Chitlin'
Fooks - Chitlin'
Fooks
Chitlin' Fooks
website
Behold, a tender and alluring country album, sung
by Bettie Serveert's Carol Van Dyk and collaborator Pascal Deweze. Lending a
hand are sundry musicians from the Antwerp, Belgium scene, and their exquisite
instrumentation is of the traditional variety: Carol and Pascal's voices, naturally,
plus acoustic and electric guitars, piano and Hammond organ, stand up bass and
drums, embroidered with pedal and lap steel, mandolin and violin, and more. An
album rich with the honest sweetness of classic Country & Western music and
modern Americana, it's apparent that these "lowland
all-stars" have searched their souls and discovered their collective unconscious
ringing with the spirit and soulfulness of the last half century's greatest country
artists.
Over the last few years Pascal immersed himself in "the
blues," most notably the "Mississippi Delta Blues," becoming enamoured
with legends like Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Jimmie Rodgers and especially
Leadbelly. Carol meanwhile, in preparing herself for her role in this project,
had her heart and mind wrapped around artists like Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn.
They lead off the album with a duet, "One Week
Later" by Kitty Wells & Webb Pierce, enabling Pascal and Carol to "set
the mood to quarter past country," and to croon and holler to their hearts
content. Included amongst the seven original tunes are four sweetly sung covers,
including a torchy rendition of The Flying Burrito
Brothers' "Juanita."
Chitlin' Fooks features Carol from Bettie Serveert,
Pascal Deweze from Sukilove and Metal Molly, and members of The Sands, Daan,
Mitsoobishy Jacson, Tom Barman, El Tattoo Del Tigre (a 30-piece Mambo Orchestra),
and Das Pop.
Although
British band like the Rolling Stones and the Animals were re-creating
American blues with great success in the '60s, country
music has proven much more elusive for Brits and Continentals alike. But the
Peter Bruntnell Combination's "Normal for Bridgwater" - a masterful
collection of folk and insurgent country released last year- indicated that a
number of musicians across the water were getting good at honky-tonking. Now
a duo from the Continent has mined a little deeper into country music's bedrock.
And while Bruntnell's album contains the odd misfire or dull path, the Chitlin'
Fooks self-titled debut is the most well crafted
album you'll hear this year.
A side project for Pascal Deweze (of the Belgian self-described "acoustic-electronica" band
Sukilove) and Carol Van Dyk (the voice of indie rock stalwarts and Holland's
most renowned guitar band, Bettie Serveert), the Chitlin' Fooks avoid all the
smugness and pedantry that has marred similar experiments in the past. The four
covers here are wisely chosen and wisely spread throughout the album's eleven
cuts, assuring us that the Fooks are at all times closely tethered to their antecedents.
The album opens with Gary
Walker's tear-in-my-beer lament, "One Week Later," and concludes with
a buoyant version of Jimmie Rodgers' "Mississippi Delta Blues," capturing
all the bump bustle f the Yodeling Brakeman's recording. Washington
Philips's "Mother's Last Words to Her Son" and Gram Parsons and Chris
Hillman's "Juanita" serve as the centerpieces and are, in many ways,
the album's musical totems, nurturing the Deweze/Van Dyk originals that make
this outing the true joy that it is. "How Many Times" and "Picture
Book Memories," are easily among the most brightly paced and quick witted
songs in recent memory, and the swaying "Homework for
Sale" exhibits all the melodic craftwork of a Tin Pan Alley standard. The
pop influence of the Fooks' other bands is extant here, but it's obvious from
the album's careful arrangements that "Chitlin' Fooks" is a labor of
love for Deweze and Van Dyk, rather than just hip posturing. While Deweze can
often sound like Paul McCartney doing "Rocky Raccoon," Van Dyk's delivery
is tone-perfect, showing a remarkable ear for country music's distinct rhythm
and phrasing, as in the chorus from "Seen It All" : "And tho'
I'm shattered, I will not fall / I seen it coming, I seen it
all."
