that’s actually ok with us. It’s just a number and I think we represented Belgium in a very stylish, cool, beautiful way and I think we made a difference for the show. So I look back at this experience with very positive feelings. I really enjoyed it and if you ask me if I would do it again I would say “Yes”! It was lot of fun but a bit weird too because we weren’t allowed to leave the hotel and it was a very historic Eurovision the one we participated in. I hope that at least we managed to make the difference but in the end we just had a lot of fun. I think in life is also important to have fun. Now there’s an artist that I used to have in my team of The Voice Belgium, who is actually trying to go now and I told her already “you should try to go because it’s a lot of fun definitely”. The good thing is that I actually wrote the opening song for this new album, in Rotterdam and it’s called “Fake is The New Dope”.

The same year, Geike Arnaert returned as the bands’ lead vocalist. Was it something that was going to happen anyway or was it something that was meant to happen?

Both I guess. It’s something that just happened but in the long term I think it was meant to be. She left the band when she was 28. If you’re 28 and you’ve been in a band for 11 years that is successful like Hooverphonic, I think it’s quite normal to have a very early identity or midlife crisis or something, but if you start working when you’re 17, at 28, you already have a career of 11 years, so she kinda had to spread her wings and do something on her own. And so although, we were sad she was leaving of course, we knew it was necessary for her to leave and so she did. We saw it as a challenge to reinvent ourselves which we did with Noémie when we released “Anger Never Dies”, which was a big hit, so we continued. Then Noémie left and we did “In Wonderland” with all these guest vocals which was really fun but at some point we were missing a lead singer I guess. Then Luka came and she was perfect, but at some point Geike called me to ask me something. She was participating in a television show and she wanted to ask me if it was ok if some guys could make a cover of “Eden” and I said “well, you don’t need my approval. I wrote it but anybody can cover it as long as they don’t change the lyrics”, and then she asked “what are you guys doing?” and we were at that moment when we were preparing to do the “Magnificent Tree Tour” because the album was 20 years old at that time. She asked “who’s going to sing?” and I told her as a joke “well, Luka or maybe you should sing it” and she replied “maybe I should” also as a joke and we left it for a couple of days and then we started thinking “actually it’s not a bad idea”. It’s like her album! “Mad About You” is her song. So I called her back and I said “How serious were you about that?” and she said “yeah, I would love to do it”. Just because of that one phone call for a cover of “Eden” for a stupid television show we started talking again and we felt we were all very happy to work together. Geike is really special to us, she was 17, we spent 11 years on the road together it’s like we built this band together so for us, of course, she is the ultimate Hooverphonic singer. Then we decided to release a 2020 version of “Mad About You”, to tell the world that she’s back, and the rest is history.

Undoubtedly Hooverphonics’ song “Mad About You” is a success story! What does this song mean to you?

Well it’s our only evergreen! It’s a song I will leave on after I die! I wrote it in half an hour and that moment I was in love with the famous songwriter Cathy Dennis –but at that moment she wasn’t that big yet. I met her back in 1998, when I went to a songwriting camp which was in Devon in a castle. I didn’t know anyone there. There were 15 songwriters from all over the world, and we were supposed to write a song every day, ten days in a row. The first night of the camp, of course, they organized this kind of wine tasting to know each other, like to break the ice and have some fun. I still remember there was this kind of Venetian blonde girl next to me and she said “this wine smells like fishy” and I said “there’s nothing wrong about the wine. It’s not fishy at all. It’s actually quite good” and we started fighting for the rest of the night and at the end we went to sleep. The next morning, the first person I had to write a song with, was her of course because those guys would organize these kinds of things when they see struggle, they think that’s good for creativity. So she walked in with a guitar player, we were three people working that day, and then the first song we actually wrote together was “ The Last Thing I Need Is You”, that we actually released with Hooverphonic in 2003 with the album “Sit Down and Listen”. The first line we wrote together was “The last thing I need is you and your black-and-white-views pushing me over”. After that we became best friends and we were really getting along very well and I liked her a lot. I kinda had some feelings for her but I’m not stupid and I immediately understood that this bond works and this is never going to be something. So I went back home and I wrote “Mad About You”, about an impossible relationship and that’s why in the second verse, you have the line “are you the fishy wine that will give me a headache in the morning?”, it’s just taken from a life experience. I still remember that I had a little sample with a bassline, a drumbeat and Geike’s voice. It was Roland Herrington who was a co-producer on the record who asked me “Alex most of the times you do the string arrangement, but I know this guy Matt Dunkley, maybe he should arrange the strings for this song” and I said “yes, why not? Let’s try it”. Matt Dunkley was the orchestrator for Craig Armstrong at that time so he did all the orchestrations for it. I still remember being in London and we were the three of us. It’s probably the closest that I will ever get to hear a song of my own and feel as if it’s a freshly written one. Most of the times, when you write a song, you arrange it, you program it, you mix the demo, then you do some more recording, then you mix the album and by the time the album is finished, you don’t have the distance anymore, you’re too close to the song and all the magic is partly gone. But with that song, when the orchestra started playing the new arrangement by Matt Dunkley, that I hadn’t hear up front because in 1999, you couldn’t just make a demo with strings. Now you can program everything and it would sound similar to what it would become but back then it was impossible, se we just had to trust the guys. We sat down in the studio and the orchestra started playing. We had goosebumps all over our arms, we were looking at each other and I said “wow! This is something special! What do you think?” and Raymond said “Yes this is very special”. The weird thing about “Mad About You” is that it was a slow song. We released it in May and it did nothing. It just didn’t work for the first four-five months. It was until the summer of the same year that suddenly something happened that launched the song, after it was used in a commercial for a smart car. Then it took off in Italy and in South Europe, then it was used for another commercial in France and suddenly it was all over France too. It’s our only evergreen!

