Dirk Da Davo interview about the end of Neon Electronics: ‘I am happy not to be an 18-year-old musician at the start of his career who needs to compete with soulless AI music, and whose success is measured in the quantity of likes on social media’

Dirk Da Davo will forever be associated with The Neon Judgement, the legendary Belgian band that remains a benchmark and a source of inspiration for countless artists and fans. It was therefore quite a challenge when Dirk released the debut album of his new project, Neon Electronics, In 1999. While it never quite achieved the same level of recognition as The Neon Judgement, it is fair to say that, particularly in its early years, the project sounded both innovative and visionary.

Twenty-six years later, the EP/mini-album “Liberation” was released and immediately announced as Neon Electronics’ final new production. The band—which for many years featured Glenn Keteleer and Pieter-Jan Theunis alongside Dirk Da Davo—had decided to call it a day. Over the course of a quarter-century, Neon Electronics built up an impressive body of work. Their original Techno-EBM sound gradually evolved, and “Liberation” ultimately brings the story full circle, returning to where it all began for Dirk: 80s influences transformed into strong, memorable songs infused with a powerful sense of nostalgia.

Released by the Spanish label Oráculo Records, the record strikes me as a compelling sonic epitaph. I spoke with Dirk Da Davo about this final chapter, but our conversation explored much more besides. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Dirk Da Davo / Neon Electronics interview

Q: Hi Dirk, I’d actually like to start with what might otherwise have been the last question of this interview: what now? What else would you still like to achieve musically?

Dirk: That’s an interesting question to start with! I look back and feel satisfied with a musical career of 45 years. I am happy to have had the top of my career in a time when the Electro-Punk and Rock & Roll level was still significantly higher in the music scene. I have travelled around the world, played in amazing locations and had the opportunity to collaborate with some very talented musicians. For example, the collaboration with my childhood hero Jean-Marie Aerts under DDDJMX is something I’m very proud of. Also a lot of fun, more recently, was the remix I made for Luc Van Acker, as well as my solo releases.

What I never did before, and so still to be achieved, is composing music for a movie. I still would like to do that. So yes, they can call me 🙂

Q: The announcement of the end of Neon Electronics came as a surprise to me. Had you seen this coming for a while, and what ultimately influenced your decision?

Dirk: I started collaborating with Glenn Keteleer (aka Radical G) 15 years ago. A few years later Pieter-Jan Theunis joined us on bass guitar. I enjoyed working and playing with these guys a lot. The decision to stop the project has grown over the last year. We decided to make one final album, but it had to be a good one. And so, we started working on the final Neon Electronics EP “Liberation” which got released recently. The album is the perfect harmony between 3 talented musicians, with each their own unique style and therefore in my opinion a very interesting and very good album.

Q: I think it’s fair to say that you have always had a critical perspective on the evolution of music. Just consider the decline of the physical format, the rise of digitalization and streaming platforms, the abundance of software to make music, and now the growing presence of AI and social media. How do you view these developments with all your experience, to what extent did they influence your decision to stop Neon Electronics, and might they also affect the continuation of your musical career?

Dirk: It is true that I am not known for my optimism 🙂 And a critical perspective has simply been part of my education, influenced and stimulated by my late father. I will never lose my critical view on music, nor on society in general. It is the essence of my personality, and it has always affected my musical style. For sure, these changes, how the music scene has evolved, by some defined as progress, by others as destruction, have played a part in the decision to close the Neon Electronics chapter.

Do not understand me wrongly, I will keep on making music, music is my therapy. But let’s say that I am happy not to be an 18-year-old musician at the start of his career who needs to compete with soulless AI music, and whose success is measured in the quantity of likes on social media.

Q: When you started out as a young musician in the early 1980s, Electronic music and its accompanying underground scene were a genuine phenomenon—something many people who experienced it still look back on with nostalgia, and perhaps even longing. How do you look back on that era? And is there still such a thing as a true underground scene today, or is everything now measured by streaming numbers, sales figures, algorithms, and increasingly standardized expectations?

Dirk: The eighties were so interesting from a creative point of view. You had all these cult labels like 4AD, Factory Records, Les Disques Du Crépuscule, and many more, releasing vinyl after vinyl with interesting and often obscure music. There was an opportunity to be experimental, to think out of the box, and that’s how some of the best music of all times has been born. For the artists at the time, these labels created perspective; these times it was still possible to launch a career from the very deep underground scene.

An underground scene or a countermovement will always exist. Nothing makes me happier than discovering music from young Punky musicians. Last week I received a message from a 15-year-old very cool girlie bass player. She said The Neon Judgment still is an inspiration for her play. This fills me with hope.

Q: The first Neon Electronics release dates back to 1999. How do you look back on a journey that lasted more than a quarter of a century, and what are the highs and lows that immediately come to mind?

Dirk: The year 1999 was a turning point in my musical career. It was year I started my own label DancedelicD, with the help of some cyber-IT punks. It also was the year that Neon Electronics was born. Did you know that the first Neon Electronics concert (@ Rumba, Leuven, Belgium – 1999) has been streamed Live on the Internet? This was quite revolting at the time, and the path towards independency had been set.

