31 March 2008 at 15:22 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

dEUS.be has just announced a couple of extra festivaldates.


I've updated the tour overview and the tourmap with the latest info.



at 13:16 posted by Bart Van Belle 2 Comments

dEUS will open the NME-stage of the T in the Park-festival in Balado, Kinross-shire (Schotland) on Saturday July 12th.

at 13:05 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

A Last.FM-event says dEUS is playing the Rockwave-festival in the Terra Vibe-parc near Athens (Greece) on July 8th. Articles in the Greek press seems to confirm this date. Other bands on the bill that day include The Offspring, Flogging Molly and Marky Ramone. The official website of the festival can be found here.

at 06:51 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

A (very small) interview with Tom. Tom says they love to play in France since they've noticed they've got a new, younger fanbase in that country.

30 March 2008 at 19:20 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Studio Brussel aired a Top 90 of the 90's today. It's no surprise that dEUS was a couple of times in the list. Smells like teen spirit (Nirvana) made it to the top, but dEUS had 3 songs in the top 10.

2. Suds & Soda
6. Instant Street
8. Roses
23. Hotellounge
58. Little Arithmetics

at 21:23 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

An overview of The Architect in the Belgian charts this week

  • Arriba!: 4
  • Humo's Top 20: 1
  • De Afrekening: no list this week
  • Ultratop: 5


at 14:40 posted by Jean-Yves 1 Comment

On the We Have No Zen blog you can download the entire session Tom Barman recorded with Guy Van Nueten in 2003 at Studio Toots in Brussels (hit the "Toot it" link below the picture).

Playlist: Pink Moon / River / Magdalena / Louisiana 1927 / Memory of a Free Festival / Instant Street / Magnolia / Serpentine / Nothing Really Ends / My Funny Valentine / Harry, Irene


By the way, the picture you'll see there is a portrait of Tom Barman by illustrator Symen Veenstra.

at 01:05 posted by Jean-Yves 4 Comments

Spanish webzine MondoSonoro gives Vantage Point 4 stars out of 5. Here's a (machine?) translation of their review, courtesy of ISRC member Elviejito:

Fortunatelly, this time we had only to wait for a couple of years to meet again with the one that adds the fifth work of study of our favorite Belgians. And also it is a luck that their new album not only is at the level of the previous one if not that, for moments, even overcomes it on having obtained a collection of much more cohesive songs about a style in which the instrumental know-how is to the service of achieving the suitable atmosphere.

A tonal density that in occasions there shows himself worrying with this kind of soul darkness and this evident touch arty with whom so good results there have harvested pioneers like the Bad Seeds, Tom Waits or other related bands like The Afghan Whigs, And You Will Know Us By You Trail Of Dead or Gomez. To all the these ones, the cd begins with " When She Comes Down " whose funky and negroid oscillation remember other Colossuses of the nineties, Fun Lovin ' Criminals, but similarities dissapear with the epic touch of the refrain. Following " Oh Your God " had signed it proud Nick Cave and, after this one, a "Eternal Woman" that evokes the rereading that Johnny Cash did of NIN's "Hurt".

Nevertheless, the best thing comes towards the half of the disc with a "Slow" that could be signed by Greg Dulli's song-book and a single, "The Architect", with this touch of modernity post-punk (The Raptures?). To finish a pearl of indie-soul coral called " Popular Culture " with which they endto this catalogue of the nineties rock.


28 March 2008 at 17:11 posted by Jean-Yves 0 Comments

A bunch of release dates have just popped up on dEUS.be.

Vantage Point will be released on April 18 on the European continent, on April 25 in the UK & Ireland and on May 21 in Japan. But the digital release will be on April 14 in Europe, on the 18th in Belgium and on the 21st in the UK. Nothing yet about the American release date.

Slow and The Architect will be released on a single disc (a "double A-side").

  • The CD single will be available in Belgium on April 1st
  • The 7" vinyl picture disc ("very pretty", I've heard) will be released in Holland & Germany on April 11, and on April 21 in the UK
  • Digital release on April 7 in Europe and April 21 in the UK


at 14:43 posted by Jean-Yves 1 Comment

Found on the Vantage Point product page at Amazon.de: this promotional video for the album, with the band rehearsing Bad Timing, a part of the Slow video, and a message to "girls & boys" by Tom.

