Arjen Lucassen

Arjen Lucassen official website. Home of Ayreon - Star One - The Gentle Storm - Ambeon - Guilt Machine

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You are here: Home / Archives for Artists

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…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, keyboards

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…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, keyboards

Jolanda Verduijn

Arjen explains: I was working on the demos of the first Ayreon CD and needed someone who could play bass with the fingers (I always play with a guitar-pick). My (then) girlfriend had been playing bass for about a year and a half at that time, but was already quite skilled. She then played the demos at my house. She had done it so well that I asked her to play on the official CD in Oscar’s RS29 studio. I could see…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, bass

John and Pat McManus

While in England I saw a great Celtic band perform, named… eh… Celtus. I was impressed with the warm sound of the low flute played by John and the Celtic violin melodies played by Pat (they used to play together in the hard rock band Mama’s Boys). After the show I asked them if they would be interested in playing on my new project Ambeon…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, strings, woodwinds

John JayCee Cuijpers

Arjen explains: John ‘JayCee’ was another one of the singers who sent me their recordings. I was really impressed by his powerful voice, but I had already chosen Magnus Ekwall for his part ‘Pride’ on ‘The Human Equation’. I’m sure that after hearing his impressive take on this song you’ll agree with me that…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Johan Edlund

Arjen explains: Ever since the CD ‘Deeper Kind of Slumber’, on which Johan transitions from grunting to singing, I’ve been a big fan of Tiamat. Johan has a low, melancholic voice that I really like. We share the love for bands like Pink Floyd and Sisters of Mercy. Because I like the simple but effective melodies of Johan in Tiamat, I asked him to write…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Johan van Stratum

Arjen explains: No comments yet

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, bass

Jeroen Goossens

Arjen Explains: No comments yet…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, woodwinds

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…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, keyboards

Jay van Feggelen

Arjen explains: Jay was the first singer of Bodine. I thought their debut record was the best releases in the Netherlands in its genre at the time, particularly because of Jay’s vocals. When Jay left Bodine I auditioned to join the band as a singer, but of course I could not hold a candle to such a voice. I was hired as a guitarist, which secretly had been my intention from the beginning…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Jasper Steverlinck

Arjen explains: What I admire about Jasper’s voice, besides its beautiful clear timbre, is the emotion and credibility he puts into his performance and his enormous range. Because the Guilt Machineproject features just one singer I needed someone versatile enough to portray all of the different moods, and Jasper didn’t disappoint. And he’s a really nice and dedicated guy as well!

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Jan-Chris de Koeijer

Arjen explains: Oscar Holleman of studio RS29 had recorded Gorefest and convinced me to use Jan-Chris on my first Ayreon CD. I wanted to make a cd with extremes, for instance with an opera singer and a grunter. That combination may seem normal these days, but at that time it wasn’t common at all. I personally think that Jan-Chris is the best Dutch grunter…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Jan Bijlsma

Arjen explains: Together with Oscar, Jan was the founder of the rock band Vengeance that I joined in 1984. Jan’s tight, simple but effective bass playing was the basis of Vengeance’s sound. I always (and still) got along fine with Jannemannemannemanneman, as I call him. That’s why I wanted him to be…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, bass

James LaBrie

Arjen explains: My good friend (just in case he reads this, haha) Gary ‘Shadow Gallery’ Wehrkamp played my album ‘Into The Electric Castle’ to James, and James absolutely loved it. Gary told me about this, and obviously I sent James an email straight away asking him if he would be interested to guest on one of my projects one day…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Jacqueline Govaert

Arjen explains: I was at the RS29 Studio to pick something up when I happened to hear a recording of a nice singer. I asked who it was and behind me heard the voice of a 16-year young girl say: that’s me! I immediately asked her if she wanted to be on my new CD. Jacqueline has a raw voice, a little bit like…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Irene Jansen

Arjen explains: Together with Floor we were searching for someone to be the backing vocalist next to Floor during the Star One tour. I had seen her sister Irene in the audience dancing to the music of After Forever. At some point I mentioned to Floor that it would have been great if her sister had been a singer. Much to my surprise Floor told me that Irene is a singer!…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Ian Parry

Arjen explains: Ian has a very powerful but also melodic voice with a clearly present vibrato. When we needed a replacement for our singer Leon Goewie in Vengeance, I heard a recording of the band Hammerhead with Ian on vocals. I immediately contacted him and he was instantly interested to sing for Vengeance. Unfortunately the musical transition was too great for the fans…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Heather Findlay

Arjen: A couple of years ago I went to a Blackmore’s Night concert in Germany, and an amazing female singer was supporting them. I was really impressed, but at the time I didn’t know who she was and only found out later it was Heather when she told me she supported Blackmore’s Night. Later I got emails from fans telling me to check out Mostly Autumn…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

George Oosthoek

Arjen explains: For Electric Castle I was looking for a voice who could represent ‘Death’ and what better choice than a grunter? I was about to record Sharon den Adel, and her boyfriend Robert Westerhold is the grunter of ‘Within Temptation’. And because he loves my music, he was more than willing…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Gary Wehrkamp

Arjen explains: I received an email from Gary who told me he was a big fan of ‘Into the Electric Castle’. We began an email correspondence and our emails became more and more filled with lame jokes and comments, and eventually even turned into entire novels. Because I thought he was funny I decided…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, guitar

Gary Hughes

Arjen explains: Gary has a great AOR voice like Paul Rodgers and Lou Gramm. For the version of ‘Beyond the last horizon’ on ‘Ayreonauts Only’ Gary recorded his voice in his own studio, but something was wrong with the microphone, so his voice didn’t come out well, which is too bad because he did a great job. I had to do a promo-tour in Germany together with Gary, whom I had never met at that point. We immediately hit it off…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Floor Jansen

Arjen explains: Floor has a bright future ahead. Not only does she sing well, she has a great appearance and a lot of charisma on stage. Hans van Vuuren of the Transmission label had just signed After Forever and asked me whether I could use her voice on my CD. After listening to her demos, I wasn’t quite convinced, but decided to give her a chance. Once I had worked with her, I knew it wouldn’t be the last time…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Fish

Arjen explains: I got a lot of emails from people who were so happy to hear Fish on something prog again, and that this was the best thing he had done in years. Fish has an enormous personality that is reflected in his voice. He isn’t so much a technical singer, but very emotional. I was looking for an expressive vocalist and a reporter gave me…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Fabio Lione

Arjen explains: Fabio has a high and bright voice, with a wide vibrato. I was very impressed with Rhapsody’s ‘Symphony of Enchanted Lands’ and its great production and musicianship. My label then contacted Fabio. Members of Rhapsody really loved my music and convinced Fabio to travel to the Netherlands…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

Esther Ladiges

Arjen explains: Esther was one of the approximately 150 singers who sent in their recordings in response to my request on my website in which I invited unknown singers to send me their material. One of them could end up on ‘The Human Equation’. Esther came very close to playing the part of the Wife, but…

Written by The Master Cylinder · Categorized: Artists, vocals

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