Country: BelgiumWebsite: http://bebops.skyrock.comMySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thebebopsIt was in 1978 that Mario Matucci (Guitars) and Walter Tollis (Double Bass) had the idea of forming a band. Having rock 'n' roll as a common musical interest, they tried out several different projects before forming The Be Bops at the end of 1981. Dario Matucci, Mario's younger brother took up drumming. They were joined by their neighbour and friend David Vandenbussche, alias David Green, on vocals. During this period they rehearsed weekly. A friend came by and asked them if they would play at an Italian party where he would be the DJ. It was the party (at Monceau Sur Sambre in January 1982) where the Be Bops gave their first concert. The 250 people who attended the gig were very enthusiastic and it has to be mentioned that David, who had just turned 13, already had a certian capacity for singing. But more important is the fact that the audience was pleasantly suprised by the style of music played by the band: fifties rock 'n' roll.
Despite the initial success, the year 1982 turned out to be a year of hard work. They had to wait until 1983 to start gigging in the vicinity of Charleroi, La Louviere , Namur. It has to be said though that there wasn't much of a public for this kind of music in the south of Belgium, but the Be Bops worked hard and wrote songs to establish their repertoire.
At the beginning of 1984 they made their first studio recordings. Two songs were recorded in a small studio Marchienne Au Pont - "Give Me Your Love" and "When The Jukebox Burns", both tracks written by Mario. Concerts were coming in more regularly and the rockabilly scene was taking an interest in the band. French rock 'n' roll magazine "Crazy News" featured an article on the band and they signed a deal for a 7" with Black Jack Records' from Liege. Around this time, in December 1984, founding member Walter Tollis left the band and was replaced by Salvatore Dorange on double bass.
Thanks to the 7", their field of action got bigger. They started to perfrom throughout the whole of Belgium: Liege, Ghent, Brussels, Tournai, Namur... all fell for the Be Bops. More important was that the first gigs in France were coming in and the fact that they played at the Wildboys Festival in Wieze in 1985 (with Rollercoasters, Sugar Ray Ford & The Hot Shots, Riot Rockers, Sid King etc). Their repertoire in those days consisted mainly of stuff from Vincent, Burnette, some vocal jivers and their own compositions. The Be Bops gave a couple of interviews on the local radio stations in order to promote their 7". But just when the band was making real progress, Dario decided to leave the band in December '85. This was a very strong blow to the others, espesially since they weren't able to find a replacement drummer. The Be Bops spent the year 1986 without playing any gigs. From this period they only left four self penned tracks: two on the forementioned '45 and two unreleased: "Too Long For You" and "Get Out". These four tracks did appear on video though in '85.
In May '87, Mario and David met a guy called Didier Stein at a concert. Didier has been playing drums and luckily likes rock 'n' roll. By September '87 they had a new repertoire and could start gigging again. By the end of April '88 they had given about a dozen gigs. But in this period the Belgain rock 'n' roll scene started to weaken and the Be Bops lost touch with the scene. Didier lost interest and when he left, the Be Bops were again searching for a drummer. During this period the Be Bops did not write any songs, but did record a couple of demos with the covers of their repertoire.
It is back in '91 that David asked Mario, Salvatore and Dario whether they wanted to do a one-time reunion concert to brighten his marriage. So the Be Bops rehearsed again, now in a small American bar in Charleoi - The Bubble Gum. At the same time, Mario and Salvatore helped out at a Domino's gig at a rock 'n' roll club. Talking to Patrick Oucherne, the latter convinced them that there still is a rock 'n' roll scene and that the Be Bops deserve to be a part of it. Patrick brought the Be Bops into contact with Ben Aisa (current bass-player for the Domingos & Running Wild). After having done a couple of concerts in the Charleroi region, Ben put on the Be Bops as support for the Rimshots (Brussels, January '92) and Big Sandy (Merchtem, May '92). So slowly but surely the band got back in touch with the rock 'n' roll scene. They even had a couple of gigs in France and signed a CD deal with Rockhouse. Thanks to the CD, their concert agenda for '93 was fully booked. They also managed to get a couple of radio interviews in this period. So everything was going great for the Be Bops.
After their gig at the Cruise-Inn, Amsterdam, in September '93, Dario announced that he is going to leave the band again and that they have to look for a new drummer. They found Pascal Lunari, an old friend of the Matucci brothers, and when he was finally ready in Januar '94, he took the place of Dario. The replacement didn't cause any difficulty and luckily no break in the career of the Be Bops this time.
From April '94 they started working on their record another nine tracks for the CD "Celebratin", which came out in December '94 on the Rockhouse label. The effect of the new CD was sensed immediately 'cause from January '95 on, the Be Bops have played in Metz, Strasbourg, Charleville, Jouez Les Tours, Lyon, Paris and Monpellier (France), Rockhouse Festival in Oss and Breda (Holland), Bielefeld, Hamburg, Berlin, & the Life Club Munderkingen (Germany), Flamin' Rock Festival Arendonk and loads of local gigs.
In Januar '96, Pascal decided to leave the band for private reasons. Once again an old Be Bops friend came to rescue the band. The new drummer is Roland Vandy. He is nothing but Salvatore's brother in law. After three months of hard rehearsing the band was able to perform again.
In 1996 Part Records signed the Be Bops for a 10" LP. The interest in their new 10" brought them to the 18th Hemsby Weekenders in England, were they did a dynamic stage show which drove the audience wild. During the summer 1997, the band was back in studio where they covered three old hillbilly songs in their own particular way and recorded one new original.
In 2002,Holly Dee Dice Dalton,doublebass (the ugly buggy boys) joined the band. In 2007, Salvatore dorange come back on doublebass. Since then the band just keeps on playing in the European circuit, as much as possible.
Sujet: The Be Bops 
