By Keith Walsh
2001 was a pivotal moment for the Belgium band Awaken, when they embarked on a series of wild adventures to record their ambitious second album, the epic “Party In Lyceum’s Toilets.” The 41-track disc documents the unpredictable antics of leader Gilles Snowcat and his merry band of music makers as they rhapsodize about love, liquor, lounge lizards, and lonesome losers, with results that are alternately irreverent and sublime.
As Gilles explains, the recording sessions were a traveling party-on-the-go. “PiLT has been recorded at various places of Belgium, Holland and even Paris, with a 8-track machine and an old diesel limousine,” he says. The shape-shifting project, which features various permutations of pop, punk, funk and prog rock along with captivating covers of songs by Metallica, David Bowie and Frank Sinatra, found players coming and going, but this was perhaps the closest Awaken ever came to being an actual band. Gilles tells us: “Awaken has always been a multi-form project, sometimes close to a band, like that 2001 line-up. The music was what it was in those circumstances, a natural thing.”
The actual physical CD of “Party In Lyceum’s Toilets” is an extreme rarity, fetching large amounts of lucre from rabid fans across various internet marketplaces, as well as on the grey market. Fortunately for us, Gilles has made PiLT available for streaming and download in various places, including iTunes, Google Play and Spotify.[pullquote]“The factory was always giving more booklets than CDs, no idea why; it was their policy. Which means I have some original, still-new booklets for those who bought the PiLT album on iTunes and miss having a decent artwork between their fingers.” Gilles Snowcat[/pullquote]
And now, while supplies last, extra copies of the physical booklet for the CD are available from Gilles Snowcat’s Bandcamp page. Gilles explains how this came to be: “The CD has been released in 2001 and is now unavailable, but call it a miracle,” he says. “I found a box of unused booklets under a pile of old stuff. The factory was always giving more booklets than CDs, no idea why; it was their policy. Which means I have some original, still-new booklets for those who bought the PiLT album on iTunes and miss having a decent artwork between their fingers.”
As PiLT is also available on Spotify, the cheapskates among us can enjoy this exciting moment in the history of European music for free. And the booklet costs a mere €3, or $3.49 for us Yanks (plus $4.66 shipping to the U.S.). This is possibly the closest most of us will ever get to owning the actual pop gem in physical format, if Gilles’ words are to be taken at face value. “No, the CD will never be reprinted,” he says with a smile. “I keep it rare so I can ask shameful amounts of money for a single piece of History.”
Purchase of the booklet also includes a free download and streaming of “The PiLT Sessions,” a collection of outakes from the PiLT album. Get it here:
Gilles Snowcat at Bandcamp.com
New Music From Gilles Snowcat is On Its Way
So while this new rediscovery is exciting in itself, fans of the Snowcat waiting for more after his November 2017 single “Bareta” will be glad to hear that the success of that single plus his book the “Rock Star Paradox” have made it possible for him to go back into the studio. He tells us: “Yes, it’s a new exciting adventure, going a bit more on the extremes.” Taking advantage of the opportunity to get some info from him, I asked him to elaborate on the importance of the mysterious forces of chaos in the creation of his music, and got this Zen-like reply: “Chaos feeds itself and paradoxically regulates itself. This being said, is it still chaos then? I have now the luxury to get out of control and hardly be disappointed. I control the lack of control…”
That sounds like a lot of fun!
finis
https://gillessnowcat.bandcamp.com/
