Templo Diez

Oozing a dark and venomous musical brew mixing country-noir, post-rock and (very) troubled pop, the cosmopolitan 4-piece combo Templo Diez has been described by the French magazine Magic as the perfect crossing between Sparklehorse and Spiritualized, pledging a self-confessed allegiance to the darker hours of the Velvet Underground and as well as influences picked up in litterature (Bukowski, Fante,...).

Released in October 2003 on Intercontinental Records (F) and Muze Records (Benelux), the debut CD "Hoboken" received great reviews from the Dutch, Belgian and French music press (les Inrockuptibles, Magic, Oor, Live XS, Rif-Raf,...). Their new album 'Winterset' will be released on My First Sonny Weissmuller recordings on February 27th.

Ranging from minimalistic production to string-based arrangements, often playing with noise and sound manipulation, "Hoboken" has been airplayed in the Netherlands (namely "Club Lek" on 3voor12 and VPRO's de Avonden), Belgium (Studio Brussels, Radio 1's Cucamonga) and on diverse USA and Canadian college radios.

Over the past 2 years, Templo Diez has performed at several major festivals both in North America (SXSW 2003, CMJ Music Marathon 2005, NXNE 2004 and 2005) and in Europe (In the City 2003, UK, Motel Mozaique 2003, NL, Binnenach 2005, NL, Crossing Border 2005, NL), and played major venues in their homebase country. They toured 4 times in North America, mixing dates in Texas (Austin, Fort Worth,...), Midwest (Chicago, Detroit,...), East Coast (NYC, Providence,...), and Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa,...) with live sessions on college radios along the way.

As a singer-songwriter (code name: White Sands), frontman Pascal Hallibert reached the 2001 and 2004 finals of the Grote Prijs van Nederland (Dutch national musical contest).

Line-up :
Paolo Panza (I, drums, xylophone)
Leejon Verhaeg (NL, guitar)
Pascal Hallibert (F, vox, guitar, keys, mouth-organ)
Gloribel Hernàndez (VEN, keys, bass, German flute).
Additional musicians :
Merel Stadig (violin)
Roman Schipper (double bass and accordion)