MTV have been a bit of a help with dEUS haven't they?

Tom: Yeah, actually they were. It did help, but it didn't explode in our faces, but it was a help. Things have changed since then, so now I don't know. Every time I see it, it just gets worse, and worse, and worse…

What has happened in the States?

T:We haven't really been out in America. 'Worst Case Scenario' was dropped in favour of some new big release,...uhh, what was it, Zooropa or something, or the Cranberries.

The record company there was only talking about "Suds and Soda". They didn't care about us. We were there only doing promo work at a couple radio stations…just pissing in the ocean really.

Do you feel slighted by all that?

T: I know that in America MTV is very important…Of course, this time around they promised to work on our new record. We'll just see I guess. To give it a marketing term, we'll see, to us it is just another 'territory'. I don't have the illusions that we would break there, not at all. I just want to play there.

Is anything going to change this time around?

J: I don't know about America. I know we are trying to focus on Europe right now, and forget about America until something good comes up or until the record company has a better idea, or can get into our music and support us better. It wasn't the case before, and it pissed me off. It is the same with MTV. There is a little buzz now about us, but we're a bit nervous. Last time we played there was a problem with a mike, and they cut us off the air. We were afraid about not being able to get on again, but supposedly there is some interest, so I think things are getting better.

"...it is a new album and it is like a new birth you know…you never know what is coming out."

Since it's inception and different incarnations, are you happy with where dEUS is at now?

J: Well, it is a new album and it is like a new birth you know…you never know what is coming out. It can be a monster, twins, whatever. We were a bit anxious to see what the critics would say, but when the first reviews came out and they were all very supportive of us, we were very sure of ourselves and what we had done. We feel like it is really going good now. We see it in Germany, in France and even in England…which is always a surprise. There is even a good vibe in Belgium…in two weeks it went gold.

"...it is really something, especially in Belgium that a five-piece band can all live off the music that we make."

T: Well, you never know what the right pace is, it could be exploding, but I don't know. I think we are on a good pace...we still feel that some of our songs could have done more on radio than they did, and in that case we are very frustrated, in that sense it is not the right pace.

We sold 150,000 of Worst Case Scenario…which was 149, 000 more than we had expected. I supposed things get better with each release.

J:   With all this we feel like we can do better, and make it sell better so we can live better off our music…and then make a new record as soon as possible.

So what, you have loads of leftover material or what?

J: No not really…I just think we just may be in the mood to keep it going, and not really leave a gap between releases.

You mentioned living better off your music…is something wrong?

J: We don't really have problems 'surviving', but it is always survival. You get to the end of the year and see where you are, and then you see what you can do next. We don't have a luxurious life at all. I mean it is really something, especially in Belgium that a five-piece band can all live off the music that we make. We hope to sell more just to alleviate the stress of always waiting for the year's end to see what is left and how far we can go. I don't want to be a billionaire or anything; …I just want to have a car, a house, and the essential things you know.

"I wouldn't want to go through the ordeal every year, that people leave. I just have to see it as it happened, and it is good. "

What about the split with Stef?

J: There were hard times. It was hard for him to say, "Yes I will stay…or no I will go", so when he finally left, it was a relief. It happened halfway through recording the second lp. There are always things that happened and you wish they never would have, but we are still friends, even with Rudy, who left too.

How do you handle that, all the members playing with different bands, you know…like they are "sleeping around" on dEUS?

Craig: I don't think it has ever been the case with dEUS. There has always been loads and loads of 'sleeping around' but now there is less than ever.

T:What?…what is less sleeping around?

C: The thing is, Stef and Rudy were both heavily involved with their own bands before they got into dEUS. They had bands which were primarily their own…and I don't.

T: It is more that he can turn dEUS into his baby, and still have the other things, with some restrictions of course, like when we have to tour and stuff. Everybody is still doing their own things…

You really don't mind?

T: I wouldn't want to go through the ordeal every year, that people leave. I just have to see it as it happened, and it is good.

