ARNO & Danny Willems

Photographer and blood brother Danny Willems shows the true Arno in hundreds of images

'We didn't need words.' (ARNO)

Danny Willems stood at Arno's side for fifty years (!) as a photographer and as a friend. Not for nothing was he called the sixth member of T.C. Matic. He took countless photos of Arno, from the time of his first band, Freckleface, to his very last solo outing. This book presents a large selection from his archive, including many images which are being published for the first time.

Danny Willems: 'Arno was a free spirit. He lived for the moment and for pleasure, music and women. He was a loner, someone who knew what he wanted: to be a musician, a rock star, like the performers in the NME.

Arno intrigued me. He was a shy eccentric who was usually to be found somewhere in the corner of the pub. But on stage, he was transformed from a stammerer into an entertainer. It was fascinating to watch.

What we had in common was that we had both had to find our own way. Nothing was mapped out, everything was new. I did the graphic design for Tjens Couter and T.C. Matic, went to buy letter sheets for the record sleeves and kept my eyes peeled in the graphic department of the photo studio.

A year after Arno moved to Brussels, I followed him there. It was an incredible period: the whole world opened up before us, and the wind was in our sails. Everything we'd always wanted was suddenly possible. We had succeeded.'

Simultaneously with the publication of the book, Danny Willems presents the exhibition of the same name at the Venetiaanse Gaanderijen in Ostend, which runs from 16 December 2023 to spring 2024.

With a foreword by Stephan Vanfleteren.