TC Matic

TC Matic (also stylised as T.C. Matic) was a Belgian rock band founded in 1980 in Brussels. Centered on singer Arno Hintjens and guitarist Jean-Marie Aerts,^[1] the band played a kind of music sometimes referred to as "eurorock", containing various styles including new wave, blues, funk, hard rock, avant-garde and French chanson. The band released four studio albums and attained a measure of commercial and popular success, and disbanded in 1986.^[2]

TC Matic
TC Matic in 1980
Background information
Origin	Belgium
Genres	Rock
Years active	1980 (1980)–1986 (1986)
Past members	Arno Hintjens (Deceased) Jean-Marie Aerts (Deceased) Paul Couter (Deceased) Ferre Baelen Rudy Cloet Serge Feys Michael Peet

History

The band has its origin in the duo Tjens-Couter, composed of Arno Hintjens and guitarist Paul Couter,^[3] which played rhythm and blues^[4] since the early 1970s, and in 1974 were augmented with Ferre Baelen (bass) and Rudy Cloet (drums), and in 1977 with Serge Feys (keyboards).^[5] Two albums were released, Who Cares (1975) and Plat du Jour (1978).^[6] In 1980, the group was renamed TC Matic after the Yugoslav surrealist poet Dušan Matić.^[5] Decoutere was soon replaced by Jean-Marie Aerts, who cooperated with ^[7] Hintjens in the majority of the band's compositions and produced the first three albums.^[5] Their debut album, TC Matic, was described as a mixture of Killing Joke and Gang of Four;^[8] they scored an early hit in Belgium with "Oh La La La" in 1981,^[1] and another with "Putain putain" from 1983's Choco.^[9][10]

In 1984, the Dutch bass player Michael Peet replaced Ferre Baelen. In 1985, the band toured Europe, opening for the Simple Minds,^[5] a tour which proved that Belgian bands could attain commercial success outside the country.^[11] A final album, Ye Ye (1985), was produced by Howard Gray. The band broke up in 1986.^[5]

After the breakup

Arno Hintjes started a solo career, under the name Arno.^[12] He continued to cooperate with Jean-Marie Aerts, who went on to work mainly as a producer (for Jo Lemaire and the Urban Dance Squad, among others), and with two other ex-TC Matic-members, drummer Rudy Cloet and keyboard player Serge Feys.^[13][14]

Members

• Arno Hintjens - vocals
• Jean-Marie Aerts - guitar
• Ferre Baelen - bass (1980-1984)
• Rudy Cloet - drums
• Serge Feys - keyboards
• Michael Peet - bass (1984-1986)

Discography

• TC Matic (1981)^[15]
• L'Apache (1982)
• Choco (1983)
• Putain Putain (1983)
• Ye Ye (1985)