Bospop (July 2000)


Date of Performance: July 8 - 9, 2000
Venue: Weert, NL

Bospop: 3/4 Of Transatlantic Sadly Isn't Enough!

Bospop PosterOnly a stone's throw away from where Portugal thrashed England with 3-2, Sweden held the blank score 0-0 against Turkey, and Italy won against that same Sweden 2-1 during the recent Euro 2000 championship at the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven, Holland, lies the tiny village of Weert. Started as a tiny local festival, Bospop this year celebrated its twentieth anniversary. Whilst last year's edition attracted around 10,000 people by means of Fun Lovin' Criminals and Bryan Adams, this year's edition, which was once again spread over two days, was a real treat for lovers of prog. Due to the fact that the headliner ZZ Top dropped out at the last minute (after Fates Warning had cancelled as well), some adjustments had to be made which were all in favour of prog. In the end we could welcome bands such as Arabesque, After Forever, Within Temptation, Anathema, Spock's Beard, Flower Kings, Vanden Plas and Dream Theater apart from artists as diverse as Steve Lukather, Edgar Winter and Joe Satriani. Although it took me a real battle in order to get the necessary correct backstage pass (which was still not OK to enter the main building!) I nevertheless managed to talk to an interesting selection of artists so to give a view of what happened to those unfortunate enough to stay at home.

Raingods with zippos, and probably without zippos as well, they were all present because right from the very start dark clouds packed together and poured their wet substance over the rock lovin' audience. What you'll read here is more the backstage chats I had rather than a rundown of the actual concerts. However I will try and respect the order of appearance.

After Forever vocalist Floor JansenSo first up were After Forever. Young, gifted and above all playing a home match with the material from their excellent debut album Prison Of Desire plus a singer full of confidence, even if she had to kick the festival off at 11:30 a.m.! I met keyboard player Jack Driessen and guitarist Sander Gommans for an improvised chat later that day. "It's probably the 30th or 31st gig we're playing in this line-up," says Sander. "Maybe with singer Floor Jansen in the line-up the 25th gig. Today it certainly is the biggest gig we played and certainly the most memorable for us, sharing the same poster with our heroes Dream Theater! That's definitely a poster which will get a nice spot in my home! We saw it as a real honour to be able to open this festival and when I look at the weather outside right now, I must say we were pretty lucky because there was only slight drizzle whereas now it's coming down with buckets!" This was probably also the very first outdoor concert of the band, so how different is playing a festival compared to the more intimate atmosphere of a small venue? "We brought our own sound guy to do the mixing but where stage monitors are concerned we have to confide in the professionalism of an outsider. The putting up of our gear plus breaking off went very fast and organized, which was a real treat for us as otherwise we might get nervous, because, after all, you want to get everything right. Of course in a venue the balance will be better and Floor's voice will not drown into a sea of guitars. Well not always anyway."

Compared to some of the bigger names later that day After Forever were only allowed to play 45 minutes which certainly isn't their entire set. "You have to make concessions, so for instance for this festival we have chosen to bring a heavier set. This means that the more intimate songs who have a mellow arrangement simply had to go. We wanted heavy songs so we could wake up the audience! Of course we like to play those slow, bombastic songs but they sound better when it's dark. Here at 11:30 in the morning it would have been difficult to play some of those songs anyway. The idea was to let people know what After Forever stands for so next time when we play in the area in our own right people who were unaware of us before can now check us out completely."

What strikes me is the fact that this is a very young band indeed. Sometimes bands have to beg for years and years in order to get a recording contract, here it must have been done fairly quickly? "It was pretty simple really. We recorded just one demo with the intention to send it to a couple of venues so we could get some gigs. Around the same time we also launched our very own website on which you could find some of our songs which you could download. Soon we could see from our website that there was an interest from certain record companies. At one particular point, friends of ours of the band Horizon delivered our demo to Transmission records and it started from there. We also get a lot of support from Ayreon and we really get the chance to deliver a very professional product which isn't often the case. After Forever - Prison Of DesireIn the meantime our debut album has been released in Japan and I guess we'll be busy gigging until we drop. Then we'll concentrate on the writing of the new album part of which will include a real orchestra. We really want to make those orchestral parts sound more realistic. Live it will be easy to reproduce those sounds by means of a sampler as those parts will not really be integrated in the song but will be used more as an intro." When I ask the guys what other band they want to see at today's festival it's like a choir shouting: "Dream Theater" whilst also Joe Satriani has his admirers in After Forever. Next please!

