Hooverphonic

Hooverphonic formed in October 1995 in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, around songwriter-bassist Alex Callier and guitarist Raymond Geerts, with Liesje Sadonius singing on this first album; they were briefly called Hoover, a name they dropped partly over potential trouble with the vacuum-cleaner maker. The debut A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular is lush, sample-built, string-swept trip-hop, and its single '2Wicky' landed in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1996 film Stealing Beauty, which is how a band from a small Flemish town found a worldwide audience. 'Barabas', written by Callier, was pulled as a single in 1997. They went on to become the first Belgian act to headline the Rock Werchter festival (2001), wrote the opening-ceremony music for Euro 2000, scored a European hit with 'Mad About You' (2000), and represented Belgium at Eurovision 2021. Long-time singer Geike Arnaert rejoined in 2020, and the 2024 album Fake Is the New Dope reached number four in Belgium.

From the notes for Episode 04 · fact-checked Sep 23, 2026.