It is very emotional, and musically a very tiresome operation to be changing people all the time. Please. Let's hold this together for a couple of years.

BUT…there is always the open door, for me dEUS is always number 1, but for the other guys, when we get off the road, they can do what they want.

If they need time, we try and arrange it..That is something we tried with Moondog as well, but it got really personal with Rudy, it became so time consuming. Craig has infiltrated dEUS with a great deal of energy in the time he has been here.

J: It is always a pity because just when you are really starting to like someone, or his playing, it breaks your heart a bit when they want to go on in a different direction and not be in dEUS anymore, like Stef and Rudy did. On the other hand, you know they have no choice. If someone feels that can't give 100% because of other interests they should go. For us, it is another challenge, because you have to get a new guy, and it is a new adventure and I like that because you feel you can go a whole new direction. It is like refurbishing your home. You get tired of the wallpaper or chairs, so you throw them out, and go and get new ones, start all over again.

So if anyone starts talking of something new, there are no flashbacks of horror?

J: No, not really. I was really afraid when it happened the first time when Rudi left the band, but I'm not anymore. I think that for every problem there is, there will be a solution.

You are not afraid of trying out material in other bands, and perhaps the other band using it instead of dEUS?

T: Oh no, not at all. The paranoia may be more like, when I am really enthusiastic about something and nobody else does. About stealing?…No, that would be….nahhhh…

Even if it were a bit, a tiny seed?

T: A seed, well…that is what I would call influence.

C: You do it all the time, all the time. It is sort of an education. It helps to develop all the different approaches a band can take.

T: Sometimes you have to hear things that someone else did, that was actually inside of you, but to see that they envision the same thing. For example, with the first home recording Rudy did, I was just amazed by the sound and emotion that was in it.

For me now, home recording is something I really love to do, but it was through Rudy, that showed me that…you know, I don't care if it sounds all rough and like shit, I love it! As far as the songs though, yeah, we can recognize bits perhaps, in each other's songs. I have been influenced by him, and I am sure he was influenced by dEUS too.

Now, though, dEUS is pretty stable, right?

J: Yeah, but you never know. It can change tomorrow.

"We are very consistently inconsistent."

What happened…why is there a photo on the album this time instead of the trademark artwork?

J: Uhhh… well because the band as it is now, has been playing a dEUS for about a year and a half . We felt that a certain period had finished. The music had changed a bit, I think it is more straightforward now. We felt that the artwork should change too, it all should change. Not that we don't like Rudy's artwork anymore, it has nothing to do with that. We just wanted people to have a different all around view of us, so we tried a new approach with the albums and singles.

Is dEUS amoebic, able to do whatever and no restrictions?

C: Well…we'll speak out if we think something is wrong, or doesn't sound good. That's good. It kind of makes you sharpen what you do; it is good that someone in the band will speak very personally about what they don't like about a song.

Has it worked on anything yet, that was reconstructed after the criticism?

T: No, but it might. There was a time when the song 'Disappointed in the Sun" was handled like that.

It was said that the song sounded too normal, and too piano, but I argued and said, "hey I wouldn't release a whole album like that", but in the context of the whole LP, it was fine.

As an outsider looking at dEUS, is it hard to dissect dEUS…to get where you are coming from?

T: Well, we don't write albums, just as we don't write singles, we just write songs and put them together, and then we look at the end product, and see …oh this can be a single or whatever.

C: we are very consistently inconsistent.

T: I can say, I am the pop factor in this band. Most of what I write is very pop oriented.

C: In some repects, we are a record company's worse nightmare. Then go, oh this would be a great single, if not for that part….

Bands get known for their 'thing' pretty early on, you know, after a few singles. I think people see us as the band who does everything, that's great! That is what people then expect from us.

T: I think that is the reason why we haven't gone 'big picture', because we are too confusing. When you look at all the bands you like who are commercially successful, they all have this one trick. Look at Nirvana, it's like , "Hey great, fantastic"…but it is the same formula. The Prodigy is the same thing.

