ARJEN LUCASSEN, On This Perfect Day

Arjen Lucassen…who hasn’t heard about him? The former guitarist of Bodine and Vengeance is very well known as Ayreon and for many fans also because of one or more of his side projects like Ambeon, Star One and Stream Of Passion. The Arjen Lucassen of today is a changed man: through time he has developed himself into a multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer; he’s now living in another house and he has a new relationship. Arjen keeps in close contact with his solid and still growing fan base and he still handles all his e-mails and messages personally. After his last Ayreon-album, he refers to as '01', he intentionally wanted to do a laid back solo album, but that didn’t happen? Instead he recorded a stunning album of his newly created side project Guilt Machine. The reason why will be explained by the man himself, who invited me to come to his home in Oudenbosch, in the southwestern part of the Netherlands.

Arjen, at the beginning of 2007 you quit Stream of Passion, you got divorced and you found yourself without a manager: ultimate chaos?

"I guess that’s a fair statement. To begin with, I never intended to be part of Stream Of Passion. The first album was to be a solo album for Marcela Bovio and after that I would continue to work on my next Ayreon album. Along the way she was thrilled by the idea of forming a band. Still I stated I didn’t wanted to be a member, but in the end she persuaded me, not only because I knew how to set up a tour, but also because I would be able to play Ayreon songs. One album is not enough for a whole show, so that’s why I eventually joined. During that same period, after thirteen years of marriage I got divorced and I had to look for another house and worse: another studio because the Electric Castle was no more. So after my divorce I was living alone, a situation I’m extremely uncomfortable with, and I felt lost and began to party like I used to when I was in my twenties. I discovered that in the late forties, your resistance isn’t quite as solid anymore. Once I was in Amsterdam, I was going out with Heather Findlay and Mostly Autumn and I probably picked up some virus there which attacked my nerves responsible for taste and smell: I have been suffering from anosmia (loss of smell, but in fact taste too) ever since. Especially during that time I began to imagine I had all kinds of other diseases too. That’s when I really got depressed and even had suicidal tendencies, because nothing made sense anymore. The idea of having to work on a new album made me sick! Usually I don’t take any medicines at all, but then I was forced to take anti-depressive drugs. They did help but the disadvantage was that they take away feelings of euphoria and even more important: creativity. Out of balance, I couldn’t come up with the right songs and at last I tried to compensate by inviting as many well-known guests as I possibly could and make the story as huge as I possibly could. That’s how '0' was realized. The only satisfaction in the end was that the story finally got an ending and because of the fact '01' was a sort of a summary of the previous albums, I didn’t mind there were a lot of moments of recognition in it. The only thing that really bothered me were the vocals. I’ve always considered it a huge compliment when people said to me: “Hey Arjen, that singer mr. So & So sounds much better on Ayreon than with his own band.” This time I was really struggling: there were too many big names and consequently I even began to put vocals in, where I originally had planned an instrumental piece or a solo, just to have all those great vocalists sing a bit more than a few lines! It was crazy and in the end I felt this was the first album I didn’t succeed in pushing the vocalists to a better performance than with their own band. Yvette, my manager at the time, wanted to focus on her writing. Since I’m not a live act, there's not a whole lot to keep a manager busy all year, only around new releases. It was very kind of her to postpone breaking this news to me after I had finished that album."

What happened after you finished '01'?

"Well, I didn’t want a manager who was interested in cool cash alone, I didn’t want a manager who would keep telling me what to do and what I shouldn’t do and I most certainly wasn’t looking for a manager who already was managing several other acts. What I needed was someone who would be maintaining the website, looking after the newsletters and would be a stimulating force. Yvette suggested to give guitarist Lori Linstruth (ex-Stream Of Passion a call, because she thought Lori would be fit for the job I was offering. Fact was that Lori and I got along really well during the tour with Stream Of Passion (SoP), we are fond of the same kind of music and I knew she was good with computers. Being a teacher in the English language was very important too. So I gave her a call and to my surprise she was interested and we kept in touch frequently. I turned out she was utterly depressed as well since the relationship with her boyfriend had ended and she wasn’t happy with her life at all. So now there were two of us feeling lonely and depressed and that’s when I was bold enough to ask her to be my manager and come to live with me in the Netherlands. Things clicked really good between us and before we realized we were actually sharing our lives together!"

Marcela Bovio told me that you were kind enough to listen to some of the songs and to give your expert opinion? She also told me through you they contacted Joost van den Broek to be their producer, at least partly?

