'Tomatensoep met Balletjes' (Suske en Wiske Weekblad #4, 1997).
Bent Van Looy is a Belgian pop/rock musician, best-known as the lead singer of the band Das Pop, who enjoyed notable success in The Netherlands and Germany too. Van Looy has also been active as a fashion designer, painter and graphic artist. In 1997, he drew five picture stories about the friendship between a dwarf and a giant, 'Sikke en Sam', scripted by Vitalski and published in Suske en Wiske Weekblad. Van Looy and Vitalski's additional comic story 'De Indringer' was originally made in 1992, but released three decades later, in 2022. Along with Peter Blegvad, Herman Brood, Kurt Cobain, Yamatsuka Eye, Daniel Johnston, Jon Langford, A.K.A. Chuck Death, Tuli Kupferberg, John Lennon and Charlie Watts, Van Looy is one of the few notable rock musicians to have drawn comics. He is also one of the few Belgian musicians who had a notable excursion in comics, along with Serge Buyse, Kris Martens, Hugo Matthysen, Jean Bosco Safari and Urbanus.
Early life and career
Bent Van Looy was born in 1976 in Antwerp. He grew up in a comicless household, but at his grandmother's house in the Antwerp student neighborhood, he discovered the Dutch Disney weekly Donald Duck and Hergé's 'Tintin', and became a lifelong fan of André Franquin's 'Gaston Lagaffe' and the horror comics of Charles Burns. A soft spoken personality, Van Looy preferred the company of girls, while boys bullied him. To fend them off, he honed his graphic skills, which made him more popular among his peers. Dreaming of becoming either a comic artist or a painter, he studied at the Sint-Lucas School of Arts in Ghent, the city where from age 16 on he already had his own cheap apartment. Interviewed by bluesonline.weebly.com, Van Looy expressed his love for comics: "It's like a film on paper, with the difference that you need far less money and time to create a story."
When Van Looy was 14 years old, he joined a workshop on comic writing, in the Warande in Turnhout, organized by writer and comedian Vitalski (brother of comic artist Serge Baeken). Later Van Looy also played drums in Vitalski's theatrical music collective De Oranje Houtzagerij, led by pianist Martinus Wolf. This made his interests shift more to music.
'De Indringer'.
Comics
When in 1992 Van Looy attended Vitalski's comics workshop, he illustrated and hand-colored one of Vitalski's stories. The absurd plot follows the dramatic escape of a vampire from Circus Buldedrang, trying to find "a three-breasted woman". The use of color complicated the possibility of releasing the story in book form, since color printing was too expensive. In the end, the manuscript was put aside in a folder and only rediscovered on Christmas Day 2021, while moving. It was released the next year in book form as 'De Indringer' (Vrijdag, 2022).
Through Vitalski, Bent Van Looy also contributed to Suske en Wiske Weekblad. In 1996, the magazine's chief editor Ronald Grossey asked Vitalski to write a few short stories aimed at young readers, suitable for the weekly. Vitalski wrote some tales about the dwarf Sikke, who is best friends with the giant Sam. To provide illustrations, he asked Van Looy. In 1997, five stories in total were published in Suske en Wiske Weekblad: 'Tomatensoep met Balletjes' (issue #4), 'De Avonturen van Sikke en Sam' (issue #6), 'Sikke en Sam Verliefd' (issue #8), 'Sikke en Sam in de Wondergrot' (issue #10) and 'De Spiegel van het Zilverbos' (issue #12). Interviewed by Blues Online, Vitalski couldn't recall why the series was eventually terminated, since he and Van Looy enjoyed working on it.
'Sikke en Sam in de Wondergrot' (Suske en Wiske Weekblad, #10, 1997).
Das Pop
In 1994, Bent Van Looy was co-founder of the rock band Das Pop, along with Lieven Moors, Reinhard Vanbergen (guitar), Niek Meul (bass), Tom Kestens (keyboards) and Matt Eccles (drums). He sang, played guitar and wrote lyrics. In 1998, they won Humo's Rock Rally, a rock band competition organized by Humo magazine. The group saw it big and recorded their first single, 'A Different Beat', in London. In 2000, they released their debut album, 'I Love', spawning the hit singles 'The One', 'The Love Program' and 'Forever' to great acclaim. Their poppy sound made Das Pop beloved among mainstream listeners as much as fans of alternative rock. Unusual for a Belgian band, Van Looy and his bandmates invested in a notable promotional fashion campaign, with "I Love" T-shirts becoming a trend. The group toured in The Netherlands, Germany and Spain. They composed a soundtrack for Geoffrey Enthoven's documentary 'Les Enfants de l'Amour' and recorded a cover of Rheingold's classic 'Dreiklangsdimensionen'. After the departure of Kestens and Moors, the group's next album 'The Human Thing' (2003) was released, with the singles 'You', 'Telephone Love' and 'Turn' becoming hits. The band again focused on the German market with a German-language single, 'Du' (a translation of their single 'You'). Their third record, 'Das Pop' (2009) was produced by David & Stephen Dewaele (of Soulwax and 2ManyDJs fame) and released in Europe, Japan and Australia. After the fourth album 'The Game' (2011), Das Pop decided to split. In 2024, they started a comeback tour, albeit without Vanbergen.