One of the focus points of the band Within Temptation certainly has to be singer Sharon den Adel also known for her work with Ayreon. With bold guitarist Robert Westerholt, they really look like "the bold and the beautiful" when they sit next to each other. Isn't an outdoor festival a risky experience for a trained soprano voice like Sharon's? "It's always risky when you have to perform in rain and wind but I always make sure my voice is warmed up and I try to move around as much as I can in order to keep warm. Now I wear a scarf but that's because my voice has cooled down and I have to take care that I don't become ill. On stage there's so much moving around that I sweat all the time." Within Temptation's Sharon Den AdelIs the band more of a festival band playing loads of outdoor concerts or is the band mainly an indoor band? "Definitely an indoor band, because our music needs intimacy. We need good lighting, a good balance, an intimate atmosphere which is impossible here as you see everything too clearly. Within Temptation is about fantasy. Here all I could see was reality. Too much reality!" Today you performed right after After Forever. Isn't it a bit dangerous to have two rather similar bands back to back? "To be honest we didn't see any of their gig as we had all the bad luck in the world. First of all our guitar player is ill so we had to manage without him. Then we were stuck in a traffic jam, which meant we almost didn't make it in time and we also had a flat tyre!"

What strikes me during festivals is the fact that the master volume goes up with each band. I noticed your drum sound was much weaker than that of Spock's Beard, for instance, which is rather sad as I was hoping to hear very powerful drums with your music, not the kind of cookie jars you were banging on. "Did it sound that bad? I also noticed that the volume was much higher for Spock's Beard than for us, but this means we'll have to work harder so we can play this festival again at a later date but then much more towards the end of the day when the volume is way up high because drums really need to sound very powerful. I agree." When you perform, every instrument can be amplified whereas the voice is real fragile and natural. Do you make certain agreements with guitar player Robert so that he doesn't play too loud? "Yes I do. It's better to agree before the start on the concert so Robert knows how far he can go bearing in mind he has to take care of my vocal range." But how is it that a classically trained voice suddenly finds its way into a sombre sounding metal environment? "When I first met Robert I didn't even know what metal was. He played a demo tape of his band at the time and I thought he was burping all the time [loud laughs all around] but it was his grunt voice! Personally, I was part of a blues cover band and then suddenly Robert asked me if I wanted to join his band because the previous singer didn't show up half of the time. After that project, me and Robert started writing our own material and from then on we started looking for the right people who could play what we had in our minds all along."

Within Temptation - EnterWith After Forever leaning heavily towards your music, dare we say that Within Temptation is sort of the alter ego of The Gathering? "The Gathering certainly wasn't our major influence at all. At the time I was more into Marillion, Fish, the Cure, and death metal but I definitely knew we wanted to create bombastic pleasing music which was both melodic and heavy at the same time," replies Robert. So would he suggest the band's music is gothic? "From a point of view of atmosphere it has some tangent planes but gothic is such a large phenomenon that it's difficult to place it." During the band's concert at Bospop, the band performed four new songs. Can I surmise that all of the material for the new album has already been written? "Most of the songs have indeed been written but we're still working on some parts where the arrangement is concerned. We'll record the CD at the RS29 studio run by Oscar Holleman and known from the Ayreon recordings. Amongst others we'll probably work with a real choir. The orchestral sounds will be produced by our synths as we also want to reproduce these sounds live and don't want to add a real violin to the line-up. The working title for the new album is Mother Earth!" Will the album be released on the same label and what did your debut album do outside of Holland? "The new album will be released on the same label and will be the last release before the label folds! The previous album sold rather well in Japan but also in countries like Greece, Italy, Portugal. Within Temptation vocalist Sharon Den AdelIn fact all of the Mediterranean countries are very much into our music. We have some contacts over there but sadly it doesn't result in touring, although we'd love to so if some promotors are reading this: do get in touch! We are also respected in countries like Brazil and Mexico. I'm convinced it's the magic in our music which makes it interesting for those countries, as this magic gets very close to their own heritage. We constantly get these enthusiastic e-mails from Mexico: 'when are you coming over to play?' If only we'd have the money to do so we definitely would!"