What’s the difference between an evergreen and a classic Hooverphonic song like “Eden” and “Anger Never Dies”?

With an evergreen you make some little money on streaming services. I did a calculation today for “Mysterious”, for which we get 0,0039 euro per play. That’s what we earn so… 1 million plays on streaming services is like 3.900 euros. That’s not a lot but if you know that “Mad About You” has more than a million, like one million and a half or two millions in a month, that makes it an evergreen. It’s going to keep on playing on the radio and on streaming services. I’m proud of that. I’m proud of the fact that it’s a song that’s strong enough to survive time.

What are the things or moments that you are feeling blessed in your career so far?

Ι feel blessed for my total career actually! We’ve been around for 27 years now, almost 28! I feel blessed for having fun and make music for 28 years, which is my passion and live of that. Make enough money to be a professional musician, which is incredible! There are not a lot of Belgian musicians who have that kind of opportunity to become professional musicians and make a really descent living out of music! That to me is already a blessing! The other of course is the fact that “2Wicky” ended up in a Bertolucci movie because that launched our career and also “Mad About You, like we said before, being an evergreen is also a blessing! Also Geike coming back to the band feels like another one. She’s a friend! All the other singers were singers but Geike is more than that, she’s also a friend. Finally, the fact that we stayed and we never went away! We kept on touring, making records and writing songs. Being on stage every night and being able to play “2Wicky”, “Eden”, “Mad About You”, “Jackie Cane” and sometimes “The World is Mine”, “The Night Before”, “Anger Never Dies” and “Amalfi”, so many songs that our fans want to hear. Having a song almost from every record that our fans want to hear, I think is really cool and there are not a lot of bands who can say that! A lot of bands have just one hit song and then the rest is completely unknown, and people just come to their shows just for that one song. For us it’s different. People come to our shows to hear our whole career projected in a setlist actually.

Greece has an unconditional love for your music! How do you feel when you interact with the Greek audience?

We’re from Belgium, from Flander, so we’re used to a very cold, kind of reserved audience. I still remember the first time when we went to Greece, and Greeks are very enthusiastic and they like to party. So for us it’s a lot of fun to be surrounded by all these people who just are so enthusiastic and really know our songs and sing along with the music. Writing and playing music is about energy and so if the audience is energetic, we get more energetic and the audience gets more energetic it’s like a circle. It’s kind of cliché but the more south you go the more enthusiastic the audience is. Next to that, it’s nice to be in Greece because you can eat well and we like food. If you get good food then your shows are better. There’s nothing better than a good souvlaki!

In your opinion what is the “glue” that has kept Hooverphonic going all these years?

Being human! In the end, I think that’s the strength of Hooverphonic! When we tour with the band, everybody’s in the same bus and for us, a musician or an engineer or a technical crew member or even a roadie, all are as equal as important as the eleven people on the road. All together, we do a show and without the technical crew, we can’t do that! So for us it’s really important to be one family. Although I’m the leader of the band, I’m very much aware that I’m nothing without a good singer or a good front person. I know very well what I’m doing but also I’m very humble! I like to live a normal life but the only things you can’t take away from me is being able to make music and my kitchen! I love cooking! It’s my second hobby!

It’s called tzatziki… Haha! I’ll show you how to make it!

Sure!

So to continue our conversation, what is the most important element in your life?

The only thing I care about is people! That’s the most important thing! When my father died, I still remember we had already said “goodbye” and he died when I was on stage actually doing a sound check. It was at a sold-out, big venue in Bruges, Belgium and at 5:00 p.m. on a Saturday, my brother called me to tell me he had died. I still played that gig that night and the rest of the band said “how can you do that?”, and I replied “it’s just an honor to play a gig for my father!”. He was a big music lover and he was very proud of the fact that his son made his dream come true! His favorite song was “Eden” so at that time I had difficulty playing it. I had to turn away from the audience. He died when he was 79 and people would tell me “that’s young” and I was like “no, that’s not young. He had a good life! He had a wife he loved dearly, three sons that were doing ok and were healthy and two grandkids”. The average age of a man dying in Belgium is 79. I guess he didn’t become really old, but he wasn’t young either. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality!

Can you share with me a quick funny story with you and your dad?

The only thing that was a bit embarrassing for me, was that he was a doctor and when he was working, he would put on his white doctor robe and he had a Hooverphonic pen in his pocket and a Hooverphonic poster on the wall and I was always like “dad, come on…”!

What are your professional plans 2023?

We already know a couple of things! We’re going to play in Batumi in Georgia and in Tunis at the opera house. We’re going to play in a couple of festivals and we’re going to release some singles but you never really know where life will take you. For some people maybe it’s a nightmare not having any security or not knowing where life will take them, but we’re hooked on the fact we don’t know where we’re going. Life sometimes takes you to places that you don’t always expected to be, but that’s what I like about what we do. We’re musicians, we’re on the road and we never know what we’re going to do this year.

What’s your motto in life?

Interview: Theodore Kolliopoulos

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