Once in a while new rock bands are knocking at the door in order to achieve fame in the rock scene. I got the
chance to see two of them play live on stage before an audience.
eVe and
The Odyssey are relatively
unknown bands in the Netherlands and they're now making their first steps in the world of recording artists. Both
bands delivered their first CD during the period that I watched them in the ever cosy venue strangely titled 't
Blok. And of course the usual snacks were present as always.
The Odyssey
|
L to R: Hidde Roorda and Danny van Hek |
The band that started to play first on this Sunday afternoon was The Odyssey from the city of Utrecht. They call
themselves an alternative rock trio. During their almost one-hour show I could hardly hear any progressive rock
influences. The music that
Danny van Hek (guitar, vocals),
Hidde Roorda (bass, vocals) and
Sjaak
van Dam
|
Sjaak
van Dam |
(drums, vocals) performed has been inspired by bands as
Queens Of The Stone Age,
Soundgarden
and
Incubus. Maybe the small passages influenced by
Led Zeppelin and
The Mars Volta would
give them a kind of connection to the prog genre. Especially the pre-recorded keyboard sounds used during some
of the intros produced some prog rock sounds after all. Apart from this the compositions are purely guitar orientated.
Their music has also a link with the American rock band
Rival Sons. This became obvious when they covered
the song
Pressure Time. The other songs they performed during their set were mainly taken from their first
EP, which they recorded in April 2015 together with guitarist-vocalist
Dirk Vermeij of
Wild Romance.
eVe
|
L to R: Alysia van Horik and Bas Haverkamp |
For the second band to perform it was the first concert they did together as a band presenting their debut EP
Reverie. Since the musicians of eVe already played in several other acts in the past, I certainly
wouldn't call them beginners. The band members didn't have to travel that far; it was more or less a home game
for them since most members live in the same place as the venue they performed at. Therefore it wasn't strange
that the venue was rather packed with relatives and friends. They were ready to witness a tragic story translated
into a musical rollercoaster, because that's what the musical concept had in store for them. You could say that
the music contains subtle soundscapes, bombastic crescendos, a kind of prog metal blended with elements of gothic
metal. Their musical style could be compared to bands like
Within Temptation,
Evanescence and
Nightwish,
since the band is fronted by female singer
Alysia van Horik. She seemed to be influenced by
Sharon
den Adel
|
Jack Ket |
(Within Temptation), but after the show she explained that singers like
Kate Bush and
Tori
Amos had inspired her the most.
Next to the strong vocals of Alysia the band have another strong asset, namely
Sebas van Vugt. Apart from
the fact that he's an excellent drummer, he's an amazing lead singer as well. Unfortunately the latter cannot
be said about the great guitar player
Jack Ket. His grunts are something you either love or hate. Well,
it certainly wasn't my cup of tea. Thanks to the musical performances of the classically trained keyboard player
Erik Schiphorst and bassist
Bas Haverkamp, I remained in a positive mood throughout the set. Their
musical craftsmanship could also be heard during the covers they did as a kind of encore. They started and ended
with
Uninvited from
Alanis Morissette and in between they performed a part of
Pink
Floyd's
Another Brick In The Wall. However, the band's versions of these well-known tunes were rather
heavy with a lot of additional guitar parts. In a way I certainly liked them, just like most other people in the audience.
Honestly speaking, I really doubt if both bands would ever become great acts in our country let alone in Europe
or the rest of the world. However, you could say that they had fun playing live on stage for those who came to
see them. I certainly enjoyed both performances even though the first one had little progressive rock influences.
All in all they assured me of having another pleasant Sunday afternoon concert well-organized by the ProgFrog team!
Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)