Ayreon Universe.. This was something special

19-09-2017
It's been a few days now since the 3 Ayreon Universe shows took place in 013, Tilburg. And I'm still not fully recovered. Since the moment I walked into the venue last thursday and saw the huge led screen, robots etc. I realised this was going to be something very special. Ofcourse I did see some concept ideas of the show, but never realised or thought about how impressive these could be. So after the first show pictures showed up all over the social media and saw what actually was happening behind and around us.
The biggest show I was ever part of.. #fulfilled

VUUR / My Champion - Berlin

08-09-2017
Vuur's first official video!
Our debut album ‘In This Moment We Are Free - Cities’ is on the way and the video for ‘My Champion - Berlin’, is released today!

VanderMeij Guitars

28-06-2017
I am very very proud to be part of the Vandermeij Guitars family. These guitars are just soooooo beautiful. Sound, feel.. just everything. Make sure to check them out in action at one of VUUR's upcoming shows!

Next Friday we'll be rocking at Tuska Open Air Metal Festival with these!

Ayreon Universe

28-05-2017
We had a band rehearsal for the Ayreon Universe shows, 15, 16 and 17 September 2017.
It's a great honour to play the rhythm parts for Arjen's brilliant compositions.
Marcel Coenen is doing the lead parts. Someone also from the same area as where I come from.
I know him for so long but we never actually talked to eachother.
Playing together feels like some kind of full circle as well. Let's do this! See you all in September.

Anneke van Giersbergen's VUUR

21-04-2017
I am proud to announce there is life after the awesome Gentle Storm project. Anneke decided to start a new band that will make more modern metal. Again it's amazing to continue this musical journey with her.
We almost finished the studio recordings and some festivals are already confirmed.
Including Dynamo Metal Fest, Eindhoven and Masters Of Rock Festival in Vizovice CZ.

This is going to be something special!

STORY:
Dutch singer Anneke van Giersbergen will forever be known as the vocalist for melancholic metallers The Gathering, but since striking out on her own in 2007, she has solidified a solo career and recorded and performed multiple times with Canadian metal genius Devin Townsend, among others.

To present the progressive metal side of her personality, Anneke formed VUUR in 2016, a new band that features some of the best heavy metal players in the Netherlands.
VUUR will release their full-length debut in October 2017 on InsideOut Music. From there the band will hit the road and focus on new material as well as the heavier side of Anneke's previous outings.

The Gentle Storm's final show..

17-12-2016
Today is the final show of The Gentle Storm project 'A collaboration between Anneke van Giersbergen and Arjen Lucassen' in a sold out Melkweg, Amsterdam.
Together with so many great people and musicians it was one of the best moments in my musical carreer.

Thanks to bandbuddies Anneke, Marcela, Merel, Joost, Johan, Ed, Ruud, Jord, Koen, Maarten.

Leaves' Eyes, filling in for the Bass spot

05-05-2016
It was quite a pleasure to play the bass for Leaves' Eyes. I like providing the low frequenties in a band;
Had an awesome 4 shows with this crew. Here are some pictures.
28-04-16 Rider's Café, Lubeck DE
29-04-16 High Voltage, Copenhagen DK
30-04-16 Effenaar, Eindhoven NL
01-05-16 De Verlichte Geest, Roeselare BE

Leaves' Eyes / with Thorsten Bauer & Pete Streit

ESP/LTD Bass B205-SM

21-04-2016
I became the proud owner of this beautiful LTD B205-SM
To play the upcoming shows as a bass-player I decided to go for this one.
Normally I played bass with Liv Kristine on a B1005 deluxe but it became an older model.
Can't wait to play this 5 string monster.

Latin America Tour 2016 TGS

12-04-2016
Back home after this amazing The Gentle Storm Latin-America tour.
Always kinda surreal to play in these countries in front of all these beautiful people. Thank you so much!

It was also quite an honour to play alongside Ruud Jolie [Within Temptation]. Mayones Guitars Basses were well presented this tour.
Hopefully see you next time! One love

Brightest Light [live] Audio Mix, Master

07-04-2016
Here's a mix I did for a live-video of The Gentle Storm's - 'Brightest Light'.
This was such a fun job to do.

Désespérée / Indulge 2016 New Album

31-01-2016
Last two years I've been working on a follow up for the 'Keeps' album.
There was not so much time to work on it and did some sketches on my laptop during tours and small holidays. Somehow it was quite hard to catch a vibe for the album.
I've been struggling with so many demos which didn't really made a 'universal' sound together. Puzzle pieces went straight into the Backup folder as I went along until finally I wrote the missing pieces. Suddenly it made sense and the album became even more personal than I thought. I really love this one.. Writing a dairy is not easy, but it helps so much with personal issues. Indulge.. You can listen to it on this website when it's released.