Kevin Cools: Vocals
Marc Ysaye: Drums – vocals
Roland De Greef: Bass – vocals
Hervé Borbé: Keyboards
Christophe Pons: Guitar

Machiavel is one of the most famous Belgian rock bands. It has released 22 albums and collected 4 golden records. The band performed a lot of shows, including twice sold-out at “Forest National”, three times at the “Cirque Royal” and five times even successfully at the “Ancienne Belgique” in Brussels.

The power of an original music, a mix between rock and melodious songs together with a well-balanced contrast between soft and hard sounds contribute to the ever-growing success of the band.

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

Machiavel est l’un des plus grands groupes de rock belge avec à son actif 22 albums dont quatre sont disques d’or.

Il a rempli deux fois Forest National, trois fois le Cirque Royal et cinq fois l’Ancienne Belgique.

Son succès, il le doit à la force d’une musique originale, une fusion entre rock et mélodie, un contraste maîtrisé entre douceur et puissance.

Les plus grands hits:

« Fly », « Rope Dancer », « Over the Hill », « Chronic Love », « Feel the Sun », « Magical Mess » …

 

1975 – Marc Ysaye et Roland De Greef créent Machiavel sur les cendres du groupe Moby Dick.

1976 – Sortie du 1^er album « Machiavel » chez EMI music.

1977 – Mario Guccio rejoind le groupe comme chanteur. Sortie du 2^e album « Jester » qui donnera à Machiavel un style propre.

1978 – Sortie du 3^e album « Mechanical Moonbeams ». L’album et le single « Rope Dancer » rencontreront un énorme succès. Premier disque d’or pour le groupe.

1979 – Le 4^e album « Urban Games », second disque d’or, marquera la volonté de Machiavel de ne pas s’enfermer dans le style Eurock et d’intégrer dans sa musique d’autres influences.Le public appréciera cette orientation musicale et permettra à Machiavel d’être le premier groupe belge à se produire en tête d’affiche à Forest National. Ces changements musicaux entraîneront une crise au sein de Machiavel qui causera le départ de Albert Letecheur le claviériste, ainsi que le remplacement de Jean Paul Devaux par le jeune guitariste Thierry Plas.

1980 – Le 5^e album « New Lines », confirmera ce changement radical d’orientation musicale. Cet album est leur troisième disque d’or et le titre « Fly » sera un énorme tube. La musique de Machiavel est un mélange de nombreux styles, avec une ligne résolument plus rock qu’auparavant. Machiavel remplira une deuxième fois Forest National.

1981 – Le 6^e album « Break Out », enregistré aux Etats-Unis à Los Angeles sous la direction de Derek Laurence (producteur notamment du groupe Deep Purple).

1987 – Marc Ysaye, Thierry Plas, Roland De Greef et Mario Guccio enregistrent avec l’aide du claviériste Paolo Ragatzu l’album « The Cry of Pleasure ».

Après cela le groupe se fera plus discret.

De 1990 à 1995 tous les membres du groupe feront diverses expériences musicales.

1996 – Il faudra attendre près de dix ans pour revoir Machiavel sur scène. L’occasion se présentera avec la fête à Jean-Luc Fonck de STTELLLA aux Francofolies de Spa (juillet 1996) et la sortie de la compilation « 20th Anniversary Machiavel : The Very Best Of ».

1997 – Le claviériste Hervé Borbé rejoint le groupe. La tournée qui accompagne la sortie du « Best of » est un énorme succès. Machiavel rempli l’Ancienne Belgique à Bruxelles.

1999 – Nouvelle tournée et nouvel album studio « Virtual Sun ».

2003 – Sortie de l’album « Welcome to Paradise » et d’un nouveau best of intitulé « The Essential of Machiavel ».Le groupe repart en tournée.

2005 – Sortie de l’album « 2005 » et du titre « Chronic Love ». Le groupe entreprend une tournée de plus de 40 dates et rempli pour la 4 ème fois l’Ancienne Belgique.

2006 – La tournée se prolonge et plus de 60.000 personnes assistent à leurs concerts.

