Artist
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, and dropped the name partly over potential trouble with the vacuum-cleaner maker. The debut, A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular, is lush, sample-built, string-swept trip-hop. Its single '2Wicky' landed in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1996 film Stealing Beauty, and that's 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 be the first Belgian act to headline the Rock Werchter festival (2001), wrote the opening-ceremony music for Euro 2000, had 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 Oct 4, 2026.
