schroothoop

Brussels-based trio schroothoop (Dutch for ‘junk yard’) makes homemade instruments built from lost and found objects like scrap wood, old metal or anything that would end up in a landfill. The band’s music is infused with sounds from around the world orchestrated by PVC flute melodies, jerry can beats and washtub bass lines. By Rik Staelens (wind & string instruments), Timo Vantyghem (bass & clarinet) and Margo Maex (percussion).

schroothoop came into being on the border of the buroughs Jette and Laken. Some would call it the residential 'nothing is ever gonna happen here' part of Brussels. The evening before Laken on Stage, Rik, Margo and Timo met in Jette and noticed a pile of illegally dumped tyres, matrasses, cans and buckets and spontaneously decided to turn this rubbish into a concert. Margo built a drum from found waste bins, a washing line suddenly became a double bass and PVC pipes were transformed by Rik into flutes and clarinets. At Laken on stage, schroothoop played a jam of improvised, tribal junk sounds and the crowd wanted more. They came up with a plan to record a mini-album that became a musical road trip through seven semi-improvised tracks.