A tongue-in-cheek band who are no oil paintings!
Based in Leuven, Belgium, The Flemish Primitives are five young guys with a lot of passion and enthusiasm. Each musician brings their own unique contribution to the band’s sound; an eclectic mix of garage rock, punk, indie and psychedelic.
Their band name comes from a tendency in 15th-century Low Countries art history called in Dutch ‘Vlaamse Primitieven’. These Flemish Primitives were pioneers in oil painting in Europe, after Afghan Buddhists had invented that technique earlier.
A Belgian music zine, Luminous Dash, calls the Leuven Flemish Primitives “DIY pretpunk”, DIY fun punk, which puts them somewhere not so far from the Toy Dolls.
The band are: are Rune – guitar and vocals (who as a resident skaterboy uses his “surf” content to lay smooth vocals over the music), Kasper – guitar and vocals (who adds and contrasts with his soft but sometimes rough vocals and his compelling and tight riffs), Nino on bass, and Thomas on drums They also include a keyboard player, unlike most punk bands, Elgar Suy (a multi-instrumentalist who takes the songs to another level).
In 2023, they won the Leuven Artist of the Year Award.
Their first single, ‘I Stole a Snickers in the Night Shop‘, was released in December 2023. In 2024 came two other singles. ‘Uit de Kast‘, in Dutch, and ‘Average Day‘.
Now, they bring us their fourth single, ‘Luckily I don’t look that bad‘, the last one before their upcoming album release:
The humorous song, including tempo changes, is about the good looks of the band members, which they need to countervail against their bad habits.. ”I do not have a driver’s license/That’s why I’m always late … I don’t got a real job/So I can’t pay on dates”.
Stream the single HERE
Follow The Flemish Primitives on Their Socials:
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In 1978 Herman co-founded Dutch Rock Against Racism and was a founder of Pin punkzine. He’s vocals/saxophone for Cheap ‘n’ Nasty and in 2021 co-founded the Punk Scholars Network, Netherlands.
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