Released at last for the first time on CD, the debut album by The Honeymoon Killers caused quite a bit of commotion when it first came out in 1977, on Marc Moulin's ephemeral Kamikaze label. At that time, the band consisted of an assortment of miscreants, taxi drivers, cooks, professional gamblers and other musical delinquents who performed a massacre on all genres, from rockabilly and punk to marching band music, French chanson and free jazz.

This reissue includes previously-unreleased live versions of Jimi Hendrix's Machine Gun and Dick Annegarn's Bébé Eléphant.

In this early incarnation, Les Tueurs de la Lune de Miel turned into something of a legend in Brussels. Fronted  by the late Yvon Vromman, they scoured the bars and concert halls of the Belgian capital, preceded by a well-deserved reputation of being notorious troublemakers. The outcome of their shows was always unpredictable (they were known to throw raw meat at their audience). They were arrogant, ferociously funny, and developed a rather personal type of art brut (see the original 1977 press release below).

In 1980, core Tueurs members Yvon, Jeanf Jones Jacob III & Gerald Fenerberg and core Aksak Maboul members (Crammed founder) Marc Hollander & Vincent Kenis (of Konono/Congotronics fame) recruited each other to revamp their respective bands. Joined by vocalist Véronique Vincent, they recorded the classic avant-pop album Les Tueurs de la Lune de Miel/The Honeymoon Killers, which earned them the privilege (then rare for an act singing in French) of becoming the darlings of the music press all around Europe, where they toured extensively before disbanding in 1985. Honeymoon Killers leader & songwriter Yvon Vromman passed away in 1989.

Original "Special Manubre" press release, 1977

"Les Tueurs de la lune de miel" are a funny band. Or, at any rate, they think they're funny, just like they think they make music.

There are three tall musicians (sic) and three middle-sized musicians among the "Tueurs de la lune de miel". Generally, short people are mean, ugly and smart as monkeys, and the tall ones are slender and foppish, but not very clever. With "les Tueurs", it's the opposite; unless it's the contrary.

The guitarist (Gerald!) has a horrible sound, everyone tells him so, but he thinks they're just teasing him. The difference between what he thinks he plays and what he really plays is embarrassing (in my opinion).

The bass player is so out of tune that, for a long time, people believed that he was one song ahead of the others. The drummer (Jean-François) is so deaf that they have to mime the pieces for him, which adds a dramatic dimension to the already abnormally unbearable stage presence of the "Tueurs"

The sax and the trumpet play in such an incontrollable and weird manner that each one of them thinks he plays what the other does, it's so appalling that one hesitates to dwell on this longer.

As for the guitarist-saxophonist-singer (!), Yvon, he's the wicked inspirer of the band. Without him, the "Tueurs" would have renounced their misdeeds, to the great relief of all honest belgian citizens. without his evil influence, the other members of the band would never have gone down the slippery path of musical delinquence.

Save civilization! don't buy the album by the "Tueurs de la lune de miel" !

Marc Moulin