News

16 December 2009

  • Special offer at the Vanden Plas Shop: Special Christmas DVD Bundle - Choose 3 articles, including 2 DVDs (1x Ludus Danielis + 1x Abydos, or 2x Ludus, or 2x Abydos), plus any other article in our catalogue (can even be a 3rd DVD if you like!). Price: EUR 40. This special offer will only be available until New Year!

29 November 2009

  • Vanden Plas will be headliner at the Rock am Betze Festival at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion in Kaiserslautern, Germany! Other bands on the bill include Bonfire, Domain, Völkerball and Razors Edge. More info at www.rock-am-betze.de!

17 November 2009

  • Due to organisational circumstances, the organizers had to cancel Vanden Plas' appearance at the Erz-Rock-Festival on 21 November in Völklingen. It is now planned that Vanden Plas willl play there next summer.

25 July 2009

  • Due to visa problems, Vanden Plas will not be able to play at ProgPower USA. Unfortunately, Vanden Plas is not the only band affected. Check out the PP USA site for more information.
  • On 21 November, Vanden Plas will play at the Erz-Rock-Festival near Saarbrücken, Germany! The festival takes place at the Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte.

16 June 2009

  • Andy Kuntz and Günter Werno will play together as "Piano Soul Bar" on July 17th at the Wartenberger Mühle (close to Kaiserslautern, Germany). Together with their two guests, singer Astrid Vosberg and saxophonist Helmut Engelhard, they will perform songs from the musicals "Nostradamus", "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Abydos", "Christo" and others!
    Tickets are available with or without dinner for EUR 19.50 and 49.50 respectively. More info can be found at http://www.wartenberger-muehle.de/.

26 April 2009

24 March 2009

15 March 2009

  • The American guitar manufacturer TTM Supershop has built the first Stephan Lill signature model! For all guitarists (and other interested people) here are some facts about the guitar:
    • Color: Raging Red
    • Set Neck
    • Two Seymour Duncan SH 6-Humbucker
    • 24 Medium Jumbo Frets
    • Body: Basswood with Quilt Maple Top
    • Neck: Rock Maple
    • Fingerboard: Indian Summerwood
    According to Stephan, the playability is fantastic and the guitar has (of course) a nice rock / metal sound. Maybe some minor details will be changed but it looks like nothing will stop the production of a Stephan Lill Signature Guitar by TTM Supershop! The guitar will probably be available for the public sale in summer 2009. Here are some photos of the guitar (and Stephan :-):

08 March 2009

  • Vanden Plas will play at the Showcase of the ProgPower USA 2009 Festival! The festival will take place September 9th - 12th 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Other bands on the bill include FATES WARNING, ANDRÉ MATOS, BRAINSTORM, ROYAL HUNT, PAGAN'S MIND, ORPHANED LAND, SABATON, CIRCUS MAXIMUS, DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA, TOMORROW'S EVE, POWER QUEST and PRIMAL FEAR. More information can be found at http://www.progpowerusa.com/!

08 February 2009

  • The new date for the "Night of the Musical-Stars" has been announced: It will now take place on June 20th at the WOKI-Filmpalast in Bonn, Germany! Andy Kuntz will be on stage with musical stars Chris Murray (Les Misérables, Jesus Chris Superstar) and Armin Kahl (Elisabeth, Aida). Songs from Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables and WE WILL ROCK YOU, among others, will be performed. Click here for more information!

01 February 2009

  • A new Vanden Plas album is on the horizon! Stephan has already composed 12 new songs and Andy is working on the lyrics and vocal lines. There will also be more songs coming from Günter and Andy. Which songs and how many will be featured on the cd will also depend on the story (more info to follow). The band is thinking about a release in fall 2009. Once again, the band will work together with engineer Markus Teske and the album will be recorded at Bazement Studio near Wiesbaden, Germany.
  • In Kaiserslautern, Germany, you can now visit an exhibition of the painter Santiago Munoz Prado. Some of his paintings were inspired by Andy Kuntz' Rock-Oper 'Abydos'. For more info, take a look at the flyer!