"hello girls & boys! i'm tom barman, from deus. we're recording our new album, vantage point, in this studio, in antwerp, belgium. we're bringing it out on april 18th. we hope you like it as much as we do. bye bye!"


On that page there's also a review of the album in German, with some info about Popular Culture: there's a line that goes "If you don't come from the States you will always be late in popular culture", complete with a children choir.

[thx to britzelbeere]

Update: Bart put the video on YouTube
Update 2: dEUS put the video on their YouTube profile




at 13:55 posted by Jean-Yves 0 Comments


The rumour was right: dEUS will headline the Motel Mozaique festival in Rotterdam, on April 11. They'll play at Off_Corso. Beware: in order to see the concert, you'll need to get a wristband from 16:00 on the same day at the Motel Mozaique tent on Schouwburgplein.

Motel Mozaique organiser Harry Hamelink is honoured to have dEUS on the bill: "dEUS have built up quite a status in Europe, and still they're coming back to Motel Mozaique. We're not calling ourselves a motel for no reason: we're happy to have regular guests visiting again." Once again he's impressed by their work: "(the album) is very groovy, full of surprises and quirky choices" (from the 3voor12 website)

at 12:34 posted by Jean-Yves 2 Comments

Frustrating: I just found out that Eternal Woman was "song of the day" 10 days ago on the website of Magic, a French music magazine. Which means that you could listen to the entire song... just on that day.

at 12:10 posted by Jean-Yves 0 Comments

Watch Turnpike Lodge, a French amateur band, covering Theme From Turnpike during one of their concerts. They also have a better version of their cover on the audio player of their website.

[via deus-fr]

27 March 2008 at 16:31 posted by Jean-Yves 0 Comments

There's a very interesting interview with Tom on Austrian public radio FM4, in German. The ORF website also has an article titled "Die belgische Schule des Rock", about dEUS and Mintzkov. A summary of the interview, with my limited knowledge of German. Contributions welcome:


  • TIC/PR: 6 years hiatus, PR/VP: 2 1/2 years - Why? The band didn't want to start looking for a new guitarist right after Craig left (for the first time) in 2000, then Tom started his short movie project, which became AWTWB, then there was the 2004 debacle, and Pocket Revolution was finally released after the new line-up was gathered. Vantage Point comes so soon because the band started rehearsing right after the PR tour, and having their own studio definitely helped.
  • On producers: while Eric Drew Feldman (IABUTS) was a very arty and creative producer, and David Bottrill (TIC) almost had to act like a psychiatrist for a troubled band, for VP Dave McCracken had a much more song-oriented approach, which led to more compact songs. His work with Depeche Mode perhaps also fave VP a more electronic feel, even though it was recorded the old-fashioned way and with just a few synth sounds.
  • Tom loves Tool.
  • About Slow: the interviewer brings up the discussion we had on the forum about the Slow lyrics. "Slow Up" is a play on words, and it's also the name of the first album of X-Legged Sally, whose members Vermeersch & Vervloesem produced WCS. There's a whole part I don't understand, but apparently "Vantage Point" stems from the different ways Tom & Mauro look at things. Slow is very much the key-song for the album. It's also the very first time all band members sang together on one song.
  • About Mintzkov's Lies Lorquet, who sings on Eternal Woman: she's got that 90's Kim Deal kind of voice that Tom was looking for. Asked about the similarities between Mintzkov & dEUS, Tom thinks the new generation of Belgian musicians isn't looking for a dEUS sound, but for a dance sound, like Goose have.
  • He's happy that his band mates have side projects, but dEUS must remain a priority. He is very grateful to Rudy for all the things he learnt thanks to him. Mauro is working on new Love Substitutes material.
  • About the state of the music industry: even if Tom knows about Radiohead & NIN's experiments in digital distribution, he's not that interested in technology. From his point of view things aren't that different: they still record albums, he still gives interviews and tours with the band... But he's sad about the disappearing of the album as a standard, he regrets that today's youngsters don't rush out to get their favourite band's next album and play it from A to Z. He misses vinyl. VP has 10 songs: 5 songs for the A-side, 5 for the B-side.
  • They've listened to 10.000 days by Tool before each gig of the last tour

ORF also have a rather nice concert review from 2005.

