he Vanden Plas E-Mail Newsletter No. 6 (September 2005)
**********************************************************************
http://www.vandenplas.de/theclub/
**********************************************************************
Contents
1) More details about "Christ 0"
2) More theater shows planned
3) Günter Werno to appear on Place Vendome's debut album
4) Stephan got married !
5) A short review of Vanden Plas' very first single !
6) Tour dates
**********************************************************************
1) More details about "Christ 0"
The recordings for the next album "Christ 0" will finally start mid october in the Bazement Studios (where the band already
recorded "Beyond Daylight").
The band will probably record 9 songs, plus one bonus track. Out of the nine selected songs, 4 are written by Stephan, 3 by
Günter and 2 by Andy. As usual, Andy was also responsible for all the lyrics.
As stated before, "Christ 0" will be a concept album based on Alexandre Dumas' "Monte Cristo".
No exact release date has been confirmed yet, but it is likely to come out around March/April 2006.
---
2) More theater shows planned
On the 25th of February 2006, Abydos will be played the first time at the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern. About 12 other dates
will follow.
Based on the Abydos album, the theater play will also contain a few Vanden Plas numbers.
Andy will play the main character Fly, and Günter will write the arrangements for the musical. An ensemble with more than 50
persons will also be involved. The castings will start soon and the first rehearsals will take place in January 2006.
The play was chosen by the city of Kaiserslautern as its official cultural contribution for the football world cup 2006.
Apart from that, there will also be around 8 new dates of "Jesus Christ Superstar" (featuring Andy as Judas, and the rest of VP
performing along with the orchestra) in April 2006 at the Pfalztheater.
---
3) Günter Werno to appear on Place Vendome's debut album
Place Vendome is a brand-new project featuring former Helloween singer Michael Kiske along with Pink Cream 69 members Dennis
Ward, Uwe Reitenauer, and Kosta Zafiriou, plus Günter Werno on keyboards. This is not the first time Günter will play with Pink
Cream 69, as he already performed with some of them on D.C. Cooper's solo album.
Place Vendome (named after the world-renowned square in Paris) is said to feature a straight melodic rock/AOR sound, "comparable
to bands like FOREIGNER or JOURNEY," according to Kiske. The album was produced by Dennis Ward, who wrote the material with his
bandmates David Readman and Alfred Koffler, with contributions from Günter.
The album will be released on 09/10/2005 by Frontiers records. A few extracts can be downloaded on www.frontiers.it.
---
4) Stephan got married !
On the 3rd of July, Stephan got married to his long-time girlfriend Manuela.
You can check a photo here : http://www.vandenplas-france.com/stephan-wedding.jpg
---
5) A short review of Vanden Plas' very first single !
After a very long hunting, I finally managed to find a copy of Vanden Plas' very first 7'' a few weeks ago. Released in the
Kaiserslautern area in 1986 with only 1000 copies pressed, this is a definitive collectable for hardcore VP fans !
On the front cover, we can see Andy and the Lill brothers, all looking very young (Stephan was only 17 at that time !) and
sporting funny 1980's hairdos. There are three unknown musicians with them, identified by Stephan as Markus Ziegler (guitar),
Holger Münz (bass) and Uli Knapp (keyboards). The latter is now a successful sports trainer, working with high-level athletes.
Günter and Torsten only joined the band in 1990, and VP kept the same line-up ever since. So, this single is the only record the
band released with a different line-up. As far as I know, there were also aborted plans to record an album at the end of the
80's, so there must be a lot of unreleased material from this era.
Most of the back cover is taken by a huge ad for a cocktail bar in Kaiserslautern, where Andy worked at some point. The bar owner
offered the band to pay the record pressing if they gave him some advertisement. You have to see it to believe it !
The two songs on the single are "Going round in circles" and "Raining in my heart". The former was never released anywhere else,
but some might know the latter, which was re-recorded in an acoustic version in 1997, for a limited edition of "The God Thing".
The band was so proud of the two songs that they couldn't decide which one they would put on the A side : they solved this
problem by putting the words "double A side" on the cover !
The music is very different from VP's current style. It's more on the AOR side, and not progressive at all. The sound is typical
of that genre and of that era, especially in the keyboard and guitar departments. But what strikes the most is Andy's vocals :
from time to time he uses surprisingly low intonations that make his voice barely recognizable. The first lines of "Going Round
In Circles" are a good example of that.
A few years ago, Andy described "Going Round In Circles" as "an awful rock'n'roll song". A harsh self-criticism maybe, but of
course the song is very far from VP's current quality standards. The song has a lively rhythm, that can remind some fast songs
Kansas wrote. The chorus is a bit awkward, with background vocals that sound quite kitschy, to be honest. But the weirdest moment
in a short drum break using very synthetic sounds.
"Raining in my heart" is a way better song. This first version is quite different from the acoustic rendition recorded ten years
later, and it's interesting to hear the changes. At that time it was a power ballad, with slow, majestic heavy guitar rhythms.
This single might not be a fantastic record, but once again, this was the effort of a very young band, formed only one year
earlier. It's a unique testimony of the band's evolution from its early years, and a very interesting document for the hardcore
fans.
(Rémy Turpault)
---
6) Tour dates
29/10/05 - Beauvais, L'Elispace (FRANCE). "Metalliance II" festival, with Saxon & more.
12/11/05 - Frankenthal, Krone Music Club (GERMANY).
02/12/05 - Wiesbaden, GMZ (GERMANY).
03/12/05 - Eijsden, CC (NETHERLANDS). With Sustain.
