'But Antwerp has the typical dynamic of a city where lots of foreigners come in every weekend. The main thing was there were quite a number of good clubs like Ancienne Belgique, Prestige, and later on Cafe d’Anvers. Not only in Antwerp, but in the whole region surrounding it. In Antwerp there was this crossover between the fashion academy and the club scene, so when parties would happen during the week they would be full because students would attend. It wouldn’t be just a “student” party, because the fashion academy would do it their own way, mixing up with other people from other contexts, quite a surreal soup. Someone like Walter van Beirendonck, who is of course one of the Antwerp Six, was part of it for a while. He definitely rode that rave train.
Another reason why Antwerp is so important is because new beat as a genre was by and large supported by a very important Antwerp radio show on SIS, as well as a very important record shop, USA Imports, where they built a studio and people could go in behind the shop and record, with the music then released on the shop’s label. And then you had Liaisons Dangereuses, the very influential radio show. Sven van Hees was selecting the music and Paul Ward was doing the presentation. I was still at school but every Thursday everyone would tune into the radio, you would listen to it and nothing else could get done.
They raised a whole generation of people with that. You can still find those shows archived online. There’s one three-hour show, I think it might have been the last show on SIS, and that for me is still the best three hours of radio I’ve ever heard in my life. That for me defined new beat.
Belgium hasn’t been marketed the way other scenes have. When new beat, techno, and rave happened people experienced it, lived it intensely, but never thought, “Let’s hype this up!” It’s not a Belgian thing to do. Belgians aren’t very good salespeople. In that moment they forget to see a broader picture. I think a contrast with Detroit techno is a good one, because from the start Detroit was marketed. It’s very clear and easy to understand: some British guy arrived in Detroit, heard the music and with typical English entrepreneurial flair said, “I’m going to make these guys the biggest guys in dance music!” and does it. There was never anybody in Belgium who thought the same about what was happening here, and what is written about Belgian electronic music is in Flemish or French. So it’s accessible to Dutch and French readers, but that’s it.
I think basically we ended up paying the price for not believing in ourselves enough. Toward ’95, ’96, you could see the club landscape change. You’ve got this whole dynamic where, if given the opportunity, a Belgian is going to think something coming from outside is better than something that’s made inside of Belgium. That killed a big part of the scene, which made it difficult for people like me. What is a big recent success in Belgian music history? Tomorrowland. That’s it.
The Belgian scene was thriving in terms of enthusiasm until ’96, but obviously enthusiasm only gets you so far. You need a certain degree of professionalism and collectivism in order to pull together and keep it going. We didn’t have that, but the German clubs did. 70 percent of the artists playing in these clubs every weekend are German artists. They immediately understood how you make a scene not only thrive but also continue and give it a long-term perspective. This doesn’t happen in Belgium. I don’t see how this could change. Every time I go back to Belgium I have the same feeling; I’m happy to be there, but I see the same old reflexes, and I don’t really want to be in that kind of environment anymore.”
Peter Van Hoesen is a DJ, producer, and label owner who has contributed a mix to Electronic Beats Radio. This piece is an excerpt from 72 Hours in Antwerp, an article which originally appeared in the Winter 2014/2015 edition of Electronic Beats Magazine. To read more from this issue, click here, and check out our last 72 Hours feature on Detroit here.
Electronic Beats Magazine
Issue no. 40 - Winter 2014/2015
Another reason why Antwerp is so important is because new beat as a genre was by and large supported by a very important Antwerp radio show on SIS, as well as a very important record shop, USA Imports, where they built a studio and people could go in behind the shop and record, with the music then released on the shop’s label. And then you had Liaisons Dangereuses, the very influential radio show. Sven van Hees was selecting the music and Paul Ward was doing the presentation. I was still at school but every Thursday everyone would tune into the radio, you would listen to it and nothing else could get done.
They raised a whole generation of people with that. You can still find those shows archived online. There’s one three-hour show, I think it might have been the last show on SIS, and that for me is still the best three hours of radio I’ve ever heard in my life. That for me defined new beat.
Belgium hasn’t been marketed the way other scenes have. When new beat, techno, and rave happened people experienced it, lived it intensely, but never thought, “Let’s hype this up!” It’s not a Belgian thing to do. Belgians aren’t very good salespeople. In that moment they forget to see a broader picture. I think a contrast with Detroit techno is a good one, because from the start Detroit was marketed. It’s very clear and easy to understand: some British guy arrived in Detroit, heard the music and with typical English entrepreneurial flair said, “I’m going to make these guys the biggest guys in dance music!” and does it. There was never anybody in Belgium who thought the same about what was happening here, and what is written about Belgian electronic music is in Flemish or French. So it’s accessible to Dutch and French readers, but that’s it.
I think basically we ended up paying the price for not believing in ourselves enough. Toward ’95, ’96, you could see the club landscape change. You’ve got this whole dynamic where, if given the opportunity, a Belgian is going to think something coming from outside is better than something that’s made inside of Belgium. That killed a big part of the scene, which made it difficult for people like me. What is a big recent success in Belgian music history? Tomorrowland. That’s it.
The Belgian scene was thriving in terms of enthusiasm until ’96, but obviously enthusiasm only gets you so far. You need a certain degree of professionalism and collectivism in order to pull together and keep it going. We didn’t have that, but the German clubs did. 70 percent of the artists playing in these clubs every weekend are German artists. They immediately understood how you make a scene not only thrive but also continue and give it a long-term perspective. This doesn’t happen in Belgium. I don’t see how this could change. Every time I go back to Belgium I have the same feeling; I’m happy to be there, but I see the same old reflexes, and I don’t really want to be in that kind of environment anymore.”
Peter Van Hoesen is a DJ, producer, and label owner who has contributed a mix to Electronic Beats Radio. This piece is an excerpt from 72 Hours in Antwerp, an article which originally appeared in the Winter 2014/2015 edition of Electronic Beats Magazine. To read more from this issue, click here, and check out our last 72 Hours feature on Detroit here.
Electronic Beats Magazine
Issue no. 40 - Winter 2014/2015