31 January 2009

  • On Saturday the 14th of February, Andy and Günter will play together as the duo "Piano Soulbar" during the "Kneipenfestival" at the Kaffeeehaus Akzent in Landau, Germany (adress: Stiftsplatz 1 in Landau). The show starts at 20:00 and ends at 24:00.

20 January 2009

  • Vanden Plas on German TV! The guys (except for Andy Kuntz) will appear in the "Super-Chart-Show" on RTL television. Together with other artists from the "Hair" musical production (Pfalztheater Kaiserserslautern) they will present the song "Aquarius". The TV show is based on the "Flower Power" hits of the 60s and 70s. It will probably be broadcasted on January 30th.

12 January 2009

  • The "Night of the Musical-Stars" in Bonn will NOT take place in January but will be postponed until summer!

20 December 2008

  • Here's a little Christmas present from Vanden Plas: On the Vanden Plas MySpace Page, you can now listen to the yet unreleased Ouverture of the Christo Musical! The Ouverture features parts and melodies from different songs from the musical. Enjoy!
    In addition, we will hold a little contest in order to see how many of the songs you are able to recognize: Listen to the ouverture, find out which songs are included and note the song titles and the time period where they appear in the Ouverture(!). Send your submissions via e-mail to contest@vandenplas.de and do not forget to include your name and address. The winner will be picked among those who find the highest number of correct songs (actually, the band doesn't believe that there will be anyone who recognizes all!). The prize will be a Vanden Plas surprise package. Please send your submissions before January 31st. Good luck!

14 December 2008

  • Andy Kuntz on stage with musical star Chris Murray at the "Night of the Musical-Stars" on January 24th in Bonn, Germany! Andy will be special guest at Chris Murray's musical gala where songs from Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables and WE WILL ROCK YOU, among others, will be performed.
    *** Attention, postponed until summer! ***

13 December 2008

  • Günter Werno recorded keyboards for the second Place Vendome album (Günter: "Kiske in best form!") and the new Joe Lynn Turner album. Both CDs are produced by Dennis Ward. Günter can also be herad on 5 songs of the new album of the German death metal band Debauchery.

23 November 2008

  • Stephan Lill has recorded a guitar solo for the upcoming album of the Finnish melodic mertal band Celesty! The song with Stephan's solo is called "Legacy of Hate pt.3". The album will be released in 2009.

15 October 2008

30 September 2008

  • On October the 30th Vanden Plas will play at the Spritzehaus in Frankfurt, Germany!

30 August 2008

24 August 2008

24 June 2008

  • Andy Kuntz will perform two songs this Friday on stage at the Stadtfest max08 in Augsburg, Germany!

21 April 2008

21 March 2008

  • Tickets for the Vanden Plas Rock Opera "CHRISTO" are on sale now! The opera features Andy Kuntz in the main role. Vanden Plas plays the music live. It will be played at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, Germany. The premier takes place on April 11th. For more info and ticket ordering please go to the Staatstheater website!

17 February 2008

  • Unfortunately, the Prog Power UK III festival where Vanden Plas was scheduled to play has been cancelled due to financial difficulties of the organizers. For details about the cancellation, go to the ProgPower UK homepage.

04 February 2008

20 January 2008

03 January 2008

  • The final rehearsals for Vanden Plas' next theater project are taking place at the moment. On January 12th, "Ludus Danielis - The Play of Daniel" will premier at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern. Andy Kuntz plays the role of Daniel and the other Vanden Plas guys will play the music, this time together with medieval instrumentalists. Director of the play is Johannes Reitmeier (as for "Abydos") and Günter Werno is musical director. Günter Werno and Stephan Lill are responsible for the music. Here's the complete list of the dates (all at Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, Germany):

    12 Jan 2008 19:30 (premier)
    16 Jan 2008 19:30
    19 Jan 2008 19:30
    22 Jan 2008 19:30
    30 Jan 2008 19:30
    01 Feb 2008 19:30
    10 Feb 2008 19:30
    21 Feb 2008 19:30
    23 Feb 2008 19:30

    For ticket info, check out the Pfalztheater website!

31 December 2007

  • Vanden Plas wishes everybody a fantastic start into 2008!
  • www.vandenplas.de presents Santiago Munoz Prado's paintings, inspired by Andy Kuntz' rock opera 'Abydos'! Click here to enter the virtual gallery!
  • The "Abydos" DVD reached the 5th place in the German Musical Charts (Media Control 10/07)!
  • Some new photo galleries and reviews have been added. Thanks to everyone involved!

