the story...
It all started in the summer of '97.. (doesn't that sound romantic?) when Pepijn and Demis started a project with Jacob (ex-URN, ex-LOCUSTA) after their HC-band PILGRIM broke up. After a few weeks of intense writing Maarten joined the band to become the singer. As the music evolved, all members agreed that the band needed a second guitarplayer; to intensify and brutalize their sound, jacob introduced Steven aka Lord QW.
In April '98 WELKIN played a first gig at Decadance Gent with EUPHORBIA which put the guys back on the map. In the months that followed they worked on new material and had some gigs in the Gent-area.
But then lightening struck! In December '98 Jacob and Steven decided to leave the band for each their own personal reasons. On December 17th '98 they played a last gig. The end of a beautiful era... After a few good talks WELKIN started looking for a new guitarplayer and drummer. But just as they found Davy and Frank, who had been playing together for a few months, Maarten decided to leave the band to become front man of the darkmetal band MANIC MOVEMENT.
So after finding a decent rehearselspace, WELKIN started out without a singer. There where some gigs with guestvocalists as the band continued the search for a singer.
In Januari 2000 some mayor descisions were made! Demis gives up his trusted bass to become the new singer and frontman. And WELKIN could announce the happy return of the long lost son Steven, this time as bassplayer extra-ordinaire. So in januari 2000 WELKIN was complete again! In the months that followed they worked really hard and set their self the goal to make a new start in the summer of 2000. In july they gave a first gig in their hometowns most known pub 'The Frontline' and in August they started recording the Demo 'The Untold' which was proudly released in October from that same year. The first bash of CD's was sold out in no time.
2001 is the year where WELKIN showed Belgium what they stand for. The music grew more brutal with the note and they played about 15 gigs all over the country. Playing with some of Belgium's finest, and getting to know loads of new people, they kept having a blast on every occasion. WELKIN grew to become a band to be reckoned with.
Now in 2002 they continue on this path and even break trough the borders of their small home country to play gigs in Portugal and Holland. All this live experience results in a solid and tight stage act. Combine this with the welkin-sound and the lyrical whirlwinds in Demis' head and you'll understand why they got signed under The Spew Records to release their debut album 'Angel Inside'. 1 November 2002 a piece of Welkin brutality was unleashed upon the world.
In the months that followed WELKIN carried their weird assed dark tunes all over Europe. They played a lot of shows (OEF2003, France, Holland,...) and stole a lot of girlfriends. But this busy schedule made a victim : August 2003 Davy decided to leave the band because of a lack of time. He will be really missed and we wish him the best in his future. The search for a descent replacement started. After two months we finally found a perfect new Welkin member in Peter (ex-Family of Dog - one of our favorit belgian bands). Welkin started breaking in the new guy and working on some new stuff. Steven started playing with the doomband THEE PLAGUE OF GENTLEMEN around that same period and when late 2005 they signed with Listenable records, the time had come for Steven to make a choice. WELKIN was going trough turbulent times and he decided to go with TPOG and conquer the world. The thunderclouds had been darkening WELKIN HQ for long time around this subject, so Steven was quickly replaced by Jef (also plays in HELLDOZER with demis) who was very motivated to kick some bootay.
March 2006 the monkeysquad entered THE MAX studios in Brugge te record their next full album "The origin". This after almost four years of intense writing, heavy adventures and sad twists. A fresh new chapters in the ongoing story of WELKIN.
Source : http://www.welkin.be/index.php?band