Sounding like both a resilient prophet and a world-wearied stoic, the speaker
of "Seen It All" seems and apt standard-bearer for country music itself:
an art form that is constantly broken and reshaped to fit all circumstances,
but one that will still be very much alive when the dust
settles. -Seth Martin OXFORD AMERICAN
The rock-country twang of Chitlin' Fooks' self-titled debut could easily have
come from the Mississippi Delta, but it's actually the output of a pair of prominent
Dutch/Belgian indie-rockers. Bettie Serveert's Carol Van Dyk and Sukilove's Pascal
Deweze bring along a host of buddies to help them create a sound clearly influenced
by Gram Parson's early '70s fusion of country, blues, and rock. They even cover
the Flying Burrito Brothers' "Juanita," along side songs written by
Jimmie Rodgers and Kitty Wells. Despite the
derivative nature of the music on "Chitlin' Fooks" the charm of the
dual-vocal harmonies and stripped-down guitar tracks is undeniable. The album
is surrounded by the swirling pedal steel guitar and quirky vocal style that
is characteristic of many alt-country bands dotting the current musical landscape,
but the Fooks deftly avoid this label by creating music so soulful, it will make
American country revivalists green with envy. -Alex Naidus CMJ
This oddly named alt-country combo from Holland is an offshoot of two other oddly
name outfits, Bettie Serveert and Sukilove. Respectively lending Carol Van Dyk
(vocal, acoustic guitar) and Pascal Deweze (vocals, guitars) to the twang'n'tears
cause, neither band is that well-known on these shorts, although the Velvet-Underground-meets-Neil
Young-sounding Betties have earned a measure of indie underground respectability
over the past decade or so.
In any case, the Fooks were hatched during the recording of Private Suit, the
most recent Bettie Serveert album, on which Deweze guested. Bonding over a mutual
love of American country and folk tunes, Deweze and Van Dyk eventually found
time in their schedules to hook up with some top European musicians (including
pedal steel whiz Jeff Marinus) to record this free- wheeling, 11 songs collection
of covers and originals.
Highlights include Gary Walker's "One Week Later," originally made
famous by Kitty Wells and Webb Pierce, here rendered both sweet (but not saccharine)
and weepy (but not maudlin). The Flying Burrito Brothers' "Juanita" is
slowed down to torch tempo and given a Gram Parsons / Emmylou Harris treatment
courtesy Deweze and Van Dyk. Less successful among the
covers is Jimmie Rodgers' "Mississippi Delta Blues," gamely gussied
up with yodels and banjoesque mandolin but steering too close to Leon Redbone
novelty territory.
In terms of original tunes, the Fooks' low-key, laid-back approach means no one
breaks a sweat, but maybe that's the point. It's hard not to hum along with and
tap a foot to the rippling piano and pedal steel lines of "The
Battle," and the duo's gentle-on-the-mind harmonies wonderfully recall,
believe it or not, the 1960s pop hit "Here Comes My Baby," which Cat
Stevens wrote for The Tremeloes. Both the boozy, tragic waltz of "You Dream
of Him," and the perky Bakersfield country of "Seen It
All" are models of Nashvillian restraint that help keep the focus squarely
where it should be: on the vocals. In the throats of Deweze and Van Dyk, these
frequently sound more authentic than nine-tenths of the pop schtick emanating
these days from Music Row. -Fred Mills STEREOPHILE
The inspiration of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris is officially an international
phenomenon. How else to explain the surprisingly successful Americana harmonies
delivered from Northern Europe via Chitlin' Fooks? The voices of Holland's Bettie
Serveert and Sukilove (Carol Van Dyk and Pascal Deweze, respectively) have combined
with a handful of musicians from Antwerp, Belgium's music scene to deliver one
of the year's most satisfyingly mellow releases. From the mournful pedal steel
guitar moans of "One Week
Later" to the lullaby chorus of "Homework for Sale," Chitlin'
Fooks delivers an album of authentic American roots country and rock. Sure, there
is the occasional misstep. Deweze's voice, however, is a revelation. In chorus
with Van Dyk's more distinctive lilt on "the Battle" and "Picture
Book Memories," he absolutely shines. Chitlin' Fooks is at T.T. The Bear's
Monday. -Tom Kielty BOSTON GLOBE
Album: Chitlin' Fooks
Headquarters: Antwerp, Belgium
Sounds Like: Lovingly rendered old-school country duets, rich with Americana
vibes, even though the band are from Europe.