Parts of the Within Temptation music is indeed like a fairytale, and live singer Sharon den Adel wears this beautiful dress which makes an enormous contrast with the raw look from the other band members. "Personally I work in the fashion industry," says Sharon. "As a kid I have always been fascinated by the story of Sleeping Beauty and my parents certainly have read the story to me at least a thousand times. Especially the part where the fairies make the dress is my all-time favourite part. I have always admired those glamourous dresses, yet most of the time you only wear such a beautiful dress once in a lifetime and that's when you get married. In the rock industry people are spoiled by so many good bands so you need to find a gimmick to really stand out. In my case the decision was made very quickly by means of wearing such a gown during our concerts, which automatically adds a certain amount of theatrical aspects as well. Apparently there's a festival in Germany where the entire audience dresses like this. That really sounds interesting, although if we were to perform there we'd probably have to wear jeans and t-shirts so that we would get noticed!"

The spontaneous chat with our new friends means that the Anathema set is already half way through. From what I see and hear it looks like a lot of improvisation is going on onstage. Frontman Vincent Cavanagh sings, talks, shouts and from a distance he has the charisma of a surrogate Richard Ashcroft (ex-the Verve) without making an effort to have a charisma in the first place! Afterwards I meet Vincent in the tent during a rousing concert by Orange Goblin. I even spot Vincent's brother Jamie wearing an Orange Goblin t-shirt. "We've known the band for years, having performed at the same festival with them several times. They're a great bunch of friends," mutters Vincent. Anathema

Although I try to get him backstage, he insists that the improvised "interview" should take place on the festival pitch itself surrounded by curious people, fans and groupies. Needless to say my tape recorder is molested several times and I now have an original tape filled with improvised grunts! I ask whether at all Anathema thinks they were an appropriate band to fit the bill today. "We fit at every festival. As long as you ask us we'll be there. Of course we only played for about one hour whereas our concerts in our own right last twice that amount. But you do get a chance to reach people whom otherwise might not come to our concerts." Am I correct in suggesting that there was a lot of improvisation going on? "[loud laughs] Yeah there was! We never rehearsed. After our last gig two weeks ago Dave went to Poland, John went back to England, I went to Belgium and Danny went to France. So today we got back together for the first time in a fortnight, climbed on stage and did our thing." What about the Pink Floyd cover of "Comfortably Numb" right at the very end? "That wasn't rehearsed either, although we have played it before." Two weeks prior to this festival you also did an Iron Maiden tribute which you didn't perform here. "That's true; we did 'Phantom Of The Opera' mainly because Maiden were playing there as well, otherwise we would never have done it."

One year prior to this festival you performed on a marquee right in between gothic bands who used artificial blood, facepaint and other theatrical gimmicks. In front of thousands of people you were so brave to speak your sermon which came down to the fact that all of those gimmicks weren't necessary because the most important thing is the music. The audience listened to your sermon and even applauded and Anathema came out as the heroes of the day ... "Well it's true ain't it? I mean look at all those silly musicians wearing facepaint today. Where will they be in twenty years' time? They won't be putting on anymore facepaint then but the music will still speak for itself. I mean, we're ugly, too, but we're not bothered because of this, as we only concentrate on the music. How we dress is irrelevant, what we look like is irrelevant. Only the music is important."

Anathema (left) and John 'Bobo' BollenbergComparing the Anathema music from the very beginning with Anathema today there is a big difference! "We play the music that we want to play and with each album it changes because we grow, we progress, and we always push ourselves to do what we like. We always play the music that moves us and that's all we concentrate on. As I said when I walked off stage, we will start writing our new album as of today! It'll take us about three weeks to write and then we'll let it cook. And then we'll go into the studio. We don't play any of the new stuff on stage because we're too much concentrating on the writing of the new songs. I'd love to use a classical ensemble because that would be ideal to enhance our music. I'm not into gigantic orchestras but a string quartet would be nice as we have a lot of mellow, atmospheric parts in our music. I love cello, which would mingle nicely with acoustic guitars. I also love Apocalyptica [Scandinavian band who started out playing the entire Metallica output solely on cello -JB]"

