Poco Loco Gang
Biography
The Belgian project Poco Loco Gang was founded by DJs Fred Vandermast and Reinier Vanloo. Their happy house sound is said to have originated in the Poco Loco club in Ninove (East Flanders), where the two DJs performed, characterized by an upbeat rhythm and a playful vocal.
Their first single, Poco Loco, pressed on vinyl by Star Records, enjoyed an unexpected success in January 1999 — selling more than 800 copies in ten days — leading to a CD-single reissue by Arcade Music. To support this success, a band was formed, including singer Saïda (responsible for the samples used on the singles), a dancer named Mike and even a robot.
After the success of the next single, Let's go to the party, in Belgium and the Netherlands, Fred Vandermast was forced to leave the group for personal reasons, and singer Saïda also left because she could not reconcile the sudden success with her job. Reinier Vanloo continued with new DJ Patrick and new singer Severin to produce the third single, Tropical Paradise.
Between 2000 and 2005 the group released four further singles: Come Along, Sunshine On A Rainy Day, Yaki Yo Yaki Ye and Chirpy Cheep Cheep. Despite decent showings for the latter in the Netherlands, none of these singles prevented the group’s split.