Arjen Anthony Lucassen
Background information
Born	April 3, 1960 (1960-04-03) (age 47)
Origin	Netherlands
Genre(s)	Progressive metal Progressive rock Symphonic metal
Years active	1981 - present
Associated acts	Ayreon Stream of Passion Star One Ambeon Bodine Vengeance
Website	Ayreon Website
Notable instrument(s)
Fender Stratocaster Gibson Explorer

Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born April 3, 1960, Hilversum) is a composer and musician from the Netherlands and is most widely known for his albums released under the name Ayreon. Arjen plays a wide variety of instruments, chiefly guitars and synthesizers, but also less commonly others such as the flute and mellotron. He also occasionally uses his voice in his music. Although Arjen cannot read or write sheet music, he is a proficient musician and adept in technical aspects. He has a penchant for directing talent, characterized by the successful Ayreon albums, in almost all of which he pools together the talent of many separate vocalists and musicians who record their performances individually. Unfortunately this makes arranging live performances very difficult, and thus Arjen is rarely seen in a live performance, although it has happened (such as during his Star One and Stream of Passion tours). Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,536 × 2,048 pixels, file size: 771 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Arjen Anthony Lucassen durante la firma de autógrafos en Mexico. ... is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Progressive metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music which blends the powerful, guitar-driven sound of metal with the complex compositional structures, odd time signatures, and intricate instrumental playing of progressive rock. ... For the Swedish political music movement, see progg. ... Symphonic metal is a term used to describe heavy metal music that has symphonic elements; that is, elements that sound similar to a classical symphony. ... Ayreon ( ) is a project by Dutch composer and musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen. ... Stream of Passion is a progressive metal band with symphonic metal influence founded by Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Marcela Bovio. ... STAR One features the next generation of Hindi entertainment with an innovative, diverse mix of programming and cutting edge production values that appeal to urban, upwardly mobile Indian audiences. ... Ambeon is one of the many projects of Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen. ... Stratocaster redirects here. ... The Gibson Explorer (now marketed as X-plorer and Explorer Pro), made its debut in 1958, then known as the Futura. ... is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. ... Ayreon ( ) is a project by Dutch composer and musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen. ... Sheet music is written representation of music. ... STAR One features the next generation of Hindi entertainment with an innovative, diverse mix of programming and cutting edge production values that appeal to urban, upwardly mobile Indian audiences. ... Stream of Passion is a progressive metal band with symphonic metal influence founded by Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Marcela Bovio. ...

Early life

Born April 3rd, 1960 in Hilversum. He and his brother Gjalt were reportedly good students, although Arjen was known for being a troublemaker in class. is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. ...

He became a big fan of The Beatles and then early glam-rock like Alice Cooper and David Bowie. At first, he did not want to play an instrument, and instead started a play-back project. He started to play guitar when a friend gave him a copy of the Deep Purple album Made in Japan. After learning to play, Arjen played in many bands until 1980, one called "Mover". The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... Glam rock (also known as glitter rock), is a style of rock and pop music, which initially surfaced in the post-hippie early 1970s. ... Alice Cooper (born February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans four decades. ... David Bowie (IPA: []) (born David Robert Jones on 1947 January 8) is an English singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger and audio engineer. ... This article is about the rock band. ... Template:Desambig Made in Japan (album)album of band Deep Purple Made in Japan (Pato Fu)Album of the band Pato Fu ...

Bodine

In 1980, Dutch band Bodine was looking for a new singer. Bodine was one of Arjen's favorite bands, and brought his guitar to the audition in hopes of becoming their second guitarist. After being rejected for his singing abilities, he then played some Bodine songs on his guitar. The rest of the band hired him as their guitarist.

Arjen stayed with Bodine until 1984, recording two albums with them, Bold and Brass and Three Time Running.

Vengeance

Arjen got a call from a new band called Vengeance, looking for a guitarist. He told them that he was available, and quickly quit Bodine shortly after.

He reportedly had more creative freedom in Vengeance, being able to write and compose songs. Still, much creative problems were present, seeing as the band all hailed from different musical backgrounds. In the early nineties, the band wanted to go into more of a grunge and alternative rock direction, much like many other bands at the time. Arjen, however, wanted to go into more of a progressive direction. Arjen left the band in 1992 to pursue a solo career.

Solo career

Due to the new found creative freedom, Arjen started writing and recording songs from many different styles. After hearing some of these songs, a record company decided to record an album with him. Arjen released the album Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy, under the name "Anthony", his middle name, in 1993. Arjen played most of the instruments himself except for the drums and synthesizer.

