‘Crackerjack’ – ‘Tommy V’ – ‘Brat Brad’ – ‘Brian Teen’ – ‘Gary Lego’
In the archives of Punk Etc there’s a few tapes of ‘Mad Virgins’ post-punk period. The main one contains (unreleased?) recordings are from the time where the band had re-baptised themselves to ‘Mad V’ and weren’t really into punk anymore. Some songs are punky bubblegum-pop, some funky ‘dance’ tunes hinting towards the direction some of the members would take (new-wave)… The tape also contains the tracks from their 7″s.
(side 1): A La Mode / Guano / Monday Morning / Saturday Night / The Plumber / This Could Be The Night / From Now On / Princess Of Kentucky
(side 2): Let’s Get carried Away / Eros / Eros / Let’s Get Carried Away / (instrumental) / What A Shame /// Chinatown / A La Mode ( Larc recs 7″) /// I Am A Computer / Fuck & Suck (Romantik recs 7″)
The first four tracks on side 2 are demo-mixes from 2 seperate recording-sessions: Let’s Get Carried Away / Eros (Jemappes) /// Eros / Let’s Get Carried Away (Shiva recording-studio Brussels)
Besides these there’s another one marked ‘Mad V – Shiva 6/81’. That contains the instrumental bit and some tracks of ‘Jo Lemaire + Flouze’ on the B-side. Finally there’s another one with an inaudible/ incomprehensible interview (Stef – ‘Mad V’)…
‘Mad Virgins’ (Anderlecht, Brussels) were ‘Crackerjack’ Vince(nt) Sablon (vocals; R.I.P.; replaced by Michael Leahy), ‘Brat Brad’ Stef(an) Debusscher (bass; R.I.P.), ‘Brian Teen’ Chris/Kristiaan Debusscher (guitar; early 80s new-wave bands ‘Marine’/ ‘Allez Allez’), ‘Gary Lego’ ‘Robbie’ Robert Bindels – he was in ‘Marine’/ ‘Allez Allez’ in the early 80s (drums; later Paul Hamesse who was in ‘Neo Arya’ in mid 80s) and ‘Tommy V’ (guitar).
The Romantik recs 7″ (1978) was recorded with Vince, Stef, Chris, Robbie & Tommy. The 7″ released on Lark (1981) was with Stef, Chris, Robbie, vocalist Michael Leahy and second guitarist Didier Brichaut. A re-release on Belgian Waffles recs has recordings from the First Belgian Punk Contest (@ Vieux Saint-Job, March 1978; with the original line-up).
Brob
I replaced ‘Crackerjack’ when he was dumped. The only realeased material post- ‘Crackerjack’ is the Chinatown single (1981).
We don’t have any documents about what recordings were made when: Stef lost all the archives along the way.
At a certain stage, we were heading towards a form of powerpop. About those mixes: Shiva was a studio. Jemappes [near Mons] is where we recorded some stuff. Lots of experiments at the time but we didn’t finish them. And then it was over…
To make things clears: ‘Mad Virgins’ stopped being a punk band the day I walked in. They had had enough of it and had other ambitions, notably having some fun. The recordings you mention were all different directions we were trying. But it fell apart before any one direction was chosen. Chris was working on ‘Marine’ by then, which morphed into ‘Allez Allez’. And that was that.
Stef died about a year ago and Christian (or technically Kristiaan) probably has other priorities… I haven’t heard any of the others in decades…
Michael Leahy
‘Robbie’ was the first drummer, Paul Hamesse the last one (he also played with Stef & me in ‘Lovegang SS’). I was the last ‘Mad Virgins’ bassplayer, I joined them in 2019 (because I played in ‘Lovegang SS’ with Stef); that was when he played guitar. Jason [Burtally] started on guitar in 2018 @ the 2nd Punk Contest…
Laurence Castelain
The line-up at that time was: Michael (vocals) Chris (guitar/vocals), Stef (bass), Didier Brichaut (guitar) and myself on drums. Jack(y) Mauer gave us the opportunity to record a few songs after he released Chinatown and A La Mode (produced in his studio; Shiva). I don’t remember what period that was. I guess we weren’t good enough and the project was stopped. I didn’t remember we recorded so many songs. You can of course use them for your website. You know, there’s a lot of people using our material, even selling it for their own profit. Thank you for your interest.
Robert Bindels
‘Mad V’ was the band’s pop/new-wave era with a different singer and music obviously.
Jason Burtally
Brob Tilt's tapes 
‘Mad Virgins’: un des meilleurs groupes de l’équipe Romantik Records, ‘Crackerjack’ était un showman exceptionnel. Et Stef était mon ami! Le plus beau son de cymbale du monde sur I’m a computer…
[‘Mad Virgins’: one of the best bands on Romantik Records, ‘Crackerjack’ was an exceptional showman. And Stef was my friend! The most beautiful cymbal-sound in the world on I’m a computer…]
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Since 2018 ‘Mad Virgins’ has a particular place in my heart. Stef called me in July 2018 at 12:34pm (yes, 1-2-3-4; as an unvoluntary punk sign from the ‘Ramones’). It was supposed to be for one gig only (the 2nd Punk Contest Festival). We had very few rehearsals but played the damn gig with great joy. We won that festival that day! That allowed us to do a 45rpm, the 2nd one for ‘Mad V’ after I’m A Computer / Fuck And Suck. So, we released Records & Tapes / Nowhere something like a year later and also had the song Fuck And Suck (live at the 2d Punk Contest) one Belgian Waffles compilation. We played a bunch of gigs mainly in Belgium, in Germany for a festival, supported ‘UK Subs’, another one at the ADAM [Brussels Design Museum, formerly Art & Design Atomium Museum] for the Punk Exhibition (with pics of ‘Mad V’),… The next step would be the release of an EP. It was released as a 45rpm (Bizness Bizness / Tinderella) [2020] after Stef passed away on Augustus 10th. It was such an honour to be involved in “the ‘Mad Virgins’ of the 21st century”, as Robbie used called the band. In those 2-3 years of my time with ‘Mad V’, I got 10.000 recollections/souvenirs to share if people are interested…
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