It doesn't happen very often that an artist comes off stage and mingles with the audience to check out the rest of the festival? "Backstage is so boring. What do you have? A toilet and somewhere to change, but we always play in our same gear anyway so we don't have to change. We are what we are. We like wandering about during festivals because we see so many bands that we don't know and you always absorb the atmosphere, which can be interesting if you're writing a new album. I wanted to see Paul Weller yesterday but sadly we couldn't make it." A local groupie who has been standing in the wings for some time now snatches Vincent close to her wealthy bosom. I don't see Vincent complaining so we head towards the backstage area.

Jonas Reingold and Tomas Bodin (source unknown)Whilst I'm heading towards the ideal setting for a quiet drink, I bump into Roine Stolt and singer Hans Fröberg who are heading in the other direction. "We'll be playing in the Marquee a bit later on," says Roine. "It's our first concert with the new bass player Jonas Reingold here in Holland and I'm convinced people will be very amazed by his talents. He comes from a jazz background and tries to introduce those skills into our music. As you have already heard on our new Space Revolver album, his arrival has steered Flower Kings - Space RevolverThe Flower Kings into a new, more experimental direction. Sadly though we won't be performing any of the new material but it will nevertheless be an interesting set."

With Stolt and Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy present at the same festival this means 3/4 of Transatlantic. Is there a chance something "special" might happen tonight? "I don't think so. From what I hear, Dream Theater are supposed to do two gigs today so a third set with Transatlantic would be too much of a good thing for Mike Portnoy. Furthermore, I don't see Pete Trewavas around so I think it won't happen, although we could have done if only we knew!" As the Flower Kings are on from 8 p.m. till 9 p.m., we make an appointment at 9:30 p.m. for a more elaborate chat and head towards the main stage.

There I think I'm seeing a well-known face, but I doubt it because normally he should be on stage somewhere in Germany. But suddenly Jordan Rudess comes down the stairs, greets me and asks me to see him about one hour later. "I have a photo shoot with the band, a television interview, and I have to programme my sounds," he says. So OK, let's grab something to eat and keep monitoring those watches.

We haven't even entered the building yet and the two girls at the door already try to "shove me outside." From a distance they have seen my "pink" wristband and you definitely need a blue one to get into this "temple" where all of the "BIG" names have their dressing rooms. Jordan told me to be there at nine and ask for him which is what I do. Two minutes later and I'm inside the building sitting face to face with Jordan. Jordan Rudess"We've been here since two in the afternoon, which is a real treat because normally we only come in just moments before we're due to go on stage. Today we've been able to check out some of the bands which is great. I saw bits of Steve Lukather and Edgar Winter and snippets of Joe Satriani. Really cool. Seeing Edgar Winter from the back of the stage is really awesome especially if you know that I grew up listening to him."

Wasn't Dream Theater supposed to play in Germany this afternoon? "Yes we were, but Iron Maiden's guitar player fell from the stage so the show was cancelled. That's why we've been here all afternoon, but as this is an outdoor concert and Dream Theater is used to having lengthy soundchecks, which of course isn't possible here, there's a lot of preparation I have to do where the programming of my sounds and patches is concerned." Steve Lukather and Edgar WinterDoes this mean getting on stage during the first song is really a frightening experience? "In a way it is, because you're constantly shouting to the roadies: 'do this, pull that level up, get me some more monitoring, lower the bass!' It takes some time to get the balance right, but we are experienced enough and also the people who do the mix are professionals, so we're able to do everything fairly quickly. Dream Theater is a band who tries to refine and perfect all the elements of the show so we try to do this by tuning all of our individual instruments to get the best possible result. We're not the kind of band that goes on stage, puts their amps on eleven, they crank and they rock! Dream Theater is not quite that kind of a situation. We bring all of our own backline to make sure everything is perfect. Tonight we'll be performing all of Scenes From A Memory which is the first time we'll be doing it as a whole here in Holland."