[thx to lovedeus for the tip]

Update: a Dutch translation by Wouter Verschelde
Update 2: an Englisch translation by lovedeus



at 16:28 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Humo had a small interview with Tom and Anton Corbijn during the recordings for Lux XL.

  • Tom would like to work with Corbijn, but he doesn't like the idea of Corbijn building the complete image of the band. (,,dEUS is about making our own dreams come true, not about anyone else making his dream come true'')
  • Steve Gullick has also worked with Nick Cave
  • Tom has filmed the new clip on 16mm
  • Corbijn was impressed by dEUS
  • He heard Beefheart-, funk- and Talking Heads-elements in The Architect


at 16:25 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Good one: Tom has been saying Tudio Russel instead of Studio Brussel when he met people of Studio Brussel because they were always skipping the intro of Suds & Soda.

(Source: Humo)

at 10:28 posted by Bart Van Belle 2 Comments

Don't know if anyone has ever noticed this, but you can also order the Pocket Revolution-songbook through Popshop.be. Click here.

at 07:37 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

The Blackbox Revelation (Myspace) will be supporting dEUS during the upcoming springtour until May 11th.

(Source: dEUS.be)

at 07:25 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

The gig in Köln is also sold out.

(source: dEUS.be)

at 07:22 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

De Morgen also has a dEUS-contest. You can win tickets for Amsterdam, London and Paris. Transport to the cities is not included. Click here to enter.

26 March 2008 at 16:02 posted by Bart Van Belle 4 Comments

Short snippets of the complete album are available on the website of the Plato-recordstore. You have to ask for a login-code first though.

(thx to Wouter)

Update: Plato removed the login-thing

at 15:31 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Received a scan of the radiopromo of Slow today. Catalogue number is VVR5050773P. Click the image for a bigger version.

at 12:22 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

dEUS will perform The Architect live in Lux XL on Canvas next thursday (April 3rd, 23.15 hour). The central guest in the show is photographer Anton Corbijn. A video of the dEUS-performance will probably be available after the show here.

at 06:52 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

1. When She Comes Down

  • a song about transience and the attempts to keep the unique moment of a gig you share with loads of people
2. Oh Your God
  • contains the phrase Who looks over my shoulder
  • about Tom's search for confirmation
3. Eternal Woman
  • about the desire to a neverending love
4. Favourite Game
5. Slow
  • the international single
  • guest-appearance Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife
6. The Architect
  • the first single in Belgium
  • an ode to Richard Buckminster Fuller, an American scientist, architect, poet and designer
  • a beautiful story about somebody who turns off his ego and uses his genie for humanity
  • it contains edited samples of Fullers voice
  • sung by Mauro

7. Is a Robot

  • a critic on the life Tom was (and is) living
  • all routine is deadly for creativity (also the routine of having a party every day)
8. Smokers Reflect
  • could be a song from the Pocket Revolution-sessions
  • includes a beautiful piano refrain
  • a song about love’s regret.
9. The Vanishing of Maria Schneider
  • guest-appearance by Guy Garvey from Elbow
  • an old-world, super-romantic Technicolor lovesong
  • a lilting meditation upon the transitory nature of beauty
  • about actrice Maria Scheider, Tom's personification of eternal youth
  • Scheider was brilliant in Last Tango In Paris (with Marlon Brando)
10. Popular Culture
  • contains raggedy choirs singing philosophical choruses over strings and a veritable Phil Spector Wall Of Sound.

If you have additions to this list, just leave it in the comments or drop me a line.



