Willem Wynants

“Last Man on the Moon” 

November 2017

Plainly put: exigence. For himself, for Lin, and for their daughter Ella. And because those songs he composed through the years, on piano and organ, deserve to finally find a home.

Willem Wynants belongs to Generation Vinyl, and thus grew up in that wondrous era where records of Little Feat, The Band, Serge Gainsbourg, Squeeze or Dr. John regularly ended up on the family turntable. A fertile breeding ground for a young man with golden fingertips. Meanwhile, the city of Leuven also bristled with rock ‘n’ roll energy: soon, Willem found himself playing alongside cousin ‘Monsieur’ Paul Van Bruystegem – and P. ‘Sante’ Van Santvoet. Other stints, with Big Bill, Burning Sidewalks, The Pop Gun and The Wolf Banes followed. Great times were had by all, but somehow he never got round to recording his own songs.

Until now. Because of exigence. And because everyone wanted to join in, which was nice. Dirk Jans, cousin Paul, Frank Vander linden, Luk de Graaff, Andries Boone, Jan Van Eycken, Alain Louie, Dirk Lekenne (who took care of the recordings and production in his Studio Fandango): the list is long but non-exhaustive. They all brought myrrh, frankincense and rims of gold, to encircle Willem’s songs. For they genuinely deserve it. The records of yore may linger in the background - if you listen closely to songs like ‘Ne t’en fais pas’ or ‘Sausalito’, you can actually hear the whispered backing vocals of le beau Serge and Lowell George – but the sum of the parts is, without a shadow of a doubt, Willem Wynants. And a record to deferentially say ‘Thank You’ to.

On a side note: in any just world, ‘Monsieur le douanier’ would be a perpetual hit parade entry. Just a small piece of information, for your understanding.

Contributed to this album: Dirk Jans - Mr. Paul Van Bruystegem - Andries Boone - Luk de Graaff - Alain Louie - Fons Ceuppens - Lin Van den Hove – Elle Wynants - Bart Rico Ulens - Raf Lazy Horse Timmermans - Els Marivoet - Marie Boonen - Hilde Timmermans - Frank Vander Linden - Dirk Lekenne - Jef Gravez - Jan Van Eyken – Seppe De Meulder