Gotye is the recording name of Australian multi-instrumental musician born as Wouter De Backer (Bruges, 1980). He is best known as drummer and one-third of Melbourne indie-pop band The Basics, drummer and founding member of the band Downstares plus an ARIA Award-winning singer-songwriter.



Born in Belgium in 1980, De Backer moved to Australia with his family at a young age. His parents chose to use the English variation of his name, Walter, when enrolling him in school. From early on, De Backer displayed a passion for music, learning various instruments, piano and drums most notably.



The first seeds of Gotye were planted when Walter De Backer was given a large collection of old records - an elderly neighbour, whose wife had passed away, had heard Downstares rehearsing over the years and gave his late wife's lp collection to De Backer. As explained by Walter in a 2010 interview: "I was depressed about the band and desperate to make music, but I didn’t see how a drummer could go solo. A friend came round, saw the records and suggested I try sampling them. To cheer myself up, I spent the evening sampling bits of The Police and Culture Club. It sounded horrible, but something sparked in me, so for the next few weeks I persevered. By the time I had finished one semi-decent song, I was hooked."