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I
started making music at the age of 10 when I joined the local brass
band, which is almost common for all young kids in the province of
Limburg (southern part of the Netherlands). This is where I learned to
read notes, played the French horn and found out about music theory.
When a friend of mine at high school started playing the guitar, I had
to do it as well, first acoustic guitar and a little later the electric
guitar. Just messing around, no lessons, and trying to play along some
rock/metal songs.
The first time I touched a
bass guitar was when I was asked by a class mate at high school to join
his band. I still remember that I was surprised by the large distance
between the frets and by the fact that a bass guitar has only four
strings… The band was called Apocalypse at the time (1995) and later on
the band name changed into After Forever. This was the first band for
all of us and we used to describe our music as dark symphonic metal . As
time proceeded, our musical skills did as well. We found a record
company that wanted to invest serious money in us, leading to After
Forever's debut album in 2000. From that time on, till our break / band
stop in 2008, the band was quite successful. We did hundreds of gigs
ranging from small venues (including shit holes) to big arenas and open
air festivals. I especially remember our first European tour, where we
were a support act of Nightwish. The tour was completely sold out and
was really overwhelming. Also our times in north and south America are
still in my mind, absolutely great to play for such an enthusiastic
audience.
When After Forever stopped in
2008, a great episode in my life ended in which I developed as a
musician, had great times and met lots of nice people and fellow
musicians. From 2008 on I started working as a hydrologist, as I have
been studying for almost 10 years while playing in After Forever, which
resulted in a Master degree in both Hydrology and Geophysics. In my
spare time I kept on making music. Andre (After Forever's drummer) asked
me to join his cover band Cell 29, which later on evolved into Monsters
of Pop, where I got to know Rodney
J.
In the meantime I joined the bands Cardamon, Hangover Hero and Xystus,
where I met Bob
J.
Now it's time to join forces with Richard, Bob and Rodney in Blaze of
Darkness!!
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