The Final Experiment
Aarschok Magazine
01-09-1995
LAST MONTH WE ALREADY WROTE ABOUT ARJEN LUCASSEN'S LATEST PROJECT: 'AYREON - THE FINAL EXPERIMENT, A ROCK OPERA'. THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THIS MAGAZINE ALREADY PICKED THIS ALBUM AS 'CD OF THE MONTH' AND OTHER MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS ARE IMPRESSED AS WELL. A MODEST PARTY TO CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF THE ALBUM AND THE OPENING OF OSCAR HOLLEMAN'S NEW RS29 STUDIO, WHERE THE ALBUM WAS RECORDED, WAS THEREFORE JUSTIFIED. LUCASSEN AND HOLLEMAN HAD NO REASON TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE AMOUNT OF INTERESTED PEOPLE.
Some call it 'VIPing', some 'eating-and-drinking-for-free', others just 'cozy'. On Friday October 27 representatives from magazines Oor, Watt, Music Maker, Fret, Brabants Dagblad and of course Aardschok mingled with people from Radio3, record companies and musicians like Robby Valentine and Sleeze Bee Andrew Elt. Add to this the (almost) complete set of musicians appearing on the album and their partners, and it can be concluded that a nice crowd had gathered at Oscar's new home base.
The Instrumentalists
In the previous issue we promised to tell more about all the musicians on the album. Arjen takes a seat and starts with the instrumentalists.
"Cleem Determeijer (Veralin) is the keyboard player in the Netherlands for symphonic music. The CD is quite diverse with respect to its atmosphere; mellow parts -without drums mostly- and heavy parts, and that's where the drums should be really heavy. That's when you need a drummer like Ernst van Ee (Helloise, Vengeance among others). Peter Vink (Q65, The boxx, Veralin) is still the best bass player for heavy music. I sent him all the stuff I had and asked him which parts he would like to play. The rest of the songs and those that required plectrum-bass I did myself. The tracks that needed finger picking-bass, well, both Peter and I cannot do that. Jolanda (Arjen's girlfriend, FB) is a super talent on that; she played the demo's and that turned out to be so good that the decision who to choose was easy. Then only a Beatles-like song was without a bass and Jan Bijlsma (Vengeance) really likes that sort of stuff, so he played some fretless bass on it."
The Vocalists
Besides the musicians there was quite a number of singers involved. Some may be considered to be logical choices. Leon Goewie and Ian Parry were part of Vengeance once and you did some stuff with Robert Soeterboek (My Brother Jake) before.
"These guys said 'yes' immediately. That's why they are friends. It works both ways. For Ian's last solo album I wrote a song and played guitar, for Way of Thorns (Leon's German band) I wrote two songs...Those people don't mention the word 'money', they don't even say whether they do it or not, just: 'when can we come over to do it?'. Leon's range has only increased since Vengeance. In 'Merlin's will' his voice had to jump from very low to very high...incredible what he can do! Ian was the perfect man for the job he did, he also wrote the old-English lyrics for 'Ye Courtyard Minstrel Boy'. Nobody else could have done it this way. Robert is a new talent, uses less power, but has a warm voice and therefore sounds full of soul."
It might be logical to make a historical association with Jan van Feggelen, because you both played in Bodine. But not at the same time, right?
"No, I didn't know him at all. But since the first Bodine album I've been very impressed by his voice. That's why I phoned him to ask if he would like to participate. 'Just send it and I'll listen to it' he said. It took me some effort to convince him, not because he didn't like it, but just because he is a bit uncertain about himself. But there's no reason for that. He didn't sing the lines at all the way I asked him to, but that only made the song better."
Wasn't it difficult to decide who you wanted to sing on which songs?
"I could easily imagine the way the songs had to sound like, but I found that I made some errors. About six songs gave me the feeling that the vocals, though they were very good, were not what the song asked for. Seven different singers did 'Eyes of time'. I did it myself but that was really bad. Leon Goewie made it really heavy, unfit to be the second track on the album. But because his version is really great, it appears on the CD-single as a bonus track."
Lenny Wolf did the final version of that song. The only man from abroad on the album.
