Waning Souls Waxing Lyrical

by Emily Rayner

Stephen Dewaele of Soulwax is in a right tizz. He is running late, fifteen minutes, his hands are occupied with record bags and his mind is occupied with last minute pleas for the guest list for tonight's gig.

"I am so sorry, the train station was closed at Tottenham Court Road and we got lost, I am never late. I apologise."

There is a sweet vulnerability to his occasionally halting English. Stephen's native tongue is Flemish, a language with lots of guttural gurgling and quick retorts. Stephen is not in the business of wasting words, yet when he talks it's as if he's sweeping you away for a waltz.

He sings sentences, foxtrotting words along in time to your heartbeat, tipping you upside down at the conclusion of his statements. It's safe to say that Stephen is a true knight in shining armour, worthy of a place at the round table of musical chivalry.

His younger brother ambles in behind him, pulling up a seat at the table and beeping his text messaging service on his mobile. "I am sorry, I will just finish this, you see I promised a girl at MTV a place on the guest list. I will only be a second."

Keeping up with seconds lost and minutes gained is enough to make you lose your mind. But for Soulwax this madness has been an everyday occurrence since the beginning of their tour, two and a half years ago.

Their second album, 'Much Against Everyone's Advice' (PIAS) has had a staggered release schedule, meaning that it was released and toured in Europe 18 months prior to its release in the UK. The band had to get back on the bus and dig out their wellies to partake in the UK 'summer of mud' festivals, which have granted Soulwax household name status. Their gig at The Electric Ballroom, Camden is totally sold out.

"Because of England going well, we are selling many more albums in other countries, now we have to go back to America. But next month we are stopping, we are writing another album. For us, this album is two and a half years old and we have a feeling we can progress more musically."

Stephen sounds exhausted, and David rubs tired eyes beneath his Beck-ish mop of hair.

"This album is a never ending story." David slumps back in his chair and stares off into space.

To punctuate his fatigue the 'Soulwax' backdrop for the stage smashes to the floor and a record continues to skip in the DJ booth. The roadies bark Flemish obscenities and hoist the backdrop back up. You get the feeling it's ground-hog day.

David formed the band originally, with bass player mate, Stefaan Van Leuven, Stephen decided to pen some lyrics and before they knew it Soulwax was born.

"It's a very unspectacular story," shrugs Stephen. "We've always been surprised by the success. It's been going for six or seven years now. Originally it wasn't really serious. It was more of a hobby. But the last three years we've been taking it very seriously."

Soulwax blend a hurly burly mix of mad elctronica, rocking Led Zep guitar riffs with some psychedelic experimentation in fun funkadelia. They have been known to do the odd cover of Nik Kershaw's 80s hit 'Wouldn't it be good?' and Prince's 'Pop Life' has had its place on the Soulwax stage.

Stephen explains the reasoning behind the song's inclusion in the set. "We thought it was a really good song. There are a lot of fans that haven't heard of Nik Kershaw and they think it's our song... It's very good for us!" David laughs… "No, Stephen, it's very good for Nik Kershaw!"

Soulwax are a band with a firm tongue-in-cheek take on the rock n roll lifestyle. "It really helps you as a band not to take yourselves too seriously. The whole cliché rock n roll thing. Band, stage, hotel, groupie, backstage… whatever. You have to go a different way and Spinal Tap helped us not to fall into the same mistakes! We're big DVD freaks. So we got an advance copy of the re-mastered version of the movie. We were thoroughly into it. They put an extra hour on. They've done it really well and I think it's very real life!"

The influence of the spoof rockers on Soulwax goes deep. Outside the front of The Electric Ballroom, indie girlies and fannish boys line up with eager excitement whilst they wait for the boys to come out and sign CDs and T-shirts.

"Most of them are really nice people; I try to talk to them if I have the time. I think they just want to be friends with you and talk to you and see what you're like in 'real life'. It's ok; you just can't take it too seriously. We try to show them that we're not any different to anyone else". Stephen's sweetness makes you want to take him home to meet your mother.

Fame is something that may not have come as such a shock to the Dewaele brothers. Their father Zaki is an extremely influential Belgian radio personality and Stephen has a long history of involvement in the media industry, having worked on various comedy sitcoms, writing and directing.

Stephen points out that, "creatively it helps you because you're working with images and now we're working with sounds. It's similar to some extent".

However the title of the current album, 'Much Against Everyone's Advice' suggests that David and Stephen did not take the route to fame through association.

"If our Dad hadn't done what he did, we would have done Soulwax anyway. It has to be from within you. The title points to the fact that we've done this entire album; the artwork, the music, everything, and we've done it from what we're feeling. That was sometimes against other people's advice. It can be good advice and bad advice. You get people saying 'you should do more of that', and fans coming up saying, 'why don't you do that again?' But we always do what we feel is good. The moment we're not having fun anymore, when it's becoming a routine, then we'll change it, as it won't be as spontaneous as what we're doing now. We're not a rock band, we're not a pop band, and we're not a big beat band. We're just Soulwax. It would be cool to just keep going so as people would say, 'there's Soulwax and that's their thing'."

David stops his text messaging and nods at his brother in agreement. "The thing is that any small success as a band that we have had, we always feel that we've done it alone. It hasn't been through the record company pushing. It's not because we were signed to a record label that we have achieved so much. It's a bigger reward, like when we sold this venue out we know it's because people like us. We've done the festivals, we have toured the whole country, and we've been DJing. It's been hard work, but we've achieved what we have wanted."

But the pressure to achieve the same success with a follow-up album must weigh heavy on Soulwax's back. After constant touring and the playing of old material the band are itching to try something new. Stephen points to the new direction of the band.

"We keep growing and changing, but we wanted to stop touring this record five or six months ago and it's been going on ever since. We could refuse to do this, but we're thinking, how many chances in your life do you get to do a sold out tour in the UK in front of people who really go mad? But on the other hand there's this amazing frustration in that we want to make a new album, and make new music… it's quite strange. I think people and fans would like us to make the next 'Much Against Everyone's Advice Part 2'. But I think that is not interesting for us, so we want to try and make something that we think is good and hopefully they will like it. I can't see it being too different that everyone will hate it. I can't see us doing Irish folk music with techno thrown in!"

With that, Stephen's phone starts trilling, and David's messages are being returned.

Stephen laughs, "It is always this way, an hour before the gig starts, and all of a sudden everyone wants to come along, everyone is your best friend, why couldn't they call me last week or yesterday. It's always last minute."

Seconds and minutes are precious when you're working against the clock, but Soulwax should realise that they are timeless.

They are a band that is truly worth the wait.