Frozen Rain
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6,413 views
Frozen Rain is the melodic rock project of composer Kurt Vereecke. There are musicians and singers of 6 different countries involved. Most known musician is guitar player Tommy Denander who has worked before with people like Toto, Europe, Richard Marx & many more. You can find all details and info about Kurt and Frozen Rain at http://www.frozenrain.be/Band/artist history
Kurt Vereecke, founder of the Frozen Rain project was born on November 22, 1963 in Belgium. Music has always fascinated me, Kurt says. He wrote his first song when he was only 10 years old. In the local school of music Kurt formed his musical basics and learned to play guitar. At the age of 17 he formed his first band called No Problems. Kurt was the lead singer and guitar player and his brother Hans became the drummer of the band. No Problems mostly played covers and a few of their own songs.
When the group changed its name into Frozen Rain (Yes, the name Frozen Rain was used for the first time back in 1983), Kurt also started to play keyboards. The band got a place in the final of the Lof-festival, a well known festival for beginning bands and the song So material and so smart written by Kurt appeared on a compilation album. Frozen Rain had gigs all over Belgium and was a successful live band. In 1988 however the band split.
After seeing a concert of the Canadian band Loverboy on television at the beginning of the 80s Kurt got interested in A.O.R. and when a friend made him listen to the Escape-album by Journey Kurt knew this was the kind of music he wanted to play.
In 1988 Kurt began to write new material and formed a real A.O.R. band, the band he had always dreamed about. After countless auditions Kurt finally found the musicians for that project. Brother Hans Vereecke played drums and Marc Cnudde played the bass guitar. The line-up also had a Dutch guitar player, Erik Van Bers, and a Swedish vocalist, Timo Hara. They called the band Rhyana and went into the studio. There they recorded 6 songs. People liked their music and Rhyana did a few big concerts with bands like Clouseau, Golden Earring and Mud.
In 1990, record companies were not really interested in A.O.R. Still, CNR records told Rhyana they wanted to work with the band. The people of CNR saw things big and even promised the band that an album would be recorded in the famous Wisseloord Studios in Holland. When the negotiations with the record company broke down at last, this disillusion made the original line-up fall apart. Timo received a nice offer from another band and guitar player Erik Van Bers lost the courage to go on.
The remaining members of the band found a new lead singer, Philippe Ruysschaert, and a new guitar player, Luc Van Thuyne. In the new cast Rhyana released the single I have a dream in January 1992 on the small label Cobra Records. The song was successful and got much airplay on the national radio stations.
The band had a full agenda when Philippe decided to stop playing music. He wanted more time to spend with his family. Rhyana organized many auditions, but they couldnt find a suitable new lead singer immediately. They even tried a female singer for a while but the band wasnt the same anymore. For that reason the band members decided to stop.
In 1994 Kurt worked out twelve of his best songs, went to the home studio of a friend and recorded the songs with the help of guitarist Luc Van Thuyne. In fact the little home studio where they recorded was installed in a loft and there was not much space. Because of the lack of a good rock singer Kurt sang all the songs himself. It was on the basis of these demo songs Long Island Records got interested and offered Kurt a record deal. But he never had the chance to make some decent recordings. The record company had to deal with a lot of financial problems and even soon afterwards Sondi (the boss of the label) died.
After this new set-back, Kurt decided to do something totally different and started writing songs for children. Kurt is a teacher in professional life. I always felt there was a great need for new songs for children Kurt tells us. And he was right. Immediately different publishers showed to be interested in the song material. Between 1996 and 2001 Kurt has written about hundred songs for kids. Most of these songs appeared on cd. In 2001 the third (and last) double-cd was released in Belgium. Kurt has also written 3 musicbooks for use in schools. A great part of the Belgian primary schools is working with Kurts music now.
When the project with songs for children was finally finished Kurt was glad to have time again for his own music. Thanks to the internet Kurt made contact with musicians all around the world. The internet is a fantastic invention, Kurt says. That and the better recording-techniques we have today make it much easier to work together with A.O.R. musicians all around the world
On www.melodicrock.com Kurt learned to know the Swedish lyricist Andy Flash. Kurt was impressed by the lyrics Andy wrote and they decided to start writing songs together.
This resulted in songs like My heart believes its true, Wire of love, Sailor on dry land, The secret of my heart and A sky so beautiful. Kurt also writes songs with the English lyricist Barry Ewens and the English singer-songwriter Chris Swinney. Examples are songs like Vipers eye and Live for the dream.
In the near future Kurt will also write some new tunes with guitarist Sven Bauwens.
After all the setbacks in the past Kurt is determined to make his dream come true this time. First of all Kurt wanted to record the album in his own studio so he would be able to work without any pressure. It took some time but now the studio is ready and the recordings can start. My goal is to make a great A.O.R. album and I feel lucky that so many great musicians and singers will help me with the album Kurt tells. Kurt has always been a fan of Tommy Denander (Radioactive, Prisoner, Tykoon,) so you can imagine Kurt was in
heaven when Tommy told him he would gladly play guitar on Kurts upcoming album.
Musicians/singers on the album will be:
Guitarist Luc Van Thuyne: Luc was also a member of Rhyana and has been a friend for a long time. Luc now plays in the cover band Goe Bezig.
Guitarist Sven Bauwens: Sven is a young and very talented guitar player. He has opened his own guitar shop "Sonnor Music" very recently.
Guitarist Tommy Denander: Tommy doesnt need any introduction. The man is a genius and has worked with people like Toto, David Foster, Richard Marx, etc Above all hes a very nice guy too. Take a look at his website http://www.tommy-denander.com/
Guitarist & vocalist Dirk Cauwels: Dirk is the lead singer of the cover band D.H.E.W.
Guitarist Frank Deroubaix (ex- Runaway)
Guitarist Dan Palladino: All info at http://www.riddleworks.com/
Guitarist & producer Ward Snauwaert: All info at http://wardsnauwaert.tripod.com
Bassplayer Vincent De Laat
Vocalist Johan Waem: Known from the pop idol contest in Belgium.
Vocalist Ollie Oldenburg: ex-Tightrope, ex-Zinatra, now singer of Oliver. More info at http://www.oliver.nl
Vocalist Peter De Zutter (ex-Reno)
Vocalist Jo De Boeck: Jo is the lead singer of the Belgian A.O.R. band King of Hearts.Have you performed in front of an audience?At the moment Frozen Rain is only a studio project.
Your musical influences
Toto, Journey, Tommy Denander, Signal, Giant & many more...Anything else?
I'm recording the first Frozen Rain album right now. Please find all latest news at http://www.frozenrain.be/ The site also offers TONS of interesting links for rock fans and musicians !!!
382 plays
6,414 views
6,414 views
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