Flat Earth Society

Membership in the Flat Earth Society might once have placed you inside a Boston psychedelic pop outfit during the 1960s or marked you as someone convinced that gravity and orbiting satellites form part of an elaborate ruse hiding humanity’s central position in the cosmos. Alternatively, the name could point to an adventurous avant-garde big band that emerged from Belgium, specifically the historic region of Flanders whose level terrain literally matches the phrase. From this flat landscape, intricate music filled with sharp peaks and sudden drops has nevertheless arisen. Backed in part by the Flemish arts council, Flat Earth Society established itself during the late 1990s as one of the most striking large ensembles to surface on the European continent, a presence that continued through the 2010s.

Peter Vermeersch, the group’s founder, principal composer, and bandleader, had previously led X-Legged Sally, an avant-garde jazz-rock unit celebrated for its precise horn charts, propulsive grooves, catchy melodies, fiery solos, and compositional intricacy in the spirit of Frank Zappa. During the 1990s that band explored increasingly conceptual territory, and Vermeersch’s solo endeavors likewise leaned experimental. In Flat Earth Society he sought equilibrium, folding his penchant for exploration into a big-band jazz setting designed for broad accessibility. Evidence appears in the ensemble’s repertoire, which ranges across material by Louis Armstrong, Godley & Creme, and the Residents, as well as Vermeersch’s score for a children’s film whose protagonist drinks a mysterious liquid and transforms into a cat.

Although the band’s name might suggest the level geography of Flanders, it actually derives from British “flat earthers” who have long advanced—and reportedly still champion—theories asserting that the planet is a vast horizontal plane rather than a small sphere adrift in space. The original trio, formed by Vermeersch together with Leeds musicians bassist Louis Colan and drummer John Boulton (also known as Gene Velocette) after X-Legged Sally disbanded, took its cue from these British advocates. In 1997 the three musicians appeared at a children’s music festival organized by the Vooruit Arts Center in Ghent; the lineup quickly expanded to eight players. Vermeersch recognized fresh possibilities in the larger format and began recruiting additional performers.

The first concerts by the full big-band configuration took place in Ghent and Brussels in February 1999 and were followed by a live transmission on Belgian National Radio (Radio 1). Eight selections from that broadcast appeared in January 2000 on the Viakra EP Live at the Beursschouwburg. Later the same year the debut full-length album, Bonk, came out on the Zonk label. Flat Earth Society accompanied Josse De Pauw’s theatrical production Larf and issued a 2001 recording captured during a live presentation of the play in Bruges. In 2002 the soundtrack album Minoes was released. Trap and The Armstrong Mutations followed in 2003, all on Zonk. These releases showcase an 18-piece group that includes several former X-Legged Sally members—Bart Maris, Michel Mast, Peter Vandenberghe, and Danny Van Hoeck—along with Think of One guitarist David Bovée and versatile vocalist-accordionist Anja Kowalski, whose range comfortably encompasses “What a Wonderful World,” “The Electrocutioner,” and “Servus Sagt die Schöne Stadt der Lieder.”

News surfaced in 2004 of an impending collaboration with American pianist, composer, and conceptualist Uri Caine, while Isms, a collection of nineteen tracks drawn from earlier recordings plus unreleased material, received international distribution on Mike Patton’s Ipecac label. After moving to Belgium’s Crammed Discs imprint, the band issued Psychoscout in 2006 and Cheer Me, Perverts! in 2009, the latter incorporating former X-Legged Sally guitarist Pierre Vervloesem. In 2013 Flat Earth Society marked its thirteenth anniversary with the thirteen-track album 13 on the Igloo label. Continued touring and special projects brought the group’s robust sound to wider audiences at festivals and venues across Europe and beyond. The 2014 Igloo compilation Call Sheets, Riders & Chicken Mushroom gathers live performances from 2000 to 2012 and features guest appearances by Caine, Toots Thielemans, Ernst Reijseger, Jimi Tenor, and Wim Opbrouck.