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THE ARCHIVES
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Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
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MEDEA
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Henry Meeuws
November 2005
http://www.medeamusic.nl/
or http://www.casualsilence.nl/medea
When I interviewed Henry, I hadn't heard anything of the new Medea album yet, for it was a few hours before the listening session that Rock Inc had organized. By now I know that "Room XVII" is a captivating piece of work, a (symphonic/progressive) rock opera partly based on an important part of the Dutch history, the V.O.C. It stands for the "United East India Company", who established a monopoly on the spice trade with Indonesia in the 17th century. For that they had to keep non-V.O.C. traders out and killing wasn't shunned. They became the biggest company of its kind, trading spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper and other products like tea, silk, porcelain etc. I asked Henry to explain the story a little bit and how he got to work with 11 singers and a men's choir!
Can you tell our readers a bit about the story behind "Room XVII" ? How did you come up with it?
I came up with the story, after iO Pages (the leading sympho/progressive rock magazine here in Holland) had an request on their website about 2-3 years ago, to come up with a concept based on Dutch history. That had hardly been done so far, and I thought it was a cool idea. I had some experience with the previous album "Individual Unique", so it inspired me to give it a try. I picked the story of the V.O.C. as the basic concept, it's actually a story within a story. Based on facts: I started with the journey of the Batavia. There are two times, it starts in Room XVII in an old theater, the room that used to be the trade center of the "Lords of XVII", the big bosses of the V.O.C., in the 17th century. There is a man in this room with a split personality, a schizophrenic man, who secretly attends someone's piano lessons and this piano music triggers his second personality to come forward. This other person in him travels with the Batavia. I don't know if you know the story of the Batavia, but it doesn't end well, hehe! The ship sinks and there's mutiny. Anyway that's how the two stories entwine, there is some fiction as well as reality.
A romanticized story...
Yeah it contains a love story, a father-son relationship..
You could easily make a movie of it and you'd already have the soundcheck ready ;)
Yep!
How did you write the album?
Contrary to "Individual Unique" I only started with a bit of the instrumental part and I based it on the vocal lines. Because I knew from the start it would be a concept I made small pieces that would fit together later on. All based on vocal lines and the singers' abilities.
So you already knew who you wanted for the parts?
Yes, not all of it and some things have changed during the process, but the most important ones I knew. Like Rob Laarhoven of Casual Silence, I just knew he'd be a part of it. I've also been able to use the vocals of Joss Mennen, Edwin Balogh..
How did you find these people, did you know them all?
Yeah, most of them I got to know over the years, playing live with Casual Silence. You play with other bands, get connections, have your preferences for people you'd want to work with. Joss I knew from the Markant Studio in Heeze, where I mixed the last CD. At first I thought he would be out of reach for me, be too busy, but I thought I'd ask anyway. He mailed me back within an hour and thought it was very cool! Of course he already knew my first album and wanted to help me lift it to the next level by offering me a record deal with Snakebite Records!
Was the songwriting process different from the previous album? You already mentioned something in the beginning..
Yeah a bit, like I said I based it on vocal lines and wrote things to serve the song more. So no lengthy guitar solos or sympho wanking. More compact and more catchy, you can esp. hear that in the choruses I think. With "Individual Unique" I almost finished the instrumental part before I even had one lyric. Now I kept the total picture in mind while writing.
So it'll probably be more accessible and catchier?
I think so, yes. There are more harmonies, repeating choruses..
You are using a lot of singers (11 I believe)?
Yes, 11 guest singers, 8 male and 3 female, and a men's choir of 65 men.
How did you come to work with the Lambardi choir?
I've always wanted to work with a choir some day, ever since I heard "Operation Mindcrime" back in '88 or something. I've seen Queensryche several times and still love them, though a bit less without Chris De Garmo.
I've seen them on the original "Mindcrime" tour and then last year at the Bang Your Head festival, with again the whole "Mindcrime" set, even singer Pamela Moore, who sang the part of Sister Mary on the record, was there!
