ARJEN A LUCASSEN – Mothership
- Posted on 27-12-2010
Vår allsidige bidragsyter Andreas Holand tok tidligere i vinter kontakt med Arjen A. Lucassen, mannen bak prosjekter som AYREON og STAR ONE og fikk avtalt et intervju. Nå er de skrevne ord klare og her får du en oppdatering på hva som skjer rundt denne nederlandske multimusikeren og noen av hans prosjekter.
First of all Arjen, congratulations with the release of your second Star One studio album. I know many fans and -fans to be, wonder about the separation of all of your projects. What makes Star One unique from your other projects, like for example Ayreon?
Ayreon is my ‘mothership’. It contains a combination all the styles of music that I like: prog, metal, folk, electronic, psychedelic, classic rock etc. My side projects highlight one of these styles. Star One obviously focuses on the metal side of Ayreon.
The new album seems more based on the classic heavy metal genre, with a lot of dark and powerful guitars. Was this your intension from the beginning?
Oh yes, I wanted to make a straight-forward, in-your-face metal album based on guitar riffs, as a reaction to the more atmospheric and profound Guilt Machine album before this.
The vocalists really did an outstanding job on the album. I know rumors expected the vocalist cast to change. How did you come to choose the same vocalist cast for the second album?
They are simply irreplaceable. They are the best in what they do. And also their voices complement each other so perfectly because they are so different from each other. Also I wanted to keep a steadier line-up for Star One, because Ayreon is the project with the revolving cast of musicians.
Even though Star One still has the progressive element, is there any hidden inspiration to the darker and more aggressive approach on the new album?
You mean influences from other bands? Yes, I’m quite inspired by the great production and sound that a band like Rammstein has. I wanted to mix this modern cold industrial feeling with the warmer classic rock feeling of the 70’s.
For all the GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) people out there. How did you create your sound for the album? What gear did you use?
I suggest you check out this video I made for youtube, it explains it all! http://www.youtube.com/arjenalucassen#p/a/u/1/rrdCT29kT6c
All the keyboards were old analog bastards, as always 🙂
Ayreon is a huge success, with several albums released. Will we hear more from for example Ambeon in the future, where you worked together with the female singer Astrid Van Der Veen?
I would love to do another Ambeon, but unfortunately Astrid is not available anymore… She is one of the biggest talents I ever worked with.
I know you usually gather all the singers in the studio when recording. How did the recording-progress work out for Victims of the Modern Age?
As always I recorded all the singers here in my own studio. It’s quite expensive of course to fly them all in, but it’s really worth it. I really need the chemistry and feeding on each other’s ideas while recording.
What is the concept behind both the first and second Star One albums?
On the first album all the songs were based on sci-fi movies set entirely in space, this time the songs are based on dystopian en post-apocalyptic movies set on Earth.
Will we see Star One on the stage again?
No definite plans, but it is an option. But it would be very difficult, time-consuming and expensive to get these 10 musicians from all over the world who all have their own bands and projects together for rehearsals and a tour.
Do you have any favorite Song on the new album?
Because I’m such a perfectionist I would never put a track on the album that I’m not a 100% behind. So the answer is no! But ask me again in about a year when I’m more objective, and I’m sure I can recognize my favorite songs then 🙂