 |
Ghinzu | |
|---|---|
 Ghinzu live in Strasbourg, France, April 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Brussels, Belgium |
| Genres | Alternative rock |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | PIAS |
| Members | John Stargasm Mika Nagazaki Greg Remy Antoine Michel Jean Waterlot |
| Past members | Sanderson Poe Fabrice George Kris Dane |
| Website | http://www.ghinzu.com |
Ghinzu is a Belgian alternative rock band founded in 1999 in Brussels.
The band released its first album, Electronic Jacuzzi in late 2000 on their own label Dragoon. [1] Their sound is a kind of noisy rock, supported by a big and groovy rhythmic and some electronic touches while their subject matters are, among others, sex, partying, and drugs. The album was only released in Belgium and sold enough at least to make another one.
Their second LP, Blow, was released in February 2004 in Belgium. Things started to take off for Ghinzu at that time, with a sold-out gig at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels with fellow bands Girls in Hawaii and Sharko [2] and an album release in France, Switzerland, Germany and Scandinavia in September. Blow was a success, especially in Belgium and France where the single "Do You Read Me?" became a hit. [3] In June 2005, Ghinzu sold out the mythic Olympia music hall in Paris, [4] followed by concerts around Europe. They also played with Iggy & The Stooges in a Festival in France, Iggy Pop telling them after their gig: "You guys rock!". In the end, about 100,000 copies of Blow were sold across Europe. [5]
In November 2005, due to popular demand, their first album was re-issued with a different track listing. [6]
In 2006, the band wrote and recorded the soundtrack for the movie Irina Palm (directed by Sam Garbarski and starring Marianne Faithfull) which received a critical success at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2007. [7] More collaborations with cinema were to follow. In 2006, their song "Blow" was used as closing track for the movie Ex Drummer, by Koen Mortier (based on a novel by Belgian writer Herman Brusselmans). [8] Ghinzu songs also appear in Sky Fighters and Dikkenek.
Their song "The Dragster-Wave" from the album Blow, was used over the end credits of the 2008 movie Taken , as well as featuring in the film's trailer. [9] The movie was a success in America and around the world, which allowed Ghinzu to reach a wider audience.
Ghinzu's third album, entitled Mirror Mirror , was released on March 30, 2009, in Benelux, France and Switzerland. Mirror Mirror has been recorded during the previous two years in an office building in Brussels. It was then mixed in London by Klaxons and Libertines collaborator Nick Terry. Musically, the record has a wider and more direct sound than Blow. It also takes a more operatic rock approach, sometimes gathering together several songs into one same musical movement (as with "Mother Allegra", "Mirror Mirror" and "The Dream Maker" or with the three final tunes of the album).
The band started to tour Europe in spring 2009, playing several dates in France with Placebo as well as big summer festivals such as Rock Werchter, Eurockéennes and Paleo Festival. [10] In October 2009, Ghinzu played at Le Zénith in Paris [11] for the first time and in February 2010, the band played Forest National, the biggest venue in their hometown of Brussels. [12] The band also opened for Muse in Nijmegen, Netherlands, during their Stadium Summer Tour, on June 19, 2010. [13]
Mirror Mirror was then released internationally during summer 2010. On December 6, 2010, an EP of remixes of songs on Mirror Mirror was digitally released under the name The Mirror Mirror Remix EP.
On March 2, 2011, John Stargasm announced on his Twitter account that Ghinzu was working on a new album. [14] A couple of dates in France have been booked for spring.
| Year | Album | Charts | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR [15] | BE (FR) [16] | BE (VL) [17] | CH [18] | |||||
2000 | Electronic Jacuzzi | 181 | 95 | - | - | |||
2004 | Blow | 78 | 13 | - | - | |||
2009 | Mirror Mirror | 17 | 2 | 37 | 92 | |||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
James Newell Osterberg Jr., known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor, and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band The Stooges, who were formed in 1967 and have disbanded and reunited many times since. Often called the "Godfather of Punk", he was named one of the 50 Great Voices by NPR. In 2010, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of the Stooges. Pop also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, for his solo work.
a-ha is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Magne Furuholmen, and Morten Harket, the band rose to fame during the mid-1980s.
Suicide was an American musical duo composed of vocalist Alan Vega and instrumentalist Martin Rev, intermittently active between 1970 and 2016. The group's pioneering music used minimalist electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers and primitive drum machines, and their early performances were confrontational and often ended in violence. They were among the first acts to use the phrase "punk music" in an advertisement for a concert in 1970—during their very brief stint as a three-piece including Paul Liebegott.
Archive are a musical group based in London, England, whose music spans electronic, trip hop, avant-garde, post-rock and progressive rock. Over their 28-year history, the band has released twelve studio albums and enjoyed established success throughout Europe.
Metric is a Canadian indie rock band founded in 1998 in Toronto, Ontario. The band consists of Emily Haines, James Shaw, Joshua Winstead and Joules Scott-Key. The band started in 1998 as a duo formed by Haines and Shaw with the name "Mainstream". After releasing an EP titled Mainstream EP, they changed the band's name to Metric.
Belgian rock refers to rock music produced in Belgium or written and performed by Belgian musicians. It was originally inspired by rock and roll music from America and the United Kingdom in the 1960s, but later evolved to be influenced by other genres including alternative rock and electronic music. Because Belgium is a federal state with strong cultural identities - a French-speaking area in the southern region of Wallonia as well as a Dutch-speaking population in the north region of Flanders - Belgian rock music uses these two national languages, as well as the English language.
