MUSIC VIDEO FADING OUT
SINGLE AVAILABLE AT ITUNES
STASH NEW ALBUM 'BLUE LANES' OUT NOW
‘I feel good with slow songs’, says Gunther Verspecht. ‘It has always been like that. I love slow, and acoustic. I can lose my melancholy in those.’
After 17 years on the stage, Verspecht is ready to take his deep-blue ballads further than ever. His new album was recorded in no less than 5 studios, among which the famous Motormusic in Koningshooikt and the home studios of Wouter Van Belle and Marc Bonne. Not coincidentally the two producers of this second album by Stash, the alter-ego of Gunther Verspecht.
Blue Lanes was recorded between July 2006 and May 2007, with a fine selection of Flemish musicians: Bruno Fevery on the guitar, Mirko Banovic on the bass, Nicolaas Willems on the piano and Marc Bonne on the drums. ‘I have learned a huge amount in a short time’, according to the singer, who at seventeen, made his stage debut in Opwijk. ‘I used to be scared to play my demos to the group. Ultimately, they are very personal attempts and you work on it for a long time! But this time it just clicked’
Gunther Verspecht is one of the best singers on the Flemish pop scene. In 2004 he scored a monster hit with Sadness, a ballad which left an impression and which got a lot of attention because of the clip, which featured many famous Flemish people. The song was in the Flemish singles top ten for four months, and Stash won one TMF-award and two Zamu-awards. In its wake, the album Rock ’n roll show obtained excellent results.
Verspecht, who has been Stash since the beginning of 2007, got to know Marc Bonne as his new drummer, but also because he admires his other qualities. ‘It is always difficult to find someone you can write songs with.' he says. ‘I always thought that my demos were the blue print for a song, but Marc showed me how much the tempo can change the character of the song. Originally, the song ‘I want you so bad’ was in quadruple time, but Marc put in a waltz structure, and that way changed the whole character of the song.’
In the end, eleven of the fifty songs were completed, among which the new track All that’s left. They are all steeped in that sweet melancholy that Verspecht is so famous for. ‘I get easily moved by small things’, he explains. ‘I very quickly see the tristesse in someone. To me, that is not negative, but something lovely and warm. I love the combination of sadness and yearning, which you feel when you love a woman that you cannot have.’
Above all, Verspecht and Bonne wanted to make the album into a whole. ‘It has to sound like you are watching a good old romantic movie. Like Blonde On Blonde by Dylan, or Comes a time by Neil Young. We went to London to have Jon Kelly, who worked with Kate Bush as her sound technician, mix a couple of tracks. But the larger part was mixed by Wouter Van Belle himself.’
A romanticist, pur sang. Gunther Verspecht needs his music to survive. ‘If I wouldn’t be able to incorporate my thoughts in my music, I would probably be a very miserable human being. Possibly with a lot of anger. But luckily I have those songs.’
surf to www.stash.be - www.myspace.com/stashtheband
DISCOGRAPHY :
2001 : Stash, full album 'Grow up to be Just like you'
2003 : Stash, full album 'Thee without sin, throw the first stone'
2004 : Stash, single ‘Sadness’
2005 : Stash, full album ‘Rock ‘n Roll Show’
2005 : Stash, single ‘Shelter from evil ones’
2005 : Stash, single ‘Carving the pain’
2006 : Stash - feat. Sarah Bettens, single ‘I need a woman’
2007 : Stash, single 'Concubine'
2007 : Stash, single 'All that's left'
2007 : Stash, full album 'Blue Lanes' (2007)
..
2008 : Stash, single 'Fading out' (2008)
SURF TO : www.stash.be
