Guitarist extraordinaire Marcel Coenen is one of the hottest new players
on the scene and has just released his second solo album Colour Journey.
We caught up with Marcel to get an insight into the making of the album,
the latest news on the next Sun Caged album, find out about his new
signature guitar and much more.
Marcel,
congratulations on Colour Journey, you have produced an album that
covers a lot of ground musically yet retains an identifiable sound
that is distinctly yours.
Thanks a
lot !! I am very pleased with the album as it gets a lot of great
reviews as well, so I am happy !
What led to you wanting to make a more varied album than your
instrumental debut 'Guitartalk'?
It actually
just happened during writing, I noticed a lot of different styles came
out of my mind, so I decided to make it a journey to all kinds of
styles which interest me.
You have a lot of different guest musicians on the album, did you
write each track specifically with an another artist in mind to
sing/play on each track?
Not really,
I wrote the songs and afterwards I started selecting the singers. Only
for Colleen Gray's song (That Moment) and for Mike's song (Waiting) I
wrote the song with their voice already in my mind.
The album is home to music that fans of 'Guitartalk' and Sun Caged
can latch onto yet you have widened your horizons as well. Was this a
goal for the finished album?
Absolutely.
On this album are songs which I never could use for Sun Caged or any
other projects I am working on, so that is why I think it is a great
thing to do a solo album in the first place, to cover up all the
styles.
How do you generally come up with a song? Do you ever write
anything down before hand or does it mainly come from improvisation?
I
turn on my computer, start up Cubase, make a drum machine active and
start programming drum rhythms, so I get rhythmic ideas. That is the
way songs like Patron Saint and Skill Factor were written. Songs like
La Bella Mira come from a sweet thought on someone and that gives
melodies in my head (in this case my girlfriend). In other therms I
think theoretically (New Race) and in others I am playing with
atmospheric sounds on my synthesizer (Still Bleeding) or am I just
jamming some riffs (Waiting). I get inspired by a lot of things, I can
get inspired by things happening around me, or by hearing nature
sounds, so many different things actually, kinda hard to explain.
Can you give our readers an insight into the making of the album,
its history and your promotional plans?
I
started writing the album in the beginning of 2005. I started
programming all the drums and bass lines and playing demo guitars on
it as well. I also programmed keyboards, which later were also used on
the album. Then I gave the full tracks to the drummers, so they could
learn the pieces. I also gave the same tracks to the bass player who
also could learn the pieces. In the studio I recorded all the drums
and guitars and some vocals. All keyboards, some other vocals and all
bass tracks were recorded at the musicians own home studio's and were
later imported in our system. The mixing was done by myself and Hans
Reinders, the owner of the studio and singer for VDM. I just have had
a CD release party which was an awesome evening. Almost all guest
musicians who also play on the album were there and played with me on
stage. Everything has been recorded digitally on 32 tracks (protools)
and also with 6 camera's for a future DVD release by Lion Music later
this year. I will promote the album as much as possible at clinics,
Sun caged gigs and much more.
Tell us about the launch party.
The launch
party was at January the 28th, the place was crowded (approx 300
people) and it went very well. We played the whole album live with
almost all guest musicians who also appear on the album.
What will be on the DVD and do
you know a release date?
The
full set has been recorded and probably around October the DVD will be
released.
The instrumental 'La Bella Mira' is a beautiful piece of music,
where did the inspiration for this track come from?
I wrote this song for my girlfriend. when I composed it I had her in
my mind all the time ;)
Do you do anything to get yourself in the right frame of mind for
recording?
Just start
writing and make myself a total part of it. I hate being disturbed
during writing so normally I turn off all communication things, like
my phone, msn, email etc. I write best at night btw, after midnight.
'Waiting'
is a great riff fuelled track with an excellent guitar/keyboard duel
between yourself and Bob Katsionis, do you have any plans to
collaborate together again in the future?
Absolutely
! Bob is an amazing musician, I recently also met him during my short
vacation in Athens, Greece. Great guy !!
Do you have any favourite performances on the album?
Not really, I really do like every track. Else it would have not
appeared on my album as well.
I see on your website you now endorse Bo-el guitars and have 2
signature guitars available. What led to you changing from Ibanez to
Bo-el?
Simple answer: much better quality, and great guitars, built for my
taste. The guitars are built for me excusively, and now are also
available for the public, so if anyone wants to play an MC6 or an MC7
they can always email me and I will explain them the features etc.
They are really amazing guitars !
What are the differences between the 6 and 7 string guitars apart
from the obvious extra string?
The 7
string also has a Tree Of Life inlay while the 6 string version has a
shark fin inlay. The six string models are available in 4 different
colours (transparent black, tobacco sunburst, natural and fuchsia red)
while the 7 string is available in three of the four colours (not
available in tobacco)
What do these guitars give you tonally and allow you to do as a
musician that other's don't?
Brilliance,
tone and playability. Those three things are really amazing about
these guitars.
Your guitar tone on Colour Journey is superb, a little crisper than
on previous works, what guitar/amp set up did you use?
I used the
same guitar rig as ever, but the change of guitars maybe is the answer
here ;)
Were the guitars recorded direct with speaker simulation as on
Guitartalk or did you mic up a speaker cab this time?
I recorded
the same way as recording the Sun Caged album. two SM57's close miked
to the speaker cabinet. Still sounds the best IMO.
There was talk of you endorsing Carvin amps, what happened with
this?
I tried the
Carvin Legacy, but the sound was very different from my own rig, so in
the end I did not want to use the Carvins since the sound would differ
too much from my original sound which I really like. Not that the
carvin is a bad amp, they sound great but just different.
I see that Sun Caged are about to begin work on the 2nd album, there
have been a couple of personnel changes in the band since the debut,
what effect has this had on the music?
Sun Caged
always was a band with changing styles, that is what the name
progressive means in my book. The new Sun Caged sounds very fresh and
more melodic then before.
Can you give us an idea of what to expect from this album?
Prog Metal
in its widest range. From melancholic melodic pieces to heavy riffing,
everything will be there. Paul Villarreal is an excellent vocalist
(you can hear him on Colour Journey at Patron Saint) which will bring
the band to a different level.
What other plans do you have for 2006?
I will
visit Thailand in March to do some clinics in Bangkok, further I am
mixing the audio for the DVD, will start recording the next Sun Caged
album in April, and will start shooting the long awaited instructional
DVD as well.
Anything else you would like to add?
Marcel, thank you very much for your time.
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