| Janez Detd. | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Belgium |
| Genres | Pop punk |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Labels | PIAS Records Virgin Records I Scream records Cabalero Records Green Leaf Records |
| Website | janezdetd.com |
| Members | |
| Nikolas Van der Veken Tim Toegaert Bram Steemans Thomas Maes |
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| Past members | |
| Wim Vanhenden Bob Haentjens Raf Weyn Dimitri Vink Joeri Van Vaerenbergh Lennart Bossu |
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Janez Detd. (short for Janez Determined) is a Belgian pop punk band that formed in 1995.
The group saw the light of day in and about 1994, and was first baptized as "Jane's Detd." (a name they found in a short film from the GDR about a girl that gets an overdose), with from the start Nikolas "Bones" Vanderveken & Bob as the most founding members. After some fooling around in the garage (with music of the same genre), they chose one day to devote their band to playing punk rock, entitling their very first demo clearly "Punkin' Shit Snobs". This demo gave them an entry ticket to a recording for Green Leaf Records, a maxi-CD in 1996 called "Dignity & Teeth".
After a noteworthy performance on the skate stage at the Pukkelpop festival (later on the day Dog Eat Dog would devote their "No Fronts" to the band because they "were impressed by so much positive energy so early in the morning"). All in all, "Dignity and Teeth" became a small-scale success (2,500 copies sold, of which 1,000 in the first month preceded by the reputation the band already had built themselves in the underground circuit).
1998 meant the breakthrough for Jane's Detd.: the song "Beaver Fever" did become a radio hit on the alternative radio in Belgium. The first full-length CD "Bleenies & Blockheads" did leave some room for variation, with tracks ranging from college rock songs to skatecore, from catchy punk to up-tempo ska and surf, and with lyrics that had sick bikini girls and skateboards as themes. With this album, the band got a rather fanatic following, that helped the band to a place at the Beach Rock festival as "Belgian people's choice". On that day, they caused a small-scale incident by inviting their fans on the stage (a regular feature of their show). It were these weather conditions that inspired Bones to say the famous words: "Well, uh, we are a band of the people, so that means that we're here thanks to you. To put it in other words: our stage is your stage so come on up and shelter and dance with us!" Security guards could not stop the hundreds (which soon became nearly a thousand) of fans that climbed up the stage. Never had a festival of that size been overwhelmed by a crowd. Police was called up, there was a big chaos and the band just smiled and said "Thank you, we were Janez Detd. but you guys were the best!". Later that summer, they also held a strange demonstration at Pukkelpop, where they tried in vain to persuade organizer Chokri to put the band on the line-up of that year's edition by putting up poster of the band all around the festival ground.
In 1999, the band parted ways with I Scream Records in a not very pleasant way (they even had to change the name to Janez Detd. to get out of the legal hassle), and signed up for major Virgin. As a guarantee to remain independent, the major established a special sublabel for Janez Detd. (Cabalero Records) that the band will also be able to use a promotion tool for other punk bands they like. Where the previous album had the approval of both the die-hard punks and the general rock-oriented audiences, the move to Virgin caused that they had to defend themselves against the accusation of "selling out" (to which band replies that the Sex Pistols were also on Virgin, and even the Kids on another major). If the plans for the label work out the way that Nikolas & co foresee it, the old fans will probably come around.
The band's first release on Cabalero became the single "Rock On (Debbie's a Spaz)" in 1999, as a precursor to the self-titled second CD that was released in March 2000 (with the first 3,000 copies accompanied by a tag template, with which you could leave the Janez Detd. logo on your favorite blind wall). The album was produced by Jo Francken, and contained more poppy material, that didn't miss its effect: the band got to a new platform of popularity here. Especially a witty ska-version of A-ha's "Take On Me" became a hit in Belgium (even got to the lower regions of the charts) and got a video clip. There was also a lot of touring going on (Pukkelpop, Lokerse Feesten, Marktrock...), in which the band stood out by going all-out with all their weapons at hand: energy, fun, humor, a brass-section and several cover songd of 1980s songs (even including Europe's "The Final Countdown"). Although the band wasn't exactly making a debut with all this, Janez Detd. got an award at the second TMF-ceremony in October 2000 as "Most Promising Band".