"The vocals on this track had to be Robert Plant-like. And to give him a phone call...that would be too much. Then Lenny Wolf was mentioned and the more I thought about it the more I was convinced that he was the right man. Via several channels I was able to contact him and he immediately asked what was in it for him. Well, I sent a tape, he got excited and in the end he didn't care about being paid. In return I did some stuff for the new Kingdom Come album."
Two people singing on the album won't be very familiar to rock fans; Lucie Hillen and Ruud Houweling. Who are they?
"Ruud played guitars in a band in Alphen and did the vocals on some tracks, just for fun. I liked those so much that I would like him to be on the album. Lucie is Jolanda's singing teacher. There already was a death metal singer on the album and then a female opera singer would be great.... two ways of singing, both very extreme."
About the death metal vocalist: Jan-Chris de Koeijer. A remarkable person on this CD.
"It was Oscar's idea. Ayreon running through a forest, bleeding, the music got heavier all the time. At first there was only a synthesizer, later on more and more guitar was added. 'We need a death metal singer!' I cried. 'That's fine,' Oscar said, 'I'm going to phone Jan-Chris right away.' It took a lot of work though to get it done, because Gorefest had just left for a four-month tour. Everything was ready, even mixed, when his vocals were added. He really liked it, working this way. Of course he had a perfect balance on his headphones. A disciplined man too; when he had to dub his vocals he did it exactly like the first time. You might think: 'it's just a grunt', but it's more than that...I wanted to go 'over the top' with this project and this part really fitted in there."
The vocals on the first single 'Sail away to Avalon' are by Golden Earring vocalist Barry Hay. Was it difficult to get him to do it?
"Convincing him was no problem. When I phoned him he was immediately excited. He played with Vengeance once when we played 'Back Home' in The Hague, he helped with the 'Arabia' album, and so he already knew my capacities. The problem was when he would find the time to do it. A big problem, because the Earring was really busy, played six shows every week. At a certain moment, when he had only a few hours of time to spare, he came to the studio to record the song and he did a wonderful job."
We can end our talk about the lead singers with the man who both opens and ends (spoken text) the album: Edward Reekers.
"'The commercial man', we call him (he's always quoting TV commercials, ed.). He is mainly known because of his work with Kayak, with whom he already made an album called 'Merlin' once. I didn't know that then by the way. If I had known I might not have asked him. He is really fit for stuff like this; he has an incredible voice. A real professional, he enters the studio, sings his part and it's the way it should be right away. Did it all right the first time. Fantastic."
Everybody involved appears to be super-enthusiastic. Were there any people that you asked but didn't want to participate?
"Well, Frank Boeijen. I wanted him to sing 'Magic ride'. He has a very emotional voice. I sent a tape, but I had to do that via his manager, because I don't know him at all. Well, I spoke to him a couple of times long ago; he was always interested in Vengeance. I doubt if my tape ever found its way to Frank. Anyway, he didn't sing. If he reads this now he might regret it, maybe he'll even fire his manager, ha ha ha!"
For the sake of completeness, and because their role has not been a minor one, we should mention the backing viocalists: Mirjam van Doorn (The boxx, Veralin), Debby Schreuder (Baseline), plus Rene Merkelbach (Rubica).
"The girls had to do really difficult stuff, like 7/8 rhythms and stuff. They did it perfectly though, it was recorded in no-time. Rene is in fact a keyboard player, but his voice has the same range as mine, that's why I asked him. This may all sound a bit exaggerated, but well, I'm just very satisfied with the achievements of everyone involved!"
The Reactions
I think we can conclude with saying that your project has been received extremely well.
"It looks like it is, yes. I didn't know in advance how many people would react. I didn't think about it either. I think the reason I wanted to do this project is, that things like this are not being done nowadays. People seem interested in it. It is selling well and the media are all over it. It seems to fill a gap in the musical market."
The Telephone
One day after this interview Arjen is on the phone.
"Can you believe I forgot to mention Oscar? Without him there wouldn't have been any project at all, that guy is in perfect control in his studio!"
We already knew that, Arjen, but it's ok to mention it again.