Knight Area

Following an anxious and dark period, Gerben Klazinga could see the sun again and considered: well, the sun also rises and “I know what I like”…, so let’s go back to work! The concepts from 1982 (“The Gate of Eternity”, “Saevis”... etc.) were taken from the shelf and Gerben composed a cluster of new songs, which was recorded as basic structure in the studio.

The story is about a boy who is in search for his identity (to some extent an autobiographical saga). He will locate a lot of shit on his way; nevertheless he succeeds in discovering a vigorous way to cope with his emotions. The time until 2003, he operated with a variety of musicians to sort out his musical ideas. Mark Smit (MIRACLE) carried out the leading vocals, Peter van Heijningen and Jeroen Hogenboom (ex-SANGAMO) played the (lead) guitars and Ron van der Bas (what’s in a name) from Toyz and the Rickenbacker-wizard Gijs Koopman (ex-CLIFFHANGER) performed the bass parts. Mark van Nieuwenhuizen (ex-SANGAMO) carried out some drum parts. Musical mates like Vincent Frijdal for the acoustic guitar parts and Arjan Groenendijk for the power chord parts helped out in constructing the basic arrangements. Stephanie Lagrande as well donated her talents to the album. Brother Joop is also present with his flute, lyrics and some co-production labour.

This album is dedicated to dad Klazinga (Us Heit), ‘the Knight who was fighting the lost Alzheimer-battle’ (1927-2003). The album was recorded, produced and mastered at Knight Area-Studios in Holland by Gerben and Joop Klazinga between April 2001 and March 2003. The project has been released in the beginning of 2004 by the renowned USA label The Laser's Edge. Currently the brothers are already creating some new ideas…

	Gerben Klazinga - Keyboards and main Composer Gerben raised with a vigorous segment of symphonic rock music. He was to a certain extent influenced by his 10 years older brother Joop, who listened over and over again to bands like Camel, Genesis, Saga, King Crimson and Barclay James Harvest. After he had taken some courses for the recorder, Gerben decided to focus on the classical piano. A particular space in the parental residence was ‘equipped’ as a music room, where soon after you could discover a little organ as well as a drum kit. Therefore, while unloading his juvenile frustrated emotions, he managed to develop into a fairly pleasant drummer. It was approximately 1982 when the brothers created the first concepts for ‘The Sun Also Rises’. After Joop left the house, Gerben widened his outlook and together with musical friends he formed the symphonic band Sangamo (which still exists actually). The first months of 2000 Gerben started to write songs for his solo project, entitled ‘Knight Area’, which is a translation from the Dutch word ‘Ridderbuurt’, the street where his house (and studio) is located.
	Mark Smit - Vocals I started my musical career with piano lessons when I was about 10 years old. It was all classical and I didn’t like it very much, so I quit at 12. At 17, I discovered I could also play things I liked to play, which coincided with my discovery of the music of the 70’s and my emerging Queen addiction. As a freshman at the University of Technology in Delft, I bought a digital home piano, started to write a few pieces of my own, and started looking for a band. I found some people to play with at a local rehearsal studio. It was a group of 8 people with a female lead singer, where I played piano only (no further keyboards yet) and provided some backing vocals. We played some covers, but never left the rehearsal studio. After less than a year the group split in two because one half of the group wanted to for a group of their own. I became the lead singer of the other part, and continued on piano. We only played covers and performed very rarely in public. The band broke up in 1993 after some band members had graduated. So in 1994 I was looking for a new band. In the mean time, I had been writing some things for myself and experimented with a synthesizer module. In 1994 I was accepted as keyboard player in Shyne. This was a band with self-written material, and I needed some serious keyboards, so I made the jump from piano-only to full keyboards. With Shyne I did a fair amount of gigs. It was really my first serious band. Shyne split up in 1995. Together with the guitarist Peter van Heyningen, I briefly joined a band called Wild Ride, but after a few rehearsals it was clear that this was not our cup of tea, so we started a new band called Toyz. In 1996 I called together the former Shyne band members, and we decided to form a Queen cover band with exception of Peter. This band became Miracle which grew to an internationally respected band. Toyz also slowly became more successful, initially with instrumental material, but later also with lead singer Sandra van Adrichem (I provided backing vocals). We recorded some demos at Gerben Klazinga’s studio, who was a friend of Toyz’ bass guitar player Ron van der Bas. Apparently Gerben liked my vocal qualities, and when I left Toyz in 2002 he asked me to lay down some vocal tracks for the album he was working on, which would later become “The Sun Also Rises”. We both liked the result, and I ended up singing all vocal tracks (except the little piece of Stephanie) on the album. When the album appeared in 2004, I agreed to join the Knight Area band.