17 December 2007

  • The Vanden Plas Shop has openend! You can order Vanden Plas CDs, shirts and the Abydos DVD at the shop. Shipping worldwide. Enjoy!

10 October 2007

  • Here are some photos from the Vanden Plas gig at the Spritzehaus in Frankfurt last Tuesday. The setlist was as follows:

    Intro
    Free The Fire
    Iodic Rain 
    Silently
    Far Off Grace
    You Broke The Sun
    Shadow I Am
    January Sun
    How Many Tears
    Christ O
    Healing Tree
    Cold Wind
    Postcard To God
    ----------------------
    I Can See
    Rainmaker

04 October 2007

  • Here's a message from the band about the cancellation of today's ProgPower show:

    Dear Fans and people who wanted to see us play at PP 2007!

    We feel deeply sorry about what happened and that we couldn't make it this year.
    Unfortunately we couldn't pass the immigration control when we arrived in Detroit on Wednesday October 3rd.
    The immigration service told us that we had the wrong papers. We don't understand the problem because we did it in the regular way.
    They were sending us back home after six hours of questioning. We had no chance to go to Atlanta.
    Now that we're back home after 40 hours of non-stop travel we are sad and empty to face this disappointing situation.
    We've been really looking forward to PP VIII for such a long time.
    Nevertheless we whish you a great festival in our absence with all the other great bands.

    Vanden Plas

16 September 2007

  • The Vanden Plas show at the ProgPower USA VIII Festival on the 4th of October will be recorded for a possible DVD release if the recording turns out well.

  • The Vanden Plas rock musical "Christ 0" will be played at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, Germany! The musical will feature all songs from the "Christ 0" album plus other Vanden Plas songs and two new ones. Holger Hauer and Andy Kuntz are responsible for the libretto. Holger Hauer will be director, Günter Werno musical director and Vanden Plas will be responsible for the songs. Here are the dates:

    11 April 2008 (Premier) / 18 April 2008 / 25 April 2008 / 03 May 2008 / 17 May 2008 / 07 June 2008 / 14 June 2008 / 28 June 2008 / 04 July 2008 / 11 July 2008 / 18 July 2008 / 24 July 2008 / 26 July 2008 / 28 July 2008 / 30 July 2008

    For more info and ticket ordering go to the Staatstheater website!

  • Another new Vanden Plas theater project is "Ludus Danielis - The Play of Daniel". Director will be Johannes Reitmeier (as for "Abydos") and Günter Werno will be musical director. Günter Werno and Stephan Lill are responsible for the music. The premier will be on the 12th of January 2008 at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern.

  • A couple of new photo galleries have been added. Thanks to all contributors!

  • The German version of this website is finally online!

04 September 2007

  • Vanden Plas will be headliner at the ProgZone festival in Torres Novas, Portugal, on Saturday the 17th of November! For more info check out the festival flyer (pdf format).

22 July 2007

  • Torsten Reichert has founded a rock music school in Wiesbaden, Germany. The school is called stage ahead Music School.

19 July 2007

  • Theater Augsburg Press Release: Aktion sauberer Lech – Judas-Darsteller Andy Kuntz räumt auf!

    Rocksänger Andy Kuntz, gefragter Judas-Darsteller auf der Freilichtbühne, will gemeinsam mit engagierten Schülern die Lech-Bänke am Hochablass von Unrat befreien. Noch bis 28. Juli ist Andy Kuntz auf der Freilichtbühne als Judas bei JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR zu erleben. Am 24. Juli zeigt er sich beim großen Live-Auftritt seiner Band Vanden Plas in seinem anderen Element. Seine große Zuneigung zu Augsburg und dessen Umgebung zeigt er jetzt in einer kurz entschlossenen Aktion. Die Lechbänke am Hochablass sind Andy Kuntz’ erkärter Lieblings- und Rückzugsort. Leider ist dieses Kleinod durch Flaschen und Müll stark verschmutzt. Hier will Andy gemeinsam mit engagierten Schülern am kommenden Samstag aufräumen und freut sich dabei über jede Mithilfe – auch von Nicht-Schülern.

