Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One, Guilt Machine) & Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering, Devin Townsend Project) are set to release the debut album The Diary from their new band The Gentle Storm on March 24, 2015, and now they are pleased to reveal the first music to be taken from the record. You can watch the lyric video for the track Endless Sea (Storm Version).
"Endless Sea is the album opener and it serves as an introduction to our story-based album. Susanne, the main character, sings about her busband Joseph, who has just sailed out on another long voyage to the Far East. We are very excited to offer everybody a first taste of our forthcoming album with the release of these lyric videos. This is such a special album to the both us."
The album concept is a tale of love, loss, and separation told through the story of two fictional seventeenth-century lovers. A Dutch sailor embarks on a two-year voyage, leaving his wife at home in Holland. The only way for the couple to communicate and keep their love alive during the long separation is through letters. These letters form the basis for the songs on the album.
The Gentle Storm will also be performing full band shows, and Arjen will join Anneke for a select few European live acoustic dates in what will be quite a rare and special occasion.
17/2/15 Planetarium, Budapest, Hungary
19/2/15 Hard Rock Café, Bucharest, Romania
20/2/15 tba, Sofia, Bulgaria
22/2/15 K17, Berlin, Germany
28/2/15 Pod Minoga, Poznan, Poland
As previously mentioned, a full all-star band will go out without Arjen in March and April, and the confirmed dates and band line-up can be found below.
26/3/15 Melkweg, Amsterdam - Netherlands
28/3/15 ROCK Ittervoort Festival, Ittervoort - Netherlands
3/4/15 Hedon, Zwolle - Netherlands
3-5/4/15 Paaspop Festival, Schihndel - Netherlands
11/4/15 Paard van Troje, Den Haag - Netherlands
22/4/15 Divan Du Monde, Paris - France
23/4/15 The Garage, London - UK
24/4/15 The Musician, Leicester - UK
25/4/15 The Roadhouse, Manchester - UK
26/4/15 Prog-résiste Convention Festival, Soignies - Belgium
The Gentle Storm live:
Anneke van Giersbergen (ex-The Gathering) - vocals
Merel Bechtold (Purest of Pain, MaYaN) - guitars
Ferry Duijsens (Anneke van Giersbergen, ex-Dreadlock Pussy) - guitars
Ed Warby (Hail of Bullets, Ayreon, ex-Gorefest) - drums
Johan van Stratum (Stream of Passion) - bass
Joost van den Broek (producer, ex-After Forever) - keyboards
Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion) - background vocals
The Gentle Storm online:www.facebook.com/TheGentleStorm/ www.twitter.com/gentlestormband
Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One, Guilt Machine) & Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering, Devin Townsend Project) have joined forces for new band The Gentle Storm, and they have now revealed the cover artwork for their debut album The Diary, which is due out early next year.
Arjen had this to say:
"I loved the front cover of the last Stream of Passion album, so I tracked down the cover artist, Alexandra V. Bach. I sent her some samples of the The Gentle Storm music, and explained the album concept. She made a moodboard that captured the feel of the story and the music. We then gave her the go-ahead to design the cover. She did an amazing job that exceeded our expectations: Alexandra's cover art represents The Gentle Storm perfectly!"
Having originally worked together back in 1998 on Ayreon's album Into The Electric Castle, and reconvening again for the seventh Ayreon album 01011001, The Gentle Storm sees the duo collaborate for a full double-album that will see the light of day next year. Anneke will also take the music on the road in 2015, backed by a band of Dutch musicians; however Arjen himself will not take part.
Arjen Lucassen recently picked up the Virtuoso award at this year's Progressive Music Awards, in front of an audience that included Peter Gabriel & Rick Wakeman amongst other progressive rock legends. Last year saw the release of the latest album from his Ayreon project entitled The Theory Of Everything which featured guest appearances from the aforementioned Wakeman as well as Steve Hackett and Keith Emerson.
Anneke Van Giersbergen has also had an extremely busy 12 months following the release of her latest solo album Drive, playing live across the world with her solo band, Devin Townsend Project, and with Daniel Cavanagh of Anathema. She will also be playing a special anniversary show with former band The Gathering in November as well has having taken part in Devin Townsend's new album Z².
The Gentle Storm online:
www.facebook.com/TheGentleStorm/
www.twitter.com/gentlestormband
Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One, Guilt Machine) & Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering, Devin Townsend Project) recently revealed that they had joined forces for new band The Gentle Storm, and they can now reveal that they have signed a deal with InsideOutMusic for the release of their debut album early next year.
Arjen comments:
"We are thrilled to be able to strengthen our relationship with InsideOut Music as The Gentle Storm's label."
Anneke adds:
"We're in the middle of recording these amazing new songs and are very excited the label shows an equal amount of faith in this release. We can't wait for people to hear it and are happy this superb team will help us spread the word."
Having originally worked together back in 1998 on Ayreon's album Into the Electric Castle, and reconvening again for the seventh Ayreon album 01011001, The Gentle Storm sees the duo collaborate for a full double-album that will see the light of day next year. Anneke will also take the music on the road in 2015, backed by a band of Dutch musicians; however Arjen himself will not take part.
Last year saw the release of the latest album from his Ayreon project entitled The Theory of Everything which featured guest appearances from Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett and Keith Emerson, among others.
Anneke Van Giersbergen has also had an extremely busy 12 months following the release of her latest solo album Drive, playing live across the world with her solo band, Devin Townsend Project, and with Daniel Cavanagh of Anathema. She will also be playing a special anniversary show with former band The Gathering in November as well has having taken part in Devin Townsend's forthcoming new album Z².
The Gentle Storm online:
www.facebook.com/TheGentleStorm/
www.twitter.com/gentlestormband
InsideOutMusic online:
www.insideoutmusic.com
www.youtube.com/InsideOutMusicTV
www.facebook.com/InsideOutMusic
www.twitter.com/insideouteu
www.myspace.com/insideoutlabel