The Neon Electronics journey has been interesting, it gave me the freedom to explore new boundaries, to try some different styles, to collaborate with different artists, …

Q: How difficult—or perhaps how easy—was it to launch a new project after spending so many years with the legendary The Neon Judgement, especially considering that the new project’s name still contained a reference to it?

Dirk: This has not always been easy, especially in the beginning. I wanted to re-build my own musical identity, and in a certain way liberate myself from the ubiquitous expectations connected to the name The Neon Judgement. Choosing the difficult way has always been my style: -)

But at the same time, I wanted to stay loyal to my fans, and therefore the Neon referral stayed in Neon Electronics. Like Neon with a twist, you don’t always know what to expect.

Q: Neon Electronics went through several different phases in terms of influences and line-up, which also resulted in albums that could sound quite distinct from one another. What did this project represent for you in terms of artistic expression, musical influences, and personal evolution?

Dirk: Indeed, over the last 25 years Neon Electronics has known different line-ups. As an artist I feel the need to step out of the safety zone and to try something new. Back in the days I was experimenting with a new way of bringing live music, like a semi-DJ-set with live instruments and vocals. During the 90s I went clubbing a lot, which had its influence on Neon Electronics, back then you could feel its connection with Techno and sometimes even with House music or, Dance music in general. A few years later I felt again like playing in a band, and that resulted in the actual line-up with Glenn and PJ.

Q: When you started Neon Electronics, I had the distinct feeling that you were doing something innovative, something that could also be heard at the time in the work of artists such as The Hacker, Terence Fixmer, David Carretta, The Horroris ao. Looking back, how innovative do you think it really was?

Dirk: Thank you for the compliment. Indeed, freedom and innovation were definitely the driving forces at the start of Neon Electronics. Being different and being independent. This Electro-Punk attitude can be heard very clearly in the first Neon Electronics album.

Q: Earlier this year, you released the EP/mini album “Liberation”, which I consider one of your strongest works in years. It combines influences that reach back to the roots of the 80s while presenting them within a contemporary sound. What did you still want to express with this release, and did you already know at the time that these would be the final songs of the project?

Dirk: We are also very happy about the way “Liberation” turned out. It reflects how we are and how we want to be as artists. We respect our 80s background but chose for a contemporary sound. Yes, we knew that it would be our final release while creating the songs. The album was meant to be a crossover between Dark-Wave and modern beats, I think we succeeded quite well. Glenn did a great production job, and PJ’s contributions are always amazing. The

remixed work from Patrick Codeyns (Front 242) and the Techno remix from Ancient Methods are a nice extra.

Q: If you had to choose one Neon Electronics song at this very moment that best represents the project for you, which one would it be, and why?

Dirk: It is too difficult to choose only one! They are all my babies. Because the different styles and different line-ups reflect me as an artist, I would choose one

from the very beginning and one of our recent works: “Total Wam Bam” (“Neon Electronics”, 1999) & “Justification Unknown” (“Liberation”, 2026).

About Neon Electronics

Neon Electronics is a Belgian electro-wave and EBM project led by Dirk Da Davo, born Dirk Timmermans, co-founder of The Neon Judgement. The project started in 1999 as a solo project after Da Davo’s work with The Neon Judgement, the Leuven band he formed in 1981 with Frank Vloeberghs, also known as TB Frank.

Neon Electronics was created as a separate outlet for electronic dance music. DancedelicD, the label founded by Dirk, describes the project as “electronic dance music without being specific house or techno”. The project’s sound moved between electro-wave, EBM, technoid electronics, post-punk references and guitar-based material. In a 2019 Side-Line interview, Da Davo said: “With Neon Electronics everything is possible, no limits, all freedom!”

The first Neon Electronics release was the self-titled album “Neon Electronics” in 1999. “System Rivièra” followed in 2003, with “Swingers Delight” released in 2004 as a live recorded DJ mix CD. The project continued with “Monkey Ever After” in 2006 and “Ever After Monkey” in 2007. “Better Way EP”, a collaboration with The Hacker, was issued in 2009, while “Keylogger” followed in 2012. “Toyboy EP” appeared in 2013, and “Ne” was released in 2015.

The project later developed from Da Davo’s solo format into a trio. Glenn Keteleer, also known as Radical G, joined the project during the 2010s, while Pieter-Jan Theunis joined on bass around 2014/2015. By the time of “Apollo”, the lineup was Dirk Da Davo on guitar and vocals, Glenn Keteleer on electronics and vocals, and Pieter-Jan Theunis on bass guitar. “Apollo” was released on April 12, 2019, through DanceDelic-D in co-production with Wool-E Discs.

Neon Electronics also worked with Oráculo Records. “Mondriaan” was released as a limited vinyl EP in January 2019, ahead of “Apollo”. The project returned with a rework of The Neon Judgement track “Factory Walk” in December 2024, followed by “Nothing For Nothing” in July 2025 and “Justification Unknown” in February 2026.

In 2026, Oráculo Records released “Liberation”, described by the label as “the final chapter in the journey of Dirk Da Davo”. The release featured Dirk Da Davo, Glenn Keteleer and Pieter-Jan Theunis, with remixes by Ancient Methods and Patrick Codenys of Front 242. The digital edition included eight tracks, while the limited 12-inch vinyl edition was pressed in 300 copies.