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goo-berz · 3 months

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"Where is Gotye now?"

To many it seems like Gotye has dropped off the face of the Earth after his last album, Making Mirrors, released.. however, this is not true, I will tell you where he is now and what's happened since his last album released ..for those curious!!!

First though, I want to get into his background, because if I'm gonna talk about him why not just make a whole biography?

Early Gotye (1990-2000)

Wally De Backer (Gotye) was born in Belgium in 1980. When he was a young child he and his family moved over to Australia, which is where he would continue to grow up. He had always shown an interest in creating music, and as a teenager he was really able to experiment when he formed a band named "Downstares" - inspired by Depeche Mode -with 3 of his High School friends around 1993 ~ 1995. They would create their own music and play live, becoming well-known in their area. They had created a couple songs, however very little information about Downstares or their discography exists online, and only a few seconds of one of their songs, 1-900, is available to listen to. In the year 2000 they all graduated and eventually the band dissolved as everyone moved onto doing their own things. During this time Wally still wanted to create music, but was lost on what to do or where to start. He began taking samples and playing around with them, creating tracks with said samples. He would take these tracks and make a self-published album that he'd send out to radio stations to try to make a name for himself. One station, Triple J, took interest and decided to play it on their station. This caught the attention of a label named Lucky Numbers, who made a deal to publish his next album, Boardface. Boardface contained a couple of the original songs from the self-released album, but also had 6 brand new tracks. The album had good reception, but wasn't that successful and only sold 800 copies.

The Basics formation (2002)

In between the time of Downstares dissolving and Boardface being released, he met another aspiring musician named Kris Schroeder at a party. They would bond over their mutual love for The Beatles and decided to form a Beatles-inspired band named "The Basics" with another one of their friends, Michael. A month after Boardface was released The Basics released their first album "Get Back", heavily inspired by The Beatles. Michael would drop out of the band shortly after, which lead to them putting up flyers looking for another bass player to take his place - they only got one response from someone named Tim Heath, a man of the same age who also loved The Beatles as much as them. He would join the band, and as of 2024 he's still their bass player.

Here's a photo of these creatures. Idk why Kris is doing a kissy face but he is (Left, Wally/Gotye. Middle, Tim. Right, Kris)

Mid-era Gotye (2003 - 2010)

Wally would work on solo music, as well as simultaneously work on music with The Basics. In 2006 he released his next solo album, "Like Drawing Blood", to extreme success. The album instantly became a hit in Australia, Belgium, Japan and more - however the western world was still oblivious to his music.

After this he'd take a few years break to work on his career with The Basics. They released 3 new albums and 3 new EPs to some success. To gain more attention for their work, they would go on tour & do interviews, which ended up working pretty well for them and they became a fairly popular band in Australia.

Gotye becomes famous (2011)

Wally would work on a music video for one of his new, upcoming songs, Somebody That I Used to Know. This song would essentially be used as an appetizer for Making Mirrors. The song would be released a month before the release of the full album to drum up hype for its release. In 2011 he would finally release the album, Making Mirrors. It was doing very well in Europe, however it wasn't an international success just yet. That was, until, out of nowhere, the music video began to spread around on the internet, alerting many more people about the album, especially those in the western world. It instantly became an international success overnight and became a pop culture phenomenon.

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He wasn't used to this type of attention and never intended for it. He didn't like or want fame, he just wanted to experiment with music and sounds, and that's when his career blew up. He decided to go back to working with The Basics to get away from all the eyes on him, and that's where he'd continue to work for the next couple of years.

The Basics era (2011 - 2016)

The Basics would release more albums and EPs and go on another tour. At this point the band had long strayed away from being Beatles inspired and instead became a band trying to make a political statement, releasing music criticizing the Australian government and even going as far as making their own political party. For the time they essentially became a political icon for Australia.

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Around 2014 ~ 2016 was their peak, but after this they began to slow down as they began to focus on their personal lives & careers. Kris was going to medical school to become a doctor, Tim had a business to run, and Wally began working on the restoration and preservation of an old rare instrument called an Ondioline. Wally had also moved from Australia to NYC, making working on albums much harder.

The Ondioline (Instrument)

The Ondioline is a small electronic instrument that's piano-like in appearance. It's regarded as one of the first synthesizers ever created, created by Georges Jenny around the 1940s. It looks like a small piano with knobs and buttons that can be pressed to create different unique sounds. It was marketed as an all-in-one instrument that could replicate other instruments.

Example of the Ondioline replicating a Saxophone, Banjo & Violin, played by Georges Jenny.

