Tom Helsen is a Belgium artist from Keerbergen. Tom was discovered in 1996,… Read Full Bio ↴Tom Helsen is a Belgium artist from Keerbergen. Tom was discovered in 1996, when he had been practising on his first guitar for only about a year or two, during the Humo's Rock Rally of that year. Through a number of self-written songs and an impressive cover-versionof the song Hotellounge of dEUS, Tom Helsen landed a terrific second place, behind Novastar (but in front of An Pierlé and Arid). The jury concluded that "Tom Helsen is a solo-man who brings songs that touch you, and who knows that a good song does not need to filled with layer upon layer of superfluous guitar-picking"

Later, he told this episode to Knack as: "When I entered the Rock Rally, I even hardly knew what that was. I thought it was a presentation of big bands that already have at least one cd. I had little material then, a few hoempapa-tunes, but my brother said : "you've got at least one song that kicks ass, take that". I then recorded a tape and sent it in, without expectations. And then I ended up becoming second in the final, I went crazy. But well, since then I've been doing my homework and I realised what has happened to all the bands that have come second in the history of the rock rally: none of them has any stature now. So it doesn't hurt to put things into perspective."

As a promotion of his one-man band, he recorded a first single in the fall of 1996 (Like her vacation), and did a number of performances, alone in clubs and on a small tour with the The Sands & Sheffield Wednesday. Somewhere in the middle of all that, he grew tired of the idea of being looked upon as a rocking troubadour (the belgian Billy Bragg, was the most often heard comparison) and realized the solo-formula had some serious limitations. "It was never my intention of remaining a solo-artist forever. I only wanted to try out the songs on my own. I was finding myself, and I know that it was not a bad idea to continue on my own in the slipstream of the rock-rally publicity. Until I grew tired of the limitations. Unless you have a very well-known repertoire, it obviously is almost impossible to keep the audience interesed for more than 10 minutes."

In March of 1997, he found in Desmond van Weddingen on drums and in Wim Janssens on the bass two "compagnons de route", and together they started working on a first CD: Tom Helsen had become a band. The attention to the song-material had remained, but with the trio-formula the sound had of course changed completely, and almost all of the songs from the solo-period had been swept overboard. As it was said in in the bio in 1998: "Gone is the Billy Bragg of the Low Countries, instead here's a band that brings you crystal clear guitarpopsongs in the rich tradition of for example Buffalo Tom". Another commenter said "nice melodic songs with a tasteful accompaniment of guitar, bass and rums. If you want to stick a label onto it, Tom Helsen is the perfect crossbreed of The Counting Crows and Buffalo Tom". Or as gvn said in Humo : "The debut of Tom Helsen is not the world-class album that will put your senses into "astonishing"-mode, but it just contains 11 fragile songs (of which at least 7 will not lose their appeal by next month), which are played with an enthusiasm that makes you suspect they will be even better live. And then you hear Tom Helsen live - that voice! - and you are certain. It's that kind of an album. At least that's something". The songs "All you broken homers" & "Great American Sex Scandal" also were released a single, but didn't cause much upheaval.

Very calmly, the band (nowa quartet with Geert Peeters on bass) continued working on a second CD, that was released with much delays in the fall of 2000. In the meantime, the only sign of life had been the beautiful single "Tom is doing Great", and that also became the title of the full-CD. The reason for the delay was that a number of the songs had been totally re-arranged with the aid and cooperation of Joost Zweegers of Novastar. The single "When Marvin Calls" had all the quality that cooperation promised, and became the breaktrough for the band. Tom about this in Humo : "Joost has taught me that I was focusing on the wrong thing in songwriting: I was writing stories with a beginning and an end, but I neglected the struchtur of the songs ... I've been making music in a very naieve way from the start : I just did it, without thinking. The best is to combine these two ways as Joost does: to make music that is very sensitive and has the goal to touch people, but also: knowing how to do that and how to bring about those effects". The result was an album with 10 storng songs with a rather melancholic undertone, and with more evidence of a unique voice than on the first cd.

The ambition : "When the first album came out, I really had the urge to score, to have success and sell a lot of records so I would be able to live off my music and do 100% what I wanted to. Now I have a part-time job so I can make music in a much more relaxed manner. If I gain something from a gig or so, it's a nice extra. ... I only would really like to have a really huge budget for my next album, to make everything sound exactly as I want it to ... I've been on a melancholic trip for the past two years, but these last times I've really felt like starting to rock again".

Band members :
- Tom Helsen (vocals, guitar, piano)
- Wim Janssens (vocals, guitar, keyboard)
- Geert Peeters (bass)
- Desmond van Weddingen (drums)

Yeah Yeah
Tom Helsen Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Always doing the best I can
And you better not tell it's the last
I don't need to be part of this end
I'll just take it away for something more
I can't be sure

Always making me bend and break
And you better not give it a rest

I can take a whole lot more but
You've been giving in way too fast

Now hold I, turn it down
And I lost myself in NY
I said to hold it, turn it down
Because all you see is no good fortune

I don't need anything
I'll walk myself in
Yes I will
And I don't need anything
I'll walk myself in

Caught myself in the minor leagues
And the remedy's caught in a trap
I don't need to be part of this one
I'll keep moving along and I said hold it.

And the truth hurts when you cover it
I let you be a part of it, yeah yeah

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Tom Helsen's "Yeah Yeah" are about a person who is trying to distance themselves from an unhealthy relationship. They feel like they have been doing the best they can to make things work, but they don't want to be a part of what seems to be the end of it all. They want to take themselves away from the situation and find something better for themselves. But even as they try to move on, the other person keeps pushing them, making it hard for them to break away. The singer is trying to be strong and independent, saying that they don't need anything and that they will walk themselves in.

The lyrics convey a sense of frustration and confusion about what to do next. The singer seems to have given up on the relationship and is ready to move on, but they are also unsure whether they are doing the right thing. They are caught between wanting to be free of the other person's influence and wanting to hold on to what they have. The chorus repeats the phrase "Yeah Yeah" as if to suggest that the singer is tired of hearing the other person's empty promises and just wants to move on.

Overall, "Yeah Yeah" is a song about a person trying to break free from an unhealthy relationship and find their own way forward. It is a relatable theme that many people can probably identify with, and the lyrics do a good job of capturing the emotional turmoil of such a situation.

Line by Line Meaning

Always doing the best I can
I always try my hardest to do what's right

And you better not tell it's the last
Don't reveal that this chapter is coming to an end

I don't need to be part of this end
I don't want to be involved in the conclusion

I'll just take it away for something more
I'll move on to something better

I can't be sure
I'm not entirely certain

Always making me bend and break
You constantly push me to my limit

And you better not give it a rest
Don't stop pushing me

I can take a whole lot more but
I can handle more challenges, but

You've been giving in way too fast
You've been giving up too easily

Now hold I, turn it down
Wait, stop what you're doing

And I lost myself in NY
I became lost in New York