That song, "Suite Sister Mary", had a choir in it and I knew that I had to do that too, the combination of a classical choir and rock music. And now the time was right, for this rock opera I knew I needed a choir, period! So I started to look around for it and decided it had to be a men's choir and through Rob Laarhoven I got in touch with Lambardi, a professional choir from Helmond and we recorded it with 65 men. Rob had connections through his work with the choir's PR guy who had mentioned that the choir would be interested in doing something else for a change than the usual classical pieces. So I grabbed the opportunity with both hands. The choirmaster came to my house, I had already worked out the scores for the different parts. He has arranged it some more, because he knows what his basses and tenors etc. can do, and did a perfect job. And then we recorded it. A very cool experience!
The singers play certain characters, right?
Yes.
Did you play all the instruments on the album, except for the drums (Fon Janssen)?
I had Fon on drums and Abel Groenewolt on violin. I had a part that in my opinion needed a real violin. I met him through Peer Rave. I have a friend who plays violin, but this was a very sensitive part. With violin, if you don't play it exactly right it's horrible, so for this more difficult part I chose to use a professional, from the band Foam, a band from Eindhoven.
Where did you record it and who produced it?
I produced it myself and it's been recorded on several locations. In my own studio I did all the guitars, bass and keyboards, initially with the use of a click-track. I programmed the drums so I had a basis, then we went to Helchteren in Belgium, the Art Sound Studio, I've been there for 3 days with Fon Janssen to record the drums. And in Eindhoven, at Custom Recording, where the album also has been mixed and mastered, we recorded the vocals with Peer Rave.
Do you prefer these historical subjects ("Individual Unique" was about Michelangelo) or could a next album just as well be about something else?
I do have a preference for it, yes. For "Individual Unique" I got inspired on a cultural vacation in Italy, we were in Florence, Rome a.o., where there is no way around Michelangelo of course and I was impressed. That was the reason to make a concept album about him.
Did you go somewhere for inspiration for the V.O.C. story?
Not really. We did go to Amsterdam, there's no Batavia there, but the Amsterdam I believe, which is similar. The Batavia itself is in Lelystad.
It's still alive? ;)
They brought it back to life ;) A few years ago they built a copy and it sailed to America and back - in the same condition and with the same means as back then!
If it could sail the seas back then, why not now, I guess.
Sure. But it took forever of course. No 100 km/h there, hehe.
And not everybody arrived at their destiny.
No, 3/4 never came back ;)
The cover has been done by Erwin Munsters, who is he and what has he done before?
First of all he's a good friend of Casual Silence, he also did the cover for "Once In A Blue Moon". Initially I wanted to do the cover myself again, like the last one, but then he offered to do it, because he wanted to expand his portfolio and I took the opportunity. I gave him some themes and keywords and he did a great job. His first effort was exactly what I had in mind! It clicked instantly and he's a very good graphic artist. For him it was a good opportunity as well to get some new connections and possible clients, with all the other singers involved.
A good networking opportunity for sure.
You signed with Snakebite, did you get other offers as well?
I did have an offer from Germany, but after I signed with Snakebite. When I asked Joss to sing on the album and he offered the deal, I didn't look any further. He was very enthusiastic and I was confident he would do something with it. And of course I knew Joss already, so I had no reason to look any further.
Do you have any plans to put this rock opera on a stage?
I've been asked that before, hehe. Right now, no. Because it will be such a big organisation that I wouldn't be able to do it myself. I would have to hire guest musicians, I would need a stage plan, and of course actors, at least if I want to do it right. The material would be great for it I think, but it's too expensive, I'd need a big budget.
Aren't there theater companies or something that take on projects like this?
I know that Kayak did a theater tour with "Nostradamus" and they used Opus One. I've seen it and it was very impressive, very well done. But still, all the guest singers have main bands and busy lives, it wouldn't be easy. It already takes a lot to get them together for a rehearsal with the right persons on the same days, let alone for the preparations for a production like this. It would be very difficult.
Suppose, to keep on fantasizing, you had the money and it was possible to organize it, how would you go about it? A theater tour? What sets?
laughter Oh I don't know, I would pick some good guest musicians, it would be a huge production and I don't really think about that right now. My goal I've already achieved, to top my previous CD, to work with a real drummer, to make a product that at least I myself am proud of and I've done that.
The rest is a bonus.
Yeah, if I can sell it and it gets some media attention, than that's extra.
I want to thank you for the interview, do you have a last message for our readers?
Check out the CD and buy it! ;) I'm happy with how it's all been done and if I had to do it again, I'd do it the same way.
submitted by Marlies 07.01.2006
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