Is Holland one of the major territories for Dream Theater? "Well, Holland has always been on the map from day one. We've always felt like this is our second home the way we've been welcomed here. There's a bunch of different spots where the band is sort of "hot" such as Italy, France, Spain and obviously Holland." Are the States finally falling for Dream Theater? "The last tour we did in the States was exceptional, as all of the major cities were sold out and the vibe was tremendous. Things are really looking good for Dream Theater in the States!" Have you been accepted by the fans right from the start or did you have to work yourself in? "Pretty much so yes. The acceptance has been pretty amazing and encouraging. I don't think I could have been accepted any more positively than I have been. I have always felt at ease within the band because I was used to playing with John and Mike and of course I also knew the other guys pretty well." Our conversation is slightly interrupted by Steve Lukather waltzing in and Jordan congratulating him with his great show. It gets Steve over to our table and to shake hands before he wanders off into the night with an earthshattering, blonde beauty. Pfew, the perks of the rock industry!

John Petrucci at Bospop 2000When people come to see a Dream Theater show, do they slightly expect also to hear some Liquid Tension Experiment? After all there's 3/4 of that line-up within the band. "They're getting used to hearing a bit of it as we've been throwing it into the set so they kind of expect it to happen. However, like I said to you on a previous occasion, LTE is definitely past tense now. There will be no more LTE material, folks! On the other hand, on the last break that I had, I started writing some new material for the next Rudess Morgenstein project. I also played kind of an "unplugged" concert in New York City with John Petrucci, just piano and guitar. It was an electric guitar but with an acoustic sound. So we're looking forward to release that material as it was all new stuff [Just released and available from Petrucci's Sound Mind Music Web Store -ed]. I'm always interested in doing side projects because I'm into such a wide variety of music. It's the kind of musician I am: I need to express myself in a lot of different ways and one of those is just with acoustic piano."

Do you check out solo projects from ex-Dream Theater keyboard players? "I don't know Kevin Moore but I heard some material of his Chroma Key project. I also heard parts of the first and second albums by Planet X. It's good yet very ambitious." But isn't playing all instrumental music always ambitious? "Well, I used to play with the Dregs, and also with the Rudess Morgenstein project it's purely instrumental, so I'm very familiar with the format." Last time around you told me you were a bit sad by the fact that you never got to record with the Dregs when Steve Morse was in the band. "That's true and I would love to see the day to indeed record an album with the Dregs when Steve is part of the line-up. In the meantime, Steve and I might do a project together, so when he's ready I'm ready. Tell him that as soon as you speak to him." Is it something of interest to Jordan to one day work together with a classical orchestra? "Of course it does. I would love to one day write a concerto in my own right, but also one for keyboard and guitar. I have already talked to John Petrucci about this concept and he's rather keen. I wouldn't work from a concept idea but purely musical and certainly not avant-garde in the style of harmonics."

Jordan looks at his watch as he still has some more programming to do but what exactly is this in aid of? "On stage I use a big Kurzweil keyboard and a Kurzweil rack. So it's very much scaled down and they are very powerful machines. So it's not like you switch from keyboard to keyboard to get different sounds because all of the sounds come from these two machines. So it's fantastic when it's all together but I need some time to prepare all my files so when I step onto a pedal it's the correct sound. As we're doing all of Scenes From A Memory, but due to time restrictions we have to omit certain solo sections, I have to re-programme certain parts and that's what I'm doing now. It's all stored on hard drives. I only use Kurzweil because they're the only instrument that can do what I'm doing right now. Of course there are plenty of other good keyboards around with good sounds but I don't need masses of keyboards around me just for show. I rather put all of my energy behind something that's really gonna work for me and be musical. One problem I have with the idea of jumping around to different keyboards is that whenever you see those kind of players, as good as they are, there's always like a gap between one patch and another. I'd rather focus on having the music sound right." What about if there's a power failure? "I have this backup unit that I bought which keeps my power going for twenty minutes." So when there's a powercut it's only you and Mike? "Exactly and I always have a backup keyboard waiting in the wings as well, to be on the safe side."

