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Just as progrock fans had all
but given up on any new blood emerging on the scene to take the scene
forward some bright new faces have begun to emerge to renew hope for us
all. One such band is Silhouette, who have recently released their
debut album 'A Maze' and "amaze" it does! We catch up with
keyboardist Erik Laan to find out more about this fine new addition to the
progrock fold.
MM - Hi Guys, how are you
doing and how are things going with the promotion of your debut album ‘A
Maze’?
Erik
- For
us, the fact that we had the opportunity to write and to release the
album, is already a dream come true. The four of us are passionate for
music, mainly, but not only progressive rock, and it is wonderful now to
have found this group of friends that really have chemistry together.
About ten to fifteen years ago, before the internet revolution give prog a
world wide revival, this was unthinkable for us. |
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For me personally, the
title ‘A Maze’ reflects this amazing fact, although the title has more
layers. As we released the CD independently, we have to do the promotion
ourselves. The response, mainly through the internet, is a lot better than
we expected. 'A Maze' is now sold in many countries around the world and it
seems we will easily break even financially, which gives us the
opportunity to invest a bit more in the next CD.
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MM - How long did it take for the album to be
created from first initial conception to the finished product, and how
many songs did you have to write before you came up with the final
track-listing on the album?
Erik - Although
some songs were written years ago, especially the songs written by Brian
and Jos, we started working on them by rehearsing them, changing them,
perfecting them, to make them grow. We do now have the feeling that in
spite of the different writers, all the songs of 'A Maze' have a common
"feel" to it, which all fit onto the CD. All in all, we started working on
the album in 2005, and finished the writing about a year later. Jos and
Brian both had quite some more songs ’on their shelves’, but the ones we
chose, fitted the CD most.
MM - How would you describe the music of
Silhouette in a few words and perhaps advertise your sound to some ears
that never heard your music before?
Erik -
We play melodical and song oriented
progressive rock, somewhat melancholic, music which comes straight from
the heart.
MM -
Would you like to take us
through the tracks on your debut album ‘A Maze’ and share any thought or
stories behind the songs?
Erik
- 'A Maze' is not a concept album, and – as I said – many of the songs
were written independently from each other. However, somehow, many of the
songs were having a strong nostalgic atmosphere. Funny enough, when the
songs were nearly done we found out that several of the lyrics were about
friends and people that we cared about that were gone, lost or far away. We
lost track of these people because of the course life is taking us, you
know, jobs, moving away and so on. Hence the title ‘A Maze’, a metaphor
for searching your way through life, loosing track of people that are
important to you. Songs such as 'Reunion', 'Where are you Now', 'Special Days'
and 'Long Distance' reflect this. But other songs have their own stories.
Just try to figure them out, I would say!
MM -
If you only had one chance
to turn people on to Silhouette, which song off the new album would you
have them listen to, to get a feel for what you guys are all about?
Erik -
My personal favourites are 'Seize the Night' and 'Long Distance', which
you should listen to in one go. Other exemplary tracks are 'Ocean of Life'
and 'The World'.
MM -
Talking more about the song writing for a
moment, obviously if you wrote all of your lyrics in Dutch you would have
a more limited audience. Do you write in English or do you translate your
work once it's written?
Erik
- No, we do write the lyrics in English in one go. I suspect native
speakers will notice our English limitations. But in the Netherlands
English is so omni-present that for example my eleven years old son, who
has hardly had any English lessons, is now reading Harry Potter in English. So
it’s no big deal for us, although it does limit your poetic and artistic
possibilities, for sure, compared to writing in Dutch. But somehow, progrock and the Dutch language do not fit …
MM - Of all the different challenges in mixing
and producing, recording and arranging, what gave you the most
satisfaction when you heard the final product?
Erik - Probably the fact that
'A Maze' has become a
unity, it sounds like a whole and it sounds like "Silhouette". Although we
are not ashamed of our musical "heroes", I believe that we succeeded in
creating our own sound. And that, in all modesty, is gratifying.
MM - Do
you think you have more control over the final product when you can see
things from both in front of the mixing desk and behind it?
Erik - It is great
to have your own studio. Especially the fact that if you stand – let’s say
– in the garden and have a good idea, you can immediately tape it, mix it,
and listen how it sounds. You really are in charge of the creative
process. Nevertheless, for the next album we will probably work with an
external co-producer. It can help if somebody outside of the band listens
critically, gives you feedback and so on.
MM - The artwork on the album is quite
outstanding, would you like to tell us about it and how you came to ask
Henny Van Veenendaal to create it for you?
Erik - Henny is not only a good friend, he also
was lead guitar player in the early days of Silhouette. He chose not to
continue as a musician because he lives too far away, but he was ´one of
us´ in a sense, and that helped. Henny is amazing in is his graphical
design capabilities, and we are very proud and privileged to have him
working with us.
MM -
I believe the band have already started
to work on the follow up album to ‘A Maze’, what can you tell us about
that?