25 March 2008 at 20:42 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

A quick summary of the LiveXS-interview:

  • they started working on the new album after the Pocket Revolution-tour because they wanted to keep the energy of the 150-gigs they played in the current line-up
  • they were very aware of the direction they were going
  • Tom says they've thrown away their ego's and try to make a good team
  • He's no longer saying that frictions are necessary to make good art
  • they've used all dEUS-voices on Vantage Point, every bandmember is singing and Tom says it was a fantastic experience
  • It's fun to surprise the fans after so many years with the fact Mauro is doing the lead vocals on The Architect
  • Vantage Point is a new start for the band, they've discovered a new way of working, with a focus on live-performances and 'jamsessions with vision'
  • Tom says they're currently playing the semi-finals of the Champions League, but the goal it to get in the final.
  • The big target is (finally) an international breakthrough, but a couple of elements they don't control are also important to succeed.
  • He's happy the record is released in Japan because it opens a new world for them
  • Tom also gave some info on a couple of tracks, but I'll come back to that later this week in a track-by-track overview of the album.


at 20:39 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Neli's report of the Japanese listening party of Vantage Point.

at 12:43 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

An interview with Tom about the new album on Dutch Musiczine LiveXS. Tom is talking about almost each song on the album, but I have no time at this moment to translate it all. I'll try to do it later today.

at 11:08 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Studio Brussel is celebrating its 25th birthday this weeks. Next sunday they will broadcast a Top 90 of the 90's. Six dEUS-songs are on the longlist: Hotellounge, Instant street, Little Arithmetics, Roses, Suds and soda and Via.

Click here to vote.



at 10:38 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

There will be a dEUS-signing session in Fnac Antwerpen (Groenplaats) on friday April 18th at 17.00 hour. Fnac will run a contest that day in which you can win the entire backcatalogue.

at 10:01 posted by Bart Van Belle 2 Comments

There's a dEUS-contest on the website of De Standaard. The next five days you can win tickets for the shows in Brussel and Leuven and each day a trip to a dEUS-gig outside Belgium.

at 06:55 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

According to Neli on ISR Vantage Point will be released in Japan on May 21st.

BTW: Found a drawing of Tom on Neli's blog.

at 21:04 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

Almost three years ago I blogged about the DeuS-beer dEUS gave to the journalists at the Pocket Revolution-listening session. An American has apparently brewn a real dEUS-beer. The Belgian dark ale is called Worst Case Scenario. If the band goes touring the USA they'd better stop in Chicago to taste it.


at 21:00 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

After 1 week at the top The Architect is now on 9 in Studio Brussel's Hotlist.

22 March 2008 at 13:55 posted by Bart Van Belle 4 Comments

A friend of mine listened to The Architect for the first time yesterday and he asked me if it was a new song by A Brand. The Architect is indeed very A Brand-ish. Go and judge for yourself.

at 13:37 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

Nice action for people living in the Breda-area: if you pre-order Vantage Point at Velvet Music you get a transparent 7" of Slow and an album poster for free. You also participate in a contest to win a canvas with the cover-artwork signed by the band.

at 13:26 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

According to Velvet Music a 2-track version of The Architect will be released on April 1st. No further info on the 2nd track. And Vantage Point will be available in a digipack too.

21 March 2008 at 20:28 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

I upload a videofile I had on my pc to Youtube to share it with you. It's a small interview from Loladamusica with Tom in Ronda in 1999. More info (in Dutch) here.


at 20:16 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Brecht notified me that there were a couple of dEUS-pics available at the website of photographer Guy Kokken. Kokken works for Weekend Knack and Oor.

at 09:55 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

The Architect has reached the first position in Humo's Top 20 and climbed further to two in De Afrekening.

20 March 2008 at 10:22 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

A new item from Kevin's VHS-archive: dEUS performing Sweet Child O'Mine in MTV's Most Wanted back in 1995.



at 08:51 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments
at 08:48 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

For some people You can't deny what you liked as a child is an alltime dEUS-favorite. I found a great amateur-video on Youtube with that song as the soundtrack.


at 07:27 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

The Architect will enter the official Belgian chart Ultratop at 3 next saturday. It's the first time a dEUS-single scores so high in a chart based on sales. Last week the song entered at 1 in the tip-chart, so it's no suprise it pop ups in the real chart this week.

Since 1995 dEUS have only made it to the Ultratop three times. They scored their highest position in 2001 with Nothing Really Ends (30). Little Arithmetics made it to number 40 and Instant Street to 48.






19 March 2008 at 12:03 posted by Jean-Yves 2 Comments

Balder from Norway sings Worst Case Scenarioooooooooooo!



[thanks to Via for this cute interlude]

18 March 2008 at 22:13 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Kevin is digitalising his dEUS-VHS-archive. Another clip from Roxy (1995) show Belgian author Herman Brusselmans explaining the sudden international success of dEUS. The clip also features a short interview with Peter Vermeersch, the producer of Worst Case Scenario.




