The Passengers were a 1970s Brussels

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

/ new wave band that later became better known as The Names. The original lineup included Michel Sordinia (bass, vocals), Isabelle Hanrez (vocals), Marc Deprez (guitar), Robert Franckson (guitar) and Christophe Den Tandt (drums).

Formation

The band formed in late 1977 and played their first gig in February 1978, performing a pop-oriented brand of post-punk. Musical influences at the time included the

Velvet Underground Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabri ...

Richard Hell Richard Lester Meyers (born October 2, 1949), better known by his stage name Richard Hell, is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer. Hell was in several important early punk rock bands, including Neon Boys, Television and T ...

, Blondie and

Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

. In March 1978, they won a punk contest and turned down the first prize. They were slated to record a single ("Danger Zone"/"Hole in Your Mind") with local punk/new wave label Romantik Records, but the effort never materialized.

Lineup and name change

In mid-1978, Hanrez and Franckson left the band. By late 1978, The Passengers, now influenced by

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and

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...

, shifted to a new lineup including Den Tandt on keyboards. By mid-1979, the band changed names to become The Names.

Members

* Michel Sordinia (bass, vocals) * Isabelle Hanrez (vocals) * Marc Deprez (guitar) * Robert Franckson (guitar) * Christophe Den Tandt (drums, keyboards)

External links

The Names website
Belgian rock music groups Belgian post-punk music groups Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups disestablished in 1979 1977 establishments in Belgium 1979 disestablishments in Belgium {{Belgium-band-stub