The Ancienne Belgique, abbreviated AB, is a concert hall for contemporary music in Brussels, Belgium. Located in the historic heart of Brussels, it is one of the leading concert venues in Belgium, hosting a wide variety of international and local acts. Some 300,000 people attend a concert at the "AB" every year.
"Wild One" or "Real Wild Child" is an Australian rock and roll song written by Johnny Greenan, Johnny O'Keefe, and Dave Owens. While most sources state that O'Keefe was directly involved in composing the song, this has been questioned by others. Sydney disc jockey Tony Withers was credited with helping to get radio airplay for the song but writer credits on subsequent versions often omit Withers, who later worked in the United Kingdom on pirate stations Radio Atlanta and, as Tony Windsor, on Radio London.
Sharko is a Belgian indie pop-rock band formed by David Bartholomé in 1997. Sharkoko released its first album, Feuded in 1999, on the indie Belgian label BANG! The album has also been released in France and the Netherlands and received a very positive press coverage. Helped on stage by guitar player Teuk Henri, Sharko toured those three countries in 2000 and gained a reputation as a live act. On this tour, they opened for acts like Muse, Venus, Arno, or Paul Weller.
The Kids are a Belgian punk rock band formed in 1976. They are Belgium's best known punk band and best remembered for their songs "Fascist Cops" (1978) and "There Will Be No Next Time" (1981). The band broke up in 1985 but reunited in 1996 for the soundtrack recording of the Belgian film Dief (Thief). They have been together ever since, playing concerts around the world.
Black Box Revelation is a Belgian garage rock band. It was formed in 2005 by vocalist and guitarist Jan Paternoster and drummer Dries Van Dijck. The band achieved great reviews with their debut Set Your Head on Fire and second album Silver Threats. In 2011, the band released their third album My Perception, including the hit singles "Rattle My Heart" and "My Perception".
Blow is the second album by Belgian rock group Ghinzu released in 2004. It features the single, "Do You Read Me?", and the song "The Dragster Wave" which was used in the 2008 film Taken and is included in its original soundtrack.
Jonathan Ivo Gilles Vandenbroeck, known professionally as Milow, is a Belgian singer-songwriter. Milow released his debut album, The Bigger Picture, in 2006 on his own label Homerun Records. The fourth single from that album, "You Don't Know," became one of the biggest hit singles of the year in Belgium in 2007, and The Bigger Picture stayed on the Belgian album chart for 110 weeks. However, it was not until his second self-released album Coming of Age in 2008, that Milow achieved major commercial success all over mainland Europe. The album peaked at number three on the German Album Top 50 chart, at number four in the Swiss Album Top 100, and peaked in the top twenty of many European charts. The album reached platinum in Germany and Switzerland, it reached gold in France, the Netherlands, and Belgium, and it sold over 500,000 copies in mainland Europe and Canada.
Channel Zero is a Belgian heavy metal band formed in Brussels in 1990. They are one of the best known heavy metal bands from Belgium. They disbanded at the height of their career in 1997, however in 2009, the band announced a series of reunion gigs starting in January 2010.
Mirror Mirror is the third album by Belgian rock band Ghinzu. It has been released on March 30, 2009 in Belgium, France and Switzerland. The first single from the record was Cold Love for Belgium, while Take It Easy was chosen for France. Mirror Mirror was later released internationally, during the summer 2010. It received a CD release in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and Continental Europe and a digital release elsewhere.
Bomba Estéreo is a Colombian band founded in Bogotá in 2005 by Simón Mejía. Their music has been described as "electro tropical" or "psychedelic cumbia".
The xx are an English indie rock band from Wandsworth, London, formed in 2005. The band consists of Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie xx, and formerly Baria Qureshi. They are known for their distinct and minimalist sound that blends indie rock, indie electronic, indie pop, dream pop and electro-rock and the dual vocalist setup of both Madley Croft and Sim. Their music employs soft, echoed guitar, prominent bass, light electronic beats and ambient soundscape backgrounds.
Polyphonic Size is a Belgian new wave band founded in 1979 in Brussels by Roger-Marc Vande Voorde. Mixing electric guitars and synthesizers with French and English lyrics, most of Polyphonic Size records were produced by Jean-Jacques Burnel, from The Stranglers.
Venus was a band created in 1997 by five artists hailing from Brussels and Belgium. The original goal of the band was to create an original sound that expressed different emotions through several instruments including guitar, violin, double bass, organ, percussion, synth, and a host of others. Also using the scenography talents of former member Patric Carpentier to create visual emotion through their live performances. They have had success with releases Beautiful Days and Wanda Wultz from their Capitol record label release in 2003, Vertigone. The single Beautiful Days was also a track featured in the film Immortel, which is based on the popular futuristic and Ancient Egyptian styled Enki Bilal comic series. The band's name is in reference to and inspired by the Velvet Underground track, Venus in furs.
Prime Circle are a South African rock band, based in Johannesburg. The band has released 7 studio albums and achieved either gold or platinum status in South Africa. The band has expanded its audience to England and Europe where they are represented by a German agent and have signed an international recording deal, performing at festivals and their own shows in Germany.
