Awaken (band)


Awaken is an underground rock band / indie music project based in Belgium. They have released two official albums, numerous demo tapes and web-only singles since their early days in 1988.
Not related to the modern Belgian scene at all, Awaken gained interest from Vietnamese people, after the release of Vietnamese song, "Chú Mèo Ngủ Quên", and in Japan with the virtual EP "別府NIGHTS". Recently, a cover of Vietnamese children song "Rửa Mặt Như Mèo" has been recorded and heard on the Vietnamese internet, though not officially released. Since 2005, Awaken is part of the team on the indie Japanese label It's Oh! Music, based in Miyazaki city.
WWW gilles-snowcat.com

Name

The name AWAKEN means "a matter of bubbles", according to the Japanese translation:

Genre

AWAKEN's style mixes disco beats and progressive structures, karaoke arrangements and heavy sounds, Belgian new beat rhythms and romantic new wave. The instrumentation is often focussed on keyboards and electronic sounds though electric guitar and bass guitar are more audible in recent songs.
AWAKEN's latest songs have been influenced by various places in Japan, Vietnam and the rest of the world : "The Train Is Leaving Kokura" mentions Kokura and Usa, "Beppu Nights" happens in Beppu, known for its hot springs, "Wasabi Kiss" describes the peninsula of Shuzenji, "Yanagigaura" evoques the feeling of loneliness in the small city of Yanagigaura and "As A Start : Cà Phê And Pizza" is an imaginary trip from Italy, Vietnam and Japan. The 2009 single "My Last Evening In 大分" / "Chase Around 大分駅" is based on Gilles Snowcat's own memories of the city of Ôita, Japan.

Musicians

Being a project more than a band, different musicians appear following the recordings of the band, some as members and some as guests.

Present musicians (members and guests)

Past musicians (members and guests)

  • Fabien Remblier : lead voice and bass guitar
  • Ced Mattys : bass guitar
  • , Cedric Hamelrijck, Mike Wolf and Yves Larivierre : guitar
  • Karo VR : guitar and voice
  • 小西順子さん, Ptit Bout, Julie Absil, Lionel Meessen, Amy Kay, Jenny Quinn, Gautier Elocman, Joëlle Yana, Ambre and Bridge : lead voice
  • Gina Mainardi, 猪瀬悠理さん, みゆさん, 五味田敬子さん, 福地麗さん, 森紀和子さん, Sophie de York, Evelyne, Anna-Maria and Orely : harmony voice
  • Floris VDV, Laetitia VDV and Carla : spoken voice
  • Socre : rap voice
  • Greg Revel : programming
  • Hervé Gilles : keyboards
  • Aurélia Thirion : keyboards and harmony voice
  • Vincent Trouble : accordion
  • Philippe Tasquin : violin
  • Elke P : drums
  • Pol X : guitar, drums and drum machine

Collaboration

  • Though independent, AWAKEN is collaborating with Japanese label It's Oh! Music and appears on J-pop singer Koiko's CD Vitamin!.
  • In 1999, AWAKEN was invited twice on stage to perform the song "Last Days Of The Century" with its creator Al Stewart.
  • French TV actor Fabien Remblier recorded several songs with AWAKEN in 2000 and was supposed to be part of the 20th anniversary single in 2008.

Repertoire (original songs and covers)

AWAKEN mixes original songs and covers, a similar attitude to Manfred Mann and Vanilla Fudge earlier.
Artists that have been covered by AWAKEN include:

Nekokawa (猫川 - Dòng Sông Mèo)

AWAKEN has a side-project named NEKOKAWA since 2002, focussing on the ambient side of its music. NEKOKAWA is 猫川 in Japanese and Dòng Sông Mèo in Vietnamese.

Discography

LPs

EPs

  • Beppu Nights
  • This Mouth...
  • How Many L Were In Your Name? / My Last Evening In 大分 / How Many L Were In Your Name?
  • ''Yanagigaura''

Singles (non-exhaustive listing)

  • "One Wild War"
  • "山葵KISS"
  • "五本木の星"
  • "DRUNKEN熊"
  • "When Alena Entered The Quiet Room"
  • "Chú Mèo Ngủ Quên"
  • "As A Start : Cà Phê & Pizza"
  • "Áo Dài Màu Hồng" / "Xúp Sô-Cô-La"
  • "I Know Time Is Passing By..." / "別府NIGHTS" -disco take-
  • "Riding The Yellow Line Gives Vibrations"
  • "The Blue Hanger" / "Don't Worry Em Mèo " / "Riding The Yellow Line Gives Vibrations"
  • "My Last Evening In 大分" / "Chase Around 大分駅"
  • "Mardi Gras Station"
  • "バレた！" / "エレガントに" / "Three Kinds Of Milk "

Tapes

  • Numb
  • Phase 2 : Scrappy
  • Zéro Sur Dix, Encore Raté !
  • ''Awaken 3 : Blurp !''

Vintage and rare songs (non-exhaustive listing)

  • "Polygonal Mirror"
  • "Sandrine"
  • "Interlude 6"
  • "Memories Of A Teenage Cat"
  • "Misty Conclusion"

Contribution to tribute albums

''Party In Lyceum's Toilets''

Party In Lyceum's Toilets is the second album by the music project Awaken, released in 2001. This double CD features original songs and covers.

History

While its predecessor, Tales Of Acid Ice Cream, was completed in one studio only, Party In Lyceum's Toilets was recorded in a portable studio that was brought along to meet several musicians in Belgium and France. The first takes come from 1999, as the album was recorded rather slowly.