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The Ondioline was constantly being tweaked during it's development. One would be created, Georges Jenny would tweak the design and create an even newer model of the Ondioline different from the last. No two Ondiolines are the same because of this. Georges Jenny would also sell Ondiolines to people as a kit - the Ondioline was a base for several unique attachments the owner could purchase and put on it. Because of these two factors, basically every single Ondioline is its own unique instrument. The Ondioline was introduced to a more broader audience by Jean-Jacques Perrey, a French music artist who created music using the Ondioline under the pseudonym "Mr. Ondioline".

The Ondioline was never mass manufactured, only around 1.2k were ever produced, each hand-crafted by Georges Jenny. Because of the Ondiolines age and most models being created with cheap materials, they're very likely to get damaged and fall into disrepair, reducing the original number of 1.2k Ondiolines massively. The instrument is very rare.

Ondioline Era (2016 - 2024)

Wally knew about the instrument for years and had fallen in love with it, however he was never able to find one or get his hands on one. He eventually flew to the Audities Foundation and wrote a song for Perrey on the working Ondioline they had in their archive. He'd email a video of him performing it on the Ondioline over to Perrey who'd reply with appreciation and invited him to come visit if he was ever in Switzerland. Wally took him up on this opportunity, he flew out to visit within 2 weeks of receiving the email and the two became friends. Perrey would die in 2016. To honor his legacy Wally would put on an "Ondioline Orchestra", an orchestra that performed Perrey's songs with an Ondioline at the main center of it Videos of the Orchestra can be watched below;

He'd create the non-profit organization "Forgotten Futures" that works on preserving the Ondioline. Their mission statement can be read below;

"Our mission is to revive lost and forgotten yet vital artifacts of electronic musical instrument history by collecting, faithfully restoring and preserving original instruments; researching and presenting the stories of their inventors; and bringing to light the cultural impact both from the time in which they were made, and more importantly, how they can make an impression on our current and future cultural moments."

He would also create a label under his organization with the same name, "Forgotten Futures", it released never before heard songs created by Jean-Jacques Perrey in memoriam.

Also, just adding this to show how awesome he is; His organization Forgotten Futures has a residency that focuses on empowering POC and LGBTQ+ people who have been disadvantaged in the recording industry. It's a 12 month program that gives members access to a recording studio and Forgotten Futures library of rare and unique instruments for them to experiment and record with. More information can be read here; https://forgottenfuturesmusic.org/

Only a handful of Ondiolines are known to exist today, 10 of which belong to Wally and only half of them have successfully been restored by him. He owns a website https://ondioline.com/ which provides more information about the instrument, models, and all things Ondioline

For even MORE!!! information, you can check out this interview he did with The New Yorker

Present Day (2016 ~ 2024)

In 2017 The Basics released a live album before going on a 3 year semi-hiatus. In 2019 they released their most recent album, B.A.S.I.C In 2021 The Basics announced that they'd be retiring from performing live In 2022 they released a rushed single to celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band, "I Don't Understand People". As of writing, this has been the last thing they released.

In December 2022, Kris Schroeder graduated medical school and gained his doctors degree. He is now working as a doctor. Tim owns an entertainment establishment called Theatre Royal in Castlemaine, Australia. And, of course, Wally is working on preserving the Ondioline.

In these past few years Wally has welcomed the birth of two children, Kris has welcomed one and Tim has welcomed one.

Future (2024+)

Over the past couple years The Basics have released two short audio snippets previewing new tracks that are in production. No information is known about this new album they're working on, there's no release date set for when it's meant to come out and all that's been shared about it has been those two seconds-long snippets. Due to all of the members of The Basics living far away from each other & having their own lives, it's likely the album doesn't get worked on as much so whatever album is being worked on may take a long while to reach completion. This is all that's known about the future of The Basics as a band.

As for Wally's solo work as "Gotye", he has admitted to making experimental tracks these past few years, however he doesn't know if he wants to release the tracks / create a new album. He's stated that a new album may come out eventually, but It's possible a new album won't come out either. He's not necessarily certain on the future of Gotye as a project, but he has stated there is a possibility for the release of future music. He continues to work on preserving the Ondioline & other electronic instruments and that's where his main focus will be

You can check out more at https://ondioline.com/ and https://forgottenfuturesmusic.org/

Anyways... cool right?!

#Gotye #Music #The Basics #The Basics band #The3basics #Somebody That I Used To Know #fan poster #goo_berz #guys i like this guy hes cool #ondioline

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