DANS DANS

By the time Dans Dans released their self-produced, untitled debut album in 2012, the group had already been a fixture on the jazz café circuit in Flanders in Brussels for a number of years. The album proved to be an instant underground success and would soon become a cult classic, with the original run of five hundred copies selling out in no time. Their highly distinctive, intuitive mix of musical styles, their unexpected way of making the music of others their own (from jazz originals to a song by Nick Drake) and the intensity of their ever-imaginative live shows instantly caught the attention of discerning music lovers, journalists and promoters.

There's a case to be made that Dans Dans even played a key role in breaking down the wall between the Belgian jazz scene and the pop/rock circuit (years before pop journalists began referring to a New Wave of Belgian Jazz). Meanwhile, with their distinctive sound and riveting performances, the band soon attracted a highly diverse audience, creating links between various outposts of the Belgian music scene along the way.

This was followed by three more LPs (‘I/II’, ‘3’ and ‘Sand’) and two live recordings (a 10-inch and a cassette), and well-received appearances at Cactus Festival and Pukkelpop, as well as Gent Jazz and Jazz Middelheim. Time and again, Dans Dans have confirmed their reputation as one of the most unique and exciting bands to come out of Belgium. In recent years, the group has been touring throughout Europe, garnering enthusiastic reactions beyond the Belgian borders as well.

Since 2012, the first album became a sought-after collector’s item among vinyl enthusiasts. After years of hounding by their fans, Dans Dans decided to reissue it in 2018, celebrating the reissue with a short but sweet tour of venues in Belgium and the Netherlands. Performances at which they've played their debut album in full, along with a selection of their extensive back catalogue, a real Dans Dans blowout.

On the 23rd of April 2021the trio released their fifth album ‘Zink’, again via Ghent based independent, Unday Records. Producer Christine Verschorren (Philippe Catherine, Ivan Paduart) accentuates the music's wondrous fluidity throughout ‘Zink’; the intriguing interplay; the subtle ties; the deep layering. Musical styles and influences are being blended organically and sublimated into what can only be called Dans Dans-music. “This is no fusion, no rock or jazz or ambient. This is the sound of the searching, intuitive human; of a timeless, mysterious dream; of the heart, the gut and the soul,” says Dockx.

After that album release and a consecutive tour shattered by the pandemic, they thought creating new music would be the best way out. At the tail end of 2021 the unholy trinity that make up Dans Dans since 2012 – yep, that’s a ten year anniversary! – decided to turn setbacks into sound blasts, grief into grooves. Rehearsals were planned. New music was made. And before you know, a studio was booked. This is how an instrumental corona-album happened. Not one of contemplation through isolation or new found domestic bliss, not your usual, subdued track record of socially distant, monotonous times. The new album‘6’ (30.09.22 - Unday records) might be a reaction to all of that, but it’s definitely more...

From garage jazz, psychedelic blues and ecstatic noir soundtracks to spacey rock-‘n-roll: a lot of labels get thrown at Dans Dans and they’re all appropriate to a certain extent.

Bert Dockx: Guitar, Cassettes
Fred Lyenn Jacques: Bass, Baritone Guitar, Synths
Steven Cassiers: Drums, Synths, Percussion