Awaken is an underground rock band / indie music project based in Belgium. They have released two official albums, numerous demo tapes and web-only singles since their early days in 1988. Not related to the modern Belgian scene at all (such as dEUS, Eté 67, Girls in Hawaii), Awaken gained interest from Vietnamese people, after the release of Vietnamese song, "Chú Mèo Ngủ Quên", and in Japan with the virtual EP "別府NIGHTS". Recently, a cover of Vietnamese children song "Rửa Mặt Như Mèo" has been recorded and heard on the Vietnamese internet, though not officially released. Since 2005, Awaken is part of the team on the indie Japanese label ''It's Oh! Music'', based in Miyazaki city.

Name

The name AWAKEN means "a matter of bubbles", according to the Japanese translation:

Genre

AWAKEN's style mixes disco beats and progressive structures, karaoke arrangements and heavy sounds, Belgian new beat rhythms and romantic new wave. The instrumentation is often focussed on keyboards and electronic sounds though electric guitar and bass guitar are more audible in recent songs. AWAKEN's latest songs have been influenced by various places in Japan, Vietnam and the rest of the world : "The Train Is Leaving Kokura" mentions Kokura (小倉) and Usa (宇佐), "Beppu Nights" happens in Beppu (別府), known for its hot springs, "Wasabi Kiss" describes the peninsula of Shuzenji, "Yanagigaura" (柳ヶ浦) evoques the feeling of loneliness in the small city of Yanagigaura and "As A Start : Cà Phê And Pizza" is an imaginary trip from Italy, Vietnam and Japan. The 2009 single "My Last Evening In 大分" / "Chase Around 大分駅" is based on Gilles Snowcat's own memories of the city of Ôita, Japan.

Musicians

Being a project more than a band, different musicians appear following the recordings of the band, some as members and some as guests.

Present musicians (members and guests)

Past musicians (members and guests)

Collaboration

Repertoire (original songs and covers)

AWAKEN mixes original songs and covers, a similar attitude to Manfred Mann and Vanilla Fudge earlier. Artists that have been covered by AWAKEN include:

Nekokawa (猫川 - Dòng Sông Mèo)

AWAKEN has a side-project named NEKOKAWA since 2002, focussing on the ambient side of its music. NEKOKAWA is 猫川 in Japanese and Dòng Sông Mèo in Vietnamese.

Discography

LPs

EPs

Singles (non-exhaustive listing)

Tapes

Vintage and rare songs (non-exhaustive listing)

Contribution to tribute albums

Party In Lyceum's Toilets

Party In Lyceum's Toilets is the second album by the music project Awaken, released in 2001. This double CD features original songs (volume 1) and covers (volume 2).

History

While its predecessor, Tales Of Acid Ice Cream, was completed in one studio only, Party In Lyceum's Toilets was recorded in a portable studio that was brought along to meet several musicians in Belgium and France. The first takes come from 1999, as the album was recorded rather slowly.

Controversy

Despite his efforts to introduce the new Awaken as a band, leader Gilles Snowcat fails, as the booklet details show that the quartet hardly plays together on more than six of the 41 tracks. The main band is then dubbed by 12 additional musicians. In some songs Snowcat plays alone or only with guest musicians, which caused anger from the main singer and the lead guitarist. Apart from the keyboardist, none of the musicians had played on the previous album Tales Of Acid Ice Cream.

Other information

Track listing CD 1 (original songs)

Track listing CD 2 (covers)

Musicians

Guest musicians

Design

Gilles Snowcat, Awaken, Patrick Laplagne, 1030 (Socre), Peter Clasen.

Availability

Online. Catalog number : awalp-002

Outtakes

Three songs had been completely recorded but finally dumped : Other songs have been worked but never fully recorded : a cover version of Marillion's "The Party" and Yes' "Big Generator" being on the list. Other Awaken songs were planned to appear but not chosen on the final list and not even recorded at all. Most of the tapes have been deleted, which means a future remix without the songs fading out has become impossible to do.

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