      Aktion sauberer Lech - Andy Kuntz und Augsburger Schüler räumen auf
      Samstag, 21. Juli, 10.00-12.30 Uhr
      Treffpunkt am Turm des Hochablass-Wehrs
      weitere Infos unter band@vandenplas.de

    Als Dankeschön für Ihre Mithilfe besuchen Mitwirkende an dieser Aktion das große Open-Air Konzert Vanden Plas & Musical Friends am 24. Juli zum absoluten Sonderpreis von nur 5,- € statt 8,-€. Ermäßigungscoupons werden vor Ort verteilt und sind dann einzulösen beim Besucherservice im Gr. Haus am Kennedyplatz oder an der Abendkasse.  Andy Kuntz freut sich auf eine schöne Aktion mit vielen Freunden und das gute Gefühl danach, etwas sinnvolles für Augsburgs wertvolle Umwelt geleistet zu haben!

26 June 2007

  • Due to technical problems with the Augsburg Theater website, please use the telephone hotline +49(0)821-3244900 if you would like to order tickets for the Vanden Plas open air show at Freilichtbühne am Roten Tor in Augsburg on July 24th!

22 May 2007

  • Vanden Plas confirmed for ProgPower UK 2008! Vanden Plas will be headliner on the 28th March 2008 at the Anson Rooms in Bristol, UK. Other bands which have been confirmed for the festival so far include Circus Maximus, Thy Majestie, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Power Quest and Serenity.

21 May 2007

  • You can download a little teaser from the "Abydos" DVD here. It shows the band's first appearance during the intro of the musical. The clip is in mp4 format (size: 8MB) and can for example be played with QuickTime.
  • Due to time schedule problems, the Vanden Plas show in Augsburg on July 10th will not take place. So the only Vanden Plas open air show at the Freilichtbühne am Roten Tor will be on July 24th!

27 April 2007

  • "Abydos" is now available on DVD! The disc contains a full performance of the musical on stage at the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern, featuring Andy Kuntz in the title role, Vanden Plas and the Pfalztheater ensemble, presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 16:9 HD quality! The DVD can now be ordered by sending an e-mail to band@vandenplas.de. The price is EUR 20 plus postage & packing. It will also be available soon in the new Vanden Plas web shop at http://www.vandenplas-shop.com/.
  • "Abydos" is back at the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern! Tickets are now available at http://www.pfalztheater.de/ or phone +49(0)631/3675- 209 or e-mail to vorverkauf@pfalztheater.bv-pfalz.de for the following dates: 27 April, 20 & 26 May and 24 June 2007.
  • Vanden Plas on the radio: The band will be special guest on the German radio station "Deutschlandfunk" on the 16th of June at 14:30, featuring "Abydos" and more!
  • Here's a message from the band: "We would like to thank all the fans who supported us on Saturday the 31st of March during our live performance at the Frankfurt music fair!"

17 March 2007

  • Vanden Plas at the Frankfurt music fair! The band will play four 20-minute showcases at the Shure stand at the Prolight + Sound fair in Frankfurt, Germany on 31 March 2007. The performance will include songs from Vanden Plas, Abydos and other musicals. Go here for more info.

10 February 2007

  • The voting for the annual Metal Storm Awards, presented by the European webzine Metal Storm, has just started! This year, Vanden Plas is nominated in the "Best Progressive Metal Album" category as well as for the "Best Cover Song" (for "Gethsemane").

    For more info and to vote for your favourite band, go to http://www.metalstorm.ee/awards/!

    Votes will be closed on the 1st of March 2007.

31 January 2007

  • Vanden Plas will play two open air shows in Augsburg, Germany on July 10th and 24th! Andy Kuntz will play the role of Judas in the musical 'Jesus Christ Superstar' at the same venue (Freilichtbühne am Roten Tor, capacity 2200) on 18 dates between the 29th of June and the 28th of July.

