Recorded and filmed at January 28th
2006 in Weert, The Netherlands, at "De Bosuil".
A Live
Time Journey is the much anticipated live DVD from Marcel
Coenen (Sun Caged). The DVD is a live documentation of
the live performance to launch Marcel’s second solo album
‘Colour Journey’ (2006 Lion Music) in his native Netherlands.
The DVD sees a wealth of musical talent travel from around the globe
to perform the many musical styles of ‘Colour Journey’
in the live arena.
Marcel's
Comments
Initial
Idea & Preparation
My second album, called "Colour Journey" was released
in January 2006 and has been receiving great reviews. To celebrate
the release of Colour Journey, I planned a CD Release Party. The
party had to be something special, so the idea came about to make
a live DVD, playing the entire album live with almost all of the
guest musicians who appear on the “Colour Journey” album.
I had some overseas
musicians working with me, so I had to think of a plan to get them
over for the show. I was happy that Mike Andersson and Colleen Gray
were available and more then happy to come over for the show.
Then I started
planning the whole event. I made a set list containing all songs
from “Colour Journey”, some songs from my first solo
CD “Guitartalk” and some cool covers.
I needed a second
guitarist who was able to play twin lines with me and had good rhythm
guitar skills. Frank Schiphorst I knew very well, as I had filled
in as a guitarist for his own band, Symmetry, and I knew he was
a good choice for the job. Since I programmed most of the keyboards
on “Colour Journey” I also needed a keyboard player
who was able to play with me. At first I contacted Rene Kroon (Sun
caged) who also plays on the song “Patron Saint” on
the Colour Journey CD, but Rene was dealing with some health issues
so a replacement had to be found. I contacted Rene Ubachs (from
the Dutch band, Arabesque) and was very happy that he could do the
job. On all other instruments I contacted all the players who also
worked with me on the “Colour Journey” album. The musicians
also learned some songs from my first solo CD, and also some covers
we played at the end of the show. The singers all helped each other
with harmony lines from their respective songs.
The first rehearsals
we did were just with the drummers and second guitarist, Frank.
The first full rehearsal with everyone involved was in the venue
where the gig was taking place, the day before the show. I noticed
during these rehearsals that something special was happening. Call
it magic, but it seemed like all the musicians played with each
other for years. The chemistry was awesome during the rehearsals
and I knew it was becoming something really special.
The singers
took a different room and rehearsed their lines (and harmony lines,
helping each other learn the parts) in that room while we were rehearsing
the music on the stage. This was my first time hearing songs like
“Moyra” and “Inner Alchemy” being played
by a real drummer and bass player. What an awesome experience! I
wish I had recorded “Guitartalk” that way.
The
Day Of The Show
The
day started with another rehearsal on the stage, and while we were
rehearsing the people of the venue were preparing everything for
the show. Martin Verberk came in and started to install his audio
recording tools. Also the crew from LowLifeMedia came in and started
to plan the DVD shooting.
The audio recording
was BIG. 32 tracks totally used! With two drum kits on stage, two
keyboards, a bass stack, two guitar stacks and four different singing
mikes we had a huge recording going on.
When the crowd
came in and Colleen started doing her show I was getting nervous.
Was everything set up right?? Is nothing going to break down? Will
the camera’s work properly? Will we play well? All sorts of
things started to go through my head, so I needed to take a time
for myself. I locked myself up in a small room for 15 minutes and
meditated to clear my mind and come to rest. When I was done meditating
it was time to hit the stage.
When Colleen
Gray announced me the adrenaline raised through my veins…
When I walked on stage and saw all the people who came to see the
show I was very happy, and I knew the show was going to become something
special.
I never imagined
so many people would come to see me, people from Portugal, Sweden,
Germany, Belgium, and off course from the Netherlands. The crowd
reacted very well to the show and the show itself went pretty smooth
(some technical issues appeared though, and some little playing
mistakes were made as well).
I decided not
to edit out all the mistakes, so what you get is a pure registration
of this evening like it was. You will hear some mistakes, and you
will notice some things not going so smooth, but it is LIVE, with
only two full days of rehearsing.
Thoughts on the extra's
In
my opinion a DVD is worth buying if it has some extra stuff as well.
I decided to include some cool footage. The Thailand show was recorded
in March 2006 and was of good quality, so I decided to include some
footage from that show. The behind the scenes material was recorded
during the preparation for the show, and is a cool add-on. The covers
were too great to leave them out, even if they are not played too
well, but the chemistry is there. The Hidden guitarsolo is a nice
feature which people have to find (tip: scroll around on the first
page). The other extra's are cool add-ons.
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