17 March 2008 at 20:59 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

Kevin uploaded an historic dEUS-moment to Youtube. Back in 1995 Tom & Stef Kamil joined X-Legged Sally on stage during Roxy, a music show on VT4, for a unique version of Via.



at 14:28 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

The Architect is still number 1 in Humo's Arriba!-chart.

at 13:45 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

The Architect entered Studio Brussel's Hotlist at 1.

14 March 2008 at 08:15 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

The Architect entered Humo's Top 20-list at #4. Click here for the complete list.

13 March 2008 at 07:05 posted by Bart Van Belle 3 Comments

There's some kind of press-release about Vantage Point on the Scala-website. Here's what it says about the album:


The album draws to a close on an emotional note, the beautiful piano refrain on ''Smokers Reflect” framing it’s lyric of love’s regret. This is followed by the epic sweep of ‘The Vanishing Of Maria Schneider’, a lilting meditation upon the transitory nature of beauty which features the aching harmonies of Elbow’s Guy Garvey on guest vocals. ‘Popular Culture’ closes the album out with raggedy choirs singing philosophical choruses over strings and a veritable Phil Spector Wall Of Sound. A suitably grand exeunt for an album that plays large. A record that will provide a soundtrack to both nocturnal adventures as much as the wide open skies of festival season.

It also contains some words by Tom:

Vantage Point is the band’s most exciting album to date, stretching themselves further and remaining, as ever, profoundly adventurous. “After a while, you get tired of singing about yourself,” smiles Barman, of the songs that make up Vantage Point. “On songs like ‘Slow’ and ‘The Architect’, I’m writing stories about other people, which I’ve never tried before. I interviewed Nick Cave the other day, for Belgian TV, and he’s one of my heroes. And he said, ‘It’s too easy to write about yourself’, and that’s so true. It’s exciting to try new ideas, that’s always been at the heart of this band.”


(thx to Tijs for reminding me)



12 March 2008 at 20:07 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

V2's online shop is listing a Vantage Point vinyl-release too.

at 19:47 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

The Architect climbed from 17 to 5 in De Afrekening from Studio Brussel. Leave your votes for next week here.

at 11:44 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

Another track of Vantage Point has leaked out. A podcast from Les Inrocks features Oh Your God. Click here to download the entire podcast. Oh Your God starts at 0:51.
The podcast-host also announces a gig in the Zénith (Paris) at the end of november.


(thx to Denis)

at 07:17 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Here's a picture of the demo-tape Tom sent to Humo when dEUS entered the Rock Rally in 1992.

11 March 2008 at 20:05 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

One of the early dEUS-demo's has popped up on eBay. Bidding for No More Soda For Clarence starts from 130 euros.

at 07:56 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Tom is talking about his reading habits in Humo today. A pdf-version can be found here.

  • he's currently reading ‘Diary of a Bad Year’ by J.M. Coetzee
  • he likes to read in bed
  • ‘The Waste Land’ by T.S. Eliot is his favorite poem
  • he also suggests 'Making Movies’ by Sidney Lumet


10 March 2008 at 20:47 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

You can now also listen to Slow on the dEUS Myspace.

at 19:53 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

There's an interview with Tom and Stéphane in French rockmagazine Les Inrocks. Here's a short round-up:

  • Tom says he thinks Vantage Point is more open than Pocket Revolution due to the problems they had while recording Pocket Revolution
  • The album is called Vantage Point because they have so good memories of the recordings in their own studio (which is called Vantage Point too)
  • Most of the songs were written by Tom, but a couple of tracks are the result of jam-sessions
  • He always writes song with the live-aspect in the back of his head
  • They've played bigger halls during the last tour and they liked it, so he wrote more songs that would fit better in those rooms, although he hopes they will not be labeled as stadium-rock
  • His reference as a live-act is Queens Of The Stone Age since they manage to play well both in smaller rooms as in bigger halls or festivals
  • Nick Cave was a big influence writing Vantage Point
  • He and Mauro are learning to play piano
(thx to Gaëlle)

at 18:34 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

The gig in Paris (April 24th) is also completely sold out

at 16:29 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

You can now download the Slow-video in high resolution. Click here and leave your e-mailadress.

at 15:31 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

The Architect tops this weeks Arriba!-chart (Humo)

at 12:14 posted by Jean-Yves 1 Comment

According to the French blog, dEUS were recently in Saint-Ouen, for a video shoot. A video for The Architect maybe?

