Vanden Plas (Band)
Vanden Plas is a German progressive metal band.
History
The band Vanden Plas existed officially since 1983. Founded by vocalist Andy Kuntz ( born November 20, 1962), lead guitarist Markus Ziegler ( born 1960 ), guitarist Stephan Lill ( born November 30, 1968), drummer Andy Lill (born 3 November 1965 ), bassist Holger coin ( born May 19, 1963) and keyboardist Ulrich Knapp ( b. 1959 ). At first they took on demos and played in various clubs of Kaiserslautern. Originally, the band was known under the name of Exodus; However, they got this not ultimately attributed, because in the same year the band Exodus already existed.
In 1994 came their first album on the market: With the self-produced CD Colour Temple the first fans were attentive outside the Palatinate on the band; in France and Japan, the work appeared as a special edition with two bonus tracks. The EP AcCult sold better than in Germany in France. On this own songs in addition to acoustic versions and look for cover songs, including Des Hauts, the bas of Stephan Eicher, Georgia on My Mind by Ray Charles and Kayleigh Marillion.
In addition to their albums, the five musicians involved more and more with her second pillar, the theater. After the Saarland State Theatre Andy Kuntz 1993 offered the role of Simon Zealotes in Jesus Christ Superstar, encouraged the local conductor Scott Lawton that the band could participate in the orchestra. Since then, the band members have become regulars in the orchestra pit in pieces such as The Rocky Horror Show, Little Shop of Horrors or Evita. In the 2006 season, Andy Kuntz got good reviews for his interpretation of Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Augsburg outdoor stage at the Red Gate.
In 1997, the progressive rock label InsideOut released their second album, The God Thing, which the band a tour as the opening act of the U.S. band gave Dream Theater, one of the pioneers of progressive metal. Thus, the band increased its visibility considerably and cemented her reputation as one of the most important German progressive metal bands. With the follow-up album Far off Grace followed in 1999, the next step of the band's history: The album sounds harder and more mature than The God Thing.
In spring 2000 the band recorded in Paris Elysee Montmartre on their first live album Spirit of Life. In the same year the debut album Colour Temple was reissued and came with a bonus CD on the market. With Beyond Daylight came 2002, the next studio album the band Palatinate in the shops - again an evolution of her style, rewarded with good reviews. For the production this time drew Markus Teske responsible, who had already recorded the live album Spirit of Live for the band.
2003 was for singer Andy Kuntz a tough year with many personal setbacks: Within a few months he had to cope with the death of his father, his uncle and two of his best friends. He was assisted by Andreas Lill, Stefan Glass and Michael Kraus - with the result Abydos, the first solo album of the singer. In parallel with the release of the CD Kuntz worked on implementing as a musical. On February 25, 2006 Abydos celebrated as a rock musical at the Pfalz Theatre in Kaiserslautern its premiere.
Stephan Lill, Günter Werno and Andreas Lill took in the meantime with further quantities of the progressive metal scene on the Consortium Project trilogy, a project of the Elegy singer Ian Parry.
From October 2005 to February 2006 Vanden Plas found again in Mark Teske Bazement Studio near Idstein and recorded their fifth album Christ 0 to - a concept album inspired by Alexandre Dumas ' novel The Count of Monte Cristo. The album was released on 30 March 2006. An implementation as a musical and had followed on 11 April 2008 in Munich Staatstheater am Gaertnerplatz premiere. On 24 January 2010, the premiere of Christ 0 was in the Palatinate Theatre in Kaiserslautern.
While the band was in France at almost every concert filled the halls and they now also traveled to the ProgPower festival regularly in the U.S., it is in Germany still remained pretty quiet about the five musicians. Occasionally, Vanden Plas in smaller halls - successes as in France remain in Germany but so far from.
The band has at the request of Wolfgang Holbein the novel series " The Chronicles of the Immortals - Blood Night" set to music as a rock opera. The world premiere took place on 21 January 2012 at Palatinate Theatre in Kaiserslautern.