2007 – Sortie du double album « Live In Brussels » enregistré à l’AB durant la tournée 2005. Fin de l’année 2007 sortie d’un DVD « Live at Coliseum ».

2008-2009  Le groupe continue à tourner.

2010 – Le guitariste, Thierry Plas, s’en va vers d’autres aventures et est remplacé par Christophe Pons. Les 5 musiciens travaillent les compositions d’un nouvel album et enregistrent les premières maquettes.

2011 – Le groupe entre en studio au mois de février et enregistre son nouvel album « eleven » qui sort en octobre chez Moonzoo music. Le titre « Feel the sun » est en airplay sur plusieurs radios et les critiques de l’album sont plus que positives. Le succès est au rendez-vous !

2012 – Machiavel reprend la route avec sa nouvelle tournée « eleven ». Plus de 80.000 personnes assisteront à leurs concerts, plus de 30 dates à travers la Belgique.

2013 – Le groupe entre en studio pour l’enregistrement d’un nouvel album « Colours » qui est présenté fin de l’année au Cirque Royal accompagné pour certains titres par l’ORCW.

2015 – Machiavel fête ses 40 ans d’existence. Sortie en novembre d’un livre biographique retraçant la carrière du groupe, d’un coffret avec album vinyle et d’un CD 18 titres « The Best Songs of Machiavel ».Le groupe entame une tournée accompagné par les 12 violons de l’Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, dont le concert au Cirque Royal de Bruxelles en sera l’apothéose.

2017 – Sortie de l’album « The Early Years » chez Warner music, qui rassemble les trois premiers albums légendaires remasterisés et enrichis de versions live.

2018 –Des suites d’une longue maladie, Mario Guccio décède le 21 janvier. A sa demande, la tournée « The Early Years » n’est pas annulée et débute le 3 mars 2018 à l’AB où le groupe lui rend un chaleureux hommage. Pour l’occasion le line up a changé, Marc Ysaye a repris le chant, Roland de Greef est toujours à la basse, Hervé Borbé aux claviers et Christophe Pons à la guitare. Sont venus se greffer au groupe Nicolas Scalliet à la batterie et la choriste Lili Gin.

2019 – La tournée, durant laquelle Machiavel interprète uniquement ses trois premiers albums, se poursuit également durant toute l’année 2019.

2020 – Les 4 musiciens (Marc, Roland, Hervé et Christophe) ont toujours l’envie de faire de la musique ensemble et composent de nouveaux titres . Marc décide de retourner à la batterie et le groupe se met à la recherche d’un chanteur.

2021 – Venue du nouveau chanteur Kevin Cools, sa voix et sa personnalité avaient déjà tapé dans l’oreille de Mario qui disait de lui qu’il était son « fils spirituel ». Kevin a vite été adopté par tous, tant il incarne à merveille l’esprit « Machiavel ».

2022 – Comme l’oiseau mythique, Machiavel renaît de ses cendres et nous présente « Phoenix », son 13^ème album studio. Comme à son habitude, le groupe nous livre un album varié et soigné: 11 titres originaux, mêlant ambiances acoustiques et électriques, mélodies fortes aux arrangements subtils. Machiavel entame bel et bien un nouveau chapitre de son histoire.

www.machiavel.be

                                                

Biography

(short version)

In the middle of the seventies two music freaks, Roland De Greef and Marc Ysaye, created a group called “Machiavel“.

In April 1976, they released their first album (EMI music). For the second album, the group’s line-up changed. Jack Roskam was replaced Jean Paul Devaux on guitar and Mario Guccio was brought in as singer and showman to boost the live impact.

Released in 1977, the second album “JESTER” revealed surprising musical maturity (EMI music).

The third album “MECHANICAL MOONBEAMS”, released in 1978, confirmed the promise. The album and its superb single “Rope Dancer” was an enormous success. First gold record (EMI music).