Even though the album spawned three singles with radio spots, the album flopped. It is no longer available, and is considered a collector's item.

Ayreon

After the not-so-successful solo album, Arjen wanted to create an album that would be all him, and would not conform to any one genre or style. He was inspired by the rock operas of the 60's and 70's like Andrew Lloyd Weber's Jesus Christ Superstar, The Who's Tommy, and Pink Floyd's The Wall. He found a small Dutch label called Transmission that was interested, and he started recording his next album. A rock opera or rock musical is a musical production in the form of an opera or a musical in a modern rock and roll style rather than more traditional forms. ... Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born March 22, 1948) is a highly successful British composer of musical theatre. ... This article is about the rock opera. ... The Who are a British rock band that first formed in 1964, and grew to be considered one of the greatest[1] and most influential[2] bands in the world. ... Alternate cover Deluxe edition cover Tommy is the first of The Whos two full-scale rock operas (the second being Quadrophenia), and the first musical work explicitly billed as a rock opera. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that initially earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. ... For other Pink Floyd works based around this album, see The Wall (Pink Floyd). ... Look up Transmission in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The original name for the album was just going to be "Ayreon: The Final Experiment", with no band name given. The label then suggested that the artist name should be given as Ayreon, and the album should be called "The Final Experiment". Ayreon's The Final Experiment was released in 1995. Much like his first solo album, he played many of the instruments himself and wrote all of the lyrics. The Final Experiment is an Ayreon album released in 1995. ...

The album featured a very wide array of musical styles, ranging from folk to progressive metal. Because of this, Arjen didn't think the album would be too successful. In contrast, the album was hailed as one of the greatest progressive rock operas of all time, and got high critical reviews. The album also contained many singers and guest musicians, with Arjen only singing on three of the songs.

The album's concept was about a blind minstrel in the 6th Century A.D. named Ayreon, who gets visions from scientists from the year 2084, when mankind has nearly destroyed itself. Their last resort is to contact someone from the past to try and warn humanity of its eventual downfall. Many of Ayreon's later albums would follow a sci-fi storyline. The 6th century is the period from 501 - 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ...

After the success of The Final Experiment, Arjen started on his next Ayreon album. In 1996, he released his second Ayreon album, Actual Fantasy. Unlike his previous album, Actual Fantasy has no continuous storyline. Each of the eight songs featured it's own storyline, either taken from folk tales or stories Arjen wrote himself. Much like his previous album, the style ranged many different genres, but unlike the last album, this one only had three singers (neither of them Arjen) and only two other instrumentalists. Actual Fantasy is an Ayreon album released in 1996. ...

After Actual Fantasy failed to meet the popularity of the The Final Experiment, Arjen wanted to do something extraordinary. After his cover project "Strange Hobby" flopped, he started working on his second rock opera.

Into the Electric Castle was released in 1998. It was released as a double album topping over 100 minutes. Unlike The Final Experiment, singers were recruited to play a certain character in the story. The most notable of the cast is Fish, who was the singer for the progressive rock band Marillion before he quit the band. Like all of his previous work, it is sci-fi oriented, with 8 characters from all over time being placed in a parallel dimension to journey to the Electric Castle. It was hailed as a masterpiece, and was the best-selling album until 2004. Into The Electric Castle is an Ayreon album released in 1998 by Transmission Records and re-released in 2004 by InsideOut Music. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Marillion is a British Rock group. ...

Propelled by success, Arjen released the two-part album, Universal Migrator in 2000. Both part 1 and 2 were released at the same time, with part 1 being The Dream Sequencer, a softer, atmospheric and progressive album, while part 2, Flight of the Migrator, edged more towards faster-paced, progressive metal. The idea between the two separate releases was to create an album specifically aimed towards the two different groups of Ayreon fans, the ones who like his progressive or fusion style, and the other that likes straightforward progressive metal and his harder side. Both albums were received pretty well by fans, however. Universal Migrator refers to one of two albums by progressive metal project Ayreon: Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator Category: ...

Unlike his previous opera, The Universal Migrator featured only one character, and the guest singers each played him on a different song. The most notable guest musician is Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, on "Flight of the Migrator". For the record producer in the Saturday Night Live skit, see More cowbell. ... This article is about the band. ...

