Ex-Drummer
After Ex-writer (1991) and Ex-lover (1993), Ex-drummer is the third part of Brusselmans' already famous Ex-trilogy.
Three losers go looking for a drummer and ask the first-person character if he wants to take on the task. He bites and thus begins the history of the worst band Ghent has ever known. Nevertheless, they win a rock competition, after which the misery really begins. But in the midst of all this misery there is the comforting love between the first-person character and his wife Lio.
Ex-drummer is populated by half-wits, crazy girls, the legendary King of Siam, bald frustrated people, dead princes, a sadistic minister and a sergeant in a straitjacket, who move in a world of hate, envy, misunderstanding, displays of power, drink, drugs, failed sex and ineradicable stupidity. The first-person character and his wife try to protect themselves from this world, without isolating themselves. With Ex-drummer, Brusselmans takes a new step on the path that is only trodden by the greats of literature.
The press about Ex-lover:
'Brusselmans once proclaimed himself the best writer in Flanders, but I think he is gradually selling himself short in this regard.' Ronald Giphart, HET PAROOL
'No one in Dutch literature dares to go that far.' Hans Warren, PZC