LUC VAN ACKER

You may well have forgotten by now, but in the early days of VTM, Mike Verdrengh presented a programme – with Eric van Looy as the regular sign-turner – called *The Cleanest Person in Flanders and the World*. The winner of that first series was LUC VAN ACKER, a man who received so many votes at the time that Leo Tindemans, out of jealousy, demanded a recount. The victory was well deserved, especially after Van Acker was allowed to perform his ‘Zanna’ live once more during the final. A song so raincloud-dispellingly beautiful that it is revered in the same temple where the finest songs of Jacques Brel, Ann Christy and Kris De Bruyne are worshipped. And yet, the cleanest man in Flanders, and in the world?  Anyone who ever saw Van Acker let loose with his Revolting Cocks project couldn’t help but grin: surrounded by a handful of ruffians from Ministry and Front 242, Van Acker goes on a rampage like a ravenous Viking who has survived thirty-seven days of storm at sea and finally comes ashore, facing the inhabitants of an unsuspecting Breton fishing village.  Stage behaviour that was beyond the pale, because the pale itself had become filled with horror. So this year, Luc Van Acker is coming to the Lokerse Feesten, where he’ll unleash tracks from Revolting Cocks and Ministry, a few songs from “The Ship” (1984) and other solo work, as well as (drum roll, followed by a loud, enthusiastic Tadààààààààà) new material!  As you can see, we’re huge fans of Luc Van Acker the man, Luc Van Acker the artist and Luc Van Acker the troublemaker. Don’t forget: Sunday 2 August.

Expect grinding analog textures. Expect sharp guitars.
Expect subversive grooves that hit both the body and the brain.
A “Luc Van Acker performance” is not a retrospective — it’s a confrontation with the origins of industrial music delivered by one of its original instigators. Raw. Physical. Uncompromising.

Luc Van Acker is not revisiting the underground. He is the underground.
When Luc Van Acker steps onto a festival stage, it’s not a nostalgia act — it’s a voltage surge straight from the source of industrial music itself.
Born October 6, 1961, in Tienen, Belgium, Van Acker is one of the true architects of European and American industrial culture. A relentless innovator, producer, label head, and performer, he has spent over four decades dismantling genre boundaries and rebuilding them louder, dirtier, and more danceable.

Architect of “Danceable Weird Shit”
Long before laptops ruled the stage, Van Acker was bending early samplers and drum machines into raw, physical sound. His fusion of post-punk aggression, electronic experimentation, and underground club energy helped define the emerging Electronic Body Music movement of the 1980s. His work became foundational to both the Belgian scene and the explosive U.S. industrial underground — influencing acts like Nine Inch Nails and Ministry.

Wax Trax! & Industrial Firepower
In 1986, Van Acker co-founded the incendiary supergroup Revolting Cocks alongside Richard 23 and Al Jourgensen. Together they helped forge the notorious Wax Trax! sound — a hybrid of mechanized funk, punk sneer, and dancefloor menace. Touring extensively across the United States, Van Acker brought European industrial aesthetics into direct collision with American underground culture.

“Zanna” & The Cult Legacy
His 1984 solo album The Ship stands as a landmark release of the era — a sharp, genre-blurring statement that fused punk, pop hooks, and electronic experimentation. That same year, he released the enduring cult single “Zanna”, a haunting duet with Anna Domino that remains a staple in alternative circles worldwide.

Collaborator. Instigator. Survivor.
Van Acker’s guitar work powered Shriekback’s Jam Science. He has worked with Belgium’s provocateurs Arbeid Adelt!, the uncompromising Mussolini Headkick, and the razor-edged project Danceable Weird Shit alongside Jean-Marie Aerts.
Beyond the stage, he co-founded World Domination Recordings in Los Angeles with Dave Allen, further shaping the alternative music landscape from behind the scenes.

Still Dangerous. Still Moving Forward.
Van Acker doesn’t recycle history — he rewires it. Continuing to release new “old-school” material, including the 2025 single “It’s Been A While,” he remains fiercely anti-nostalgic and creatively restless