They have played as the supporting act for such bands as The Offspring, Limp Bizkit and Good Charlotte. They have also played several big Belgian festivals including Pukkelpop and Rock Werchter. Their songs have been described to be similar to Green Day, Rancid and NOFX .
The band played their tenth-anniversary show at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels where they released their 2005 album "Killing Me".
They are currently working on their new album (For Better For Worse) in New York City. They are lodged in the studio with Jesse Cannon (Limp Bizkit, The Cure, The Misfits) who for this album is helping them find the perfect mix of poppy flair from the first Janez Detd. albums and a rich modern guitar sound. The album will be in the shops in late March and the first single and video will be released again in early February.
They booked a lot of success with "For Better For Worse". They also donated all the proceeds of their single "Your Love" (a cover of The Outfield) to Wings For Life, an organization that conducts research into spinal injuries and paralysis that Nikolas godfathers.
Also, the foursome went to Madrid to perform on the international Red Bull X-Fighters tournament. A championship for freestyle motocross. This event was held in Las Ventas arena, an arena where some 23,000 people were present.
On the national Belgian holiday Nikolas and co. played for the Belgian troops in Lebanon Camp Scorpio.
On October 2, 2008, Activision announced the collaboration with Janez Detd. for their new game title Guitar Hero - World Tour on. The band will be officially presented at an exclusive showcase in Brussels on Thursday, November 6, 2008, where for once they will swap their trusted musical instruments to be exchanged for the Guitar Hero microphone, drums and guitars. The game will be available on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii consoles.
In the meantime, Janez Detd. had as always continued to play many gigs, including the Converse tour of the Lowlands. On July 17, 2009, they were asked for the second year in a row to play in Madrid for the Red Bull X-Fighters tournament. Mainly because of the many positive reactions from audiences and riders last year. The Las Ventas arena was sold to approximately 25,000 enthusiastic Spaniards.
On September 2, 2009, Janez Detd. announced that they were going to stop playing punk music and that the band was gonna take some time off to come up with a new sound. First, however, they would do a small tour of 15 shows (one for each year of existence of the band) through Belgium and the Netherlands. They also released a free CD (15 Years Of Fame) that was distributed by P-magazine and contained 15 of their greatest hits.
On October 10/11, 2009, Janez Detd. won the TMF Lifetime Achievement Award.
On January 9, 2010, Janez Detd. played their last "punk" show at JH Den Traveir @ Ledegem.
In early August 2010, both Tim Toegaert and Thomas Maes announced on their Facebook page that the band is currently recording a new record at Jet Studio in Brussels.
In March 2011, the website of their booker Peter Verstraelen reads that the band changed its name to Janez Detd. Circo and that they will play at Dranouter Bath and the Yahoo/MTV Snow Jam.
The Janez Detd. lead singer is now surrounded by a dozen musicians. His orchestra includes a four-piece horn section, extra percussion, keyboards and a hole bunch of guitars. Janez Detd. Circo is a driving bulldozer of latin, ska, reggae and Balkan rhythms. Not only music genres were tossed into the blender. This fiesta band resolutely chooses a language mix of French, English and Spanish. The Clash is never far away but Mano Negra lurks around the corner. With songs like The Bastards, Nuit Merveilleuse, Ambassador they will immerse their audience in a swirling stream of Balkan rhythms, Latin horns and guitars. In short: an unpretentious sledgehammer that will blow each festival audience brutally knock out.
These changes also made Tim Toegaert leave the band again. He is now fully concentrated on his other projects such as "De Fanfaar", "Lordi and the Rings" and "Wearelions".
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