The Bureau of Atomic Tourism, aka BOAT, is avant-jazz and improvising sextet that was originally formed by Teun Verbruggen, a Belgian drummer (Flat Earth Society Jef Neve Trio/Too Noisy Fish), to perform at Antwerp’s Follow the Sound Festival in Nov 2011. Verbruggen, the bandleader, was featured on drums and electronics. He enlisted an impressive line-up of musicians from both the Atlantic and New York for the band. Nate Wooley, trumpeter and pianist from New York, Marc Ducret Trio, Tim Berne, and Jozef Dumoulin, a Belgian-born keyboardist (Jozef Dumoulin Trio Lidlboj and Zapp String Quartet), came from France. Dumoulin, dEUS guitarist Mauro Pawlowski and D’Angelo have both performed with Verbruggen’s Othin Spake improvisational group. The group alternates between exploring collective improvisations using extended techniques and experimental electronic, and more focused, even strongly groove-based pieces featuring fiery soloing by the front line. BOAT performed at Antwerp’s Follow the Sound Festival. They also played concerts in Belgium (Leuven. Liege. Ghent), The Netherlands(Tilburg), France (Lyon), and recorded their November 16th show at the Paradox in Tilburg. Second Law of Thermodynamics was released in 2013 by Verbruggen’s Rat Records. It featured three free improvisations as well as four compositions by D’Angelo. The album also included “Meg Nem Sa”, the title track from Hilmar Jensson’s 2006 album Tyft. Verbruggen is part of a group called Karanova that also features Jensson. The Rat also released Arco Idaho, a companion vinyl record. It featured improvisations taken from the Tilburg date and some duplication of material of Second Law of Thermodynamics. Jasper Stadhouders, a bassist from Amsterdam (Cactus Truck), has joined BOAT to replace Dunn. The group toured Belgium in April 2013, France, Switzerland, The Netherlands and France.
