Artist: Marcel Coenen  

Date: 12 April 2006  

MM - Hi Marcel, how are you doing and how are things going with the promotion of the new album?
MC - Hello, I am doing pretty good. Busy as always. The promotion is going well as I notice. The album gets good reviews so I am happy

MM - What were some of the high points of making the album and how does the finished article compare with your initial intentions?
MC - I really loved working with all the guest musicians this time, that made the sound so much richer and better. The songs got way better with their contribution.

MM - Would you perhaps like to tell us a little bit about the other musicians you used on the new album, how did you come to choose those individuals?
MC - When I started writing I noticed I had a lot of idea’s in my head for vocal parts as well. I knew by then that I needed vocalists as well.  Mike Andersson I know from the band Cloudscape, and when I was writing the song “Waiting” I thought his voice would fit the power metal music perfectly.  The song “Patron Saint” was becoming the most progressive tune on the album so it was obvious that I would ask my band mates in Sun Caged to appear.  On “Traumatised To The Bone” I wanted to give a shock effect to people.  So I asked Dennis Schreurs from “Severe Torture” to do some grunts, and Menno Corbeek to do the Sepultura alike screams.

Colleen was a nice addition for the chorus to let that break open, and Colleen was just perfect for the song “That Moment”. Hans Reinders I knew already for years since he was the singer in my old bands Speedica and Form, and Joyce Dijkgraaf talked to me one night when I was out to see a band, and she said she was interested to sing for me, so I invited her over to make a test recording, and that test recording already were some parts of the song “Still Bleeding”.  For the drums I selected three different drummers, because the music on the album is so versatile.  On Bass most tracks are played by Richard Ritterbeeks who plays with me in a Joe Satriani tribute band.  Bob Katsionis I know because I already played some solo’s on his albums, and Uros was included cause he wrote the basic idea of the song “The Shrink”. 

MM - Would you like to tell us a few thoughts or stories behind some of the songs off the new album?
MC - Maybe “Traumatized To The Bone” is a funny one. There was an article in the newspaper right before I entered the studio to record the album. That article showed a story about a man who they found on the beach, and the man did not speak any language, and they could not find his identity. When they gave him a pen and paper he drew a piano in very good detail. He also appeared to play piano pretty well. We used this story for the lyric of Traumatized. Abstract Impact comes from a jam I once did with a drummer and bass player, a spontaneous jam in which we already started playing that main riff.

The Shrink is written by drummer Hans In T Zandt together with Uros Raskovsky. I rearranged the song and included it in the album cause I really liked the idea.

MM - At what age did you become interested in being a performer and what/who inspired you to join a band?
MC - I already know from my 11th birthday that I wanted to become a professional guitarist, and that was also the age I began playing. I just loved to watch other bands playing and I just knew that that was what I wanted to do.

MM - To date you’ve appeared on over 20 albums, something that some bands only manage over a life time.  What makes you such a prolific recording artist?
MC - Discipline, working hard, emotion, life cycle.  All these things make me an artist, and I hope to be performing on way more albums then I already did until now.

MM - What is the most memorable concert you have performed at and what made it different from all the others?
MC - A few ones were pretty memorable. At first we played as support of Queensryche in 2003, which was an awesome show. Also our show at Sweden Rock was great because the crowd there was really awesome and I loved the country. Same goes also for my recent clinic tour in Asia (Thailand and Taiwan) which was awesome. I got a lot of inspiration from that tour.

MM - Is there anyone in particular in the world of rock that you would love to write with, or record with, but haven’t had the opportunity yet?
MC - Oh lots of people. I’d love to work with Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), Devin Townsend, Peter Wildoer (Darkane, great drummer), Steve Vai and lots of other people.

MM - For you personally what bands do you think were the most influential from: (a) the 70’s, (b) the 80’s, (c) the 90’s, and (d) today?
MC - From the 70’s definitely Yes and Rush, from the 80’s also Rush and Yes, but added to that Iron Maiden, Allan Holdsworth and Metallica. From the 90’s maybe Dream Theater, Madonna and Fear Factory and from today bands like Killswitch Engage and Meshuggah.

MM - Making a living from music does not seem to be that 'easy' anymore as it was in the past. How do you predict your future as a musician?
MC - The only way to make a good living out of music is to Teach. I teach guitar already for several years which really helps me in that manner.

MM - In your opinion what kind of person does it take to become a successful rock musician?
MC - You have to be disciplined, talented, open minded, social, emotional but also good at heart. Those elements are really important in my opinion.

MM - If you could go back in a time machine and meet yourself before you started out, what advice would you give yourself?
MC - In musical terms not much, since I am quite happy with how that all went. In personal life I have a lot of things which I would have done differently, but that is life I guess ;)

MM - There is a big problem now of people copying and downloading albums instead of buying them. If you had the chance to speak to a room of people who copied/downloaded your music, what would you like to say to them?
MC - It has two sides to the story in my opinion. In the past people used cassettes to copy an album, now people download songs. I think record companies and the general industry could make the total costs of producing an album a lot lower, which would result in more people buying the CD’s instead of just downloading them.

The price they charge at the moment for a CD is ridiculous. So in general I don’t blame the people who download music, especially the poor people. Those people will come to a show when you perform so in a way it gets you attention in a big way, and the internet is a good medium to get well known without even having an album out.

MM - I’d also like to probe your conscience and ask have you ever copied or downloaded music?
MC - Yes I did. Normally I always download songs before I buy an album.  I compare it with going to a record store and listening to the music there on the headphones.  When I really like the music I downloaded I will buy the album though, since I really like having a real copy with artwork etc.

MM - Finally do you have any words of wisdom for our readers out there?
Visit http://www.marcelcoenen.com for all the news and http://www.suncaged.com for all the news about my band Sun Caged.

And Thanks for the interview !

*MM - We'd like to thank Marcel for taking time out of his busy schedule to take part in this interview for us and wish him all the best with the new album.

 

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