Love Substitutes, The
Meet The Love Substitues While The House Is On Fire
Four musicians from one of the richest and most eccentric corners of the Belgian underground, bringing together decades of experience across dEUS, Kiss My Jazz, Evil Superstars, Dead Man Ray, Gore Slut, iH8 Camera, A Clean Kitchen Is A Happy Kitchen and a bewildering network of solo projects, collaborations and experimental groups. There is, of course, an obvious dEUS connection. Rudy Trouvé was the original guitarist in dEUS. Craig Ward subsequently replaced Rudy. Mauro Pawlowski later replaced Craig. Bert Lenaerts was soundman for The Smashing Pumpkins. Amongst other things. Three musicians who successively occupied the same guitar position in Belgium's biggest alternative band eventually found themselves in the same band. By the time The Love Substitutes came together, Rudy, Craig and Mauro had already established extraordinary and highly individual careers of their own. They had crossed paths repeatedly within Antwerp's remarkably fertile musical underground, including through Kiss My Jazz, long before The Love Substitutes brought them together in the same four-piece in 2004. Another important part of the equation is that Rudy, Craig and Mauro all contribute vocals across the band's music. There is no single frontman, no dominant songwriting personality and no fixed musical template. The three voices bring three distinct approaches to melody, lyrics and songwriting, adding enormously to the variety running through both albums. At the time the band described themselves as "Death folk artwank." MEET THE LOVE SUBSTITUTES WHILE THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE (2004) The first Love Substitutes album is often remembered for its noise, improvisation and sheer unruliness and being recorded in a day and a half. There are primitive riffs, abrasive guitar experiments, psychedelic excursions, extended improvisations and moments where it sounds as if the whole recording studio might collapse in on itself but wrapped inside this there are moments of dishevelled pop perfection such as Death Folk Sailor, Open and Shanty. Mastered specifically for vinyl by Uwe Teichert (Public Enemy, dEUS, Placebo) he mastered the first time round and the same people who did the CD layouts for both albums were happy to do the vinyl such is the love for this music 20 years later.