Awaken (band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = AWAKEN


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Background = group_or_band
Alias = 泡件, Trường Hợp Bong Bóng
Origin = Belgium. Also Japan and Vietnam. + France, Australia, England
Genre = pop, various
Years_active = 1988-present
Label = It's Oh! Music
Associated_acts = 猫川 - Dòng Sông Mèo
URL = [http://www.awaken.be http://www.awaken.be]
Current_members = various (see "Musicians" section of this page).
Past_members = various (see "Musicians" section of this page).
Notable_instruments = keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, drum machine, sequencer, voice, various

Awaken is an underground rock band / indies music project based in Belgium, Europe. They released two official albums and numerous demo tapes and web-only singles since their early days in 1988. Not related to the modern Belgian scene at all (dEUS, Eté 67, Girls in Hawaii), Awaken gained interest from Vietnamese people since the release of a Vietnamese song and legend, "Chú Mèo Ngủ Quên", and in Japan with the virtual EP "別府NIGHTS". Recently, a cover of a Vietnamese children song "Rửa Mặt Như Mèo" has been recorded and has been heard on Vietnamese internet, though not officially released.Since 2005, Awaken is part of the team of the indies Japanese label [http://itsoh.blog7.fc2.com/ It's Oh! Music] based in Miyazaki city.

The name

Though looking like a tribute to a Yes song, the name AWAKEN means "a matter of bubbles", according to the Japanese translation :
*泡件 ("awaken") or アワケン in Japanese
*泡件 ("pàojiàn") in Chinese
*"Trường Hợp Bong Bóng" in Vietnamese

Genre

AWAKEN's style is hard to define, though their roots are clearly inside the eighties and seventies, mixing disco beats and progressive structures, karaoke arrangements and heavy sounds, Belgian New Beat rhythms and romantic New Wave [Gabor Kleinbloesem, AOR Reviews, http://www.angelfire.com/ma/strutteraor/NEWREVIEWS99.htm] [Kevin Julie, Universal Wheels, http://www.travellersintime.com/UniversalWheels/0602revs.html] . The instrumentation is often focussed on keyboards and electronic sounds [David, Forces Parallèles, http://fp.nightfall.fr/index_101_awaken-party-lyceum.html] 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 and "As A Start : Cà Phê And Pizza" is an imaginary trip from Italy, Vietnam and Japan [ [http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/66370 Jamendo : Cà Phê and Pizza ] ] .

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)

*Trịnh Thanh Duyên : lead voice
*PatL
electroacoustic guitar
*Paul G : electric guitar and lead voice
*Sébastien Bournier (from band SOUSBOCK) : voice and drums
*日向逸夫先生 : programming
*トゥイちゃん : harmony voice and FX
*Gilles Snowcat : keyboards, programming, electric guitar, bass guitar, percussion, add.flute, lead voice

Past musicians (members and guests)

* [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabien_Remblier Fabien Remblier] : lead voice and bass guitar
*Ced Mattys : bass guitar
* [http://www.zoubibi.be Zoé de York] , Cedric Hamelrijck, Mike Wolf and Yves Larivierre : guitar
*Karo VR : guitar and voice
*小西順子さん, Ptit Bout, Julie Absil, Lionel Meessen, Amy Kay, Jenny Quinn, Gautier Elocman, Joëlle Yana, Ambre and Bridge : lead voice
*Gina Mainardi, 猪瀬悠理さん, みゆさん, 五味田敬子さん, 福地麗さん, 森紀和子さん, Sophie de York, Evelyne, Anna-Maria and Orely : harmony voice
*Floris VDV, Laetitia VDV and Carla : spoken voice
*Socre : rap voice
*Greg Revel : programming
*Hervé Gilles : keyboards
*Aurélia Thirion : keyboards and harmony voice
*Vincent Trouble : accordion
*Philippe Tasquin : violin
*Elke P : drums
*Pol X : guitar, drums and drum machine

Collaboration

*Though independent, AWAKEN is collaborating with Japanese label [http://itsoh.blog7.fc2.com/ It's Oh! Music] and appears on J-pop singer Koiko's CD "Vitamin!".
*In 1999, AWAKEN was invited twice on stage to perform the song "Last Days Of The Century" with its creator Al Stewart ( [http://home.scarlet.be/~ping9712/awaken-alstu99-engl.htm Al Stewart and Awaken pics] ). [ [http://home.scarlet.be/~ping9712/awaken-alstu99-engl.htm Al Stewart jams with Gilles Snowcat from Awaken & Nekokawa: love music ~ magnetic soul ] ]
*French TV actor [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabien_Remblier Fabien Remblier] recorded several songs with AWAKEN in 2000 and is supposed to be part of the 20st anniversary single in 2008.

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:
*Dick Annegarn
*Tony Banks
*Bee Gees
*David Bowie
*Georges Brassens
*Captain Beyond
*Cerrone
*Alain Chamfort
*Cold Chisel
*Peter Criss
*Deep Purple
*Depeche Mode
*Earth Wind & Fire
*Fish
*Matthew Fisher
*Genesis
*Gillan/Glover
*Philip Glass
*Michael Jackson
*Jackson 5
*Jacksons
*Quincy Jones
*Patrick Juvet
*KISS
*Renaud Lhoest
*Jon Lord
*Paul McCartney
*Manfred Mann's Earth Band
*Metallica
*Rufus
*Frank Sinatra
*Sparks
*Al Stewart
*Donna Summer
*Supremes
*Tangerine Dream
*Toto
*Uriah Heep
*Vanilla Fudge
*Neil Young.

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

web-EP

*"Beppu Nights" (『別府NIGHTS』) (online mini-album) (2006)

CD albums

*"Tales Of Acid Ice Cream" (1 January 1996)
*"Party In Lyceum's Toilets" (14 February 2001)

web-singles (non-exhaustive listing)

*One Wild War (2002)
*『山葵ＫＩＳＳ』 (Wasabi Kiss) (2003)
*『五本木の星』 (Gohongi No Hoshi) (2003)
*『ＤＲＵＮＫＥＮ熊』 (Drunken Kuma) (2004)
*When Alena Entered The Quiet Room (2004)
*Chú Mèo Ngủ Quên (2005)
*As A Start : Cà Phê & Pizza (2006)
*Áo Dài Màu Hồng / Xúp Sô-Cô-La (2007)
*I Know Time Is Passing By... / 別府NIGHTS -disco take- (2008)

tapes

*"Numb" (March 1993)
*"Phase 2" : Scrappy (September 1993)
*"Zéro Sur Dix, Encore Raté !" (Gilles Snowcat solo, August 1994)
*"Awaken 3 : Blurp !" (January 1995)

vintage and rare songs (non-exhaustive listing)

*Polygonal Mirror (2/1988)
*Sandrine (rough piano version) (7/1988)
*Interlude 6 (6/1988)
*Memories Of A Teenage Cat (original studio version) (3/1989)
*Misty Conclusion (live en studio, Beppu, Japan) (5/2007)

References

External links

*AWAKEN [http://home.scarlet.be/~ping9712/ official site]
*AWAKEN [http://awaken.visit.vn Vietnamese blog]
*SOUSBOCK [http://www.sousbock-fr.com official site]

Reviews

* [http://www.ghpg.net/ctc/issues/ctc_017.txt Coast To Coast]
* [http://www.travellersintime.com/UniversalWheels/0602revs.html Universal Wheels]
* [http://www.gepr.net/ar.html#AWAKEN Gibraltar Encyclopedia]