Who are the musical influences of the band and its members?
 

The Niz - vocals & guitars            Gino Vonck - drums             Tom - bass               Duncan Paul - guitar & keys

You COULD say: "I will list all my CD's", because in every album you'll listen to will be somewhere a line, melody, chord change, lyric, or other element that inspires you and that can count as being an influence.

But instead of just listing their whole record collection, we've asked the boys to talk about the bands and artists that heavily influenced them in the musical sense. Here's the outcome:

Gino : 

Simple Minds in their early years: tight beats (bass and drums) with atmospherical sounds (guitar and synths) and claustrofobical vocals by Jim Kerr. In the later Simple Minds it is especially the spacious guitar-playing of Charlie Burchill that attracts me (indeed The Edge of U2, but I’m a bigger fan of Simple Minds)

David Bowie: keeps re-inventing himself over and over again with a different musical style (rock, soul, industrial,...) and with a different wrapping.

The Beatles: is there a need for explanation? They’re the ultimate pop group ever.

Guided By Voices: a no-nonsense approach. The idea that everything can be said in a one-minute-song (be it rattling and sometimes sloppy).

The Tragically Hip: rock-music and not too cliché. Cool drummer (very tight) and a cool drum-sound.

(take me up!)

The Niz : 

I confess. In the deepest of my bones, blood vessels and genetic structures I am a rockabilly.

I do love a lot of different music styles, and so my "favourite CD of the week" changes style quite often, but I always seem to get back to rock'n'roll every once in a while, you know, the fifties' stuff: Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, The Rock'n'Roll Trio, etc….

Goose bumps are my ultimate barometer for really good music, and boy these guys do get me some.

Hence also my love for the things that Brian Setzer has been/is doing. He is not only one of the most interesting guitar players that I admire, but he also brought back to the attention of the public two nearly-mummified-in-oblivion genres: rockabilly in the 80's and big band in the 90's. Respect! He also plays the coolest guitar model ever made: the Gretsch 6120 - the ultimate guitar, in my book.

Combine all the above rock’n’roll, add a dose of blues and roots and a master class guitar player such as Dave Gonzalez and you have the steaming music of The Paladins. Definitely my cup of tea! I admire the way Dave always seems to get a good sound out of his guitar, be it on record or live.

The Beatles: This is another constant to which I tend to get back to (no pun intended) every once in a while. These guys invented the way people make and record music nowadays. They’re more than just the sum of the parts. Need I say more?

Another guy that influenced me heavily is Frank Zappa. Not only do I find it a good idea to use humour in music and albums, his concept of guitar-playing and music in particular is very refreshing to me and opens a whole new world of possibilities ("The most important part of art is the frame around it"). Very enlightening and just plain brilliant. For the freaks: my preferred line-up is the early seventies one with Duke, Brock and Underwood.

In the same league I put his son Dweezil Zappa. It is through him that I “discovered” Frank. He's got the same humour-thing going on, which I like very much, and his approach is a more 80's-90's guitar-oriented style which I can't copy. Perhaps that's why I like it so much.

A guy that influenced me especially in the harmony department is Brian Wilson. He has created some fabulous masterpieces, and I’ve kind of learnt how to sing harmonies through his songs.

For the same reasons as Gino, I like Guided By Voices because of their let’s-put-it-on-tape-and-get-on-with-our-lives way of music-making. The fact that you can condense a song to the basic idea (heeeey – now that sounds familiar) and get away with it is quite interesting and appealing to me.

And I’d like to finish off with The Kinks and Nirvana for their song-writing skills and garage-rock-like rawness, the latter which does reflect in some of our songs. Amen.

(take me up!)