ARJEN LUCASSEN (AYREON/STREAM OF PASSION/GUILT MACHINE/AMBEON)
http://www.arjenlucassen.com/
Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960, Hilversum) is a composer and musician from the Netherlands and is most widely known for his albums released under the name Ayreon. Lucassen plays a wide variety of instruments, chiefly guitars and synthesizers, but also less commonly others such as the flute and mellotron. He claims that the greatest instrument is the Hammond organ. He also occasionally uses his voice in his music. Although Lucassen cannot read or write sheet music, he is a proficient musician and adept in technical aspects. He has a penchant for directing talent, characterized by the successful Ayreon albums, in almost all of which he pools together many separate vocalists and musicians who record their performances individually. This makes arranging live performances very difficult, and thus Lucassen is rarely seen in a live performance, although it has happened (such as during his Star One and Stream of Passion tours).
Lucassen is known for answering e-mails from his fans rather diligently, as quickly as he can, and in fact promotes such by stating that "you can email Arjen" on his albums. He also opened a line of communication on the Ayreon website known as "Ask Arjen Anything", where fans could ask whatever they'd like to him, to which Lucassen answers, and the completed list can be seen on the site itself.
He is 2.02 meters (6'7") tall, but jokes that he "doesn't play basketball"
Early life
Born April 3rd, 1960 in Hilversum. He and his brother Gjalt were reportedly good students, although Arjen was known for being a troublemaker in class.
He became a big fan of The Beatles and then early glam-rock like Alice Cooper and David Bowie. At first, he "was too lazy" to learn an instrument, and instead started a play-back project called "The Flying Potatoes" and borrowed his mother's wig for performances. He started to play guitar when a friend gave him a copy of the Deep Purple album Made in Japan. After learning to play, Lucassen played in many bands until 1980, one called "Mover".
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Career
1980-1984: Bodine
In 1980, Dutch band Bodine was looking for a new singer. Bodine was one of Lucassen's favorite bands, and he brought his guitar to the audition in hopes of becoming their second guitarist. After being rejected for his singing abilities, he then played some Bodine songs on his guitar. The rest of the band hired him as their guitarist.
Lucassen stayed with Bodine until 1984, recording two albums with them, Bold and Brass and Three Time Running.
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1984-1992: Vengeance
Lucassen got a call from a new band called Vengeance, looking for a guitarist. He told them that he was available, and quickly quit Bodine shortly after.
He reportedly had more creative freedom in Vengeance, being able to write and compose songs. Still, many creative problems were present, seeing as the band all hailed from different musical backgrounds. In the early nineties, the band wanted to go into more of a grunge and alternative rock direction, much like many other bands at the time. Lucassen, however, wanted to go into more of a progressive direction. Lucassen left the band in 1992 to pursue a solo career.
1992–1994: Solo career
Due to the new found creative freedom, Lucassen started writing and recording songs from many different styles. After hearing some of these songs, a record company decided to record an album with him. Lucassen released the album Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy, under the name "Anthony" in 1993. Lucassen played most of the instruments himself except for the drums and synthesizer.
Even though the album spawned three singles with radio spots, the album flopped. It is no longer available, and is considered a collector's item.
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1995-present: Ayreon
After his unsuccessful solo album, Lucassen wanted to create an album that would be all him, and would not conform to any one genre or style. He was inspired by the rock operas of the 60s and 70s like Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar, The Who's Tommy, and Pink Floyd's The Wall. He found a small Dutch label called Transmission Records that was interested, and he started recording his next album.
The original name for the album was just going to be "Ayreon: The Final Experiment", with no band name given. The label then suggested that the artist name should be given as Ayreon, and the album should be called "The Final Experiment". Ayreon's The Final Experiment was released in 1995. Much like his first solo album, he played many of the instruments himself and wrote all of the lyrics.