The fourth album “URBAN GAMES”, released in 1979, is the second gold record (EMI music). Machiavel’s will to move on and not remain encased in Eurock, allowing other influences into the mix, such as the reggae hits on “OVER THE HILL”. But the changes in style caused the departure of the keyboards player Albert Letecheur. The Guitar player Jean-Paul Devaux was also replaced by the young Thierry Plas. These changes would have a major effect on Machiavel’s career.

In 1980, the fifth album “NEW LINES” confirmed the radical change. Machiavel’s music was a mix of many styles, with a much tougher edge than before. The public remained true to the band, again filling Forest National aréna. Third gold record (EMI music).”NEW LINES” and the single « Fly » brought them a new audience in the northern part of the country, as well as live shows in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and France.

The sixth album “BREAK OUT” was released in 1981. It was produced in the USA by Derek Laurence Deep Purple’s producer (EMI music).
In 1983, their record company EMI released “VALENTINE’S DAY”, a live recording of their second Forest National show.

In 1987, Roland De Greef, Marc Ysaye, Mario Guccio and Thierry Plas recorded the album “THE CRY OF PLEASURE” with the help of keyboard player Paolo Ragatzu. The single « Your Soul » featuring the harmonica playing of Arno. After this, the band was very discreet.

It has been almost ten years since Machiavel took to the stage.

The opportunity came during the Francofolies festival in Spa in July 1996. This coincided with the release of the compilation 20th Anniversary Machiavel : “THE VERY BEST OF”.

In 1997, Hervé Borbé was brought in as keyboards player. The tour which followed and the CD were highly successful.

In 1998, the band recorded a new album “VIRTUAL SUN” which was released by CNR Arcade in January 1999.

1999 will be remembered as the year of some Machiavel gigs and also as the year of the release of a double live record called “MACHIAVEL LIVE” by EMI music.

The year 2000 was another busy one for the band, they appeared on the “Glittering 2000 Compilation”, distributed by P.I.A.S. Machiavel covered and re-arranged the song « The Faith Healer » of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
The album “BREAK OUT” was also released as a CD by HK music.
On the live front, 2000 saw the band play many concerts, notably at outdoor festivals such as Nandrin Festival (Belgium) Rock Affligem (Belgium), Rock Um Knuedler (Luxembourg), support act for Bon Jovi (Belgium), etc…

In 2001, the release of the Machiavel double CD called « Anthology » distributed by EMI music.
The new album « Welcome to Paradise » was released in January 2003 and distributed by CNR Arcade Music. A new Machiavel tour will start in March.

Year 2004 was dedicated mostly to writing and producing songs for the new studio album called « 2005 » (Bang music).

In 2006, the band is on the road again and more than 60.000 people will have seen and applauded the shows.

In 2007, Machiavel release a new live album called “ LIVE IN BRUSSELS ” which is made of tracks of the gig recorded on March 2005 at “Ancienne Belgique” in Brussels (Moonzoo music / Universal music).
End 2007, release of a DVD « Live at Coliseum » (Universal music).

2008 – 2009 The band is on the road again.

2010 – The guitarist Thierry Plas leaves for other horizons and is replaced by Christophe Pons.
The five musicians work on compositions of a new studio album and they record the first demos.

2011 – The band enter in studio in February.
In September 2011, the band with his new guitarist Christophe Pons release a brand new studio album called “Eleven”  including the single “Feel the sun”.

Since October 2011, the band is on the road again and more than 80.000 people will have seen and applauded the shows.

In November 2013, Machiavel release a brand new studio album called “Colours ” including the single “Satellites ” and the band starts his new tour with a show accompanied by the Orchestre Royal de chambre de Wallonie in December 2013 at the Cirque Royal ( Brussels ).

2015 – Machiavel celebrates their  40 years of existence, In November a biography will be released, covering the whole career of the band. This will go together with the release of a box including a vinyl album, and of a CD with 18 songs called ” The Best Songs Of Machiavel “.The band will start a tour with the 12 violins of the ORCW ( Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonie ).

2017 – Release of the album “The Early Years” by Warner music, which contains the first three legendary albums remastered and extended with live versions.

