Making the right choice

Monday, August 3, 1998

Making the right choice

MUSIC: Belgian rock band K’s Choice draws from emotion and
personal experience to define their ‘straightforward’ style in
their latest album ‘Cocoon Crash’

By Louise Chu

Daily Bruin Staff

She strides into the room, her wild, bleached mane damp from a
long day of interviews and rehearsal. He follows close behind with
a casual gait and cool, unaffected manner. Lounging in the bar of
the Troubadour on a sultry Los Angeles afternoon, modern rock band
K’s Choice oozes quintessential rock star quality.

But over apple juice and insightful reflections, siblings Sarah
and Gert Bettens seem grounded by the Belgian comfort that they are
quick to remember and eager to discuss.

"A lot of the things that I wrote about in this record are
inspired by, or just triggered by, melancholy and missing home,"
lead singer Sarah reveals. "It’s a very strange way of living,
always being away from home – the same nine people on a tour bus
coming home for, like, one week and then going on the road for two
months."

This nostalgic feeling drives their emotional songwriting,
culminating in their third and latest album, "Cocoon Crash." The
Bettens lead the band, which includes guitarist Jan Van Sichem Jr.,
drummer Bart Van Der Zeeuw and bass guitarist Eric Grossman.

Last week, K’s Choice kicked off their American club tour after
a 10-day stint with the Lilith Fair tour. Beginning in San
Francisco, they stopped next at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on
Tuesday, dispensing their version of what Americans have coined
"alternative rock."

"(‘Alternative music’) means something else in Belgium than it
means here, and I haven’t figured out yet exactly what it means,"
Sarah admits.

The two explain that "alternative" music in their country
remains faithful to its name; a "really original" and "really
experimental" form that doesn’t necessarily apply to their
style.

"I don’t think we’re an experimental band," Sarah says. "It’s
pretty straightforward songwriting – emotional, acoustic guitar,
about things about ourselves. But here, I’m not really sure what it
means. A lot of things that are ‘alternative’ seem really
mainstream to me."

But she adds, "We’re not just the pop band who has one song, and
that’s it. I think we take our lyrics very seriously, and we really
try to make something that, although it doesn’t sound experimental,
we really try to make something very genuine."

Their musical philosophy imbues every aspect of their
songwriting in "Cocoon Crash," from the friendship-inspired ballad,
"Winners," to the self-affirming "Believe." Their key distinction
from the oxymoronic "mainstream alternative" scene is their
unabashed willingness to be positive.

"We wrote a song about that," Gert says. "It’s called, ‘Too Many
Happy Faces.’ It’s the quote of a singer in a Belgian band that
told friends of ours after a show that he liked (it), but he
thought there were too many happy faces … It is kind of cool to
be negative. We want to emphasize that it doesn’t need to be that
way."

Their thought-provoking lyrics fused with an edgy, electric
sound was what attracted Alanis Morisette when she stumbled upon
the relative unknowns at a music festival in Germany in 1996.
Morisette invited the band to join her American tour. Their break
coincided with the growing popularity of their single, "Not An
Addict," which ultimately became their biggest hit.

While the song’s success propelled them to American notoriety,
pressure to deliver another hit plagued K’s Choice when recording
"Cocoon Crash."

"The record company kept telling me, ‘We don’t have the new "Not
An Addict" yet,’" Sarah said. "There’s nothing that stimulates you
less than people who tell you stuff like that … but while we were
working, we were just trying to make the best record we could make.
You can’t do anything more than that."

The result is an album with a greater intensity than their 1995
sophomore release "Paradise in Me," said Sarah. She attributes this
new level of quality to the band’s growing closeness through the
years.

"Cocoon Crash" is also characterized by a wide range of musical
genres, from folk to rock.

"To both of us, an interesting thing on our albums is a lot of
dynamics in the lyrics (but) especially in the music," Gert says.
"We try to do that live too. That surprise element is always
interesting."

The dynamics of their live act was evident in Tuesday’s show at
the Troubadour with a variety of songs that pleasantly jerked the
mood of the evening from smooth ballads to jolting rhythms.

Sarah shifted from song to song with a rasped intensity that the
unaccustomed ear could have mistaken for hoarseness. But fans knew
it was distinctively Sarah.

While K’s Choice entertained with a high energy that infected
the eager crowd, their performance left die-hard devotees
uninspired. The band’s slow start dragged for the first handful of
numbers but managed to gain momentum once they unleashed "Not An
Addict."

With their growing popularity in the United States, K’s Choice
seems far removed from their much-missed home. But their pensive
lyrics act as an ongoing reminder of their true priorities, much
like the Celtic cross tattooed on Sarah’s forearm.

"I wanted something that, for me, meant that I’ll always believe
in something," Sarah explains. "But I didn’t want specifically a
Christian cross because I really don’t know what I’m going to
believe in 50 years. But I know, for me, it means that life will
always have a deeper meaning, and there’s a universal truth,
whatever it is."

Photos by JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin

Gert Bettens, the lead guitarist for K’s Choice, performs at the
Troubadour.

Sarah Bettens is the lead singer of the Belgian band K’s
Choice.