Scala & Kolacny Brothers is a Belgian women's choir conducted by Stijn Kolacny, and arranged and accompanied by Steven Kolacny on the piano. They have released five studio albums (in multiple languages), starting with On the Rocks in, 2002. Most of their songs are specially arranged renditions of songs by well-known musicians and bands, such as Oasis, Björk, Radiohead, U2, Nirvana, Depeche Mode, Muse, and Rammstein, although they have also recorded their own compositions.
History
Early years
Formed in 1996, Scala & Kolacny Brothers won the Belgian "Choir of the Year" contest in 2000. In 2006, Rammstein released their live album Völkerball which features Scala & Kolacny Brothers' "Engel" in the closing credits of the DVD. In 2008, the group was asked to do a project in remembrance of the legendary Belgian singer Pierre Rapsat, who died in 2002. The sold out "Dans les yeux d’Aurore" tour strengthened the group's relationship with Belgium's French-speaking audience. The number of concerts in Germany also increased steadily, and they performed more and more songs in German, including its version of the MIA. hit, "Hungriges Herz". A top national German television commercial used this version.
International breakthrough
Scala & Kolacny Brothers' album Circle was released through VIVA/NOVA in Belgium in June 2010. Also in 2010, they signed with ATCO Records (Warner Music Group) for North American distribution[1] and re-signed with independent label PIAS for Europe. ATCO digitally released a limited edition EPDAWN on 26 October 2010. A special German edition of Circle was released as a double CD on 26 November 2010 in Germany.
In July 2010, a trailer for the film The Social Network featuring Scala & Kolacny Brothers' cover of Radiohead's "Creep" was released around the world.[2] This trailer was seen over 250 million times in cinemas and on TV, as well as over 10 million times in various forms on YouTube. The group's version of The Police's "Every Breath You Take" was featured in the trailer for ITV1's period drama Downton Abbey in the fall of 2010. The song was again used on television in New Zealand, Spain and Belgium, as well as in many other countries upon the release of Downton Abbey around the world. The group's version of U2's "With or Without You" was used in Downton Abbey's season two trailer in the fall of 2011. Both the single and album hit #1 in Ireland. In December 2011, the trailer for Downton Abbey season two hit the United States on PBS. In the UK, ITV used the group's version of Wham!'s "Last Christmas" for the Downton AbbeyChristmas special in December 2011. Scala & Kolacny Brothers performed at the VIP premiere of the Christmas special at the Corinthia Hotel in London and became fast friends with the show's cast. The show would again use a cover by the group, Lou Reed's "Perfect Day", for their season 3 trailer in fall of 2012.
Scala & Kolacny Brothers' music video for their version of the Kings of Leon track "Use Somebody" had its world premiere on Yahoo Music on 14 March 2011. The video was directed by Inti Calfat. A subsequent video for the Foo Fighters' "Everlong" was directed by Mark Woollen, who was also responsible for the trailer for The Social Network. On 18 April 2011, Scala appeared as a musical guest on the TBS show Conan.
The self-titled Scala & Kolacny Brothers CD was released by ATCO in the United States on 15 March 2011. This CD is somewhat different from the European Circle release. The group performed their first US concert as part of the South by Southwest Music Festival on 18 March 2011, at the legendary Stubb's BBQ restaurant. A North American tour started in Vancouver on 7 April, hitting most major markets in the US including Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City, as well as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival before concluding 2 May in Montreal. On 8 June, they performed for the first time in the UK - a sold out show at the legendary Union Chapel in London. On 18–19 June, they performed at the Heineken Dia de La Musica in Madrid. On 17 July, they were the special guest at the Latitude Festival in the UK, playing for about 20.000 fans. On 13 December, they played what is now called the "Ice Show" (the heating in the venue did not work, and stage and venue temperatures were below 8 degrees celsius) at the HMV Forum in London, followed by a real ice show in Ingolstadt, Germany.
The album Scala & Kolacny Brothers was released by PIAS in the UK, Spain, and France on 6 June 2011. A special version of the album, with two Italian language tracks, was released in November 2011 in Italy by independent label Carosello and hit the top 10 in Italy during December. The German version of the television special "Live From Bruges" aired on SIXX (Germany) on 17 August 2011, after prior airings in Flemish and French in Belgium. The US version began airing on PBS in November 2011, with a launch on WGBH-TV in Boston. PIAS UK re-released the Scala & Kolacny Brothers album with two additional covers of Coldplay tracks ("Yellow" and "Viva La Vida") on 12 December 2011. The group appeared on the Royal Variety Show (ITV) and the Sports Personality of the Year show (BBC One) in that month.[3]
In late 2011, a special collaboration with German hip hop star Kool Savas resulted in a special video.[4] From 23 September to 31 October 2011, the group's version of Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People (song)" was used as the background music for the 7 Scarezone in Halloween Horror Nights 21 at Universal Orlando. Ironically, the original version by Manson was also used in the scarezone. The group's version of "Creep" was also used in The Simpsons episodes "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution", which aired on 4 December 2011, and "The D'oh-cial Network", which aired on 15 January 2012. The song was also used in the French movie Poisson Violent, the German movie Wir Sind Die Nacht, and in the UK soap operaHollyoaks. Hollyoaks also used the group's version of "With or Without You" in December 2011. Other major Scala & Kolacny Brothers appearances in America include The CW TV series Nikita and one of Steven Kolacny's own songs, "Our Last Fight", in season three of the FX drama series Sons of Anarchy.
In 2015, the group was asked to make a custom music track for the trailers of the long-awaited new video game Evolve. They recorded a cover (arranged specially for the trailer) of "Ready Or Not" by The Fugees.
In 2016, their version of "Creep" was used in a Criminal Minds episode. Gotham also featured their version of "Górecki" in Season 2. A television advertisement in the U.S. for PlayStation 4 featured their cover of The Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)."
Also in 2020, their version of R.E.M's "The One I Love" was used in the final scene of the season 3 episode "Unsaid" of The Good Doctor, as well as in the series finale "The Last War" (Season 7, episode 16) of CW's The 100.
In 2021, their version of ''Perfect Day'' by Lou Reed was used in a first teaser trailer for an upcoming movie Spencer by Pablo Larrain, with Kristen Stewart as a lead.
