|
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.
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.
|
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
. |