    Flyer (pdf format, 1.6 MB)
    Poster(pdf format, 5.4 MB)
    Theater Augsburg website

10 January 2007

  • One of the webmasters of the French Vanden Plas website, Marlène, has put together a video clip about the most important football event of the year 2003: Vanden Plas against their French fans!! (RealPlayer format)
  • Andy Kuntz' rock musical "Abydos" is back at the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern! The dates: 30.03. / 13.04. / 27.04. / 17.05. / 20.05. / 26.05. / 17.06. / 24.06.

17 December 2006

  • Unfortunately, Vanden Plas' appearance at the End Of Dayz Festival had to be cancelled because of an unsolvable time schedule problem (it was not possible to schedule Vanden Plas on the 30th as planned before and one of the band members has a theatre engagement on the 31st).
  • Andy Kuntz is currently working on the lyrics and vocal lines for his "holy" side project Amaseffer. The project is based on the story of Exodus. Originating from Israel, the band features Yuval Kramer (guitar), Hanan Abramovitch (guitar) and Erez Yohanan (songwriting, drums). The music has been described as a mixture of Middle Eastern spices with an epic, cinematic scope polished with philharmonic orchestrations. The lyrics of the album will be presented in three different languages: English, Aramaic and Hebrew.
    Check out the official Amaseffer homepage for more info, demo samples and updates!

01 December 2006

  • Vanden Plas is confirmed for ProgPower USA VIII! The festival takes place October 5-6, 2007 at the Center Stage Atlanta (formerly known as Earthlink Live) in Atlanta, Georgia. Vanden Plas will play at the showcase on October 4th together with Freak Kitchen. Other bands already confirmed for the festival include Sonata Arctica, Virgin Steele and Communic.

26 November 2006

  • Here are some new tour dates:
    30 December 2006 - Pratteln, Switzerland - End Of Dayz Festival, Z 7 (together with Finntroll, Sodom, Samael etc.)
    19 January 2007 - Weiher, Germany - Music Hall
    20 January 2007 - Illingen, Germany - New Years Rock, Kulturzentrum "Illipse" (together with Rage)
    02 October 2007 - Frankfurt, Germany - Spritzehaus

25 October 2006

  • Vanden Plas will play in Pirmasens at the Quasimodo on 17 November!

12 July 2006

  • Vanden Plas will play at the Bloodstock UK Metal Festival 2006 in Derby, UK on 30 September!
  • All Vanden Plas members will take part in the musical "Chess" at the theatre in Kaiserslautern. The premier show will take place October 21st 2006. "Abydos" will be back for some shows at the theatre in Kaiserslautern from March to June 2007.

02 July 2006

03 June 2006

  • Please note that on June 6th Vanden Plas will play at the Goudvishal in Arnhem and not in Rijssen as previously reported! Opening act for this show as well as for June 7th in Eindhoven at De Effenaar will be NovAct.

07 May 2006

  • Finally the new site layout is online! In addition, pretty much all of the subsections are now updated. Especially the press section and the photo gallery have grown quite a lot!

  • As a special treat for the Vanden Plas fans out there, here's a video about the recording of "Christ 0"! It has been produced by Björn Widmann and features interviews with all band members. Enjoy!

  • An die deutschsprachigen Vanden Plas - Fans: Eine deutsche Version dieser Website ist in Arbeit und wird hoffentlich auch bald online gehen! Mit dem erhofften Chart-Einstieg von "Christ 0" hat es übrigens leider nicht geklappt... trotzdem ein herzlichen Dankeschön an alle, die sich das Album gleich zugelegt haben!

09 April 2006

  • Vanden Plas will play some shows in Holland, check out the tour dates page!
  • A couple of reviews, stories and interviews about "Christ 0" have been added to the press section.

31 March 2006

  • The new Vanden Plas album Christ 0 is in stores now!!!

18 March 2006

  • In the latest issue of the German Rock Hard magazine, "Christ 0" received 9 out of 10 points and reached position 6 in the monthly soundcheck!

12 March 2006

  • Vanden Plas producer Markus Teske's new band Red Circuit just released their debut album "Trance State". The album has been co-produced by Andy Kuntz and features Stephan Lill as a guest musician (guitar solo on one track). The music is described as 'melodic progressive metal'. For more info, check out http://www.redcircuit.de/ !
Order Vanden Plas CDs, DVDs and merchandise at the Vanden Plas Shop!