Jeugdbrand is a Belgian / Icelandic band consisting of Belgian visual artist Dennis Tyfus and all-round drummer Jeroen Stevens, joined by Icelandic artist and electronic musician Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson (Stillupsteypa). On their latest LP »Delayed for Repetitive Reasons«, they collaborate with Italian percussionist Valentina Magaletti. Their album is the first release on Stoma Street Verlag, run by German musicologist Neo Müller.
skug: »Delayed for Repetitive Reasons« is a good album. Funny title too. I saw it was recorded in one day, in Antwerp in 2023. Can you tell me how that day of recording went? How do you remember that day?
Dennis Tyfus: It was a glorious day at Studio Extra Shower! Possibly the strangest studio we ever visited. Much like at a swinging pool, you have to go through some sort of cleansing shower / bath before entering the actual studio space. This stops a lot of artists from recording there, I guess. One has to unload and then get undressed, get dressed again, et cetera, seems to be a lot of fuzz over nothing. But Brutus, the studio owner, is a clean freak of sorts, he is very meticulous, and everything needs to be his way or no way, so we all gladly took showers and followed all his restrictions. Some called him Brutus Truth, as he is both a fan of the band Brutal Truth and definitely always speaks what he believes is the truth.
Is »a day of recording« just playing all day and then cutting out the best pieces for a release?
Yes. The four of us recorded all day, the stinkers were thrown out and the parts we liked were oiled in extra by Sigtryggur. Working with Sigtryggur is great in many ways. We seem to listen to the same stuff, plus he has a »dub mind« – he leaves out the words that spoil the party and throws in enough delay to grow some mystery!
Why did the four of you decide to make music together? What were your initial intentions? Did you have a certain idea in mind of what you wanted to do before you started playing?
You could say this was decided for us. Community radio WAV organised an event at Het Bos where they paired Jeugdbrand up with Valentina Magaletti. Since she was already in town anyway, we decided to record an album as well. We’ve been fans of each other since a while, I did some sleeve design for her in the past and we have traded records since many years, so we were quite happy to collaborate musically as well. Jeugdbrand started during the dark Covid days. I had seen Jeroen play in a lot of different bands in the past 20 or so years, as he plays in countless combos, runs a label and is generally just very active. What struck me the most though, was seeing him in a Wim Van De Keybus piece. I went to see this piece because I knew Jeroen and Elko Blijweert composed music for it. Though I was absolutely baffled to see Jeroen also dance in it while playing a recorder! I got stuck in a laughing fit in the best way and after this incredible performance decided to propose to try and play together as a duo one day. When Covid hit, Jeroen recorded with various artists at Joris Caluwaerts’ Finster Studio. He took me up on the proposal and that’s how Jeugdbrand was born. So, we basically started out as a studio project. As Sigtryggur and I are also pals since years and somehow always talk about ongoing stuff, it was natural to get him involved at some point as well. Due to the geographical distance, he does not always perform live with us.
Was this the first time you played together? Was this the only time you played together?
Jeugdbrand played live twice with Valentina Magaletti and recorded the one album together.
The line-up consists of two »real musicians« and two non-musicians, two people who come from a musical background and two people whose stage-presence is more »performance art«. Good choice. Why did you think this combination could work?
You would be quite surprised by who is a schooled musician and who isn’t on this record. We played a gig a while ago, and somebody came up after the gig and asked if we would still call what we do »music«. I personally really don’t feel the urge to call it »performance art«, as I find most performance art painful. On the other hand, what I enjoy the most in playing live with Jeugdbrand is a form of discomfort. We usually talk shit while traveling towards a gig, and without any exception so far, the (often personal) stuff we talked about on the road ends up as text / lyrics or a storyline within the gig. It boiled up to a point where we can’t really look at each other on stage or we would crack up. So far it never happened that we cracked up, or at least not in a very obvious way. I often think about a dear friend’s death to not crack up while singing. What I enjoy most about it all is that there’s lots of silence or sparse sounds, and the interaction with someone like Jeroen who can literally play to / on everything!
The album is released on Stoma Street. I’ve never heard of Stoma Street. Who’s behind this label?
It would be very strange if you already heard of Stoma Street Verlag! It is a sparkling new label, run by the German musicologist Neo Müller. I’m pretty excited about what else he will be putting out!
