80 Trolls is a band with roots made of friendship and professional cooperation of 5 members. After the split of the well-known band Wild Willi, singer Dirk Wilikens and drummer Dirk De Troch started a new project. To bring easy songs is not the ambition of the 80 Trolls. Musically and technically difficult songs drown in a mix of special sound effects are clearly the name of the game. Lead and Rhythm guitar player Patrick Wuytens uses just 6 strings and professional gear to add an extra dimension to the different songs. Bass player and second vocalist Christophe Van Cauwenbergh insists on a playlist with well know but at the same time complex songs to get the audience’s attention from the start. New wave is nothing without Jan Wauters’s keyboard contribution using a mix of dark pads and recognizable arpeggiators. Jeremie Godu, the professional drummer of the band who in the meantime replaced Dirk De Troch, uses an electronic drum and has the ability to add that specific eighties touch to the songs. The strength of 80 Trolls is clearly their ability to bring all songs live. The one or two exceptions where pre-recorded loops are being used are those songs that get a special 80 Trolls accent.
80 Trolls focuses mainly on the New wave sound of the eighties. The band is capable to cover songs of well-known bands like The Cure, U2, Simple Minds, Gary Numan, Visage, Anne Clark, The Sisters of Mercy... The final goal is to reproduce that specific dark 80’s sound well-known by everybody. At the same time, the Trolls are not afraid to add more recent covers from bands like Editors, Daan and Moby that fit in the atmosphere of the new wave. As a cherry on the cake the band dares to add one or more own songs in the set-list.
