It was the first country to announce its act for Eurovision 2020 back in October. Now, three months on from the announcement, we met up with Hooverphonic at OGAE Belgium’s annual New Year’s Party.
We talked about their song, the age difference between band members, favourite Eurovision entries and… seafood with Duncan Laurence!
Hooverphonic — Belgium Eurovision 2020 (Interview in English)
Hooverphonic is an established triphop band with 25 years of experience. The three-person group consists of founders Alex Callier and Raymond Geerts and Luka Cruysberghs.
The perfect Eurovision song.
Right after their participation was announced, it was also revealed that the Flemish broadcaster VRT had actually asked them to take part three times before. However, the trio always declined: they only wanted to go with “the perfect Eurovision song”.
Alex tells us more:
For me, there are only two ways: either it’s a song that is really emotional, that can give people goosebumps, or it’s something very energetic, something very in your face… We wanted to do something very vintage Hooverphonic and then we need strings. There is no way around it.
The age gap
The ages of the band’s members vary greatly. Alex Callier is 47, Raymond Geerts is 61 and Luka is 20. However, the group sees this as an advantage. Luka says:
It’s nice to have opinions from different generations. If the three of us like it, then you know there will be a broad audience that also likes it.
Alex adds:
It’s really inspiring to work with all kinds of different people, it’s good to keep your mind open.
Fan reaction
Hooverphonic is not just big in Belgium. They have a worldwide fan base. And the response of their fans to the Eurovision news has been great:
We didn’t know what to expect. In Belgium we are very popular, but worldwide we are an alternative band. We play all over the world. Our audience inside Belgium is really different then the audience outside Belgium. So we didn’t know what to expect. But most people responded really well. Sometimes, you’all always have those alternative snobs, but most of the time good reactions. We just love the Eurovision Song Contest.
Seafood with Duncan Laurence
Hooverphonic have done their homework. They’ve already meet up with the Netherlands’ Duncan Laurence for seafood (we thought it was coffee!). The reigning Eurovision champ gave them tips about participating the song contest, the most important of which was to “stay in your bubble”.
Eurovision preparation
The band will start practicing for Eurovision as soon as the song comes out, including at live gigs. However, for Luka, Eurovision has already started:
I already have singing classes and stage coaching now.
Regarding the preparties, they will definitely do Eurovision In Concert. However, the band is still considering what other events they will perform at.
Our @EsmaJansen, @DaphneWiwi and Mike had so much fun with Belgium’s #Eurovision act @HooverphonicOff at the OGAE Belgium New Year’s party ?? Interview coming soon to https://t.co/mlPmpv5g09 pic.twitter.com/VULbMbe13L
— wiwibloggs (@wiwibloggs) January 19, 2020
Favourite Eurovision entries
For those who don’t know: all three members of Hooverphonic are longtime and Eurovision fans. We where curious about their favourite entries, especially since they are an alternative band themselves.
Alex seems to have a things for the classics (France Gall, Vicky Leandros, Umberto Tozzi & Raf) but also for recent entries: Lake Malawi, Duncan and Salvador Sobral.
Luka turns out be an an ABBA fan (aren’t we all).
Raymond’s preferences remain a mystery, but we looking forward to finding out again.
Are you looking forward Hooverphonic’s song? Can they take Belgium back to the final? Let us know in the comment section below!
I’m very excited for this Band, they sound awesome and I know they’ll bring something unlike every other single they’ve released so far. They are right when saying that they wouldn’t have agreed unless they would’ve got the perfect song, and HONEY I know you will make it into my top 10 (top 1 maybe?)
GOOOD LUCK
That sounds really promising!
Alex said somewhere he didn’t like the drums at one point so they did it again but the vocals didn’t match so they did it also again and so on, resulting in 9 mixes and 3 or 4 masterings before they had the final song. He really is a perfectionist.
Remember that he is also behind Sennek’s “A Matter of Time”, which was pretty good until the live show.
That song could’ve been amazing, a sure fire top ten. It was Sennek herself who kinda sabotaged it.
this is good news! too often groups that were really great in the 90’s sacrifice too much of their style to stay current and the end result is like… darude 2019
I need to make an addendum to my comment on the ESCZ post by the way: if you told a Eurovision fan ten years ago that next year’s contest would be in the Netherlands, the two most hotly-anticipated national finals are from Australia and the Czech Republic, and everyone’s waiting to see if Italy can keep their hot streak going or if Romania can ever qualify again, you would be sent to a mental institution.
Same actually. But I hope the’ll prove us wrong
Raymond is so handsome
Also you can’t even imagine how incredibile glad I am that they don’t like the overrated Euphoria and HAVE SOME BALLS to say it publicly!! All my respect!
See, I love it when artists don’t base their acts solely around fitting in at Eurovision (like Jeangu) but Hooverphonic give me hope for the opposite reason. They’re trying to craft a Eurovision song, but they recognize that there’s nuance to the idea of a “Eurovision song,” and that acts like Salvador and Duncan are increasingly as common as acts like Verka or SunStroke Project. They can tailor to THAT trend, which is a good one, and they know their style isn’t dissimilar to that. Plus, they’re students of the game, and they’ve clearly done their research on Eurovision past… Read more »
Nah. I just read a lot of books and blogs about hip-hop.
I love their music. I am super excited for what they will offer in Rotterdam
Imagine if Belgium wins in the Netherlands. That’d be something!
I’m rooting for them to do well. Especially since everyone assumes the Walloon entries are always inherently better than the Flemish ones when we are in the exact same position we were in ten years ago: Belgium, after a bunch of non-qualifications, needs to step up its game, and VRT has to figure it out. Ten years ago, they sent Tom Dice, qualified, and finished in the top ten. Best Flemish result to date. I want them to do it again, but even better. VRT have basically said that jealousy of their Dutch neighbors and the top-five finishes Walloon entries… Read more »
Really hope that Belgium gets the trophy this year (or Italy).
Belgium and Italy are so long overdue to another win after 34,and 30 years respectively. Of course, I ‘d like to see a country get their first win (Iceland and Czech Republic if they choose the right song), but I wouldn’t mind Belgium or Italy winning again.
I gotta hear that song and those strings. Naturally, I’m rooting for the ‘really emotional’ option and the strings indicate that they chose that one. So much teasing, so many empty words from all over Europe and beyond, but Alex Callier actually has the potential to deliver. I am excited.