Controversy

Despite his efforts to introduce the new Awaken as a band, leader Gilles Snowcat fails, as the booklet details show that the quartet hardly plays together on more than six of the 41 tracks. The main band is then dubbed by 12 additional musicians. In some songs Snowcat plays alone or only with guest musicians, which caused anger from the main singer and the lead guitarist. Apart from the keyboardist, none of the musicians had played on the previous album Tales Of Acid Ice Cream.

Other information

  • The album was due to be released in September 2000, then as more songs were added it was postponed to January 2001 but then technical problems made its actual release happen on Valentine's Day.
  • Being influenced by the 33 rpm era, Awaken divided the two CDs into virtual sides. As a tribute to Earth Wind & Fire, each "side" of the volume 1 starts with a short piece as interlude, except the side 4.
  • The sides 1 and 2 were dedicated to regular songs, side 3 to more experimental pieces and side 4 to early Awaken songs from 1988 but recorded properly in 2000.
  • The song "Bonnie Parker Rêve" was written by a French composer whose family name was the same as Snowcat's first name, which induced some confusion from listeners. It is the only original Awaken song on this album that does not feature Gilles Snowcat in the writing credit.
  • The song "Four Dreams Suite" starts with the noise of a Porsche 911's engine and ends with musical bits recorded in 1988. The song itself is a new take from 2000, since no studio version had been recorded before.
  • The CD2 is only made of covers, some of them being interludes and into a conceptual shape named "Dark Dream Opera".

Track listing CD 1 (original songs)

  • side 1
  1. Interlude: "Misty Conclusion"
  2. "I'll Disagree"
  3. "Cold As My Heart"
  4. "Carla's Dream"
  5. "Neons Of Lyceum's Toilets"
  • side 2
  1. Interlude: "'The True Story Of Maïté D.H."
  2. "Down The Drain"
  3. "Dead In A Subway"
  4. "Cutting My Loved One"
  5. "Spleen Fourteen"
  • side 3
  1. Interlude: "Ellen's Orange Room"
  2. "Lycée Nase"
  3. "Bonnie Parker Rêve"
  4. "Britney and Barry"
  • side 4
  1. "Electric Time"
  2. "Four Dreams Suite": ''i. Günz Over The 'A'; c) Nine Elements Of Life) ii. Polygonal Mirror iii. Rising Forest iv. The Test v. Sweet Wave Of Ice Cream vi. Out Of The Flowerwall vii. Tygersmile viii. Interlude 6 ix. Sandrine x. 8888 xi. Subliminal Mountain xii. The World Where Bears Never Lock The Door xiii. Cucumber Phone xiv. Picture From An April's Dream xv. Lady S xvi. The Last Escape Of Lady S xvii. Dark Spring xviii. Four Dreams Epilogue''

Track listing CD 2 (covers)

  • side 1
  1. "One Caress"
  2. "Eesom"
  3. "Send My Body Home"
  4. "One Thing" / "Best Kept Lies"
  • side 2
  1. "L.A. Is My Lady"
  2. "Run Out Of Time"
  3. "You're Really Out Of Line" / "Golden Age Dreams" / "I'm Gonna Love You" / "Heart of Me"
  • side 3
  1. "Nothing Else Matters"
  2. "Chrysalide" / "Open The Kingdom" / "The Dance"
  3. "Sweet Thing"
  • side 4 : "A dark dream opera in 12 acts"
  1. "Koyaanisqatsi" / "Shandi" / "This Is Love"
  2. Interlude: "Clouds And Rain"
  3. "In Search Of England"
  4. "Tyger" / "Everybody"
  5. "Sweet Dream Machine" / "Come Into My Life" / "Love I Never Knew You Could Feel So Good"
  6. "Something I Should Have Known"
  7. "Taking It Back"
  8. Interlude: "Jazzy"
  9. "Young Girls"
  10. Interlude: " Once Upon A Time"
  11. "Only The Fool Survives"
  12. "Hearts To Heart" / "Moonwalk"
  13. "Here Today"
  14. "The Candidate"
  15. "Until..."

Musicians

  • Lionel Meessen : voice
  • Cedric Hamelrijck : guitar, additional drum programming
  • Julie 'Cunégonde' Absil : voice
  • Gilles Snowcat : keyboards, machines, bass guitar, voice, additional acoustic guitar, drum programming, tapes

Guest musicians

  • Carla : dream voice
  • Fabien Remblier : voice, bass guitar
  • Paul G : guitar, voice
  • Socre : rap voice
  • Patrick Laplagne : guitar
  • Mike Wolf : guitar
  • Orely : voice
  • Anna-Maria : voice
  • Evelyne : voice
  • Hervé Gilles : keyboards and programming
  • Laetitia Van der Vennet : spoken voice
  • Floris Van der Vennet : spoken voice

Design

Gilles Snowcat, Awaken, Patrick Laplagne, 1030, Peter Clasen.

Availability

Online. Catalog number : awalp-002

Outtakes

Three songs had been completely recorded but finally dumped :
  • "Dream Shapes On A Night Movie" : a progressive dance track.
  • "Interlude : Still Today / I'm 9" : an interlude that was supposed to open the side 4 of CD1, but rejected for timing reasons.
  • "Electric Time" : an alternate version, played and sung by Snowcat only, that was rejected to make place for a totally different take played by the whole group.
Other songs have been worked but never fully recorded : a cover version of Marillion's "The Party" and Yes' "Big Generator" being on the list. Other Awaken songs were planned to appear but not chosen on the final list and not even recorded at all. Most of the tapes have been deleted, which means a future remix without the songs fading out has become impossible to do.

Reviews

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  • : mention of AWAKEN's covers of the Bee Gees' "Until..."