"I insisted on a very low profile regarding SoP, because I really thought they had to do it themselves. I commented on some of the samples they sent to me. Joost and I are very close friends and I know what kind of talents he has. It might well be I recommended him to be their producer. Actually I recommend him to almost anyone who is asking me to produce their album, because I will not be anyone else’s producer. Besides, he and Marcela’s sister Diana Bovio went out together for quite a while so I guess you might say they knew quite a lot about him, but the original contact came through me. Lori and I went to their CD-release show and we were very proud of what Marcela and the guys had achieved!"

Did Guilt Machine bring Lori and you closer together or was Guilt Machine the result of you both feeling happy again?

"Definitely the latter. When Lori came to live with me, none of us knew what would happen, but we both felt we had absolutely nothing to lose. However, our relationship flourished beyond expectations and that’s when the inspiration to write a new album came back. Originally I intended to record a more or less laid-back solo album, doing all the vocals myself. But when Lori stepped in and said: “Oh, this part is so cool, let’s put some heavy guitars in.”, that idea was abandoned right away. At first I was a little reserved, but when I tried it out I had to agree: yes, this sounds awesome! At the end of the day she is the reason Guilt Machine became the album that has been released recently. The moment I stepped away from the solo-album concept and I had a clear vision of what this album would have to sound like, I must say it is the very first side project that came out as I intended. Ambeon was supposed to become a Tangerine Dream like album, entirely instrumentally, Star One was supposed to be a record with solely Bruce Dickinson as vocalist and Stream of Passion was meant to be a solo album for Marcela Bovio."

So the original plan to make this a solo record was abandoned and you decided to start looking for a singer. You must have had some idea about the kind of singer male or female, well-known or unknown?

"Well, I worked with female singers two times already, firstly Ambeon and a few years ago with Marcela Bovio, so it was definitely not to be a female singer. Furthermore I didn’t want a well-known name, mainly because the people would have certain expectations straight away and for this kind of new style of music I didn’t want that. We did consider Russell Allen but we were afraid that people might expect something completely different, more heavy like Star One, than the somewhat Floydian influences I had in mind. So we wanted a singer not known to the progressive or metal audiences, preferably from another genre of music because then, you have a chance that mingling two styles create a new one. Another of my demands was the singer’s pronunciation had to be really good. We were thinking of an Englishman or an American, but in any case a singer who could sing English perfectly. We were also looking for a guy with some charisma: although we didn’t plan to play live, there would be clips and face to face interviews and a singer can have charisma just because of the way he sings, you know. Lastly we wanted a clear voice and we didn’t want a very distinctive voice either, because you have to listen to that voice for a whole album, you will run the risk of ending up to either love it or hate it."

How did you find Jasper Steverlinck and did you actually have a kind of vocal in mind sounding a bit like Muse?

"Exactly, that kind of voice! I would have loved a singer like Matthew Bellamy but then we would have had a big name again and besides, I don’t think I would have been able to get in touch with him. So we started listening to alternative bands for about three months. Via Torrent you can download some 250 songs from all kinds of indie and alternative artists, like for instance Arctic Monkees, Placebo, but still we couldn’t find a good candidate. At the end we came up with two names: Remy Zero, of whom I’m a big fan, and a singer from a Belgian band Arid. A Belgian fan mailed me to check him out. First we listened to a CD and we went to see a live performance and we were totally blown away by Jasper Steverlinck’s voice and presentation; he was the perfect singer. Unfortunately at first Jasper wasn’t interested at all, so we opened negotiations with former Remy Zero-singer Cinjun Tate, but he turned out to have a very complex personality. After a few months Jasper obviously had a few moments to spare and finally listened to some of my music and contacted me he was willing to do the Floydian trackThe Memory Remains that ended up on Timeline, because he is a fan of Pink Floyd too! All of a sudden we were in a hurry now. I didn’t have the lyrics for the songs for Guilt Machine yet, so in despair I turned to Lori who started writing the kind of lyrics I never could have written and Jasper could relate to those very much. Our first cooperation turned out to be a great experience for the both of us and after he acknowledged I was not the kind of producer that would force him to sing differently then he would like to, he agreed to work with us on Guilt Machine. All lyrics were written by Lori who had been reading about depressions and the kind of emotions and feelings that play a big role in becoming depressed and it turned out to be that guilt was an extremely important emotion. That’s how it got started lyrically and the name of the band is a synthesis between 'guilt' and 'machine', an analogy for the human brain."

Did you use the same kind of method for your compositions: starting with the guitar and arrange everything else in a later stage?