The album featured a very wide array of musical styles, ranging from folk to progressive metal. Because of this, Lucassen didn't think the album would be too successful. In contrast, the album received positive critical reviews. The album also contained many vocalists and guest musicians, with Lucassen only singing on three of the songs.
he first Ayreon CD, released in 1995, is The Final Experiment, which has a mixture of science fiction and medieval themes. The album features thirteen singers and seven instrumentalists, most of them Dutch. The Final Experiment is often mentioned as one of the first metal operas and a reviver of the rock opera genre. The album was originally titled Ayreon: The Final Experiment, with the artist listed as Arjen Lucassen, but upon re-release, the title was changed to The Final Experiment, and the artist was changed to Ayreon.
Actual Fantasy from 1996 is the only Ayreon album without a continuous story. With its individual fantasy stories, it can still be considered a concept album, though. There are only three singers and three instrumentalists on Actual Fantasy. Themes inspired by songs on this album can be found on later Ayreon releases, particularly the two Universal Migrator albums. The album did not sell as well as its predecessor.
The double album Into the Electric Castle followed in 1998. The album features eight singers, each playing a role of a single character, and eleven instrumentalists. Arjen has stated that he wanted this particular album to be a more flight-and-fancy-free record, or "pure escapism" than the previous albums' more serious tones, and portrayed his characters in more of a B-Movie light. The album was a huge success and is widely regarded as one of Ayreon's best album.[citation needed]
The twin Universal Migrator albums were released in 2000. The first album, The Dream Sequencer consists of soft, atmospheric progressive rock, whereas the second album, Flight of the Migrator, consists of a more heavy metal theme. Both of the albums feature around ten singers supported by many instrumentalists. One of the more notable guests was Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, who made an appearance on the Flight of the Migrator album.
Shortly following Universal Migrator came Ayreonauts Only, an album generally meant to be only for diehard fans of Ayreon. The album itself was the second to not follow a specific storyline; it instead contained alternate versions (With different vocalists or instrumentalists) of existing songs, or the original demos used when recording them. In addition, it contained a preview of Arjen's then-upcoming project, Ambeon. It is the only Ayreon album not to see re-release on InsideOut.
In 2004 came The Human Equation. As on Into the Electric Castle, there are several singers, each playing their own role. With The Human Equation, Ayreon turned away from the usual science fiction and fantasy themes with a seemingly semi-normal psychological theme.
Starting in 2004, after changing from Transmission Records to InsideOut, Arjen began rereleasing his Ayreon catalog on the new label, with enhancements ranging from basic (The Universal Migrator, issued as a two-disc set instead of two separate albums) to drastic (Actual Fantasy, "Revisited" with completely re-recorded drums, bass, synth and flute). In 2005, to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Ayreon, The Final Experiment was reissued with a bonus semi-acoustic disc.
At the end of September 2006, when Arjen's new studio was finished, he began making a new album entitled 01011001, which was released on January 25th, 2008. This album was noticeably darker than previous Ayreon releases, Lucassen attributes this to a depression and his divorce in the preceding year.
On April 25th, 2008, Arjen released a new Ayreon EP named Elected. The EP features two tracks from 01011001, one from The Human Equation and an Alice Cooper cover (Elected), with vocals by Arjen and Tobias Sammet.
On September 16th, 2008, Arjen announced in his official website the release of Timeline, his second compilation album, that will reunite selected songs from all Ayreon albums and an unreleased one in three CDs and a DVD. The album will be released on November 10 in Europe, and early 2009 in North America.
Future of Ayreon
Arjen is currently working on his new side project, Guilt Machine. Regarding the release of another Ayreon album, he stated the following:
"As for whether there will be another Ayreon album, I'm never sure. Ten years could go by before I decide to do another one. I have to say that a lot of the reviews for 01 said it had some cool moments but it had that typical Ayreon sound, that there was nothing new being offered, and I think I can agree with that. I decided I'm going to stop 'with this Ayreon story, with this sound, and concentrate on other projects first. Then, if I decide to go back to Ayreon I'll do something different with it. I have no idea how (laughs), but if there's going to be another one it should be different."
