About Anton Walgrave
Click here for Dutch versionPRELUDE: what came before
The voices of the teenage band The Rollers broke. What followed was called The Same: ambitious and embarrassing, student symphonists, wild good-doers, naïve navel-gazers, cheery chums. All in the last decade of last century.
SOLO PART 1: Busy in London
In 2000, Anton's solo debut 'The Hum' (EMI) was acclaimed by the press and fans alike. The CD was recorded London, produced by Kevin Armstrong, whose other clients include David Bowie, Youssou N'Dour and Morrissey.
In 2003 came 'Before the Dawn', a dark, haunting mix of strong songs and tasteful electronics. Bingo! the single 'Awake', which had a lot of radio play and went around the world from Aarschot to Tokyo with Flanders' biggest girl group Scala. The album had many great reviews and even now gets hearty applause from the circle of cognoscenti.
Walgrave went to work: writing songs, scrapping songs, re-writing songs and scrapping songs again. With cussing and fussing, good songs became excellent songs.
SOLO PART 2: Shine and the pearlfishing (pearling fish?)
Frank Vander linden heard a few of these songs and for the first time was inspired to produce someone else's work. In May 2005 they went to work together: songs were slain, refrains slashed, verses turned upside down and every note too many was thrown overboard with no mercy. From this mass of raw songs, 12 survived, all done to perfection. With the compliments of the chef.
An elite team, with mixer Michel 'Shelle' Dierickx, drummer Mario Goossens, bassists Hans Mullens and Michel De Coster and guitarist/friend Aram Van Ballaert, gathered to record these 12 songs for a CD called 'Shine'. The first singles 'Lost Soul', supported by the soundtrack of Tom Lenaerts' fiction series 'De Parelvisers' (the pearl fishers), grew into a absolute radio hit.
THIRD VERSE: Anton & The Nephews
In 2007, a favourable wind blew The Nephews on shore. United by beat rather than by blood, these were men cut from the same cloth. They continued as a trio, with bassist Jelle Van den Bergh and drummer David Vertongen. They toured starting in autumn of 2007 under the name 'To the bone'. The single 'Don't let me go' was continuously on the radio and was in limbo, waiting for an album.
APRIL 2008
The new album is here, and is called 'Every Night You Pray': Anton's most personal album yet. Highly personal but not necessarily autobiographical. Anton writes, records and mixes (with Luc Weytjens) in his own Sugarbeat studio and for the first time does the production himself. Exciting and cathartic, a strong mix of soft and loud, fast and slow, laughter and tears. The Great Themes are not avoided, but Anton presents them in a very earthly, realistic way. Sharp but mild, more ironic than cynical, and always a bit tongue-in-cheek. Up-tempo pop numbers make up a gracious whole with slower songs and haunting ballads. 'Every Night You Pray' is diverse, intense and raw, poetic, to the point and adventurous.