2018 – After a long illness, Mario Guccio passes away on 21 January. At his request, “ The Early Years Tour ” is not cancelled and starts on 3 March 2018 in the AB where the band gives him a warm tribute. For the occasion the line up has changed, Marc Ysaye is on vocals, Roland de Greef still on bass, Hervé Borbé on keyboards and Christophe Pons on guitar. Nicolas Scalliet on drums and the backing singer Lili Gin have been added. The tour, during which Machiavel performs only their first three albums, will continue throughout 2019.

2020 – The four musicians (Marc, Roland, Hervé and Christophe) still have the desire to make music together and compose new songs.

2021 – Arrival of the new singer Kevin Cools. His voice and personality had already caught the ear of Mario who called him his “spiritual son”. Kevin was quickly adopted by all, as he embodies the “Machiavel” spirit.

2022 – Like the mythical bird, Machiavel has risen from the ashes and presents us with “ Phoenix “, its 13th studio album. As usual, the band delivers a varied and neat album: 11 original tracks, mixing acoustic and electric ambiences, strong melodies with subtle arrangements. Machiavel is indeed starting a new chapter in its history.

www.machiavel.be

Biography

(Long Version)

THE GENESIS OF THE GROUP

In the middle of the seventies two music freaks, Roland De Greef and Marc Ysaye, created a group called Moby Dick . Shortly later, they met Albert Letecheur – a meeting that would prove important at a time when the musical style of European groups such as Yes, Genesis, Supertramp and Emerson, Lake & Palmer was becoming increasingly popular throughout Europe in general (and Belgium in particular). At the time, the style was called “Eurock” . Once the style was established, most countries had their own “Eurock” bands, except Belgium– much to the frustration of the public and press. In the small world of Belgian music in 1975-76, aplace was up for grabs. Four French-speaking musicians thought they would give it a try. With Roland De Greef on bass, Marc Ysaye on drums and vocals, Jack Roskam on guitar, Albert Letecheur on keyboards; Machiavel was born, and about to become one of the country’s most successful bands.
In April 1976, they released their first album called Machiavel , which was hailed by the press but even more by the public. In retrospect, it is clear that this album had tracks of varying quality. But the level of artistic potential and skill were impressive for a first album

THE EUROCK PERIODE

For the second album, the group’s line-up changed. Jack Roskam was replaced Jean Paul Devaux on guitar and Mario Guccio was brought in as singer and showman to boost the live impact. Released in 1977, the second album, Jester , revealed surprising musical maturity. Machiavel acquired their style, and additional fans.
The third album, Mechanical Moonbeams (1978), confirmed the promise. The album and its superb single Rope Dancer was an enormous success.The tour that followed including dates at the Rocking Belgium festival in Wavre and the Cirque Royal in Brussels was living proof of the band’s capabilities.This was the golden age of Machiavel’s Eurock period. The fourth album “URBAN GAMES”, released in 1979, is the second gold record (EMI music). Machiavel’s will to move on and not remain encased in Eurock, allowing other influences into the mix, such as the reggae hits on “OVER THE HILL”. But the changes in style caused the departure of the keyboards player Albert Letecheur. The Guitar player Jean-Paul Devaux was also replaced by the young Thierry Plas. These changes would have a major effect on Machiavel’s career.

NEW LINES

In 1980, the fifth album “NEW LINES” confirmed the radical change. Machiavel’s music was a mix of many styles, with a much tougher edge than before. The public remained true to the band, again filling Forest National aréna. Third gold record (EMI music).”NEW LINES” and the single « Fly » brought them a new audience in the northern part of the country, as well as live shows in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and France.The sixth album Break Out was released in 1981. It was produced by Derek Laurence (Deep Purple’s producer) in the USA, recorded at the Wally Heider studio in Hollywood L.A.

THE BREAK

After their equipment was stolen during a tour, the band faced difficult financial problems. This, and a certain discouragement, led to the group cooling off somewhat. In 1983, their record company EMI released Valentine Days a live recording of their second Forest National show.