9 March 2008 at 20:30 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

The tourpage on dEUS.be says the gig in the Londen Scala on April 16th is sold out.

at 20:24 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

The Slow video is now also available on the official dEUS-Youtube Channel.


8 March 2008 at 13:00 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

Next tuesday there will be a Best of 30 years Rock Rally-compilation with Humo. I was hoping it would contain outtakes from the various Rock Rally-finals of the last 30 years, but I seems it's just an ordinary compilation with studio tracks. The compilation also contains a dEUS-song: Nothing Really Ends.


Too bad: it could have been a great occasion for a re-release of Song For A Jacket, the song that made it to the Rock Rally-compilation of 1992. It you want to read how the jury judged dEUS click here. And here's an article where Tom talks about their Rock Rally-experience.


at 08:57 posted by Bart Van Belle 2 Comments

Studio Brussel is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. One of the commercials features dEUS.


7 March 2008 at 11:02 posted by Bart Van Belle 7 Comments

A special newsletter by dEUS.be had a link to download a high-quality-version of the Slow-video. The video is a splitscreen from the band playing the song and footage from Luc Tuymans playing chess in a parc and the five angry looking girls dancing.

Here's what the band says about it in the newsletter:

The track Slow features the great Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife, her icy voice perfectly fitting the song. In the video 5 amazing young dancer girls represent Karin's part, resulting in a split screen video where you see the band playing and the girls dancing in our brand new Vantage Point studio in Antwerp.
The video will probably be available on the dEUS-Youtube Channel very soon.

If you didn't receive the newsletter, aim your browser to www.deus.be and subscribe it now!

at 10:53 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

The new dEUS.be has an easter egg. When you enter the site you see the studio. At the rightbottom corner there's a pair of shoes. When you click the shoe, you'll see a pic of 5 angry looking girls. It's probably those 5 girls who will be dancing in the Slow-video. The photo is by Charlie De Keersmaecker.

(thx to several people on ISR)

at 10:43 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Although a Bad Timing-video was more or less announced, it never came out. Luckily there's a great amateur-video for Bad Timing on Youtube. In case you don't remember: there's also an amateur-video for Sun Ra.



6 March 2008 at 19:33 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Next sunday Canvas will broadcast Tom did with Nick Cave. There's a small article in Humo this week where Tom talks about the interview.

  • he was not intimidated by the fact he was sitting in the same room as Cave.
  • Tom says he's no longer impressed when he sees some of his idols. He talks to them or he tries to avoid them.
  • The talked about autobiographic songwriting and the problem that every songwriter once comes to a point where he's bored to write about his life.

You can watch the interview next sunday at 20.55 hour. There's a trailer over here.



at 13:16 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

According to this website a 7"-version of Slow will be released on April 21st.

(thx to Bass Junkie on ISR)

at 06:32 posted by Bart Van Belle 2 Comments

The extended version of dEUS.be is online right now. Be sure to check the video-section for some footage of Tom in the studio working on one of the songs. That song was the opening track for the album at the time I heard it for the first time. It's called Oh Your God and according to the tracklist this song is no longer the first one on the album.

The site was designed by Piksel, who also did the site for Any Way The Wind Blows.

(source: Myspace)

at 06:26 posted by Bart Van Belle 3 Comments

The Architect is now available on the Belgian iTunes Music Store. The digital release contains no b-side (so far). Click here to buy The Architect.

If you're not living in Belgium you can switch from your local iTunes store to the Belgian IMTS by clicking the dropdown at the bottom of the store.

(thx to Igor)

5 March 2008 at 21:01 posted by Bart Van Belle 3 Comments

The holy grail for dEUS-fans (a Jack & Johny-version of Zea) is now for sale on eBay. Other rare stuff available at this moment:



at 20:31 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Studio Brussel had a small interview with Michaël Borremans about the Vantage Point-artwork. One interesting thing that wasn't mentioned before: the stain right before the P of Vantage Point is an unintended coffee stain.


