Janez Detd (short for Janez Determined) started out on Green Leaf Records (a division of Good Life Recordings). This small independent (at least they were back then - these days they're selling thousands of albums of belgian but especially other European and American HC bands) released a Mcd titled "Dignity and teeth". Their release party was at Hof Ter Lo where the young band played a support for NOFX. This pop-and swedish skatepunk-influenced5-track sold well and with their loud mouths and skinny bodies they tried to impress people all over Belgium.
1997:
It seemed to have worked cause in '97 the band got to play on the Hardcore stage at the Dour Festival. One month later they kick off the Skatestage at Pukkelpop. Both of these festivals are the biggest alternative festivals in Belgium (holding up to 3O OOO visitors per festival). They showed their hunger for more, played fast and furious and managed to steal many punkrockhearts. Dog Eat Dog,who had seen them open up, dedicated "Who's the king"to Janez Detd while kicking it on the main stage later that day.
1998:
After their performance at the Pukkelpop festival some "majors"pulled their arm but the band kept it's head cool and decided that a medium sized independent would be a better choice. I Scream Records, a label run by Deviate-drummer Laurens Kusters was their new home. The band recorded their first Full Cd: "Bleenies & Blockheads". A poppy skatepunk-album in the vein of Millencolin, The Cars and No Fun At All. Their mix of ska, poppunk and skate was brought with an enthousiastic flair. Lyrics were dedicated to sex, pussy and sex. What else is on a teen's mind? Their album included a collegrock-anthem called "Walk away". The record company decided to release that as a single. Unfortunately: radiostations refused to play it. But: the boys were in luck: Lieve De Maeyera female dj on Studio Brussels Belgium's alternative radiostation started playing "Beaver Fever" (an explicit song about euh pussy). Soon the band got played on heavy rotation and the circus started. They finally got a chance to perform at big Spring Festivals (Windo Rock- Enterrock) Combining their heavy-duty stage act with their pop-influenced skatepunk they were soon Belgium's most popular live act. The cherry on the cake was their invitation to open up Beach Rock that summer. The band not only opened it, they made history! While Janez Detd kicks in their last song rain starts falling out of the sky. Let me rephrase that: Zillions of gallons of water burst down! People were getting soaked within seconds. It were these weather conditions that inspired Bones to say the famous words: "Well euh, we are a band of the people, so that means that we're here thanx to you. To put it in other words: our stage is your stage so come on up and shelter and dance with us!" Security agents could not stop the hundreds (which soon became nearly a thousand) of fans that climbed up the stage. Never had a festival of that size been overwhelmed by a crowd! Police was called up, there was a big chaos and Janez Detd, they just smiled and said "Thank you, we were Janez Detd but you guys were thé bést!".
Eversince festivals all over know that when inviting a party band such as Janez Detd they should be well prepared!
The icing on the cake that was called "Summer of 1998"was a big "Good Bye" concert at the Vooruit in Ghent. The band had been playing so many shows that they hadn't had any time to write new songs. This show was "Sold Out" and once again record companies came to pull their arm.
1999
The band had two main options: Double T Music (RIP- a division of Sony Music) and Virgin. JD decided to sign a contract with Virgin Music.
During the Fall of 1999 (together with producer "Jo Francken") Janez Detd started the recording and mix of their new self-titled album. The pre-release single "Rock On"was allready doing great on belgian radio.
2000:
In April the band releases their college-rock-pop-punk album. They promote it with a club tour. The single "Lisa (she's a herpie)" is the follow up for "Rock On". It remains in the alternative charts for more than 3 months. They finished off the new release on Virgin early 2000. The self titled album finally hit the stores in april, backed up by a tour through Flemish clubs. In the meanwhile, the single Olisa (she's a herpie) reached great heights in the charts. During the Summer of 2000 they decided to shoot a video for "Take On Me", an A Ha cover song. This was a new and cool experience and definitely one to be repeated. "Take on me" was a major hit and got loads of airplay on virtually every radio station across the nation. As always, Janez Detd played on lots of summer festivals, the highlights of which were the Dour Festivel, Marktrock Leuven and Pukkelpop. By the end of September a new version of "Summer's gone (and so is q 107 fm)" was recorded and a video was shot. Later that year Janez Detd got the chance and the honour to open up for Bad Religion in Belgium and the Netherlands. In October the band got nominated for two TMF Awards: Best Live Act and Most Promising Act. Most Promosing band is what the boys got to take home! By the end of 2000 the band was stirred up by Wim's departure.
Raf Weyn, who plays in Skool¹s Out was willing to temporarily replace Wim so Janez Detd could finish off the planned gigs, the highlight of which was a show with AFI and the Offspring in Vorst.
2001
By the end of February, Dimitri Vink, formerly part of Gwyllions, offered his services as a guitar player. There was an amazing spark and all of them welcomed him as a new member of the Janez Detd family. Now the band rehearsed a lot and started writing new songs. In summer, Janez Detd toured Italy with The Shandon and played about five summer festivals in Belgium. October, November and December set out to become the darkest pages in the history of Janez Detd. The shit started early October when Bob too decided to leave the band in order to focus on his girlfriend, family and his job. Joeri, a friend of the band who played bass in Waxflower replaced him. But things really reached rock bottom in the night of Novemer 13th, when their rehearsal room was broken into and all of our equipment all of it!!- was stolen. Never before had things looked so bad that they threatened the very existence of the band.
2002
The rebirth of Janez Detd. A Fundraising Concert was organised in Hof Ter Lo. A lot of bands offered their help: Gorki, Camden, Praga Khan, De Mens, Starflam, The Apers, Heideroosjes, Thof Van Commerce, Circle, Red Zebra, Zornik, Calibre and many many more. Unfortunately we could only offer a stage to a few of them. TMF, Studio Brussel, Zines and Papers all of them offered their help. Lokerse Feesten help the band organise the whole thing and it was sold out in two weeks time!
This night was probably thé most intense night the band had ever had. Love, friendship and respect was in the air. The band bought a new backline and started to rehearse again. But bad luck striked again: Dimitri got sick and had to be hospitalised. Due to his health condition he had to quit the band and take it easy. Once again the band lost a great friend. Dimi had become like a brother to Bones. Maybe some things just weren¹t meant to be. (Today Dimi is working as a tattoo artist, so at least his other dream has come true!)
Lennart Bossu (ex-Liar, ex-Firestone) joined the band. This vegan-metal wizzkid immediately became a great asset to the band. Janez Detd continued to work on new songmaterial, recorded demos and played a try out in Germany. During the Summer period they only played 1 gig. Lokerse Feesten got an exclusive show because of their friendship and support they had shown towards the band.
Fall: Janez Detd hit the studios and started recording the new album. Anti-Anthem was recorded first. The band had received a lot of good advice from Andy from Therapy? and Frank from De Mens. The stakes were high and Bones took the production of this album into his own hands. No longer were other people going to tell him how the band was going to sound. During the process of recording it turned out that not only Bones but the whole band, and in addition Jo Francken who was the engineer, did the production. It was great fun. The band worked hard! Two and a half months later the album was finished. Anti-Anthems was chosen as a titleS
2003
Janez Detd played at the Vooruit in Ghent but even more important: the night before they played at JH Quo Vadis (a very small club: capacity 100). They're back on track. The singles Anti-Anthem and Raise your fist did great on belgian radio. The band has a new sound, new members, a new spirit and is ready to rock.