Concept
Ayreon's concept is a continuous one, with loose connections between each of the albums. The Final Experiment alluded to the events that led to The Universal Migrator albums (during the course of events in the specified album, the man using The Dream Sequencer discovers that he was, in a past life, the blind minstrel Ayreon). The inlay booklet of the Universal Migrator double-album alludes to Into the Electric Castle, with the castle being shown in the same page with the song "Out of the White Hole," specifically the portion titled "Planet Y", home planet to the alien "Forever", who is mentioned at the middle of the song ("Forever... remember Forever..."). Also, Arjen's notes at the beginning mention the possibility that the character using the Dream Sequencer on the Universal Migrator double-album (the Colonist) is indeed the Futureman on Into the Electric Castle.
So far, there seems to be little connection between Into the Electric Castle and The Human Equation, except for the very final section of "Day Twenty: Confrontation", in which it is revealed that "The Human Equation" was really a computer program launched by Forever of the Stars. At the end of the song, Forever can be heard saying "Emotions... I remember...", pointing to the fact that the experiment has been successful and he has remembered the emotions that his race had lost.
01011001 is the album that connects the stories from all others albums, for here it's revealed the whole Forevers' story. Throughout the first few songs, it is revealed how Forevers lost their emotions, due to a dependence on machines, thus explaining both experiments achieved by them (Into the Electric Castle and The Human Equation). Later, it is explained that Forevers created the human race, using their own DNA. On the eleventh song, "The Truth Is In Here", appears the Mr. L character, which is indeed the now aged Hippie, one of the eight characters from Into the Electric Castle. Also, this Mr. L is the prophet promised by Merlin at the end of The Final Experiment. Forevers, in an attempt to save mankind, send visions of the Earth's decay to the human race, along with a way to save the Earth. These visions are received by two scientists, who build The Final Experiment, and send these visions back in time, eventually received by Ayreon in The Final Experiment. At the end of the story, Forevers realize that they cannot save humankind, so they leave them to their own devices. Though the human race may be lost, there is one man (Futureman/Colonist) left alive on Mars, so the Forevers give him the role of the new Universal Migrator. The end of 01011001 occurs on the year 2085, one year after the mankind's destruction and the great war on Earth (which is told on the second and third songs from The Dream Sequencer, "My House On Mars" and "2084" respectively).
Albums
* The Final Experiment (1995)
* Actual Fantasy (1996)
* Into the Electric Castle (1998)
* Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer (2000)
* Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator (2000)
* The Human Equation (2004)
* 01011001 (2008)
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1997: Strange Hobby
Between Actual Fantasy and Into the Electric Castle, Lucassen released an album on which he covered many of his favorite songs called Strange Hobby. The album itself did not do well upon release, and went out of print. It is his only work where he sings on all the songs and plays all of the music himself.
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2000s: Depression and New Side project
In early 2007, Arjen sank into a deep depression, due to his recent divorce and affliction with Anosmia. However, he "kicked his own butt" back to the studio to record 01011001.
On 27 May 2008 Arjen made the following announcement in his Newsletter (issue 84):
"I'm very inspired and have already recorded three long instrumental songs — almost 30 minutes of material! The music I've recorded so far has some similarities to Ayreon, maybe a bit closer to Dream Sequencer than to Flight of the Migrator. But there are enough differences even at this early stage to tell me that it won't be an Ayreon album. Contrary to Ayreon I'll try to work with just one singer this time. I have no idea yet who that will be (though there are plenty of options, including myself).
Nor do I know what the concept will be — or if there will even be a concept at all! I'm definitely not consciously trying to be different or re-invent the wheel with this one, but a definite style is gradually taking shape and it feels good!
After the Universal Migrator albums, Lucassen wanted to embark on two side projects that would explore both his ambient, atmospheric progressive side, and one that explored his heavier progressive metal side. Lucassen initially formed Ambeon and Star One to fill these respective roles.