You can re-listen the interview on the podcast.


at 16:21 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

The Architect entered De Afrekening, the listeners' chart from Studio Brussel on #17. Click here to cast your votes for next weeks. The song also entered Arriba!, a chart by the Humo-journalists at 5.

at 12:39 posted by Jean-Yves 0 Comments

Michael Borremans, The Good Ingredients, by Michael AmyAs you read yesterday, the cover art for dEUS' forthcoming album Vantage Point is a drawing by Belgian artist Michaël Borremans. Called "Two Circles", the drawing is part of a series entitled "The Good Ingredients". It's a lucky coincidence then that The Good Ingredients, a new book collecting his recent and less recent drawings, will be published in May by Ludion. The author is Michael Amy, and you can pre-order the book (which contains English and Dutch text) here.

Like his paintings, Borremans’ drawings look like solidified fragments of an indeterminate and elusive time. They introduce the viewer to a sombre universe, devoid of bright colours, in which characters do strange things or carry out bizarre rituals with a certain resignation. His detailed décors involve us in complex, surrealist scenarios that are set in an ambiguous world.


4 March 2008 at 21:30 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment


An article in Focus Knack gives us more info about the Vantage Point-artwork:
  • the cover of Vantage Point is a drawing by Belgian artist Michael Borremans
  • the drawing is called Two circles and belongs to a set of drawings called The Good Ingredients
  • The good ingredients shows a series of drawings which show hostages with their aggressors. Two circles, crosses and other geometrical figures appear on the ground, as the hostages lay down on the ground to obey the instructions of the hostage takers.
  • Two circles shows a bunch op people lying on the ground of a parking lot in front of three armed men
  • According to Borremans he normally refuses this kind of jobs, but he was honoured by the fact dEUS asked him
  • He suggested the drawing after he listened to the album
  • Borremans is one of Belgium's most succesful contemporary artists. Some of his works are shown in the MoMa (New York) or the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
  • He says he's a dEUS-fan since the beginning


at 21:13 posted by Bart Van Belle 2 Comments

There's another band picture on the website of Melt Festival. It's probably from the same shoot as the photo I use in the header of the blog. The pics are by Steve Gullick. Gullick worked for a bunch of bands in the past like Depeche Mode, Mogwai, My Morning Jacket and Liars. An extensive list is available on his Myspace.

at 20:51 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

The lyrics for The Architect are in this week's Humo. Click here for a pdf-version.

at 20:45 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Knack has also a contest running. If you mail a question for Tom Barman, you might win an autographed version of Vantage Point.

at 14:12 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Tom was interviewed in Move Your Ass on Dutch radio 3FM last friday. He talks about the recording of the new album.

  • Slow was picked as the single for The Netherlands, England and Scandinivia by the local record companies
  • The architect will be released in the other countries
  • About the guest appearance of Karin Dreijer Andersson: Tom knew she liked dEUS and he just sent her an e-mail to ask her for Slow.
  • Tom thinks Vantage Point is more open than Pocket Revolution

You can relisten the interview here.

(thx to Kevin)



at 14:00 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

If you're not on Myspace yet or you're not friends with dEUS yet, you might consider being added as the band’s friend right now since the band is announcing an exclusive gift very soon!

at 13:16 posted by Jean-Yves 0 Comments

Chicago-based webzine Pitchfork reviews Slow, with (again) a strong emphasis on the contribution of The Knife's Karin Dreijer Andersson. I think the guys there are all secretly in love with her.


"Slow" is the sort of moody, and, yeah, methodically-paced track you might've expected from latter-day Blur: buzzing "How Soon Is Now?" guitar oscillations to one side, brittle stabs on the other, with whirring drums, a mordant bassline, and singer Tom Barman's weary alienation between. Synths and acoustic guitar wash over a downbeat chorus: "We slept through a million years/ Lived through a million fears." Andersson's here in a supporting role, her Björk-via-Victoria-Bergsman flutter adding extra eeriness and frailty as much as harmony.


at 13:00 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

No dEUS-victory in Humo's Pop Poll this year. Tom was 9th in the category Best Belgian singer and dEUS made it to the 4th place in Best Belgian group.

