Former Belgian buskers rock out Birmingham

Belgian pop/rock outfit Balthazar have arrived in Birmingham brimming with confidence for their Birmingham show tonight, writes the Burton Mail’s James Brindle. As teenagers, the band’s two songwriters, Maarten Devoldre and Jinte Deprez, took to busking to earn a few euros. Beginning on opposite sides of the town square as strangers, they came to realise that there could be a more productive way to make money. “We had three songs each which we would play in a loop, and I was wondering whether he was making more than me with his three songs,” Devoldre said. “I was a teenager and shouting for attention,” added Deprez. “But I started to wonder if, with six songs and the chance to sing harmonies, we would make more money.” The band started from there and with their second album Rats, released in March, they have really hit their stride. Devoldre said: “Most contemporary pop productions sound too ‘noughties’. There’s no depth. We’ve tried a different approach. In the past we just wanted to write cool arrangements. Not this time. We wanted the emotions to surface.” Deprez said: “The first album was about making a statement. This new one is about getting carte blanche, about doing what we want and what we love.”