Ayreonauts Only was released also in 2000, and featured remixes of many Ayreon songs. Afterwards, Arjen got pre-occupied with many side-projects, including Ambeon, Star One, and Stream of Passion. Ayreonauts Only is an Ayreon album released in 2001. ... Ambeon is one of the many projects of Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen. ... STAR One features the next generation of Hindi entertainment with an innovative, diverse mix of programming and cutting edge production values that appeal to urban, upwardly mobile Indian audiences. ... Stream of Passion is a progressive metal band with symphonic metal influence founded by Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Marcela Bovio. ...

Ayreon did not release another album until 2004, with the release of The Human Equation. It followed a similar formula as Into the Electric Castle. It is a double album, and the guest singers each play their own character in the story. The most notable of the singers is James LaBrie of Dream Theater, along with Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad) and Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth). Unlike his previous albums, this one was not sci-fi oriented, although the final track does loosely tie the album into the storyline of his other albums. The Human Equation is the sixth album by Arjen Anthony Lucassen, released under the name Ayreon. ... Kevin James LaBrie (born May 5, 1963) is a Canadian vocalist who is best known for being the lead singer in progressive metal band Dream Theater. ... Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band comprising James LaBrie, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy. ... Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972 in Vancouver, Canada) is a Canadian musician currently residing in British Columbia. ... Strapping Young Lad is an influential progressive extreme metal band from Canada, started by Devin Townsend in 1994. ... Mikael Ã…kerfeldt (IPA: ) (born April 17, 1974, in Stockholm, Sweden) is a highly influential Swedish musician, best known as the current lead vocalist of progressive metal band Opeth, and former lead singer of death metal band Bloodbath. ... Opeth are a heavy metal band from Stockholm, Sweden. ...

In Spring/Summer 2007, Arjen has announced a new Ayreon album in production and it is set for release in January 2008. On the MySpace-page myspace.com/ayreonauts there is information about the progress of the recordings and some demo soundclips. 01011001 is the seventh studio album by Arjen Anthony Lucassens long-running Ayreon project. ... MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. ...

None of the Ayreon albums have been played live, but individual songs have been played in tours of Arjen's side projects.

Special editions of all of Ayreon's album were released in 2004 when Arjen switched labels from Transmission to InsideOut Records. InsideOut (or Inside Out) is an independent record label company, specializing in the progressive rock and progressive metal genres. ...

Strange Hobby

Between Actual Fantasy and Into the Electric Castle, Arjen released an album on which he covered many of his favorite songs called Strange Hobby. The album itself did not do well upon release, and went out of print. It is his only work where he sings on all the songs and makes all of the music himself. Actual Fantasy is an Ayreon album released in 1996. ... Into The Electric Castle is an Ayreon album released in 1998 by Transmission Records and re-released in 2004 by InsideOut Music. ...

Ambeon

After the Universal Migrator albums, Arjen wanted to embark on two side projects that would explore both his ambient, atmospheric progressive side, and one that explored his heavier progressive metal side. This was his softer side.

This is how Ambeon got started, although it ended up something much different. When recruiting singers, he found out about a very talented Dutch singer named Astrid van der Veen, who at the time was only 14 years old. Arjen decided to focus Ambeon on just her singing abilities. Fate of a Dreamer was released in 2000, along with the single "Cold Metal". The album featured just Astrid on vocals and her lyrics, and Arjen on most of the instruments. The album had limited success. Astrid van der Veen is Dutch singer. ... Fate of a Dreamer is Ambeons debut album, released in 2001 by Dutch music label Transmission Records. ...

Although the project has not been officially retired, there are currently no further plans for Ambeon. Astrid is currently in a band called theEndorphins. Ambeon also never toured.

Star One

After the Universal Migrator Albums, Arjen wanted to embark on two side projects that would explore both his ambient, atmospheric progressive side, and one that explored his heavier progressive metal side. This was his heavy side.

Much like Ayreon, Star One had many guest singers and musicians, the most notable being Russell Allen of Symphony X. Arjen released Star One's Space Metal in 2002. Like Ayreon's Actual Fantasy, Space Metal did not follow one storyline; instead, each song was a different story with a sci-fi concept, most of the tracks based on existing movies and series like Star Wars, Star Trek IV, Blake's 7, and Dune. The album also had limited success, although it was more successful than Ambeon. Russell Allen (born July 19, 1971 in Long Beach, California) is the singer of the American symphonic progressive metal band Symphony X. // Allen has been the lead singer of Symphony X since 1995, releasing together six studio albums. ... Symphony X is an American progressive metal band from New Jersey founded in 1994 by guitarist Michael Romeo. ... Space Metal is an album by UFO released in 1976. ... Actual Fantasy is an Ayreon album released in 1996. ... This article is about the series. ... Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Paramount Pictures, 1986; see also 1986 in film) is the fourth feature film based on the popular Star Trek science fiction television series. ... Blakes 7 is a British science fiction television series made by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for their BBC 1 channel. ... Dune is a 1984 science fiction film written and directed by David Lynch, based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name. ...