"That’s correct. There was one big difference though: this time I used a lot of clean guitars which I can’t recall ever having done that before. Clean guitars and chords instead of just riffs. The original idea of all the messages through telephone was inspired by Pink Floyd, but the way we decided to make it work turned out to be a huge success. Messages from all over the world and in their own language, but they had to say it in English too. A lot of them ended up on the bonus CD because they didn’t all fit on the actual album."

The music score for these message is awesome by the way!

"Thank you! It comes from the Ambeon album. I’m crazy about artists like Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze or Redshift. I really love sequencers, and believe it or not, there will come a day I will make such an album!"

About artworks and colours: do you fancy the colour green particularly, because not only the artwork of Guilt Machine features greenish colors, but also on 01, Human Equation and more or less Timeline too?

" No, no ... I really don’t think I have a special interest in green, because my favourite colours were and still are red, white and black! For one, Jef Bertels cannot be ‘managed’ at all. I did get him to paint the elements in Timeline, as well as references to the other covers, but that’s about it. He chooses his own colours. It might be that subconsciously he influenced me to look for that same kind of colour composition now in Guilt Machine. I got a mail from a French artist who happened to be a fan. He sent me the e-mail directly after he noticed that Lori had made him her favourite on the Flickr-website. This guy, Christophe Dessaigne, was so utterly enthusiastic, it has been a joy working with him. The interpretation of the artwork, as many of the lyrical content, is for anyone individually. Some may see a person destined to fall, others a man in higher spirits…"

You mentioned on the DVD that all the sounds of machines, phones, voices, effects and instruments are real and not coming from computers. I think you own a Hammond organ but I didn’t know you owned a Mellotron?

"I don’t actually, but I have a perfect explanation for this. Of course I have a genuine Hammond organ and I can’t deny I would love to have my own Mellotron. However, the original Mellotron is nothing more than a sampler: each key represents a recording of a string orchestra on a tape that runs for exactly eight seconds. My Mellotron samples are from a real Mellotron, that when played, give exactly that same eight seconds of a digital recording from that same sounds of the genuine Mellotron, so there is no difference in sound. Unlike synthesizers: I only use the analogue ones, in spite of their limitations, because they do sound much different and in my opinion much better and personal than the digital ones."

You listen to music a lot and you're extremely busy handling all your e-mails and use the internet. What about that mouse-syndrome? Do your eyes and ears ever get a rest?

"Ha, ha, ha, yes I do listen to music a lot, but at a very low volume. When I jog, each day for about an hour, I mostly listen to old stuff like Deep Purple. At night, between 11 and 12 PM, I listen to new things, mostly singer-songwriter songs, lying on my back on a mattress with my head between my speakers, but as said: very softly. Unlike when you play live a lot, you have this massive sound all around you which probably is deafening if you don’t take proper precautions. My ears are just fine. The only difference between the earlier days is, I hardly get a chance to listen to an album more than two or three times at the most, with the exception of a few very special albums. All songs of the oldies I knew by heart and I knew all the lyrics too. I wouldn’t be able to come up with one single album from the last ten years from which I could say the same. For reading I’m beginning to need spectacles, unfortunately. Regarding the computer: at the moment I have some trouble with my right hand again so nowadays I’m standing up behind my PC using my left hand, that helps! In contrast to earlier in my career I no longer listen to sound samples or CD’s/CD-R’s sent to me by other artists. I just don’t have enough time to do that anymore. Of course I listen to music from friends, projects I had been involved in and suggestions from fans to check out a certain singer. With one or two minutes on ‘my space’ you usually have enough information to go on."

Should there be any plans for a new Ayreon-album? You were reluctant to work with a great number of singers again, mostly due to the huge costs to let them come to your studio. Don’t you think the internet, using a webcam, could be helpful?

"Oh no, definitely not! I want to have a vocalist where I can see him or her and be able to create that vibe needed for an optimal result. Compare with a movie director: he wouldn’t allow an actor to perform his parts at home as well. I feel like a director in the presence of a vocalist and I need them to stand right by my side. Only two times I was satisfied with the results of singers who sent me files recorded in their own studio: Devin Townsend and Russell Allen, most of the others were not as good as I had expected. So definitely no: either they come to my studio or I don’t hire them at all. With the dropping sales of albums, because of all the downloading, it will become increasingly difficult to hire singers from abroad though, because it’s really a huge investment."

Most artists I interview state that playing live and selling merchandise is the main source of income today. Why is that so much different from your situation?

