THINGS ARE GOING AMAZINGLY WELL FOR ‘AB A.I.R’ or AB'S ‘ARTIST IN RESIDENCE’ PERFORMERS.
For a while now, AB has been running an Artist In Residence programme whereby we assist talent from Belgian soil. AB assists the (often unique) performers wherever possible. Let's just say: wherever it's most (musically) needed. That can vary from needing a professional press photo to be used by the band, studio recordings to serve as the basis for a demo, the opportunity to rehearse in AB to tighten up a set or to play as many shows as possible in AB (often as support act) in order to make themselves known to as broad an audience as possible.
The likes of THE SEDAN VAULT, TAPE TUM (from which a number of members would later ensconce themselves in THE VIOLENT HUSBANDS), BLACK BOX REVELATION, THE BONY KING OF NOWHERE and SELAH SUE have previously been Artist In Residence. However, this year something remarkable is going on…
2011: Year of returns for A.I.R.
2011 would seem to be the year of reaping benefits for the performers in our ARTIST IN RESIDENCE stalls. Earlier this year SELAH SUE played the AB Main Hall three times. Just to be clear: that was three times for a sold-out hall... that means for no less than 6,000 fans. That is definitely a historic record for a debutant in AB.
All is going well for Flanders' coolest rock ’n roll duo BLACK BOX REVELATION too. Even before their latest album was to be released, the Main Hall shows on Thursday 3 and Friday 4 November were sold out in no time. The other side of the Atlantic Ocean is in for it soon...
Lastly, you also have THE BONY KING OF NOWHERE. Bram Vanparys presented his second album ‘Eleonore’ earlier this year in a sold out AB Club. Later this year – more specifically, on THURSDAY 6 OCTOBER – The Bony King ventures the switch to the Main Hall (AB Theatre). There he will present (in the good company of AMATORSKI, AN PIERLE, KISS THE ANUS OF A BLACK CAT,…) the soundtrack he wrote for ‘Les Géants’ by Walloon film-maker Bouli.
ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE FOR 2011: SARAH FERRI + DRUMS ARE FOR PARADES + JAN SWERTS.
This year AB embraces three performers, of which SARAH FERRI and DRUMS ARE FOR PARADES had already been disclosed. Songwriter Sarah Ferri will also be releasing her lively debut ‘Ferritales’, the launch is planned in AB for February 2012 and at the Feeërieën she already had the entire audience in the palm of her hand.
DRUMS ARE FOR PARADES is mainly active behind-the-scenes. The band has been making use of the AB studio to work on (not so evident) recordings with a number of artists. Chris Goss (Queens of The Stone Age) was the most apparent guest but this year Rudeboy (of the late Urban Dance Squad) and artist Michäel Borremans are to follow.
The latest name in the A.I.R. firmament is JAN SWERTS. We've already been working behind-the-scenes with this minimal pianist from Limburg for a year now. His self-released debut ‘Weg’ received highly commending reviews all-round. AB is assisting him with the switch from ‘recording-artist’ to ‘live-artist’. Here the focus is on composing a live band, made-to-measure for Jan Swerts. None less than Nicolas Rombauts (contrabass player with Dez Mona) serves as ‘conductor’ and he'll be putting together an excellent live band with Jan Swerts. You'll hear more about this soon. Promised!
