Rafael Vanhetschildt
Rafael Vantschildt was born in 1971 in Tèxord.When he was fifteen, he met Robijn Debeear at school and started making music with him. They called their group Blood Brothers, when they made their first cassette themselves in 1990. In 1992, they released their first full album, with which they toured in the mid-nineties. This tour was recorded in different gigs and a collage of those tapes can be found on a live album that was released in 1995.
He helped Robijn with the remix album four and then he was asked to join bad medecine in to replace Roy Beast. Roughly eight years he recorded and toured with bad medecine. His bass playing is rhythmic and profound. He was a big fan of Krist Novescelic, Charles Mingus, Paul McCartney and Nick Oliviera.
When bad medecine broke up in 2002, Robijn and Rafael focused more on their own project again. In 2005/6, they went to the residence near the sea where they stayed the whole year, inviting different people to make records with. Every now and then, they would invite a different singer songwriter to stay with them for a month. Throughout these sessions, they also recorded songs themselves, resulting in releasing thirteen albums over two years.
Afterwards, they toured for over a year with the Blood Brothers again, with all their new songs. Upon returning, the band all did different projects from 2009 onwards. Rafa played with the Tuesday Afternoon Quintet for over a year. After which there was a tour by the Blood Brothers, but no album as the band disagreed on what the band should sound like.
The following year, Rafa turned fourty and released his first solo album, sung in Dutch. He went on a small tour in the autumn of 1971, playing mostly acoustic.
In 2012 he joined the Tuesday Afternoon Sextet full time again, after he’d joined them regularly on stage for the last year. In 2013, he is on their record and he also releases another solo record.
He helps with the recording of Blood Brother’s 2015 album, but doesn’t them live preferring to stay in Tèxord.
