Soulwax

Belgian pop-rock band, formed by brothers Stephen and David Dewaele, sons of Belgian radio personality Zaki. The full line-up on 1999's Much Against Everyone's Advice LP comprised:

• Stephen - Vocaliser / Harmonies
• David - Guitars / Keyboards / Loops
• Stephane Misseghers - Drums
• Inge Flipts - Keyboards
• Stefaan Van Leuven - Bass

Drummer Piet Dierickx appeared on 1995's debut EP 2nd Handsome Blues and their debut album Leave The Story Untold was released in 1996.

Soulwax are a flamboyant and vibrant looking band, and seemingly effortless crowd-pleasers. David's guitar work is very unusual, and his tongue-in-cheek human beatbox on the single Too Many DJ's is spot on. One highlight of their show is their cover of Prince's Pop Life using a Casio synthesiser guitar to cries of "C" "A" "S" "I" "O". Don't pass up an opportunity to see them live, they're one of the tightest and funkiest rock bands around.

Apart from their work in the band, David and Stephen often appear on European TV. Embarrassingly when they interviewed Prince (at a time when Soulwax had just recorded 2 Prince songs) he remarked that he hated cover versions of his songs. Apparently "you can't improve on perfection".

Soulwax are also responsible for some of the crazier and kookier examples of the bootleg remix phenomenon sweeping the world at the moment (known to some as mashups), such as a fantastic four-way combination of The Beastie Boys vs Herbie Hancock vs INXS vs ACDC. Much of this stuff can be heard on the fabulous compilation record As Heard On Radio Soulwax Vol. 2 or as live sets under the name 2 Many DJs aka The Flying Dewaele Brothers aka The Fucking Dewaele Brothers aka Hang The DJ (depending on where you see them).

Soulwax have also been behind some of the cleverest items of the recent bootleg mp3 remix craze, fostered by such sites as Boom Selection (http://http://www.base58.com/booms/). Their "Push It / No Fun", which mixes Salt-n-Pepa with the Stooges is not only brilliant, but also prominently featured on the highly rare and illegal black label compilation "The Best Bootlegs in the World Ever". This comp is only available through Rough Trade or specialty record stores, but nevertheless it's still getting a decent amount of play on stations like WFMU and the people in the know have declared it infectious goodness. Looking at dj playlists and based on my own opinion, this track is the highlight of the cd, and Soulwax remixes are in general in the creamiest section of the bootleg crop.