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…
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…
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!
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…
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…
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…
Jonas Renkse
Arjen Explain: no comment yet.
Jorn Lande
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Lenny Wolf
Arjen explains: When Kingdom Come suddenly became successful with their first album, everyone dismissed them as a Led Zeppelin clone. Of course the comparison of Lenny’s voice with Robert Plant is obvious, but he has developed his own recognizable style. I thought they were a great band in and of itself, and continued buying all their albums. When I had a Led Zeppelin type of song (‘Eyes of Time’) and couldn’t get a hold of Robert Plant, a reporter told me to contact Lenny. Lenny at that time didn’t have…
Leon Goewie
Arjen explains: Leon was/is the singer of Vengeance, the band that I joined in 1984. He has a very powerful voice, but can also sing great ballads; and on top of that he has a great stage presence. Unfortunately our personalities clashed and we parted ways in 1989. However, we continued to respect each other’s musical talents and even worked together a number of times…
Liselotte Hegt
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Magali Luyten
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Magnus Ekwall
Arjen explains: Arjen: I always buy magazines with a compilation CD attached in order to stay updated about what’s currently happening and of course to discover some new talent. On a Rock Hard compilation CD I heard the Swedish band ‘The Quill’ (Overlord) and I was really impressed by their extremely powerful singer, who reminded me a bit of the late and great Ray Gillen as well as Robert Plant…
Marcela Bovio
Arjen explains: Some time ago I came up with the to idea to give an unknown singer the chance to sing on Ayreon. Obviously also in the hopes that I would discover a talent like Astrid (Ambeon). So on the website we encouraged fans to send in their recordings. I received over a 100 recordings (thanks to you all!), listened to them and replied to everyone. One evening I heard a Mexican girl called Marcela Bovio and her…
Marjan Welman
Marjan Welman of the band Elister sent in a demo of her voice many years ago, and once again after her successful appearance in the Stream of Passion cover act “Team of Passion”. Arjen’s attention was drawn and he eventually invited her to sing a part on the new Ayreon…
Mark McCrite
Arjen explains: Mark is the singer for Rocket Scientist, the band in which Erik Norlander plays keyboards. When I recorded Neal Morse in LA, Mark did the backing vocals for the Beatlesque ‘The First Man on Earth’. Mark is a big Beatles fan, just like I am, and his vocals are kind of similar to that style. We regularly send each other compilations of ‘Beatle-ish’ bands we discover.
Mikael Akerfeldt
Arjen explains: I sent an email to Opeth’s management, explaining them who I was and that I would love to have Mikael sing on my album. To my surprise I got an email back from Mikael himself, saying that he really likes my music and even bought some of my albums…
Mike Baker
Arjen Explains: Mike did an amazing job on Loser, and his performance makes it one of my favourite tracks. When I told him this, he replied: “Flattery will get you everywhere…but ya can’t brown nose old Bakey so easy…at least buy me dinner & a movie first!” We also recorded an Alice Cooper cover together (How you Gonna See me Now) which ended up on a single…
Mouse
Arjen explains: I heard a song of the band Tuesday Child and couldn’t believe that it was a Dutch band. I really liked the singer, especially because of the comparison to John Lennon. I called him immediately and though he was a little reluctant at first, he ended up singing the Hippie part on ‘Into the Electric Castle’. After that, everything went wrong. Misinformed by some manager, Mouse began…
Neal Morse
Arjen explains: From the first time I heard the masterful progband Spock’s Beard I knew that at some point in time I wanted to work with the singer. I went to their show and afterwards I just walked up to Neal and gave him an Ayreon CD with a letter. Fortunately he loved my music and I recorded his voice in LA. Neal has a slightly breathy, melodic voice with a limited range but a tremendous…
Okkie Huysdens
Arjen explains: Okkie is the producer of the first Bodine album and a singer on various projects among which the ‘Stars on 45’ Beatles project. He also sang the high background vocals on the second Vengeance album. Okkie has a bright, soulful AOR voice. He can sing the strangest harmonies without much effort. He is a very talented and versatile musician and producer.
Peter Daltrey
Arjen explains: I am a big fan of the psychedelic 60s cult band Kaleidoscope. I got in touch with their singer Peter through a Japanese label and corresponded with him a while. I sent him a few of my CDs that he liked, after which I played some guitar on his new songs. When I was looking for a narrator for ‘Into the Electric Castle’ I decided to ask him because he had done something similar on…
Phideaux
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Ralf Scheeper
Arjen explains: Over ten years ago I saw a performance of Gamma Ray and the high powerful voice of Ralf stuck with me. When a German reporter told me that Ralf had been trying to get in touch with me, I called him immediately and invited him to sing on Ayreon. I went to Germany and the song was recorded within an hour. He is a great and reliable guy.
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…