"I have been very fortunate in the past with the sales of all my albums from the Netherlands to the far corners of the earth; altogether around one million albums sold is my estimate. Since I lead a fairly modest life I have been able to save enough for at least the next ten years. However, if the sales of all my new projects would be disastrous, I might be forced to return to play live again, because it’s true that this the major source of income. The merchandise we sell through the internet is a fraction from what we would sell during a tour! Big issue here is: I’m alone, I don’t have a band so every time I want to do a tour I would have to hire every single one of the people I would need to make it work. This means at least five vocalists and about four musicians. All these people would have to sleep in hotels, would have to be fed, and we’d have to rehearse as a band, etcetera. For example with Star One; financially it was a break-even because we’ve sold an extraordinary amount of merchandise, beyond expectations. After the first show in Zoetermeer everything was sold out! If working with the original cast is not possible, a theatre production would be an option: The Human Equation as a sort of a musical in various theatres. I was approached about such an idea by the management of venue Ahoy at Rotterdam recently, but this world is completely unknown to me and that scares me a lot! Besides, a production like that would take two years of preparations and it would cost about two million euros, so we would need sponsors to make it work. Another point is I’ve never had a hit! Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, War Of The Worlds: they all had hits. My sales are quite impressive because people buy my CDs from Zambia to Singapore and from Germany to the USA, but there’s not one single country where I would have the status of a rock star. For the time being I can safely say my fans are the loyal ones such as you, who rather buy CDs instead of downloading everything. I don’t think the old-fashioned music shops will last for more than five years. Kids from today are used to download everything they want to hear or see and won’t buy CDs and DVDs anymore... Every single day it strikes me how easy it is to download stuff for free. Isn’t there someone who will be able to get a grip on what’s happening on the internet, checking IP-addresses for example? By the way, did you know that the special edition of Guilt Machine already sold out before it was even released? It’s truly amazing and the other day I expressed my sincere thanks to all the fans who ordered this album: I’m a fortunate guy!"

If you would choose to wait a few years more before you come up with another Ayreon album, wouldn’t you be afraid the fans would conclude it’s probably not going to happen anymore and forget about you?

"No, not really. In the case of Pink Floyd for instance, there was a hiatus of seven years. Now I don’t want to compare Ayreon with Pink Floyd, but I think in my case people would be even more eagerly anticipating what would come, instead of focus on other artists, so that doesn’t worry me at all. It’s true the pressure would increase as time goes by, but when I feel good, the inspiration comes and then I just love the challenge!"

I’d like to have your primary response to several names or events.

Pink Floyd at Live 8:
"Tears, tears. I was weeping in my chair: the music, the sound, these oldies embracing each other after so many years of tension and separation. Even talking about it now gives me goosebumps!"

The Beatles CD’s remastered on 09-09-09:
"If they don’t come with bonus tracks or something extra special I’m not too impressed. I really loved the anthologies. Especially the second one is probably my most favourite CD by the Beatles, because of all those beautiful plain and raw versions of tracks like Strawberry Fields. Even more I cherish the anthology on DVD: in my opinion the best documentary ever recorded. For me the original LPs from The Beatles already sounded great, so I don’t really think a remaster would add any additional value."

Richard Wright’s passing away:
"Horrible, a disaster. Not only because he was a very kind man, but also because he was one of my favourite keyboardists. I think he was very important within Pink Floyd and maybe because of his technical limitations he came up with great sounds and melodies. It’s the same kind of warmth Richard Wright had as Michael Palin whom I have a weak spot for too."

Steve Wilson’s Insurgentes:
"No, not that good, I didn’t like it very much. Every track the same foundation of four chords, over and over again. As a genuine Porcupine Tree fan I think I’m allowed to say that. I got the feeling these tracks were the leftovers from the previous albums. I didn’t understand the fuzz around this release while I rate Fear Of A Blank Planet as absolute top of the bill!"

Financial problems for SPV, the owner of Inside Out Records:
"A very unpleasant surprise indeed and it had me worried for quite a while. Fortunately Inside Out is part of another record company now, so everything has been settled satisfactorily. I’m afraid the problems with SPV are only the beginning of what will happen in the near future. In my judgment the small companies, like Mascot for instance, will survive because they operate with just a few motivated hard working people and don’t have the burden of all the overhead expenses."

On An Island by David Gilmour:
"Although I’m very fond of the title track, the album was a bit of a disappointment. Too sluggish for my taste. The same feeling I felt with the live show: a bit indolent and only in the second part when they played Echoes I got the right spirit."

Ça Ira by Roger Waters:
"No idea. I didn’t hear it at all, mainly because it’s an opera and that is definitely not my cup of tea!"