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Ambeon
Ambeon is a Dutch progressive metal act, a project consisting mainly of multi-instrumentalist composer Arjen Anthony Lucassen and vocalist Astrid van der Veen. The act's first and only album to date, Fate of a Dreamer, was recorded in 2001, when van der Veen was just 14 years old. Ambeon's atmospheric sound draws from a wide variety of influences, including Celtic, gothic and progressive music. The songs on Fate of a Dreamer are mostly composed of different remixed pieces of songs from Ayreon albums, whereas the lyrics are original, written by van der Veen.
Though Ambeon started to explore Lucassen's softer music, it ended up something much different. When recruiting singers, he found out about a very talented Dutch singer named Astrid van der Veen, who at the time was only 14 years old. Lucassen decided to focus Ambeon on just her singing abilities. Fate of a Dreamer was released in 2000, along with the single "Cold Metal". The album featured just Astrid on vocals and her lyrics, and Lucassen on most of the instruments. The album had limited success.
Although the project has not been officially retired, there are currently no further plans for Ambeon. Astrid is currently in a band called theEndorphins.
Albums
* Fate of a Dreamer (2001)
Singles
* Cold Metal (2001)
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Star One
Origins
Star One was born out of the remnants of an abandoned collaboration between Lucassen and Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson. Dickinson proposed the idea and the two exchanged ideas and put together four songs, Lucassen writing the music and Dickinson writing the lyrics. The project was abandoned however after Lucassen mentioned the project on the internet and Dickinson's manager called off negotiations. Instead of completely abandoning the material that had already been produced, Lucassen decided to put his own lyrics to the music and created Star One
Much like Ayreon, Star One had many guest singers and musicians, the most notable ones being Russell Allen of Symphony X and Damian Wilson of Threshold. Lucassen released Star One's Space Metal in 2002. Like Ayreon's Actual Fantasy, Space Metal did not follow one storyline; instead, each song was a different story with a sci-fi concept, most of the tracks based on existing movies and series like Star Wars, Star Trek IV, Blake's 7, and Dune. The album also had limited success, although it was more successful than Ambeon.
Like Lucassen's other project Stream of Passion, Star One did tour and released a live album called Live On Earth. Along with playing Star One songs, they also played many Ayreon songs on tour.
The music of Star One is heavier than that of Lucassen's progressive rock opera project Ayreon and draws influences from seventies space rock and blends them with modern progressive metal. They have released one studio album, 2002's Space Metal and a live recording with material by Ayreon in addition to that by Star One. At present there are no known plans for any future Star One releases: Arjen Lucassen has stated that the project was merely a chance to write some less serious, more stylistically unified songs, as opposed to the material he normally writes for Ayreon. The project's name is a reference to the British science fiction television series Blake's 7.
Album line-up
* Arjen Anthony Lucassen - Guitars, bass, keyboards
* Ed Warby (Gorefest) - drums
* Russell Allen (Symphony X) - Vocals
* Damian Wilson - Vocals
* Dan Swanö (Nightingale, Edge of Sanity) - Vocals
* Floor Jansen (After Forever) - Vocals
Additional musicians
* Jens Johansson (Stratovarius) - Keyboards
* Erik Norlander (Rocket Scientists) - Keyboards
* Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery) - Guitar
* Robert Soeterboek (Cotton Soeterboek Band) - Backing vocals
* Dave Brock (Hawkwind) - Lead and backing vocals ('Hawkwind Medley' only)
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Stream of Passion
After completing the Ayreon album The Human Equation, Lucassen wanted to create a more conventional progressive metal band. He also wanted to showcase the talents of Mexican singer, Marcela Bovio, who sang on The Human Equation.
He recruited a bassist, drummer, and keyboardist and started the band now called Stream of Passion. Lucassen allowed Marcela to be creatively free, with her writing and composing a lot of the music. The style ended up as a blend of metal and symphonic progressive rock. They released the album Embrace the Storm in 2005. Like Lucassen's previous side project, Star One, Stream of Passion toured and released a live album, Live In The Real World, in 2006. Like Star One, the tour featured many Ayreon songs as well as songs from the album.