And off goes our Jordan to make sure everything is in perfect working order for the gig later that evening, and believe me everything was OK (although I would have liked to hear more keyboards in the mix). Suddenly I notice none other than Rob Aubrey staring at my IQ sweatshirt. Rob is mainly known for his work with IQ and his own Nomansland studio and has been flown over to mix the sets for Spock's Beard and Flower Kings. "I'm currently working on the new IQ album. The working title is Shooting Angels [Though it turned out to be The Seventh House -ed.]. On Martin's solo album [Classical Music and Popular Songs] Martin Orford - Classical Music and Popular Songs it's about fifty-fifty between vocal tracks and instrumental ones, some of which people might already know from the John Wetton set. One of them is "Tatras" which also features on Wetton's Nomansland album. This time we re-orchestrated the song with a big synthesized orchestration. Martin also plays flute on two tracks [Rob first thought I asked him if Martin played "fruit" on the album! - JB]." Rob now runs his own studio which is called Nomansland. Subterranea was the first IQ album to be recorded there. "John Wetton's live album was mixed at my studio and John loved the name of the studio so much that he named the live album after my studio. Since IQ we also recorded Jadis there and some more bits and pieces. It's great!" And we believe it is, Rob, but hey isn't that Neal Morse coming out of the dressing room?

Neal Morse at Bospop 2000"Hi John, how are you doing? Well we're only doing about two shows with Spock's Beard right now, but I'm also doing some acoustic shows together with Nick d'Virgilio. The set consists of Spock's material and some covers but we're into everything, so you name it we'll play it." [This collaboration was released as Two Separate Gorillas - Live In Europe -ed.] Most of the people in the audience will not have noticed it but Dave Meros wasn't on stage today. What happened? "You've got good vision John. Dave couldn't make it because of commitments with Eric Burdon, so in stepped a good friend of mine George Papanastas [come again?!], who's of Greek extraction." Is he in any way involved in progressive rock? "He has his own group called The Herd of Turtles that's really cool. I know him from my LA club dates where we used to be in a band together. George is talented enough to step in at any time and help us out." Today there were a lot of prog bands around, yet you can't compare this to say NEARfest. Tell us about your NEARfest experience. "This here is a big outdoor festival whilst NEARfest was in an auditorium. It was great to be there. Happy the Man was a killer! That was the only other band that I saw as my ears can't take that much input. Especially with the Transatlantic gig it's a whole new show with me covering all the keyboard parts. We were still changing things up to the last minute. It was very stressful so I didn't have a lot of space to listen to anything else, not even my wife who travelled with me! I had the keyboards set up in my room and I was like going: OK honey I'm coming to bed, I just have to try this one more time."

With you and Mike [Portnoy] and Roine being here, it might have been possible to have Pete Trewavas flown over to do a Transatlantic gig, too. "It is a missed opportunity. We could have scheduled it if we had thought about it well in advance. I looked at the Dream Theater tour schedule and they have, like, a couple of days off after tonight, so we might have done it if only we knew soon enough. I didn't think of it in time and you do need some time to prepare this kind of venture. It was an opportunity sadly missed!"

Mike Portnoy, courtesy Transatlantic/Ian Oakley (www.smpte.org.uk)Whilst we're on this subject, who steps in but Mike Portnoy so we keep him from his appointment with the roadie to ask his view on the matter. I'd heard that, due to the fact that Dream Theater had two shows planned on this very same Sunday, Mike thought it was impossible to add another one with Transatlantic. "I only have one minute, I'm sorry. If only I knew that all three of us would be here and here is the third [Roine Stolt just passes by where I'm sitting with Neal and Mike - JB], we could have done something, at least one tune, so it's kind of unfortunate that this happened at the last minute. I don't know if Neal mentioned it to you but we're planning to come over to Europe with Transatlantic at least for a few shows in 2001 and hopefully we'll do Holland, Germany. In fact, a tour in Europe would probably be even more successful and more fun than the ones in the States, it's just that the States happened because we were already committed to NEARfest so we thought if we were to be rehearsed for this one-off thing we might as well do a string of dates. I think in that respect it might even be more interesting to do a tour here in Europe."