3 March 2008 at 20:51 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

According to a press release from Melt Festival dEUS' appearance on Melt Festival will be their one and only German festival performance this year.

at 20:31 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

I've made a summary of the tourdates so far. Each gig has a link to the venue-website and a link to buy tickets. You can also browse to it through the Tourdates-item in the navigation. In the future I will update that page with the latest info (new dates, support acts, setlists,...). A graphical overview of the Vantage Point-tour is available on the tourmap.

And by the way: don't forget to add the gigs you're going to to your Facebook or Last.FM-events and to make plans with other fans on I Suffer Rock.

at 15:44 posted by Jean-Yves 1 Comment

In his Feb. 25 message, Tom announced that Vantage Point would contain a song called Smokers Reflect. But back in April 2005, he'd told us on deus.be that Pocket Revolution would contain a song by that very name!

The album is almost finished. Title to be confirmed.
It will feature 12 new songs, of which, at this stage, 9 are finished:
'Pocket Revolution', 'The Real Sugar', 'Firewinds', 'Sun Ra', '7 days, 7 weeks' and 'Smoker's Reflect' to name just a few of them.


Firewinds was eventually released as Include Me Out, but Smokers Reflect wasn't released. Will the "finished" version from 2005 find its way to Vantage Point?

at 13:55 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Stubru will air a couple of snippets from Tom's interview with Nick Cave for Spraakmakers today. You can watch the entire interview next sunday on Canvas at 8.55 PM.

at 09:45 posted by Bart Van Belle 2 Comments

It's now possible to pre-order Vantage Point at Amazon.com.

2 March 2008 at 20:45 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

Arthur and I have set up a separate forum at I Suffer Rock dedicated to the upcoming concerts. There's 1 topic for each date where you can discuss everything concerning that gig or make plans for pre- or after-show meetings.

at 20:33 posted by Bart Van Belle 3 Comments

As you have probably noticed I've pimped the layout of this blog. If you notice any problems on a certain browser, feel free to send me an e-mail.

at 20:30 posted by Bart Van Belle 3 Comments

Ryan did an attempt to write down the Slow-lyrics. Here we go:

Slow would be the tempo of the restless soul
You seem what a restless life can bring
Wait, and then wait until he's waiting for
They didn't see your everything
Slow would be the rhythm of the honey butt
Quick speed in the shatter of his eyes
And flowers you suppose will spread the words
Or how the world will slowly pass you by
Slow and tiredness of your control
And the moment is nearly standing still
And wait and not a second more
And face like a forbidden thrill

Gently behind the beat
We shuffle on ancient streets
The reverb of time
Is our vantage point
We slept for a million years
Lived through a million fears
We are not nervous
We will not ask for more
If you control I'm gonna slow too

Slow like the kissing of a lazy cheek
Like the minute and the deadline of the rush
And words, words waiting for you to speak
Or getting lost in your eternal crush

Slow would be the tempo of the restless mind
And see what a restless life can bring
And wait and then he waits until he's waiting for
Until the waiting can see your everything

Gently behind the beat
We shuffle on ancient streets
The reverb of time
Is our vantage point
We slept for a million years
Lived through a million fears
We are not nervous
We will not ask for more
Pawns of the troubled times
And kings of our petty crimes
The minds will function
With a small delay
See what the past has planned
The future's a beggar's hand
The more we understand
The slower our days
If you control I'm gonna slow too

1 March 2008 at 14:09 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

I'm planning to build a sort of dEUS-quiz in the near future. The plan is to launch a new quiz every two weeks (or every month). I will probably need some help finding enough questions. So if you have ideas for good questions or I you have some dEUS-trivia, just drop me a line. It would be nice if you would also add the answer (and three other possibilities).

at 13:38 posted by Bart Van Belle 0 Comments

dEUS.be reports that White Lies is confirmed as the support act at the Londen Scala on April 16th.

at 09:40 posted by Bart Van Belle 1 Comment

Mauro has written a song (in Dutch) for the comeback-album of Flemish singer Isabelle A. Other people who contributed include Luc De Vos, An Pierlé, Sarah Bettens and Sioen. The album will be released somewhere in May and will be titled De Macht Der Gewoonte.