Claim to Fame: Carol Van Dyk came to prominence as a member of Belgian alterna-popsters
Bettie Serveert; her partner in Fooks, Pascal Deweze, is a member of both Sukilove
and Metal Molly.
Kindred Spirits: Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris, Lee Hazlewoods & Nancy
Sinatra
ALTERNATIVE PRESS
It's not exactly Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, but Chitlin' Fooks' Carol Van
Dyk and Pascal Deweze make a little honky-tonk magic of their own on their self-titled
debut. The Amsterdam-based vanity project (Van Dyk is full-time with gifted Dutch
indie-rocker Bettie Serveert, Deweze with Antwerp's Sukilove) would smack of
urban hipness if it weren't pulled off with such genuine sincerity. The album's
backing instrumentation - Deweze's guitar, Pieter van Buyten's stand up bass,
Jeff Marinus' pedal steel and Reinhard Vanbergen's mandolin - is ultra-traditional,
as are the band's arrangements, which reveal great respect for the country/roots
repertoire. In addition to covering the
Flying Burrito Brother's barroom standard "Juanita," Jimmie Rodgers'
old-timey strum "Mississippi Delta Blues," and the hokey Kitty Wells
and Webb Pierce ballad "One Week Later" van Dyk and Deweze try their
own hand at writing in the trad-country idiom. Van Dyk's "Picture Books
Memories" is a musical page stolen from Patsy Cline's infamous lose love
oeuvre, while Deweze's cross between John Lennon and George Jones - a honky-tonk
heartbreaker with a Beatles-esque piano motif.
While they're certainly not country performers, both van Dyk and Deweze clearly
enjoy the liberation from their indie rock constraints, each stepping up to the
mic and belting it out This act won't supercede their primary gig (and it is
a little strange to hear American heartland music coming from the Benelux indie-rock
scene), but Chitlin' Fooks is an honest and richly rendered performance that
deserves attention. -Bob Gulla CMT
"Ever since I was 16 years old, I've always wanted to play in a country
band. But back then, I didn't know anyone (in the Netherlands) who shared that
same feeling, " Carol van Dyk recently said of her reasons for forming Chitlin
Fooks, her Americana-via-Europe duo, with Sukilove's Pascal Deweze. Indie pop
lore would have it, then, that her lack of co-country dreamers and schemers led
van Dyk to form the pop-lite Bettie Serveert, the very band that -during the
recording of last year's "Private Suit" - eventually led her to sound-doodler
Deweze, who would finally allow her to follow her twangin'
aspirations. "So you could say that (forming Chitlin' Fooks is) like a dream
come true for me."
It's a happy-ended, full circle story that only sours when you hear the bittersweet,
tragic tales on the duo's excellent debut. Chitlin' Fooks are a
self-coined "quarter past country" band that - like the best love songs
- sound as dated as they sound timeless. It's fitting, too, considering that
on their album's 11 covers and originals van Dyk and Deweze sing of the same
trials of day to day livin' and lovin' that country music has always mined: regret
and remorse, broken trust and tears, drunken spats.
The results are like little else recorded in recent decades this side of Emmylou
Harris. The solemn, by-the-numbers covers of Gram Parsons and Washington Phillips
understandably give the album an age-old sound, but it's the duo's originals
that truly make "Chitlin' Fooks" sound so stunningly out of its time.
Immersing themselves in old Dolly and Loretta before recording, van Dyk and Deweze
laid down some striking harmonies and classic-sounding country that immediately
recall the '0s duets of Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra. So perhaps for van Dyk,
then, the country music itself has also come full circle: sounding like it was
recorded back when she first
discovered country music, "Chitlin' Fooks" mines the same country territory
that fueled her 16 year old fantasies. -Jimmy Draper SAN FRANCISCO BAY
GUARDIAN
a few questions to Carol van Dyk and Pascal Deweze
May 19th, 2001
1. A few months ago you, Carol and Pascal,
and some other Belgian musicians started playing & recording a whole bunch
of country songs. Where did the idea come from?