THE CRY OF PLEASURE

In 1987, Roland De Greef, Marc Ysaye, Mario Guccio and Thierry Plas reformed Machiavel and recorded the album “The Cry of Pleasure” with the help of keyboard player Paolo Ragatzu. The band was trying to find a compromise between their first musical love and the various influences the members underwent during their solo outings. Tree tracks are worthy of note: the single “No Way to Heaven”, the song “Bad Girl” with BJ Scott at the backing vocals and above all “Your Soul” featuring the superb harmonica playing of Ernest Hintjes (better known as Arno).

DISCOGRAPHY

Coming back to their discography, a first compilation was released in 1991, followed by a boxed set in 1993. The latter comprised the first five albums with previously unreleased tracks, such as Don’t Remember (1974) or alternative takes of tracks such as the home version of I’m not a Loser. The success of these releases confirmed that, though inactive, there was still strong interest in Machiavel.

SOLO CAREERS

Since 1981, the group members have had solo careers to varying degrees of success. Marc Ysaye and Albert Letecheur formed Twilight. Marc Ysaye playest drums with the Belgian blues outfit Burning Plague which exists since 1965 and with whom he recorded the album “Two” in 1995 and the live album called “Live at Last” in 1999 and released his first solo album “Back to Avalon” in 2020. He also produced, Pierre Rapsat’s album “J’ouvre les yeux” in 1989. After spending some time on the RTBF’s Radio Une, Marc has become the director and one of the best known voices of Classic 21. Roland De Greef and Mario Guccio formed Beige Neige , releasing the CD “Movement One” in 1983. They have always been involved in music through their production house Rox Records. Thierry Plas became a highly appreciated session musician, playing live and in studio with Pierre Rapsat, Vaya Con Dios, Berverly Jo Scott, Tailors Of Panama and Well Well. Thierry Plas and Marc Ysaye played with Purple Prose, a band of Dany Klein (ex Vaya Con Dios singer). A first album has been released by BMG Records in may 1999.

THE REBIRTH

It has been almost ten years since Machiavel took to the stage. The opportunity came during the celebration of Jean-Luc Fonck (Sttellla) at the Francofolies festival in Spa in July 1996. This coincided with the release of the compilation 20th Anniversary Machiavel : The Very Best Of . The tour with the line up Mario Guccio (vocal ) Marc Ysaye  ( drums ) Roland De Greef ( bass ) Hervé Borbe ( keyboards ) Thierry Plas ( guitars ) which followed was intended as a farewell to the stage. Yet the ten dates – and the CD 20th Anniversary Machiavel : the Very Best of – were highly successful. Hervé Borbé was brought in as member of the band . Few groups or singers, particularly in Belgium, could enjoy such a comeback after several years of absence.
1997 and 1998 have been busy years for the band. Lots of live dates, and 1998 ended with the recording of a new studio album, to be released on January 20th, 1999. The first single was already been released on November 27th, 1998.
The brand new album called ” Virtual Sun” was released by CNR Arcade on 26th January 1999.
1999 will be remembered as the year of some Machiavel gigs and also as the year of the release of a double live record called Machiavel Live by Emi Belgium, on September 20 th 1999″.

THE YEARS 2000

The year 2000 was another busy one for the band.
In terms of releases, Machiavel appeared on the Glittering 2000 compilation, distributed by P.I.A.S. Machiavel covered and re-arranged the song “The Faith Healer” of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
The vinyl album “Break Out” (1981) was also released as a CD version by Hans Kuster Music. It is also worth mentioning the release of their 3rd compilation called Original Hits through EMI Belgium.
On the live front, 2000 saw the band play many concerts, notably at outdoor festivals such as Nandrin Festival (Belgium) Rock Affligem (Belgium) , Rock Um Knuedler (Luxembourg) and support act for Bon Jovi (Belgium).
Everybody will remember year 2001 because of the release of the Machiavel double CD called Anthology and distributed by EMI. This double CD included a new track composed by the band in 2001 and called Heaven’s Rules. This song has been released as a single.
Moreover, in year 2001, Machiavel has performed big open air giggs as for example during the Wallonie Festival in Liège and in Namur ; for these two gigs, more than 25.000 people were present.