Like Arjen's other project Stream of Passion, Star One did tour and released a live album called Live on Earth. Along with playing Star One songs, they also played many Ayreon songs on tour.

Stream of Passion

After completing the Ayreon album The Human Equation, Arjen wanted to create a more conventional progressive metal band. He also wanted to showcase the talents of Mexican singer, Marcela Bovio, who sang on The Human Equation. Marcela Alejandra Bovio García (born October 17, 1979 in Monterrey, Nuevo León) is a Mexican musician. ...

He recruited a bassist, drummer, and keyboardist and started the band now called Stream of Passion. Arjen allowed Marcela to be creatively free, with her writing and composing a lot of the music. The style ended up as a blend of metal and symphonic progressive rock. They released the album Embrace the Storm in 2005. Like Arjen's previous side project, Star One, Stream of Passion toured and released a live album, Live in the Real World, in 2006. Like Star One, the tour featured many Ayreon songs as well as songs from the album. Stream of Passion is a progressive metal band with symphonic metal influence founded by Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Marcela Bovio. ... Embrace the Storm is Stream of Passions debut album released on October 24, 2005 by InsideOut Music. ...

Due to internal difficulties, Arjen left Stream of Passion in 2007. The band itself has not broken up though, however, there has not been another album announced.

Recent bands

• Ayreon
• Ambeon
• Star One
• Stream of Passion

Ayreon ( ) is a project by Dutch composer and musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen. ... Ambeon is one of the many projects of Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen. ... STAR One features the next generation of Hindi entertainment with an innovative, diverse mix of programming and cutting edge production values that appeal to urban, upwardly mobile Indian audiences. ... Stream of Passion is a progressive metal band with symphonic metal influence founded by Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Marcela Bovio. ...

Past bands

• Bodine
• Vengeance

Guest appearances

• Pythagoras - After the Silence (1981)
• Anthony - Pools Of Sorrow, Waves Of Joy (1993)
• Ian Parry - Symphony of Dreams (1993)
• Alex Bollard - Pink Floyd Songbook (1994)
• Ian Parry - Thru the Looking Glass (1995)
• Strange Hobby - Strange Hobby (1996)
• Biscuit - Between you and me (1996)
• Veralin - Opposites (1997)
• Helloise - A Time And Place For Everything (1998)
• Block Busters - Powder to the People (1999)
• Ian Parry - Consortium Project (1999)
• Peter Daltrey - Candy (1999)
• Rocket Scientists - Oblivion Days (1999)
• Erik Norlander - Into The Sunset (2000)
• Ian Parry - Shadowman (2000)
• Glass Hammer - Chronometree (2000)
• Within Temptation - Mother Earth (2000)
• Lana Lane - Secrets Of Astrology (2000)
• After Forever - Emphasis (single) (2002)
• Nolan / Wakeman - The Hound Of The Baskervilles (2002)
• Wicked Sensation - Reflected (2002)
• Nightingale - Alive Again (2003)
• Ars Nova - Biogenesis (2003)
• Gary Hughes - Once and Future King Part I (2003)
• Space Mirrors - The Darker Side of Art (2004)
• Amadeus' Spell (2004)
• Elfonía - This Sonic Landscape (2005)
• Shadow Gallery - Room V: Special Edition (2005)
• Galexia - Galexia (2008)

Within Temptation is a Symphonic Metal band from the Netherlands. ... Lana Lane is a North American rock singer. ... After Forever is a symphonic metal band from the Netherlands, which relies on the use of both soprano vocals and death grunts. ... Gary Hughes (born July 5th, 1967 in Manchester) is an English hard rock singer, songwriter and musician. ... Once and Future King Part I is the fourth studio album released by Gary Hughes. ... Shadow Gallery is a six-piece American progressive metal band formed in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania during the early 1980s, originally under the name Sorcerer. ...

Notes

• Arjen is known for loving to get emails from his fans, and answers them rather diligently, as quickly as he can in his hectic schedule. He also opened a line of communication on the Ayreon website known as "Ask Arjen Anything", where fans could ask whatever they'd like to him, to which Arjen answers, and the completed list can be seen on the site itself.

• Arjen is a very tall man at just under 6'7 (202 cm).

External links

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Arjen Anthony Lucassen

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