LetsSingIt the internet lyrics database
en
0
picture

Admiral Freebee

0
5.0 / 5
New content available, review now!
Artist info:
Also known as
Verified yes
GenreRock
Albums8
Songs80
AboutTom Van Laere (born 1975), better known by his stage name Admiral Freebee, is a Belgian singer-songwriter. He took his stage name from the Jack Kerouac novel On the Road. Admiral Freebee is also the name of a ship that sank in San Francisco Bay and was subsequently used as a buoy. Tom Van Laere is the brother of Tim Van Laere, founder of Tim Van Laere Gallery. The gallery represents Adrian Ghenie, Kati Heck, Rinus Van de Velde, Jonathan Meese, Ben Sledsens and Franz West among others. .

Tom began his career as quite a reasonable tennis player. One day while standing in front of the mirror he turned his racket around: "Guitar!" He withdrew into the oeuvre of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Hank Williams and taught himself to play the guitar and the piano.

Belgium got its first extensive taste of Admiral Freebee (the name comes from the masterly 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac) during Humo's Rock Rally 2000, the most important rock competition in the Low Countries. Backed by a bass player and a drummer, The Admiral won the silver medal and the price awarded by the public.

In 2003 his untitled debut album appeared, a record that effortlessly met the high expectations. In the 12 songs Van Laere shows that he can just as easily come up with a moving country/pop ballad (see for instance the phenomenal single 'Rags 'n' Run') as a stadium rocker ('Ever Present'), and that he can just as effortlessly melt the two together into one song ('There's a Road (Noorderlaan)') without turning it into a gimmick.

Van Laere was born in Brasschaat, near Antwerp. He participated in Humo's Rock Rally, one of the biggest rock competitions in the Low Countries. Backed by a bass guitarist and a drummer he was awarded the silver medal and won the audience's vote. His first album, Admiral Freebee, appeared soon after the competition on Universal, as did his second, Songs.

His third album, Wild Dreams of New Beginnings, has been released to positive critical acclaim in November 2006 and reached the top 40 on the Belgium charts.

Recently one of Belgium's most influential rock formations, dEUS, asked Admiral Freebee to be the supporting act on their European tour. In June 2009 Admiral Freebee was the support act for Neil Young on several European tour dates.

When performing live, Admiral Freebee is versatility itself. Whether he performs solo and acoustically or with a well-oiled rock machine, the audience can only do one thing: listen, see and be silent. And then shout out in admiration.

Enough history. March 2005: Admiral Freebee's second CD is available in the shops. It is called 'Songs' and it includes 13 of them. 'Songs' continues from where his debut album ended. It goes much further, but judge it for yourself. 'Songs' then, although 'Singles' would have been a possibility too. You get two singles now - 'Oh Darkness' and 'Carry On' – the others will follow.

A few facts:

'Songs' was recorded live over the course of five days in The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. John Hanlon (famous for his work with Neil Young & Crazy Horse) sat at the mixing board. The sparing overdubs – backings and solos – took place in the Shangri-La Studio a bit further down the road.

Studio lineup :

Guitar/vocals/'Songs': Tom Van Laere
Guitar: Jesse Tobias (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Morrissey, Alanis Morissette, Twilight Singers)
Bass: Ric Markmann (Chris Cornell)
Drums and backing vocals: Dean Butterworth (Morrissey, Ben Harper)
Backing vocals: Tommy Funderburk (Toto)
Production and technique: John Hanlon (Neil Young & Crazy Horse)

Most Popular Songs (More)

Most Popular Albums (More)

Artists you may also like

Similar genre
Popular on LetsSingIt
New on LetsSingIt
show more artists with similar genre
show this week's top 1000 most popular artists
show all recently added artists

Pictures (1)

Admiral Freebee

Fans (0)

no fans

Contributors

leaderboard
activity

Comments (4)