After Forever splitting up:
"Yeah, it’s a pity, but I saw it coming. There were rumbles for some time, then Sander got in trouble with his burn-out, later he went on to do his HDK-project, on which I played!, where he seemed to enjoy himself immensely. It’s a shame because they were a truly talented and great band. One can only hope all these gifted musicians will continue to be active in music and will create even more beautiful things. And maybe, if they wouldn’t succeed with their own projects, they will get back together again. They’re not enemies, you know, it was purely out of different musical interests."

Your personal favorite album from 2008:
"Damn, I can only come up with 2007 albums like Porcupine’s Fear of a Blank Planet and Phideaux’ Doomsday Afternoon. Maybe 2008 just wasn’t such a good year. Err...didn’t 01011001 come out in 2008?"

Arjen, you’ve always put a lot of time talking to the press, talking to fans and answering all their e-mails personally. Looking back, do you think it was time well spent or are you afraid you will eventually become a puppet on a string, a slave behind your PC one day?

"On the contrary! I'm so glad I chose to do it this way. Because I hardly play live I don’t hear what people think, how they feel. Through the mailbox I maintain in contact with everyone who wants, so I think this a real privilege and I’m convinced the fans all appreciate it too. I takes me about three hours each day, in the morning ninety minutes and in the evening. Not playing live means I can refrain from all the organizing, travelling time, rehearsals etcetera. Furthermore, the fact I don’t have a family gives me the opportunity to spend so much time on my fans. The other day an interviewer for a radio station asked if I was doing this from a commercial point of view and the answer is no! I do think, however, my way of communicating has helped to create a huge and loyal fan base. I must admit things begin to get a little complicated at present because now you don’t have solely your mailbox but also Last FM, Twitter, Facebook, My Space and so on. It’s getting harder to keep up! But how rewarding such contacts can be. An example: recently I got a request from a mother from Brazil who’s daughter is a huge fan. She would celebrate her birthday shortly and she was hoping I could do something special for her. So I sent her a card with stickers and buttons and immediately got a reply from that girl she was the happiest person on earth! I think it’s quite cool I’m able to do that!"

You started out to work with Transmission Records but you decided to part ways at some point. On what grounds do you decide to work with a particular record company?

"Well, Inside Out was very obvious: it has been and still is the biggest label in prog. All great names are with Inside Out! When I was working on Star One they approached me and of course I couldn’t resist their offer. After some very dreadful experiences I’ve decided I didn’t want to work with a major label ever again: they throw money around but suddenly stop doing what they were supposed to do, they don’t return calls, they don’t keep their appointments and so on. Guilt Machine is a different project and I thought it would make sense to work with another company. I’ve made contact with four companies who were all interested: Inside Out, Mascot, K-scope and Roadrunner. Although Inside Out and the two other companies made me an offer, Mascot’s Ed van Zijl replied to my mail on a Sunday with a phone call within two hours. The contract was on my desk within a week! I didn’t even bother to talk to the others anymore because this was what I wanted: enthusiastic people who respond immediately. Easy to contact, good distribution network and also very important: nice people to work with. Since you’re in close contact with such a company for about three whole months, you’d like these three months to be memorable because they were pleasant and satisfactory, not because they were an agony. After all it’s three months of your all-too-short life."

You call yourself a control freak in the interview of the DVD, but is that really true for Guilt Machine because you have allowed Lori to write all the lyrics, to let her influence you with her guitar parts, you have allowed Maitland to do what he wanted and also Jasper was allowed to sing as he wanted to.

"All that is partly true, but it still was the deliberate choice of the control freak! I’m still in control because it’s my decision if I feel something is okay or not. With singers I always do it that way, except for maybe the first two albums. Starting with Fish I realized this was not a good approach: the results are much better if you let singers free to do what they feel best. Ed Warby gets the basic tracks from my drum computer, but he plays how he think it would sound best. Other vocalist have written lyrics before Lori, for example Fish and Devin Townsend, but not a whole album. With Chris Maitland it went pretty much the same as with Ed."

You have stated you will probably work on a second Guilt Machine album rather than a new Ayreon album, but even more likely on a second Star One? Any ideas of contributing musicians?

"I would love to do a follow up to On This Perfect Day but not just now. I honestly think I’ll need a reaction to this atmospheric album first and that could be a Star One album. I would most certainly involve Ed Warby, Peter Vink and Joost van den Broek. I’d love to have Russell Allen, I already have his consent, Floor Jansen and Damian Wilson on board again, but it’s always uncertain if they would be available if I need them to record."

Last question : will Arjen Anthony Lucassen ever become a father?
"Nope, not the slightest chance! I'm still too much of a kid myself."