Born on November 16: Patrick Codenys, the man behind Front 242

Whereas Richard Jonckheere (aka Richard 23) and Jean-Luc De Meyer often hog the limelight on stage, Patrick Codenys and Daniel Bressanutti (Daniel B. for the fans) have always concocted the incendiary musical maelstrom that is Front 242. Since their first album "Geography" in 1982 more than 40 years ago, they have thanks to Patrick become the champions of a musical genre that was invented just for them: E.B.M. for electronic body music.

Before throwing out brutalist industrial rhythms, like so many unpinned grenades such as "Headhunter" or "No Shuffle", Patrick Codenys wore rather long hair and was already interested in the first jolts of electronic music. In the mid-70s he was listening to Todd Rundgren, Brian Eno and German wizards like Can or Neu. This is the breeding ground on which the first self-produced tracks of the four hotheads would flourish.

Front 242: a difficult start

Now elevated to the rank of idols in the eyes of some, Front 242 nevertheless had a difficult start. In a frank interview in the pages of "Focus Vif" in 2009, Patrick recalled that all the money collected by the band's performances (when they were paid) went into the purchase of equipment and fitting out the recording studio. He recounts the staggering advances of the American label Epic as well as the entanglements of the RRE label (a subsidiary of PiaS) which ended up in court. Being the pioneers of EBM was not always easy. Despite a worldwide success that is still the case today...

Neither Jean-Luc, Daniel B or even, to a lesser extent, Richard 23, if they have offered us new firebrands together for ages. Yet the four regularly work on side projects. We remember, for example Patrick's sound sculptures at the MAC (Museum of Contemporary Arts) in Grand-Hornu, Belgium in 2009 for an exhibition entitled "Games of Massacre".

In early 2025, Front 242 bowed out (at least on stage) with a serie of sold-out concerts in their home base of Brussels, Belgium...

(Stéphane Soupart - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)
Photo: Patrick Codenys with Front 242 on stage at the Sinners Day festival in Ostend (Belgium) in August, 2021