Flemish band carve space of their own with blend of metal and comedy
Fronted by Jeroen Camerlynck, the Flemish band Fleddy Melculy have found broad appeal with heavy metal songs about everyday frustrations like vegetarians who eat fish
Comedy meets metal
No one, in any case, could have predicted the quick rise of the group when lead singer Jeroen Camerlynck, 38, decided to post their first track online, now a year and a half ago. But “T-shirt van Metallica” (Metallica T-shirt) was one of those rare songs that immediately struck a chord, appealing to a much broader audience than just the metal community.
The song sprang from Camerlynck’s frustration with those who buy and wear band T-shirts without knowing the slightest thing about the band’s music. “I think I saw one too many of them, and I got annoyed,” the singer explains from his home in rural Pajottenland in Flemish Brabant, looking back on the craziest year of his life.
“I remember that when I was a teenager, you really had to hunt for your Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers or Korn T-shirt. You bought it at a gig, or in a speciality shop in town, and when you finally had it, you wore it with pride, even if it was much too large,” he explains. “It was a statement. Seeing band T-shirts in the racks of retailers such as H&M just makes me angry. What used to be special is now completely ridiculous.”
First-world problems
Most people have some experience with these small frustrations that can turn into huge irritations, but Camerlynck has made them his biggest source of inspiration. “Blowing up first-world problems like stupid people who wear inappropriate T-shirts, vegetarians who eat fish or losing your keys are trademark Fleddy,” he explains. “Of course, we can’t do that if we take ourselves too seriously.”
Camerlynck makes no pretence that Fleddy Melculy, who will open for Guns ’n Roses at this summer’s TW Classic festival, are doing something dramatically innovative, and stresses that their lyrics have to be taken with a fat pinch of salt. “We aren’t inventing anything new here. On the contrary, we’re lumping clichés together, and enjoying every minute of it.”
Fleddy Melculy’s aim might not be to break new musical ground, but they are nonetheless the first to try their hand at this odd combination of metal, comedy and Dutch-language lyrics. In the process, the band have carved out their own niche by pulling out all the stops for their live shows, which have featured a chicken mosh pit (which is exactly what it sounds like) and even a tombola.
“While reinventing the wheel, a lot of bands forget that people want to be entertained,” Camerlynck (pictured, centre) explains.
It was partly a case of being in the right place at the right time
Camerlynck and his fellow band members may not have succeeded in winning over a small group of die-hard metal, punk and hard-core fans, but the singer thinks they simply don’t like their music to contain humour.
He says the aim was never for Fleddy Melculy to draw huge crowds with their concerts. “Some more established but less successful metal bands may envy us our instant success, but selling out venues was never our goal,” he explains. “I guess it was partly a case of being in the right place at the right time.” The singer also attributes their success to the sudden renewed popularity of 1990s bands like Linkin Park and System of a Down.
No one-hit wonder
Still, Camerlynck is hardly the new kid on the block, having spent most of his youth in hard-core and metal bands. When that got boring, he went in a different direction, he says. He fronted the Dutch-language rock band De Fanfaar for more than 10 years, over the course of which they released four albums and toured as a support band to the famous Flemish comedian and singer Urbanus. But De Fanfaar never broke through in the way that Fleddy Melculy have.
All of these former career experiences sowed the seeds for Fleddy Melculy, which is composed of three of the four De Fanfaar members as well as two of Camerlynck’s metal friends. “Obviously, a lot of people wonder why this guy from De Fanfaar all of a sudden turned to metal,” he says. “But they would do better to ask themselves why this metal head was making rock music this entire time. Check out my CD collection – I never stopped listening to metal.”
After a very successful year, which saw Fleddy Melculy playing Graspop, the country’s biggest metal fest – their very first booking no less – and even organising their own Fleddypalooza festival in Brussels’ Ancienne Belgique, the biggest challenge ahead is perhaps ensuring that they don’t become a gimmick or a one-hit wonder.
But Camerlynck is ready for that test. “I can assure you that our second album, which will be out some time in 2018, will surprise you all,” he says. “It will be as entertaining as our debut, but with a much wider musical range, simply because we don’t want to repeat ourselves.”
24 June, TW Classic, Werchter