	Pieter van Hoorn - Drums Pieter started playing the drums at the age of seven. He struck his first beats in a marching band and later he was educated at the local school of music. At the age of 17 he passed the entrance exam of the conservatoire, but in this period he had to fulfil his military service. At the age of 15 Pieter had already joined his first (new wave) band which toured The Netherlands and Belgium. A few years later he played in a cover band called Deadline. With Deadline he has recorded a live- and a studio album. Pieter also played in Empire, a hard rock band with their own material in the style of Queensryche, Metallica and Iron Maiden. In the year 2001 Pieter toured with the Canadian singer/songwriter Shannon Lyon. Playing at the Oerol festival was a highlight of this tour. Later Pieter joined the cover band Jukebox Night. In this band he met Gerben Klazinga who asked him to play the drums in the Knight Area Band. Pieter also plays the drums in a fantastic cover band, called Xtralars The guys play the great tracks from band like Metallica, Iron Maiden and many other super metal bands. Go and and see them! Today Pieter still attends master classes (drums) by Cesar Zuiderwijk of Golden Earring.
	Gijs Koopman - Bass & Taurus After 8 years with Cliffhanger and various auditions with other bands, I met Gerben during a concert in De Boerderij Zoetermeer. I heard he played in a band called Sangamo and they were looking for a bass-player. I thought “that’s a nice job for me”. During this period I had a lot of fun playing with Gerben. He was working (together with his brother Joop) on a solo project called Knight Area. When I listened to some of their songs I was very enthusiastic. I offered Gerben to play some of the bass parts. He agreed and our cooperation started. On the album ‘The Sun Also Rises’ I played the bass guitar on four tracks. On the next album I will play the whole thing! With Sangamo we could not find a vocalist. That was one of the reasons for me to leave this band and continue the work with Knight Area. Gerben asked me to play with him in the live incarnation of Knight Area. To play the music of Knight Area on stage we require two guitar players. I wanted Rinie Huigen (also ex-Cliffhanger) to join as one of them. We needed a second one as well. I also was engaged in the NovoX project the last three years. The four members of the former Cliffhanger worked on this album including a guitarist called Mark Vermeule. Gerben remembered this guy because he heard his playing on the NovoX demo. I asked Mark to join Knight Area and he agreed straight away. The Knight Area band currently is formed and consists of seven (!) guys. It’s really great to play with these musicians. I hope we will do the second album in this line-up. Gerben already started to compose new material and yes, it sounds very promising! I consider Knight Area as a new area for me. A new challenge. Of course I still use the same old Rickenbacker and my Taurus bass-pedals like I did with Cliffhanger. Some things will never change you know…
	Rinie Huigen - Guitars Ever since I was a young boy I had a fascination for music and performing on stage. At the age of fourteen I bought my first guitar and started learning the chords that make your fingers ache. As a matter a fact, it still hurts sometimes. That doesn't matter if you consider what joy music can bring you. It is my opinion that music is all about one thing: feeling. Without feeling music becomes dull and meaningless. I sometimes say: "It doesn't matter what you do, it's how you do it". But that goes for a lot of things. Before joining Knight Area in 2004, I played in several bands. My first band, The Scrapers, was more a group of friends than a band. What I liked most was playing my own compositions. The second band, Change Of Mind, was somewhat more professional and made music in the style of Simple Minds. The third band, New Fantasy, was about making money. We played on weddings and that kind of stuff. Oh god!!! I still can't believe I did that for four years. In 1993 I became Cliffhanger's front man, guitarist and vocalist. Making my own music again and composing new