Off go the people from Inside Out and when Mike invites Michael Schmitz to their Hamburg gig, I hear Michael say something about getting married in the next couple of days. Neal adds that they will be playing at his wedding, which has Portnoy add another bit of trivia: "You know who played at my wedding? Our first singer; you know, the guy who sang on our first album" [Charlie Dominici]. Did you manage to see other bands today, Mike? "Unfortunately I missed Spock's as I was sleeping. I watched The Flower Kings, who were great and I'm off to watch a little Satriani now, but that's about it. Oh yeah, I saw one or two songs from Lukather's set as well." Your interviewer is put on the sideline for some time as Mike and Neal discuss how they will keep in touch over the coming days. Neal promises Mike he'll get all the details as to where they'll be staying over to Mike and Jordan by e-mail. Thank god for the Internet!

I try to persuade Neal to maybe do something together with Mike and Roine tonight. "Tonight? You're still dreaming? No way man, I'm too tired. I guess we'll just go to our hotel and sleep." Were you surprised by the reactions Transatlantic has received so far? "Yeah. Well, to be honest I had expected it to get media attention, but I never thought it would be this big, but I'm glad that it has and I hope it continues."

Neal is relieved by Nick d'Virgilio who is known from his stints both as a studio session musician and as a session guy on the road. So what's the big difference for him? "The big difference to me is that I haven't done enough festivals like this one to really get used to the sound. It's different than an enclosed venue. For some reason the way the sound moves around the room I can hear better. Sometimes when I play a big open air thing like today, I feel like I'm hitting the drums harder than I have to. I do this for my ears not for the people up front." Nevertheless it's very ambitious to tackle a song like "June" because you need to have a damn good balance on those monitors. "I wear earplugs so I can hear myself very well as far as the vocals go." Going on stage without a soundcheck is something you've been used to for some time now, what with going on tour with Tears for Fears to name just one. Is it frightening? "Not at all. You just go out there and give it your best shot. Today for instance, it's not my set of drums, but the setup is the same, so I do feel comfortable. I've been playing long enough to know how I can adjust things during the first couple of songs so it doesn't bother the audience."

Spock's Beard - VLet's talk a little bit about the new album V. What is for you the main difference? "It's a little more prog than the last couple of records. It's a little more retro sounding. To me there's parts that sound so 1976 Genesis Wind And Wuthering, it's almost perfect. Our instrumentation and some of the things we do sound exactly like that stuff, but to me it's one of the best albums we've made so far." When I ask Nick what his favourite song is on the new album, I also get some response from Neal. Nick: "there are some parts on 'The Great Nothing' which are simply amazing." Neal: "I like 'At The End Of The Day' best." Can Nick relate to the music on the same level as Neal, because, after all, Neal does all of the writing and there's probably a lot of his own experience caught into the lyrics. "We co-wrote 'Revelation' and 'Thoughts,'" admits Neal, "and as far as the lyrics go well ..." Nick takes over: "the more we get to the closing section of recording the album, the more we feel comfortable with all of the contents, so it's not because Neal wrote it that we can't relate to it. We might have our own view on the matter, but each song reflects something for each and every one of us."

Steve Lukather and Edgar Winter at Bospop 2000I wonder if Nick managed to check out some of the bands today? "I saw Edgar Winter and parts of Satriani." At the same time Alan Morse enters, having just witnessed part of the Satriani set. "This guy is sick [refers to Satriani]. You know the arpeggios with the whammy thing? [plays some air guitar now] Unbelievable! You think every note he plays is that note, but wait coz' there's more. For each single note I play, this guy plays fifteen notes!"

"It's a bit like our new album," continues Neal. "Each time you think that's the direction it'll take, we continue in another direction, and each time you think we'll stop, we'll continue!" Wasn't the nucleus for V written during the Transatlantic period, thus being a bit "transparent"? "No not really. 'The Great Nothing' I wrote a long time before all that. I think it's probably three years old. 'At The End Of The Day' I wrote like in December '99, after the Transatlantic thing." Are things finally picking up in the States as well? "I think so. When you look at the recent NEARfest: they went from an 800 seater the year before to a 1200 seater this year and it was sold out pretty quickly. It's not only in the States but all over the world that prog is getting back in fashion and I think it's bands like us and Flower Kings and others who are doing this kinda music really well. I think that's why it's growing."