With us they just put on records to get in moods, I guess when you listen to us you get schizophrenic, because there are one million moods on our records. We will never make a one-dimensional record, it is out of the question.

What about the finished product. When you are done with the record and see that one of the songs are pretty dodgy, do you leave it to complete the picture no matter if it does suck, or to you clean it up, and try to shine it up?

T: We have sort of a democracy. I mean, if someone feels so strong about a song, and really stands behind it, then they have to show their 'muscles', their will to get it on the record. The same goes for if they are strongly opposed. Of course…sometimes the more a few guys are against something, the others or other will push stronger for it.

With us they just put on records to get in moods, I guess when you listen to us you get schizophrenic, because there are one million moods on our records. We will never make a one-dimensional record, it is out of the question.

"American rock, you know this as well, most of it is rubbish. They all copy each other, and it is so easily recognizable, because it is all done the same way."

Does it ever cross your mind why you are doing albums in English and not your native tongue?

J: Well, Tom did a thing with another Belgian artist in Flemish, but as for the band, I just think it would naturally be in English. Where Tom is from they spoke a lot of English. His dad was Norwegian and his mom was Belgian and so they spoke English to one another, so to him it was normal. I don't know if you know Flemish, but it sounds so weird when you sing in it. When you speak Flemish, all of a sudden it becomes some kind of strange, small art piece or something. Being Flemish, I would never think of singing in Flemish, never. There aren't a lot of good bands here in Belgium who sing in their native language.

Is it just me, or is there some strange correlation between Belgian groups and fashion designers as being tipped as very cutting edge and 'now'?

J: I don't know how to answer that really. I think when Brussels became the head of the EU, then many more people became familiar with Belgium. There is also a very good fashion academy in Antwerp who put out a lot of those designers.

I think people are always looking for something new, and it just happens. I mean... Look at Bjork…she comes from Iceland. All of a sudden she is so huge, I mean, damn! I think people are bored hearing the same things, like always English pop. The same with fashion, why does it always have to be Italian or French? We just want to have something new. I think that Is one thing with dEUS.

I don't know if you know Flemish, but it sounds so weird when you sing in it. When you speak Flemish, all of a sudden it becomes some kind of strange, small art piece or something.

I think people hear of this band who are making really interesting music, and they are from Europe and not the same old English or American, and so it is something different.

There are a lot of good European bands out there.

I was wondering if that would come up. There is a definite dEUS following in Europe, more so than in the UK or America.

J: You know…a lot of times people get brainwashed. You know, you had the 'britpop' thing, so then all they want to hear is that stuff. I think it is like being nationalistic. They just want to hear their own stuff, people they are familiar with, bands they know, that they are already used to. American rock, you know this as well, most of it is rubbish. They all copy each other, and it is so easily recognizable, because it is all done the same way. I think when you have a little European country, you have so much influence and it comes out in the music, art and fashion. We don't take for granted the music here, we try to see where it is from. That is not so in America, they take it all for granted, export it and push it in your face. You are almost forced to take it.

Tommy is always thinking in images. One day I hope he gets a load of money to make his film, and then…

What about film and dEUS.

J: Well, I like going to the theatre, but I know nothing about film-making. I know that Tommy has this idea that one day he wants to make a movie. A little one, then with practice he will take it to the big screen. Not right now though, because dEUS is the main thing.

And what would you think if it happened?

J: That would be very nice, but it wouldn t work as a dEUS movie like a Beatles movie or whatever. Yeah, doing the music and ideas would be great though. I personally don t feel like an actor.

Well, a lot of the time the lyrics and music bring up a lot of great images.

J: I think in that way it is impossible. Tommy is always thinking in images. One day I hope he gets a load of money to make his film, and then...

Yeah, then you get to help with the music and stuff and make a lot too!

J: Well, yeah, yeah that would be right. Yes, that would be great. I hope so.