Underground jazz lovers, blues brothers and shock rockers working in the EU’s institutions have found shelter on an unassuming street in Brussels.

Once a month, usually on Saturdays, Commission officials, MEPs and Eurocrats loosen their ties and release their inner wild child at the Sounds Jazz Club, united under a banner that reads “Brussels Rhythm and Blues Club,” a gathering that first began in 2002.

“This area used to be the city’s old jazz hub,” said Sounds owner Sergio Duvallani, as he slicked his silver hair back into a ponytail. “We get bands from all over Europe here. It’s very international.”

And the Brussels bubble is not short of Eurocrat band members, either.

Bands like the Funktionnaires, the Inflexibles and the Basement Apes are just a few of the names that regularly play around town.

And yet, if the Rhythm and Blues Club sounds unfamiliar, it’s with good reason.

“I’m sorry but I would like my private life to remain private,” said one of the founding fathers of the Brussels Rhythm and Blues Club, who also works for the EU institutions. “I hope you will understand.”

The reluctance to speak out is a familiar trait among the dwellers of the underground scene. Another EU official (and band member) requested anonymity when asked for comment, in a bid to maintain a clean separation between regulation and rock ’n’ roll.

“What we like about playing in a band is that it has nothing to do with work,” said the voice on the other end of the phone. “Mixing the two doesn’t really sound good to me.”

By day, EU officials don their formal suits and business attire, concealing their rock band T-shirts under their dark blazers and tight-buttoned shirts.

But not everyone is so shy. One Commission employee, Joe Hennon, was less sensitive about his connection to the underground sound.

Click Here: brisbane lions guernsey 2019

“I haven’t worn a suit since 1998,” he said, dressed in black with a silver sun pendant hanging around his neck. “I always wear jewelry — almost as much as my wife.”

The 55-year old has been working in the Commission since 1989, and made little secret of his connection to folk band Shantalla and pagan ensemble Omnia.

“Maybe people are worried about their career or boss finding out,” said Hennon, when asked why other officials were less forthcoming about their extracurricular activities.

“The fact that the Commission recruits lawyers, you’re less likely to find many musicians in there,” he said.

Hennon, though, has rarely conformed to Commission norms — even during his seven-year stint as spokesman for commissioners Margot Wallström and Janez Potočnik between 2007 and 2014.

That eccentricity has helped in the Commission, Hennon said, crediting his artistic nature for creative problem-solving during his career.

It’s an attitude that the EU’s executive arm should learn to embrace, Hennon continued, urging his colleagues to be more forthcoming about their musical interests.

“Creative people are needed … because they allow for diversity when it comes to decision-making,” Hennon said.

But times are slowly changing and even members of the European Parliament are eyeing music as a means of escape from politics.

“I sometimes give speeches to massive audiences, and sometimes you feel like you connect with them,” said Syed Kamall, the head of the European Conservatives and Reformists group. “But playing live … there’s nothing like it!”

Kamall may represent the U.K. Conservative party in Brussels, but that hasn’t stopped him from picking up his bass guitar and starting a band with fellow ECR MEP Roberts Zīle and group press officers Kārlis Būmeisters and Jan Krelina.

“I hadn’t played in a band since the late 80s,” said Kamall. “And in those days I had an afro.”

It’s early days for Kamall’s band, called “It’s Not A Dead Fish,” which has mostly played at ECR parties rather than larger venues like Sounds.

“People are encouraging us to play more,” Kamall said. “But we don’t usually have the time. I try to set up band practice every two weeks. Politics can get in the way.”

That shouldn’t deter them, as Sounds will happily host up-and-coming bands in Brussels.

“I’m open to all types of bands. Even amateurs,” said Duvallani. “The important thing is that they can play good music. That’s all.”

It may only be a matter of time before Kamall stands up on Duvallani’s red velvet stage. But Brussels’ music scene might not be public enough for the Tory MEP, who’s eyeing a much bigger stage.

“We should do a battle of the bands in the [Parliament’s] hemicycle,” he mused. “There must be lots of bands around here and we should definitely do something for charity.”

Until then, the EU’s underground music scene in Brussels continues to quietly rock on.