songs gave me back "that feeling". This was truly a challenge. After one year it was like a dream come true. Cliffhanger released their first CD "Cold Steel". This dream became a very bad nightmare when my father past away on the last day in the studio. For about one year the well ran dry and I only composed one song: "The Artist". And what a song that is! It took me nearly a year to translate my feelings about my father's death into music. This song is to be heard on Cliffhanger’s second album "Not to be or not to be". Eventually, after 5 official CD-releases Cliffhanger split-up. In 2003 I joined Dick Heijboer’s Novox project. The result can be heard on the CD Novox, that will hit the shops in the second half of 2004. And now... I am very proud to be a member of Knight Area as a guitarist. We enjoy rehearsing to bring you a live act that will offer the same experience as the CD “The Sun Also Rises”. By the end of this year we will hit the stage... so don’t hesitate and be there!
	Mark Vermeule - Guitars I started playing at age 10 after hearing The Shadows. Since then my musical taste developed from Jimi Hendrix to Iron Maiden, from Guns N’ Roses to guitar gods like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Steve Morse, Yngwie Malmsteen etc. The last couple of years, I’m really into the prog-scene listening to bands like Ayreon, Dream Theater, Enchant, Pain Of Salvation, Vanden Plas, Planet X, etc. Listening to this kind of music, I got convinced that you can’t catch music into rules, like ‘verse chorus bridge’. To me, music is about a lot of things: melody, harmony, rhythm, story lines, technique and, most of all, feeling. You need to master all these aspects. With the right people you can combine these ingredients into your message to whoever wants to hear. That’s what it’s all about. Before joining Knight Area, I played in a couple of bands. At age fourteen I played in a Shadows-cover band, The Spikes. My college years were very time-consuming, so I haven’t played in bands, at that time. When I was twenty four I played in cover bands for a couple of years: "Four of a kind" and "The Shining". Mostly, we played pop, rock, blues, soul and funk covers. My personal drive with these bands was the ability to develop my arranging and composing skills. At the same time I also got interested in singing and vocal harmony. About three years ago, I felt I needed more musical challenge and started looking for progressive bands. I got invited to join the former Cliffhanger-members on a project, called Novox. On two songs I composed the guitar parts, and I composed one song completely. When the project came to an end, I joined the progressive metal band, Art Of Deception. Shortly thereafter, Gijs Koopman, whom I knew from my time with NovoX, contacted me to join Knight Area, who needed a new lead guitarist for their live performances. After hearing their debut album and one rehearsal, I just had to join: great music, great musicians and a lot of energy (check out our shows!).
	Joop Klazinga - Keyboards & Flute Knight Area actually for me is a dream becoming reality. On the album I played the flute and during gigs I will also play some additional keyboards. Currently I do the communication regarding media, the label, promotion etc. You also can find me behind our website. My musical roots can be found in the early 70ties when the big symphonic acts were born. The concert of the old Genesis with Gabriel doing ‘The Lamb…’ in Amsterdam (1974) impressed me a lot. Later on I visited many more symphonic concerts like Camel, Hackett, BJH, Saga, Floyd and Marillion (with Fish). During that episode of my life I was still living in the house of my parents. Together with brother Gerben we arranged a music room with drum kit, piano, organ and flutes. We imitated the great songs from the super sympho acts, however we also did our own rookie writing, which we finally used in ‘The Sun Also Rises’. After several years without progressive aims, I advised Gerben to do his own thing. When I listened to what he did with our songs from the 80ties, I promptly decided to participate within the project and I'm still here, as you can see...