The Misz

The Misz

  • 1983

  • Gent

  • Jan Van den Broeke and Dries Dekocker

The Misz formed in Gent, Belgium in 1983 by Jan Van den Broeke and Dries Dekocker at a time when they had both just relocated from the country. They lived on the same street and collaborated freely with the limited equipment they had, which always centered around the Fostex 250 4-track tape recorder. They used an unknown monophonic synthesizer, casio synths, roland drum machines, hand drums and guitars through effects pedals, improvising with their voices and often included friends for additional voices and sounds. They captured these DIY sonic experiments and sometimes released them on cassette (It Ain’t all Garbage, 1984 - Eddy Merckz, 1985 - Violende and Love, 1987) in very limited editions of 100-200. They were also included on numerous cassette compilations throughout the 1980s on labels like Mad In Belgium, The Cassette Factory, 3RIO Tapes, Minimart production, Fraction Studio, Cauchy Productions, Home Product, R.R. products, ZNS Tapes, and Body Records. They described themselves as young, immature and a bit strange yet totally bold and fearless. They sang about what surrounded them from world politics and environmental catastrophes to love and lust.
Jan and Dries ended their joint career in 1988. Until today, they both are still passionate about music and involved in various projects. In 2017, Jan Van den Broekes solo album “11000 Dreams” was released, capturing more than 30 years and also containing, along with his work as Absent Music and June11, two tracks by The Misz.