TC Matic was a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band, originating in 1980 from the duo Tjens Couter (Arno Hintjens

Arno Hintjens

Arno Hintjens , usually referred to as Arno, is a Belgian artist born in Ostend. He was the frontman of the group TC Matic. After the band split in 1986 he went solo....

, vocals and Paul Decoutere, guitar). Decoutere was replaced shortly after the establishment of TC Matic by Jean-Marie Aerts, who cooperated with Hintjens in the majority of the band's compositions.

TC Matic mixed diverse styles: new wave

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

, blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

, funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

, hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

, avant-garde

Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 and even French chanson

Chanson

A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...

.

The band released four albums (TC Matic, L'Apache, Choco, Ye Ye). In 1981, the band scored a Belgian hit with "Oh La La La". In 1984, the Dutch bass player Michael Peet replaced Ferre Baelen.

The band was celebrated especially for its live performances, focussing on the intense singing by Hintjens. It performed all over Europe, but a real international break through didn't happen. After a disappointing tour with the Simple Minds

Simple Minds

Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...

 in 1986, the band ceased to exist.

Arno Hintjes started a solo career as Arno

Arno Hintjens

Arno Hintjens , usually referred to as Arno, is a Belgian artist born in Ostend. He was the frontman of the group TC Matic. After the band split in 1986 he went solo....

. He continued to cooperate with Jean-Marie Aerts, who is now working as a producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 (for Jo Lemaire

Jo Lemaire

Jo Lemaire is a Belgian singer born in Gembloux, Namur. Beyond her native country, she is also popular in France, Switzerland, Canada, and the Netherlands.-Career:...

 and the Urban Dance Squad

Urban Dance Squad

Urban Dance Squad was a Dutch rap rock band formed after what was originally intended as a one-time jam-session at a festival in Utrecht on December 20, 1986...

, among others), and with two other ex-TC Matic-members, drummer Rudy Cloet and keyboard player Serge Feys.