Cleem Determeyer

Arjen explains: Cleem is classically trained and an incredible pianist. He taught me a lot about arrangements. He used to be in the band Finch with Peter Vink. I met Cleem at a party Peter had organized and we found out that we were on the same musical and personal wavelength…

Clive Nolan

Arjen Explains: Clive may very well be the biggest name in the English neo-prog scene. I’d seen him perform with Pendragon a number of times and every time I noticed that big sound of one of his synthesisers…

Jens Johansson

Arjen Explains: Jens is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, keyboardplayer on this planet. The first time I heard Jens was on an Yngwie Malmsteen CD, on which he effortlessly kept up with Yngwie. One day I received an email of someone named Jens who really loved my music and my concepts. It turned out he was one and the same…

Joost van den Broek

Arjen explains: I was looking for a keyboard player for the Star One tour who was able to do the symphonic as well as the fast work, and for practical reasons it had to be someone from the Netherlands. Everyone I approached was unavailable, until I got a phone call from Joost. Without being arrogant he told me that it was no problem for him to figure out all the complicated parts and then…

Keiko Kumagai

Arjen explains: Keiko plays in an all-girl band (keys/keys/drums) from Japan called Ars Nova, and I remember being quite impressed the first time I heard them. Especially Keiko’s keyboard parts and arrangements are awesome. I contacted her via email and after having sent her a few Ayreon CDs, she let me know she liked my music a lot, and…

Ken Hensley

Needless to say I’ve always wanted to work with Ken, but I didn’t know how to get in contact with him. Then a friend of mine, Lars Ratz (bassplayer of Metallium), who works with Ken regularly, gave me his email address. I emailed Ken and luckily he agreed to do it- provided he would like the music…

Martin Orford

Arjen explains: My brother (the infamous Gjalt) is a big IQ fan. I went to an IQ show many years ago and liked what I heard. Later on I bought their album ‘Subterranea’ which I really enjoyed. Some melodies and synth-sounds on ‘Subterranea’ are simply amazing! Then I went to another IQ gig and Arie Verstegen, the organiser, arranged a meeting between Martin and me. Martin didn’t know…

Oliver Wakeman

Arjen explains: In 2002 I played guitar on Clive Nolan’s and Oliver Wakeman’s ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ album. Ever since then I’ve been in regular email contact with Oliver. Already a long time ago we agreed to play on each others projects one day. For this album I had the idea to have Oliver and his father Rick do a synth-duel. Rick emailed me that…

Rene Merkelbach

Arjen explains: René works in the RS29 studio where I recorded/mixed most of my CDs, and has played keyboard for a lot of different types of bands; from the symphonic Rubicon to the death metal band Gorefest. Rene has fast fingers and is a very versatile keyboardist. The only thing that gets on my nerves is that his guitar imitations on the keyboard are just too damn close to the real thing!

Robby Valentine

Arjen explains: I’ve always been impressed with Robby’s abilities but never knew how good he was until I actually worked with him. I went to him for one section of a piano piece. I played it on guitar for him, and he immediately turned it into an entire symphony! When this was recorded in one take, I had him play another three piano pieces. On top of that he conjured up…

Ton Scherpenzeel

Arjen explains: I’ve always been a big fan of the progband Kayak, especially because of Ton’s amazing compositions. I asked him to play a synth solo on ‘Into the Electric Castle’ and he replied that it wasn’t his specialty. Yet I had seen him play a magnificent solo on a video of the English prog band Camel for which he played keys for many years and I really wanted that synth (Prophet 5) and that sound. Ton recorded…