**********************************************************************
http://www.vandenplas.de/theclub/
**********************************************************************
Contents
1) More details about "Christ 0"
2) More theater shows planned
3) Günter Werno to appear on Place Vendome's debut album
4) Stephan got married !
5) A short review of Vanden Plas' very first single !
6) Tour dates
**********************************************************************
1) More details about "Christ 0"
The recordings for the next album "Christ 0" will finally start mid october in the Bazement Studios (where the band already
recorded "Beyond Daylight").
The band will probably record 9 songs, plus one bonus track. Out of the nine selected songs, 4 are written by Stephan, 3 by
Günter and 2 by Andy. As usual, Andy was also responsible for all the lyrics.
As stated before, "Christ 0" will be a concept album based on Alexandre Dumas' "Monte Cristo".
No exact release date has been confirmed yet, but it is likely to come out around March/April 2006.
---
2) More theater shows planned
On the 25th of February 2006, Abydos will be played the first time at the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern. About 12 other dates
will follow.
Based on the Abydos album, the theater play will also contain a few Vanden Plas numbers.
Andy will play the main character Fly, and Günter will write the arrangements for the musical. An ensemble with more than 50
persons will also be involved. The castings will start soon and the first rehearsals will take place in January 2006.
The play was chosen by the city of Kaiserslautern as its official cultural contribution for the football world cup 2006.
Apart from that, there will also be around 8 new dates of "Jesus Christ Superstar" (featuring Andy as Judas, and the rest of VP
performing along with the orchestra) in April 2006 at the Pfalztheater.
---
3) Günter Werno to appear on Place Vendome's debut album
Place Vendome is a brand-new project featuring former Helloween singer Michael Kiske along with Pink Cream 69 members Dennis
Ward, Uwe Reitenauer, and Kosta Zafiriou, plus Günter Werno on keyboards. This is not the first time Günter will play with Pink
Cream 69, as he already performed with some of them on D.C. Cooper's solo album.
Place Vendome (named after the world-renowned square in Paris) is said to feature a straight melodic rock/AOR sound, "comparable
to bands like FOREIGNER or JOURNEY," according to Kiske. The album was produced by Dennis Ward, who wrote the material with his
bandmates David Readman and Alfred Koffler, with contributions from Günter.
The album will be released on 09/10/2005 by Frontiers records. A few extracts can be downloaded on www.frontiers.it.
---
4) Stephan got married !
On the 3rd of July, Stephan got married to his long-time girlfriend Manuela.
You can check a photo here : http://www.vandenplas-france.com/stephan-wedding.jpg
---
5) A short review of Vanden Plas' very first single !
After a very long hunting, I finally managed to find a copy of Vanden Plas' very first 7'' a few weeks ago. Released in the
Kaiserslautern area in 1986 with only 1000 copies pressed, this is a definitive collectable for hardcore VP fans !
On the front cover, we can see Andy and the Lill brothers, all looking very young (Stephan was only 17 at that time !) and
sporting funny 1980's hairdos. There are three unknown musicians with them, identified by Stephan as Markus Ziegler (guitar),
Holger Münz (bass) and Uli Knapp (keyboards). The latter is now a successful sports trainer, working with high-level athletes.
Günter and Torsten only joined the band in 1990, and VP kept the same line-up ever since. So, this single is the only record the
band released with a different line-up. As far as I know, there were also aborted plans to record an album at the end of the
80's, so there must be a lot of unreleased material from this era.
Most of the back cover is taken by a huge ad for a cocktail bar in Kaiserslautern, where Andy worked at some point. The bar owner
offered the band to pay the record pressing if they gave him some advertisement. You have to see it to believe it !
The two songs on the single are "Going round in circles" and "Raining in my heart". The former was never released anywhere else,
but some might know the latter, which was re-recorded in an acoustic version in 1997, for a limited edition of "The God Thing".
The band was so proud of the two songs that they couldn't decide which one they would put on the A side : they solved this
problem by putting the words "double A side" on the cover !
The music is very different from VP's current style. It's more on the AOR side, and not progressive at all. The sound is typical
of that genre and of that era, especially in the keyboard and guitar departments. But what strikes the most is Andy's vocals :
from time to time he uses surprisingly low intonations that make his voice barely recognizable. The first lines of "Going Round
In Circles" are a good example of that.
A few years ago, Andy described "Going Round In Circles" as "an awful rock'n'roll song". A harsh self-criticism maybe, but of
course the song is very far from VP's current quality standards. The song has a lively rhythm, that can remind some fast songs
Kansas wrote. The chorus is a bit awkward, with background vocals that sound quite kitschy, to be honest. But the weirdest moment
in a short drum break using very synthetic sounds.
"Raining in my heart" is a way better song. This first version is quite different from the acoustic rendition recorded ten years
later, and it's interesting to hear the changes. At that time it was a power ballad, with slow, majestic heavy guitar rhythms.
This single might not be a fantastic record, but once again, this was the effort of a very young band, formed only one year
earlier. It's a unique testimony of the band's evolution from its early years, and a very interesting document for the hardcore
fans.
(Rémy Turpault)
---
6) Tour dates
29/10/05 - Beauvais, L'Elispace (FRANCE). "Metalliance II" festival, with Saxon & more.
12/11/05 - Frankenthal, Krone Music Club (GERMANY).
02/12/05 - Wiesbaden, GMZ (GERMANY).
03/12/05 - Eijsden, CC (NETHERLANDS). With Sustain.
