before/after: Hellvete on tour
one of the nicest -musical- surprises of the past few months was ‘De Gek’, the vinyl debut of Hellvete. a great blend of fuzzy drones, shoegaze, glooming electrical folk, and singer-songimprovising. we saw him opening for Little Claw last week, and can fully recommend his live-shows as well.
before leaving on a two week european tour, we asked glen steenkiste, aka mr hellvete a couple of questions. and we’ll ask more as he returns.
- your shows seems to involve a lot of improvised elements. do you start with a setlist, or do you make everything up on the spot?
It’s a bit a mixture of both. I don’t have a fully prepared set, but I always have an idea in my mind to work with, like a certain open tuning or a riff. In that way I can adjust the show to the setting, the crowd, the other bands playing, … But the set isn’t written down or anything. There’s a lot of room for ideas and vibes that come along while I’m playing. In that way every show is different to the previous one and improvisation is involved.
- if i’m correct, this is your first hellvete-tour. any ideas on what to
expect?
I only played a handful of shows over the last couple of years and only one in an other country than Belgium, so I don’t know really what to expect. I’m already happy if some people show up and that I play good sets. I don’t expect much more than having a good time with friends, playing music and get out of the daily rat race for 2 weeks.
- who else is in the van with you?
I’m touring with Bear Bones, Lay Low and Sylvester Anfang II. That makes 7 people in total. Besides me the other people in the van are Tommy (of kraak fame), Ernesto (aka, Bear Bones, Lay Low), Vomit Fons (of Penguins Know Why fame), the allmighty Father Sloow (the CEO of Sloowtapes), Willhammer (our ossicilation and percussion wizz kid) and Bram, better know as Ignatz. That’s for the first part. From Berlin on we will be with 5 people on the road. But that’s okay. SA has always been a very open band with people coming and going as they like. Even on tour… hahaha…
- apart from the hellvete set, you’ll be playing every evening with
Sylvester Anfang II as well. What are the best and the worst things about
doing two shows per evening?
I never played 2 shows on one night, so I can’t say what’s fun about it and what’s not. Playing 28 shows on 14 days time looks crazy. As long I don’t get blisters on my fingers it will work out I think. Ignatz and Ernesto already did it on previous tours, so… There are things way worse than touring Europe with friends and have to play 2 shows every night. :-)
all shows: hellvete + bear bones lay low + sylvester anfan II:
April 3rd: La Suite, Paris, France
April 4th: Le BPM, Nantes, France
April 5th: Handclapping Girls, Clermont-Ferrand, France
April 6th: Grrrnd Zero, Lyon, France
April 7th: Cave12, Geneve, Suisse
April 8th: MusikVerein, Nürnberg, Germany
April 10th: Chapeau Rouge, Prague, Czech Republic
April 11th: Leipzig, Germany
April 12th: Madama Claude, Berlin, Germany
April 13th: Utmarken, Göteborg, Sweden
April 14th: Aarhus, Denmark
April 15th: Kristiana, Copenhagen, Denmark
April 16th: TAC, Eindhoven, Holland
April 17th: Ffus, Stuttgart, Germany