Spock's Beard on stage at Bospop 2000Do you guys check out the Internet newsgroup rec.music.progressive, because you constantly get these threads of people who are "against" bands like Spock's Beard, Flower Kings and/or Transatlantic. "Doesn't matter to me. No offence to these people, but I always hear from people that Spock's only gets positive reviews on the Internet, which is all I'm interested in really," admits Neal. Nick steps in as well: "I'm extremely open-minded about music in general no matter what it is really. I wish people weren't so narrow-minded about certain kinds of music such as: 'if it's not this kind of prog then it's shitprog.' I mean, as far as I'm concerned, if they don't like it, that's fine by me, but they shouldn't try and impose their view onto other people who might enjoy our music, but maybe won't try it once several people start spreading some negative vibes around." Are you still in touch with Peter Gabriel? "I call him once in a while, but that's about it. I have been involved with the new Tears for Fears album though."

"Is that the thing you did three years ago?" jokes Neal

"Well these guys take their time," answers Nick.

"Cats, see you later!" That's Steve Lukather leaving, addressing the "cats" thing in our direction.

"Cats? Does this mean we're cats now?" wonders Neal.

"I hope he knows what 'cats' means," adds Alan Morse. "He's a cool cat, with a lot of energy. That surprised me, as he really rocks." Does a festival like this, where you have a main stage, a blues marquee and a rock marquee, happen in the States? "Not that I know of. Especially not where Spock's is concerned, as we play smaller venues and the only festivals we do there are prog festivals. But I do like the fact that there are different kinds of music taking place on the same day. You can check out various bands you have never before heard of. I think it's great. It's great for me to be on the same stage as some big names here. Some great people playing here. Really fun!"

Did you manage to see some of the earlier bands? "I'm afraid I didn't, but from what I could hear in the background, it sounded interesting, what with the soprano voice. Pretty cool. I dig it. There's a couple of things to prepare for your own show so you don't have time to check out these other bands. I have a couple of guitars to tune, I have a pedal board that needs to be in good working order. But I try to keep it pretty simple." What do you like doing most [I can't even finish my sentence here as the answer is already there!] -- "This! Playing festivals in Holland [laughs]! I haven't had this much fun in I don't know how long. I've always been a very big Edgar Winter fan since I was, I dunno, I don't even know how long, so being able to see him perform 'Frankenstein' from the side of the stage, man, that's it you know? Coz' Edgar was huge in the States, filling stadiums."

Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci walk by, heading for the main stage, because it's now half an hour before they'll start their show. "It's so funny, when they're ready to go on, they get this buzz, it's like tunnel vision, you know. About an hour before I have to go on I can't talk to anyone." That sums up the last words of Alan Morse, before he's about to check out Dream Theater from the side of the stage. John Petrucci and John 'Bo Bo' Bollenberg In the meantime, I have entered the pitch to watch the Dream Theater set and I have to say the material for Scenes From A Memory is a bit much to digest live, during an outdoor festival, especially when you have been standing on your two feet for twelve hours already (and after a three hours' drive and looking forward to yet another three hour's drive back!). It's probably a set which goes down best in a smaller, indoor venue. On top of that, Jordan's keyboards were hardly audible, and the upcoming wind took the music on its wings. I decide to go home before the end of DT's set, as I bump into Arjen "Ayreon" Lucassen. Our hermit has decided to leave his "electric castle" after all. "With so many prog names on one day, I simply had to come," says Arjen. "But it's a bit much all in one day. Especially Dream Theater is hard to enjoy what with the rain and the many hours I've been here. The absolute highlight today certainly has to be Spock's Beard. The sheer talent of these guys is amazing. To me they were the very best of the entire day and it was worth it to come over all the way just to see them perform! With the sounds of "Ytse Jam" in the background I say goodbye to Bospop 2000, a very wet experience and a happy encounter with some longtime friends we're not to forget very soon!

Thanks to Bospop organiser Paul Adriaens and his crew of 600 volunteers. Hope he'll be able to continue his prog programming next year. We surely will bring the sun!

Links: After Forever, Within Temptation. Anathema, The Flower Kings, Dream Theater, Steve Lukather, Spock's Beard, Inside Out

Bospop photos © John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Added: December 17th 2000
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.bospop.nl
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Language: english
  

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