Erik
-
It will be a concept album, based on an
autobiographical story that Brian brought in. It is a "love at first
sight" sight story,
which results in searching everywhere for the girl in question. The
different moods in which this search takes place, varying between euphoria
and desperation, are reflected in the songs, hence the working title of
the album: ‘Moods’. We aim for this CD to be released in the autumn of
2008.
The rough ideas for the songs
are now brought forward by Jos, Brian and myself to the other band members
in an earlier stage, which means that the group as a whole is even more
involved in the writing process. Five to six songs are now ready and we
are really enthusiastic about them. We already have too much material for
one CD, by the way.
MM -
Stepping back in time slightly, would you
like to tell us a little about when the band was first formed and how it
evolved to its current membership.
Erik -
I think it was
Brian who in 2004 took the initiative to find a couple of people to start
a band.
In this phase, Brian found Gerrit Jan and Jos, but also Henny who
was lead guitar player of the band.
But as I said he quit because of the
distance. Toine van Riesewijk was at that time the keyboard player, but he
had to stop because of health problems.
Early 2005, therefore, an ad was
put on the internet to recruit a new keyboardist. As a teenager I had
played several years in a (prog) rock cover band in the eighties but
stopped during my university study.
About four years ago I was
questioning myself why on earth I had stopped and – stupid enough - I
couldn’t figure out why. So the only logical choice was to react on the
ad.
So we quickly started writing and playing in the current line up.
We
decided about the band name and Silhouette was there.
MM -
What bands did you grow up with and how
have they helped in creating the style of music you perform now?
Erik
-
Personally I grew up inspired by the
harmonies of Tony Banks in Genesis, the melodic strength of Marillion and
the dark and bombastic side of Pink Floyd. But also the synthesizers and
orchestral arrangements on Jeff Wayne’s 'War of the World' inspired me a
lot as a kid, as well as UK’s Eddie Jobson. The other band members have
their own accents, but we all love bands such as Marillion, IQ, Arena and
Genesis.
MM -
Can you tell us 5 things required for a
happy healthy & enjoyable artistic life according to Silhouette?
Erik -
Have a wife and children that understand
your passion for music.
Stay close to what you feel you should do
and should write. Believe in yourself.
Create an atmosphere in the
band in which criticism is constructive and in which all challenge the
others to improve your performance.
Build a network of people that
understand and like your music. Forget about those that don’t.
Don’t forget the humour, don’t
take yourself too seriously!
MM - What is the biggest challenge you have
faced along your musical way?
Erik
- Stupid enough my biggest challenge was to
convince myself that I should return to making music and to set my career
a bit aside.
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?
Erik
- Well, we all are fathers, have families
with children and have our demanding jobs. But to be honest, this might
well be a blessing in disguise. Now we do not have to think about the
commercial side of music as we don't depend financially on it, and we can
just focus on the creative process. On the other side of course, It would
be fun to have more time for music. In any case, I regret I stopped making
music for too long and I will continue making music until I cannot
anymore!
MM - In your opinion what kind of person does
it take to become a successful rock musician?
Erik
- For me, be a successful rock musician is
not per se my ambition. My ambition is rather to be an authentic and
honest, non-compromising progrock musician. I don’t know if this helps to
be successful, that might be too naive. On the other hand, the greatest
rock musicians – at least the ones I admire – were like that.
MM - Do you think the internet has broadened
the world of music for the better or worse?
Erik
- Without the internet, we could never have promoted our CD in the way
that we now can. Also, the power of record companies now is not as strong
anymore, which really is a blessing. And concerning MP3 downloading, well,
I believe good music sells anyway, so if any musician complains, perhaps
he should just make better music.
MM - Does your native Netherlands have a big Prog
Rock scene or do you feel you may have to venture further into Europe to
get your big break?
Erik
- Well, about ten years ago, progfans were
very, very lonely in the Netherlands. You were sometimes regarded quite
wearily when confessing your musical preference. But I think there has
always remained a strong “undertow” of people that now gradually come ‘out
of the closet’ again. Groups such as Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree are
quite popular here, as well as Dutch musicians such as Ayreon and groups
like Kayak. We have a serious prog magazine, iOpages, quite a few clubs
(De Boerderij, O13 and others) that program progbands and this year a
large scale indoor Progfestival, Symforce, will see the light. The 'dark
days' for progfans seem to be over now. However, we certainly wish to
address the growing group of international fans, in and outside of Europe.
MM - Tell us one thing about yourself that not
many people know and would probably never know if they hadn’t read this
interview.
Erik
- I don’t know, perhaps
that I am a fan of Fish AND Steve Hogarth
J, which sometimes seems sort of an impossibility for Marillion fans.
MM - Finally thanks for taking time out to take
part in this interview with us, do you have any parting words of wisdom
for all your fans out there?
Erik
- Just that I am very happy that there are website like yours, and people
that keep the flame of prog alive. Keep up the good work.
MM - We'd like to thank Erik for taking
the time out to chat with us today and wish him and the rest of the band
every success with their music. You can find out more about the band
and their music by visiting their website -
www.silhouetteband.nl . |
