Contents:
1) New
Vanden Plas album: 12 Songs already composed!
2)
Stephan Lill: Signature guitar by TTM Supershop
3) „Ludus Danielis“
4) „Hair“
5) „Der Herbst des Winterkönigs“
6) Vanden
Plas Shop in new hands
7)
Günter Werno: Place Vendome, Debauchery and Joe Lynn Turner
8) Red
Circuit
9) Night
of the Musical-Stars
10)
Vanden Plas at ProgPower USA 2009!
1) New Vanden Plas album: 12 Songs already
composed!
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 (see Andy
Kuntz’ statement below). 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.
Andy Kuntz: „The new Vanden Plas CD will once again be
a concept album. It is also planned to bring it on the theatre stage one day.
The working title is ‚The Journey of the Watchman’ und The story unfolds in Rome in three different
time periods. It is about the watchmaker ‚Tao’ who, under strange
circumstances, takes possession of a magic chronograph. This clock enables him
to ‚stab’ a hole in time. It was once filled with 2000 years but there are only
a few grains left. To dive deeper into my science fiction story which should be
based on well researched historical facts, similar to ‘Abydos’, I travelled to
Rome and stayed at a monastery for a couple of days. Close to the roots of our
Christian history at the ‘Santa Croce de Gerusalemme’ where some holy relics of
Saint Helena are still kept, I was able to gain a lot of inspiration. Based on
Stephan’s songs I already started to work on some vocal lines. I guess it will
take until June to finish the songs. Then let’s enter the studio and release
the album!“
2)
Stephan Lill: Signature guitar by TTM Supershop
The American guitar manufacturer TTM Supershop
contacted Stephan some time ago. They proposed to construct a custom-made
guitar for him, tailored to his wishes and preferences. Now this has become
reality: the first signature model! The exact name has not been chosen yet. 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.
Check out pictures of the guitar at http://www.vandenplas.de/ !
3)
„Ludus Danielis“
Because of last year's success, the rock musical
"Ludus Danielis" is played again at the Pfalztheater in Kaiserlautern, Germany, featuring all of the
Vanden Plas guys. Here are the dates:
15 March 2009
19 March 2009
29 March 2009
12 April 2009
03 May 2009
Tickets can be ordered at http://www.pfalztheater.de/.
Another big success for the band and the whole
Pfalztheater ensemble was the chart entry of the "Ludus Danielis"
DVD. For the fourth time in a row, the DVD reached the top ten of the Media
Control musical charts in the German "Musicals" magazine, this time
on the no. 2 spot!
The DVD is now available at the Vanden
Plas Online Shop!
4)
„Hair“
Since november, the musical "Hair" is shown
with great success at the Pfalztheater in
Kaiserslautern. Once again, the Vanden Plas guys are responsible for the
music (this time without Andy though), playing together with 4 brass musicians.
Günter is musical director of the show. With his arrangements, he managed to
give the old songs a modern touch without changing their character.
The dates:
21 February 2009 / 08 March 2009 / 12 March 2009 / 22
March 2009 / 27 March 2009 / 27 March 2009 / 11 April 2009
As always, tickets can be ordered at http://www.pfalztheater.de/ !
On January 30th the Vanden Plas guys (except for Andy)
appeared in the "Super-Chart-Show" on German RTL television. Together
with other artists from the "Hair" musical production they performed
the song "Aquarius". You can watch the performance on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZfteBv1slE
5) „Der
Herbst des Winterkönigs“
Vanden Plas will also participate in a new theatre
project called "Der Herbst des Winterkönigs" ("The Fall of the
Winter King"). Premier will be in May 2009 at the Mariahilfberg in Amberg,
Germany. The music for the play was written by Roger Boggasch (who also wrote the
music for "Nostradamus" which was played at the Pfalztheater in
2003). The lyrics were done by Johannes Reitmeier, intendant of the
Pfalztheater, who already worked together with Vanden Plas for
"Abydos" and "Ludus Danielis".