Carol: I guess the whole thing started during
the time we were working on the last Bettie CD Private Suit. That's when we found
out that our voices went very well together. So, with Fred (Bettie Serveert's
manager Fred Maessen), we came up with the idea to do this Country Project. The
original plan was to record maybe 4 songs, sort of like an EP. In February this
year, we started out working on a couple of songs and from there we just ran
with it, it all happened so quickly. Before we knew it, we had enough material
for a full length CD.
Pascal: Many years ago when Roxette was still
riding the Hit Parade, Fred started mentioning the idea to me that I should do
something country. Why not with Carol? We would lock ourselves up high in the
Ardennes in a little logcabin and record a small vinyl-EP in one cosy weekend.
Last year when Bettie played de Valkhofaffaire in Nijmegen, the idea was also
on my mind and me and Carol talked about doing 1 or 2 songs together before summer
2001. Both the new Metal Molly album and the Bettie Serveert album (on which
I did a little sound-doodling) were just recently released and some promo/touring
needed to be done. Last couple of years I had
emerged myself more and more into "the blues," most notably old "Mississippi
Delta Blues." I really like(d) Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Jimmie
Rodgers and especially Leadbelly. This also lead to the fact that the songs I
started writing became "smaller" and needed a different approach then
the Metal Molly approach one where we pay deep respect for good ol' pop production
and rock 'n' roll energy. Enter Sukilove august 2000. Carol meanwhile had her
heart and mind set it seems on real country music like Dolly Parton and Loretta
Lynn. You might wanna ask her about it. Fred started feeling the vibe, edged
us on and by end of January 2001 - when Bettie played De Nachten in Antwerp -
things started to take shape.
2. Besides a few covers you play a lot of songs
written by yourselves. Are these songs especially written for the
Chitlin' Fooks?
Carol: Some of them were, but some were already
written before we started Chitlin' Fooks. Pascal had written "You Dream
Of Him" and "Homework For Sale" (he had sent me a demo of these
2 songs & I thought they were really beautiful), and a couple of years ago
I wrote "The Battle." In a way we were facing the same "problem";
none of these songs were suitable for either Metal Molly or Bettie Serveert,
for that matter. "Not Enough Tears" and "Seen It All" on
the other hand were written specially for Chitlin'
Fooks. "How Many Times" was the first song we wrote together; some
years ago I came up with part of the song, but never finished it, because I didn't
know what to do with it. Ever since I was 16 years old, I've always wanted to
play in a Country Band. But back then, I didn't know anyone else who shared that
same feeling. So you could say that it's like a dream come true for
me.
Pascal: Some were, some weren't. Carol had
a
couple of songs lying around for years it seems like "Picture Book
Memories," "Roadmovies" and the quite country-ish "The
Battle" which weren't suitable for Bettie. 2 songs of mine, "Homework
for Sale" and "You Dream of Him" I was already playing with Sukilove.
All of these songs found their way into Chitlin' Fooks quite fluently. By the
beginning of February, Carol came over to my place in Antwerp for a couple of
days to meet the rest, rehearse a bit and especially to practice and write the
songs with just the two of us. In the evening we wrote the songs and the next
day we rehearsed them with the band. In this vein 'How
Many Times," "Not Enough Tears" and bits of "Seen It
All" and "Picture Book Memories" were (re)written. I guess the
pace of the writing and recording is audible on the record. Very nice
vibe.
3. During the try-out concert in Cafe Refrein
in Antwerpen you played 5 covers. Will these songs also appear on the album,
and is there a special reason why you chose for these particular
songs?