Cover of the album 'I Love' (2000). The 'I Love' T shirt shown in the photograph was also sold in clothing stores.
Other musical projects
In 2012, Van Looy toured with the band Soulwax, playing drums for them. A year later, he started a solo music career, releasing three albums, 'Round the Bend' (2013), 'Pyjama Days' (2016) and 'Yours Truly' (2018), all recorded in Los Angeles with help from producer Jason Falkner.
Fashion
Bent Van Looy has also been notable for his sense of fashion. He wears colorful clothing, which led to comparisons with Bryan Ferry, the equally well-dressed Roxy Music front man. He also designed clothing for the French fashion house Le Mont Saint Michel and in 2012 released his own clothing line, The Jante Law. However, this public image also led to frequent assumptions that he is gay. Van Looy, who was often bullied in childhood for "not being masculine enough", has sometimes expressed annoyance over this tiresome low-brow "running gag" among comedians and other people trying to be funny. In a 2014 interview with Gazet van Antwerpen, he specifically referred to an impression of him in the comedy show 'Tegen De Sterren Op', where the punchline is that he's a closeted gay. In reality, he is married to a woman and has a son.
Radio and TV appearances
Van Looy's notability outside of the Belgian music scene increased when he participated with the popular TV quiz 'De Slimste Mens ter Wereld' in 2009-2010 and managed to end on third place in the finale. In 2010, he hosted his own Sunday afternoon radio show 'Single Safari' on the alternative radio channel Studio Brussel. In the third-fourth season of the pop music competition 'The Voice van Vlaanderen', Van Looy was a coach for the most promising contestants. Together with Sofie Lemaire, he hosted the cultural talkshow 'Culture Club' on Canvas (2016-2017), which in 2021 also received a Radio 1 spin-off. Van Looy played himself in the mockumentary TV series 'Fiskepark' (2019), where his fictitious murder is the main plotline. In 2022, he co-hosted 'Voorproevers' on Radio 1, reviewing the latest books and other media. In 'Zingen Is Goud' (2023) on Canvas, Van Looy invited Flemish media stars in his painting studio, interviewing them about songs that played a significant role in their lives. He was also the narrator for the documentary series 'Belpop' on Canvas, about famous Belgian rock artists and bands.
Album cover design by Bent Van Looy for the 2000 album 'Eindelijk Vakantie!' by Gorki.
Contributions
In 2000, Bent Van Looy designed the album cover of 'Eindelijk Vakantie!' (2000) by Gorki, and 'Make A Sex Noise' (2002) by Starfighter. He also released two personal travelling guides, 'Mijn Parijs' (2021) and 'Mijn Amsterdam' (2023). In addition, Van Looy recorded an audio guide for an exhibition about Charles Burns, 'Tentoonstelling in M', held between 8 December 2011 and 11 March 2012 in the Vlaamse Erfgoedbibliotheek in Leuven.
Recognition
In late 2008, early 2009, the art gallery Bozar in Brussels organized the exhibition 'It's Not Only Rock 'N' Rock Roll, Baby', where visitors could marvel at drawings and paintings by well-known rock musicians, including Laurie Anderson, Devendra Banhart, Jonsi Birgisson (Riceboy Sleeps), David Byrne, Bianca Casady (Cocorosie), Chicks on Speed, Pete Doherty, Brian Eno, Kyle Field, Fischerspooner, The Kills, Miss Kittin, Kembra Pfahler, Yoko Ono, The Residents, Patti Smith, Alan Vega and Nick Zinner (The Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Van Looy was the only included Belgian musician.
On 4 June 2020, Van Looy held his solo exposition 'The Vessel, The Jerk and the Edge of Reason' at the Super Dakota gallery in Brussels. Two years later, at Art Brussels, an international event highlighting modern art, several canvases by him were exhibited.
'Rock Dreams' (2024), self-portrait based on a 1998 picture of Bent Van Looy as a student.