Here are the dates:
15. Mai 2009 / 17. Mai 2009 / 20. Mai 2009 / 21. Mai 2009 / 22. Mai 2009 / 23. Mai 2009 / 24. Mai 2009 / 28. Mai 2009 / 29. Mai 2009 / 30. Mai 2009 / 31. Mai 2009 /
01. Juni 2009
More information (in German) can be found at the
following address: http://www.amberg.de/index.php?id=4816
Ticket sales: Tourist-Information Amberg, Tel. (09621)
10-233, tourismus@amberg.de, http://www.amberg.de
or http://www.ticket-online.de.
6)
Vanden Plas Shop in new hands
The Vanden Plas Online Shop is now run by a new partner. During the
hand-over period, there have unfortunately been time delays for some orders.
The band would like to say sorry to everybody who was affected by this.
7)
Günter Werno: Place Vendome, Debauchery and Joe Lynn Turner
Place Vendome 2 has already been announced some time
ago. I liked the first album a lot and really enjoyed recording it, so I was
very curious how to hear the new songs. It turned out that this time it was not
Dennis Ward who composed the songs but that there were different songwriters
involved (Joe Lynn Turner among others). Most of the keyboards were already
specified but I tried to bring in as much of my own ideas as possible. Dennis
Ward was very pleased with the results and I was very enthusiastic when I heard
the first rough mixes which he sent me. In one of the songs
("Valerie") there are even two keyboard solos. Michael Kiske is in
top form, he’s absolutely a fantastic singer! The album is a must for melodic
rock fans but also contains complex, I would say even progressive parts for
which I used orchestra arrangements.
I hadn’t even finished the Place Vendome recordings
when Dennis called me again and asked me to play on the new Joe Lynn Turner
album. As far as I know, Turner wrote all of the songs himself. My involvement
took place in a similar way as for Place Vendome: There were already keyboard
lines on the demos but I tried to find some new things. I am sure the album
will be excellent even though I didn’t hear a complete mix yet. It was a great
experience to play together with Joe Lynn Turner on an album. Hey, it’s Joe
Lynn Turner – the singer of Rainbow… I was proud as hell!
Then there was the third production with Dennis: the
new Debauchery album. Dennis – who also played bass on all of the mentioned
albums, by the way – and Debauchery singer and guitarist Thomas Gurrath wanted
me to record harmonies for some choruses and told me to make them sound a bit
orchestral. When I heard the songs and got over my prejudices, I was
enthusiastic. There is such an amount of energy in these songs. Besides the
orchestral parts I found a way of bringing my style into the music. I used
piano sounds, distorted organ sounds a la Jon Lord but also aggressive solo
sounds. I really let myself go. Thomas was so pleased with the results that he
engaged me for one more song, in addition to the five I had already recorded.
So it became really loud in my studio… The cd will be released in April as a
double album: On one cd there will be ‘normal’ rock songs (piano, organ) and
the other one is entitled “Total War” – this is where the hard stuff can be
heard. One might have prejudices to this kind of music, the vocals are indeed a
bit special. But after getting deeper into it, I can at least say that Death
Metallers have created a new kind of drumming and that all in all, it is really
cool.
Günter Werno
8) Red
Circuit
Andy Kuntz: Since more than a year I am working
together with Markus Teske (sound engineer and co-producer of the last three VP
albums) on the second output of his band Red Circuit. Markus already had a
couple of songs ready when I joined the project. Not only for artistic reasons
but also because of my friendship to Markus I am keen to help bringing this
album to the highest possible quality level. We added three more songs recently
which help to achieve this. I think that with this album, Red Circuit will
finally get the international reputation they deserve!
9) Night
of the Musical-Stars
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. For more information, go to http://www.vandenplas.de/musicalnight.php!
10)
Vanden Plas at ProgPower USA 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/!
http://www.vandenplas-france.com/