Carol: Yes, "Juanita," "One
Week Later," "Mississippi Delta Blues" and "Mother's Last
Words To Her Son" are all on the CD; the last 2 were songs that Pascal picked
out, and "Juanita" was one of my long-time favorites. I had been singing
that song for almost a year, during sound check and what not, but it only sounds
half as pretty if you sing it on your own! It's a classic duet. "One Week
Later" was a song that Pascal and Fred liked a lot. I must confess, the
first time I heard it, I didn't think much of it. But I changed my mind immediately
after we started singing it together. Actually, it was the first song that we
started working on last February and it ended up being the first song on this
CD.
Pascal: Everyone suggested some songs and
me
and Carol just plucked out the ones we liked to do. Carol very much liked "Put
It Off Until Tomorrow" by Loretta Lynn (which unfortunately is the only
recorded track which didn't make it to the CD) and especially "Juanita" by
Gram Parsons which was a starting point for this album.
Me I wanted to do "Mississippi Delta Blues" by Jimmie Rodgers because
of the beautiful melody-melancholy-line and "Mother's Last Words to Her
Son" by Washington Phillips because I'd been wanting to do this one since
97 but I never found an opportunity to do so. Kick off for the album is the
incredible "One Week Later" duet which gave me and Carol the excellent
opportunity to 'set the mood to quarter past country' for the entire album. It's
also a very nice song in which we can 'croon and holler' to our hearts desire.
Where's my poetry book?
4. Besides Carol and Pascal, there are a lot
more musicians involved in the recording of the album. How did you get in touch
with the other musicians and was it hard to find people for such kind of
project?
Carol: Maybe you should ask Pascal this question,
because he was the one who got the whole band together. I knew Stoffel already,
from Metal Molly, but also because he played with Bettie Serveert a couple of
times (as temporary bass guitar player and drummer on some occasions). The pedal
steel player Jef Marinus is well known in the Country scene, one of the best,
and a friend of Pascal came up with his name and phone number. It was quite surprising
how many people seem to like this kind of music. So, no, it wasn't hard to find
other musicians.
Pascal: Pieter Van Buyten (ABN, The Kids)
on bass and Stoffel Verlackt (Flowers for Breakfast, EL Tattoo del Tigre and
Metal Molly - even interim Bettie Serveert bass player and drummer!) are the
rhythmic foundation of Sukilove. Guy Van Nueten (Daan, Tom Barman,...) on keyboards
- I had already played with him in Mitsoobishi Jacson and the first version of
Sukilove. The album was recorded in his living room/rehearsal room on his (then)
still experimental ProTools-equipment. He's also a very 'classic' player and
very much suited for playing the country-doo-wop piano besides being a very loveable
person. Reinaerd from Das Pop had already delivered some extraordinary violin
parts on the Sukilove demos and was an obvious choice also. Jeff Marinus then
is a 50+ year old great guy who's considered the best pedalsteel player in Belgium.
And he is. He improvised with bursts of genius on 8 tracks and melded
the "feel" of the album together. So I guess it wasn't that hard -
they all seemed to live around the corner. Which in the case of Stoffel (who
lives one floor up from mine), Pieter (who lives two houses to the right) and
Guy (who lives 2 streets away) is actually literally the case.
5. This autumn the Chitlin' Fooks hope to perform
live at the CMJ Fest. Are there plans for more shows in the US and will there
be some sort of tour in the Netherlands and other European
countries?
Carol: Yes, if everything goes as planned,
Pascal and I will be doing some acoustic shows in July (on the east coast of
the US) and later in August we'll probably start touring in Belgium and the Netherlands.
We'll see what happens.
Pascal: Well I just heard Carol plans on having
her vacation in July in the USA. Seems I'm gonna tag along so together we can
do some promo for the soon to be released album. I think we will do some radio
shows, interviews and live-concerts (with band? don't know yet...) in Boston
and NYC (ask Carol once again); In Benelux we will start touring from the end
of summer and maybe do 20 to 30 live shows. Don't expect us to wear cowboy hats
though. Come and watch Carol chew prune tobacco though and see us spit live on
stage. Maybe. We'll see how the album is received by the public AND press, and
who knows...?
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