When I first met 'Zita Swoon', they were going by the guise of 'Moondog Jr', renamed thus from 'A Beatband.'  Led to them by the lead singer, ex-bassist of dEUS, I was welcomed into their heady world of blues and love songs.

These photographs are from an interview we did in the eve of 1995.  It was to be three years before I would see them again, and high time I got into the darkroom and printed the pictures, some of which you will see here.

Riding high on the release of their first full-length album, 'Everyday I wear a Greasy Black Feather on my Hat,'  released by Island Records, Moondog Jr played for the first time in England in September 1995 at the defunct Splash Club, then based in the Water Rats.

They soon came back to for more, playing to us at the Mean Fiddler's Jazz Café in Camden two months later.  A roomier venue gave precedence to a livelier concert,  fantastic improvisations and a little movement on the dancefloor.  They left us all buzzing.

Then we heard no more.

Moondog Jr lost Island Records.  And all was quiet on the British Front.

Meanwhile in Flanders…Moondog Jr had signed with PIAS and all of Belgium harked the herald of "Moondog Jr is now Zita Swoon."

I had heard whisperings of Klaas from dEUS and Stef working together on a soundtrack for an old black and white movie.  Flemish birds flew from the continent with the warm winds of the summer of 1997 to bring me a CD called, 'Sunrise - a Song of Two Humans, a 1997 Score.'  70 years after Murnau had created his silent masterpiece, the soundtrack had been reworked.

The music for the film beat the original score hands down.

Rumours flew to England of tours, festival performances and even of two singles.

We waited for more news.

Wham bam, thank you mam - a new album. Remarkably, still named Zita Swoon, from nowhere (actually, via Warners Benelux) came a very upbeat, funky album edged with groove, but not belying its blues roots.  This wonderfully challenging offering was a seemingly huge leap from the first album, Sunrise being more of a separate project than part of a sequence, but in truth, all elements can be found in the first album.  Elements that have been nurtured, fed, to giddy heights that pluck you off your feet.

Where could I choose to replant my feet other than Antwerp?  High time to lambaste Zita Swoon for not coming to England sooner.  An easily enjoyable concert - I wished that I was in a room of my friends so that we could boogie away  to the chameleon-esque croons of Stef Kamil Carlens, wished that I could understand the commentary that he gave to the crowd.  The music was fantastic and the band were clearly having a great time.  Later Stef spoke of his euphoria that he was back playing live - so happy he couldn't sleep.

The last echoes of Ragdoll Blues died and I was back in England.

'About the Successful Recovery of a Gal Named Maria' is the very succinct title of the single we should, shock, expect in England at the end of March, with some dates in May.

Our continental compadres can revel in a summer of festival appearances and the premier of Plage/Tattoo = Circumstances in Holland in June, with dates in October.

"See you soon"

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