Due to internal difficulties, Lucassen left Stream of Passion in 2007. The band continues without him, and released a second album, titled The Flame Within, in May 2009.
Stream of Passion is a progressive metal band with symphonic metal influence founded by Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Marcela Bovio. Because the musicians in the band lived thousands of miles apart, Lucassen composed the group's debut album, Embrace the Storm, over the Internet. It was released on October 24, 2005 through InsideOut Music.
With the exception of vocalist Marcela Bovio, who had appeared on Ayreon's album The Human Equation, Lucassen selected little-known musicians to form this band.
In August 2008, it was announced that Stream of Passion has signed to Napalm Records. They have plans to release their second studio album through Napalm Records.
Line-up
* Marcela Bovio - Lead Vocals; Violin
* Eric Hazebroek - Lead/Rhythm Guitars
* Stephan Schultz - Lead/Rhythm Guitars
* Johan van Stratum - Bass Guitars
* Jeffrey Revet - Keyboards; Piano
* Martijn Peters - Drums
Former/Past Members
* Arjen Lucassen - Lead/Rhythm Guitars; Backing Vocals
* Lori Linstruth - Lead/Rhythm Guitars
* Alejandro Millán - Keyboards; Piano; Backing Vocals
* Davy Mickers - Drums
Session/Live Members
* Diana Bovio - Backing Vocals
Albums
* Embrace the Storm (2005)
* The Flame Within (2009)[3]
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Guilt Machine
In February 2009, Arjen announced in his website his new side project: Guilt Machine. The project will feature a very limited line-up, comparing to other Arjen's side projects: Arjen Lucassen on the instruments and backing vocals, Jasper Steverlinck (Arid) on lead vocals, Chris Maitland (ex-Porcupine Tree) on drums and Lori Linstruth (ex-Stream of Passion) on lead guitar.[3] According to Arjen, the music will range "from dark and heavy to atmospheric and melancholic"[3]. Regarding the concept, Arjen stated that instead of fantasy and science fiction themes, Guilt Machine will explore "the destructive psychology of guilt, regret and the darkest form of secret -- the secrets we hide from ourselves."In spite of the differences, the songs are expected to keep the dynamic contrasts, intricated harmonies, complex rhythms and soaring melodies of any Ayreon release.
Guest appearances
* Pythagoras - After the Silence (1981)
* Anthony - Pools Of Sorrow, Waves Of Joy (1993)
* Ian Parry - Symphony of Dreams (1993)
* Alex Bollard - Pink Floyd Songbook (1994)
* Ian Parry - Thru the Looking Glass (1995)
* Strange Hobby - Strange Hobby (1996)
* Biscuit - Between you and me (1996)
* Veralin - Opposites (1997)
* Helloise - A Time And Place For Everything (1998)
* Block Busters - Powder to the People (1999)
* Ian Parry - Consortium Project (1999)
* Peter Daltrey - Candy (1999)
* Rocket Scientists - Oblivion Days (1999)
* Erik Norlander - Into The Sunset (2000)
* Ian Parry - Shadowman (2000)
* Glass Hammer - Chronometree (2000)
* Within Temptation - Mother Earth (2000)
* Lana Lane - Secrets Of Astrology (2000)
* After Forever - Emphasis (single) (2002)
* Nolan / Wakeman - The Hound Of The Baskervilles (2002)
* Wicked Sensation - Reflected (2002)
* Nightingale - Alive Again (2003)
* Ars Nova - Biogenesis (2003)
* Gary Hughes - Once and Future King Part I (2003)
* Space Mirrors - The Darker Side of Art (2004)
* Amadeus' Spell (2004)
* Elfonía - This Sonic Landscape (2005)
* Freak Neil Inc. - Characters (2005)
* Shadow Gallery - Room V: Special Edition (2005)
* Galexia - Galexia (2008)
* Kalisia - Cybion (2008)
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