LA VIERGE DU CHANCELIER ROLIN was one of Belgium's most promising bands of the early 90’s. Their original sound, the use of the violin and of the classical guitar, the fact each member was also a vocalist or that they frequently disregarded the traditional verse-chorus form made them one of the most original and exciting bands Belgium produced.
Taking their inspiration from early 80s bands like AND ALSO THE TREES or ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN, avant-garde/experimental bands such as PENGUIN CAFE ORCHESTRA or THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS as well as from contemporary composers like MICHAEL NYMAN, PHILIP GLASS or WIM MERTENS, with a folky-acoustic edge sometimes reminiscent of ALAN STIVELL, they defined a unique style, romantic and poppy, elaborate and catchy, emotional, powerful and entrancing.
Their live shows, often enhanced with video projections, and their debut CD 'Eva King' were widely acclaimed by the Belgian musical press, and most predicted them a bright future. They subsequently did several support-acts for a.o. MIRANDA SEX GARDEN, AND ALSO THE TREES, THE BREATH OF LIFE, LEGENDARY PINK DOTS or COLLECTION D’ARNELL-ANDREA.
But rather than capitalizing on their freshly hatched fame, LVDCR launched itself in projects such as touring Bosnia-Herzegovina twice with a humanitarian project, participating in an avant-garde theatre festival at Derry (Ulster) or composing the soundtrack for the Berthold Brecht's play 'Combien coûte le fer?' and playing it live for about 30 representations in Brussels, Liège, Tournai, Namur and Dinant.
No doubt extraordinarily enriching on a human level, but commercially suicidal ... and cherry on top, their label goes bankrupt in 1996! And to be perfectly honest, egotrips and swollen head issues seriously parasited the vital functions of the band... Slowly but surely, LVDCR was replaced in the press and the public’s attention by the emerging generation (dEUS, Venus, Moondog jr., Sharko, ...) who were much better at building a career.
The band officially axed itself in 1999 though it had been as good as flatlining for more than a year... Today, Laurent plays in the folk-rock band Ceilà Moss, Jean-Philippe works at Rising Sun recording studios in Brussels, Nicolas is in the staff of the Queen Elizabeth musical contest and composes music on his own, Sarah has gone into politics with the Ecolo (green) party, the others have not been heard of since.
Discography:
1992
-La Wierzu Du Szaselie Role - demo tape
-Whim On A Circular Plane on tape compilation We Alter Middle Ages
1993
-Babel - demo tape
-Whim On A Circular Plane (Babel version) and Broken on tape compilation Les Prés Fleuris
1994
-Sir The Morning e.p. - Indy01
-Rock En Stock 2 compilation
1995
-Eva King - Indy02
1998
-Combien Coûte Le Fer? - KrK01
