The Architects: Herman Schueremans

To celebrate the work of some of the international live music industry’s pioneers, IQ Magazine has launched a new series, The Architects, in which we celebrate the key players who laid the foundations for today’s vibrant global business.

In this second instalment, Herman Schueremans explains his part in putting Belgium on the live music map – and his pivotal role in constructing an ecosystem from the ground up that has made his country such an important hub for the European business. 

Living in a land bereft of live music was never going to work for teenage Herman Schueremans, but rather than bemoan the situation or relocate somewhere that international acts would visit, the determined young man made it his mission to change Belgium’s appeal.

Passionate about music, at the age of 14, Schueremans picked up a guitar and formed a band with friends. But when after a couple of years he found himself playing bass guitar, the writing was on the wall.

“My skills just were not good enough, and the next step was that at age 17, I became the band’s manager, so my dreams of being a rock star did not last long,” he says.

Determined to make his mark, Schueremans got in touch with the organisers of existing events to offer his help to bring in emerging musical talent.

“Before Werchter, there were a couple of festivals – one in Comblain-la-Tour, and there was also Bilzen, but it was always so badly organised: names were announced that were not coming and Hells Angels were doing the security, so I felt that things could be done better.

“I contacted Bilzen, but it was organised by a committee – the local priest, the local lawyer, and other people from the establishment – and they were not interested in my help.” However, inspired by a documentary he had seen on Woodstock, at the age of just 18, Schueremans organised his own festival in the town of Herent, just a few kilometres from his home in Leuven.

“Before Werchter, there were a couple of festivals but I felt that things could be done better”

“I booked a few local acts and sold about 800 tickets for the festival,” he recalls. His enthusiasm had also landed him a role as a writer for Dutch magazine Music Express, and a couple of weeks after his own event, he found himself attending another new festival just a few kilometres away in Werchter.

“It was organised by a guy called Hedwig De Meyer, and he managed to sell tickets to 800 or 900 people, so when I spoke to him, I suggested we work together on a festival rather than both trying to do separate events.”

Frustrated by the number of British and American acts who would simply drive through Belgium on their way to perform at concerts and festivals in Germany, Schueremans set about building the festival brand with De Meyer while also thinking outside of the box to establish a Belgian tour circuit for the acts he’d manage to persuade to visit his country.

“Of course, when you first go to London, you’re Mr. Nobody. So my first shows started with the likes of Kevin Coyne, Kevin Ayers, The Jess Roden Band, and then some Dutch acts like Kayan, Gruppo Sportivo, Jan Akkerman, and Dr. Feelgood,” explains Schueremans.

Determined to bring some of the exciting emerging acts to Belgium, Schueremans would book himself into youth hostels in London and wait on the doorsteps of agencies to try to secure meetings with the relevant people.

“At a certain point, I found myself at an agency called NEMS, where I met Ed Bicknell; he talked about his act Dire Straits, who I loved, and I ended up taking them for a week-long tour, where we did the whole Belgian circuit. That was the real start for me.”

Continue reading The Architects: Herman Schueremans in IQ 135.

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