WELCOME TO PARADISE

The year 2002 will be dedicated to writing, recording and producing new tracks for the new album called Welcome to Paradise, which was recorded in ICP, Zoo and Rox studios. A first single “Wild as the Wind” was released in October 2002 and the album in January 2003 distributed by CNR Arcade Music.
During the new tour there were very important moments like Machiavel taking part in the Francofolies of Spa with their own songs and, also their cover of the song “Je suis moi” during the evening dedicated to Pierre Rapsat.
On the discography side, a new “best of” called The Essential of Machiavel has been released in June 2003 by EMI.

THE YEAR 2004

For the band and their public, 2004 will be known as the year during which Albert Letecheur died (in May).
 The year 2004 was dedicated mostly to writing and producing songs for the new studio album. The release with the record company, Bang music, was planned in February 2005.

THE ALBUM 2005

The first single called “Chronic Love” has been released in the begin of January 2005. The new studio album called “2005”” has been released in the end of January 2005.The 2005 tour has been started in March 2005.In 2006, the band is on the road again and more than 50.000 people will have seen and applauded the shows

LIVE IN BRUSSELS

In 2007, Machiavel release a new live album called “ LIVE IN BRUSSELS ” which is made of tracks of the gig recorded on March 2005 at “Ancienne Belgique” in Brussels. (Moonzoo music / Universal music)
 End 2007, release of a DVD « Live at Coliseum » (Universal Music).

MACHIAVEL ACOUSTIC

In May 2009, Machiavel release a new live album called “MACHIAVEL ACOUSTIC ” which is made of acoustics tracks of the gig recorded at the Auditorium studio Abel Dubois in Mons  (Moonzoo music / Universal music).

ELEVEN

In September 2011, the band with his new guitarist Christophe Pons release a brand new studio album called “Eleven ” including the single “Feel the sun”. Since October 2011, the band is on the road again and more than 80.000 people will have seen and applauded the shows and discovered the new songs.

COLOURS

In November 2013, Machiavel release a brand new studio album called “Colours ” including the single “Satellites ” and the band starts his new tour with a show accompagnied by the Orchestre Royal de chambre de Wallonie in December 2013 at the Cirque Royal ( Brussels ).

4O YEARS

2015 Machiavel celebrates their  40 years of existence, In November a biography will be released, covering the whole career of the band. This will go together with the release of a box including a vinyl album, and of a CD with 18 songs called ” The Best Songs Of Machiavel “. The band will start a tour with the 12 violins of the ORCW ( Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonie ).

THE EARLY YEARS

2017 – Release of the album “The Early Years” by Warner music, which contains the first three legendary albums “Machiavel”, “Jester”, “Mechanical Moonbeams” remastered and extended with live versions.

THE TOUR

2018 – After a long illness, Mario Guccio passes away on 21 January. At his request, “ The Early Years Tour ” is not cancelled and starts on 3 March 2018 in the AB where the band gives him a warm tribute. For the occasion the line up has changed, Marc Ysaye is on vocals, Roland de Greef still on bass, Hervé Borbé on keyboards and Christophe Pons on guitar. Nicolas Scalliet on drums and the backing singer Lili Gin have been added. The tour, during which Machiavel performs only their first three albums, will continue throughout 2019.

2020 – The four musicians (Marc, Roland, Hervé and Christophe) still have the desire to make music together and compose new songs.

2021 – Arrival of the new singer Kevin Cools. His voice and personality had already caught the ear of Mario who called him his “spiritual son”. Kevin was quickly adopted by all, as he embodies the “Machiavel” spirit.

PHOENIX

2022 – Like the mythical bird, Machiavel has risen from the ashes and presents us with “ Phoenix “, its 13th studio album. As usual, the band delivers a varied and neat album: 11 original tracks, mixing acoustic and electric ambiences, strong melodies with subtle arrangements. Machiavel is indeed starting a new chapter in its history.

www.machiavel.be

More information about the biography