Day 2 of their AB adventure, a second sold out club. I walk towards their lodge, they look pretty relaxed.
The nerves seem to be a bit tamed. Although this is only appearance. I sit down in the seat to Lennert and Janus Coorevits, also known as Compact Disk Dummies.
Picture: Laura Vleugels
AB: A quick flashback to yesterday: how was the first show in a sold-out AB Club?
Coorevits in unison: it was really cool. We were actually quite stressed out as we had done a try-out the week before and everything that could go wrong DID go wrong. But that kept us very keen to play and it made us check everything down to the smallest details. So yesterday we really played one of our tightest shows ever. An almost flawless set. Of course, that in turn has now created stress: now we have to meet that same standard for the second show!
AB: Your shows were sold out super-fast too, all the tickets were gone in only a few minutes.
Janus: Yes indeed, that means that people will already be happy to be there too. It also makes us feel good that we can do a small intimate show. Those really were the diehard fans yesterday. They knew the lyrics even better than Lennert!
It didn’t really stress us out, as we had played a very good show at Pukkelpop. I had indicated that I preferred to keep it small because when you’ve only just written the songs, you don’t know them so well yet, your fingers haven’t memorised them. That’s why we rather do 2 clubs. That was how we envisioned it.
Mentally, we made a real click at Pukkelpop. We played a good show there and that didn’t go unnoticed, then we announced the AB concert at just the right time. We had a good feeling about that.
AB: There’s a very nice collaboration on your EP, one with Tom Barman. How was that experience?
Coorevits: That went really well. We knew each other from a festival and going out for drinks after that. He sang something for us and Janus used a few effects on it. We were looking for something really filmic, threatening, and we both actually thought of Tom Barman for that. Nick Cave was our first choice but he had too many other commitments.
No, so then we wanted Tom Barman and I really grew up with ‘In A Bar, Under The Sea.’
We then released that as a single, played support-act for them a couple of times, it was a great collaboration.
AB: You don’t only have to work with Tom Barman, but also with each other. As brothers, is it easy to be together in a band or do you sometimes have disputes à la Oasis?
Lennert: Everyone always wants to know what it’s like to be in a band with your brother but I have no idea what it’s like to NOT be in a band with my brother. But it’s great. It’s actually simple, you just have to ask yourself three questions:
1. Do you trust each other?
2. Do you know each other musically?
3. And can you spend more than 2 hours together in a car?
If the answer to these three questions is yes, then you can start a band with your brother.
We know each other very well musically.
AB: Which artists have been of great influence to you both?
Coorevits: Yeah, well quite a few: contemporary bands like Hotchip, Toro Y Moi, Tame Impala, Gorillaz, LCD Soundsystem but also older stuff: David Bowie and Prince.
We get inspiration from all over the place.
AB: What’s the foreseeable future looking like for Compact Disk Dummies?
Lennert: We’re going to dive into the studio to finish the complete album. Something we’re really looking forward to doing. If all goes well, the album should be finished early next year, 2020.
