Rockezine.com interview with Ricocher on Nov 20, 2004

with Erwin Boerenkamps and John van Heugten on Nov 20, 2004


		A couple of weeks ago you released your new album Chains. Are you pleased with the way the band sounds on the cd? Yes, we definitely are very proud of this album. The sound is more bombastic than it was on Quest For The Heartland or Cathedral Of Emotions. The drums are more in front and the guitar sound is heavier. A big thank you goes out to the guys of the Spacelab Studios: Oliver Philipps and Christian “Moschus” Moos.
		What are your expectations of the new album? We surely hope people like the album, so it will get us more publicity and reach more potential fans. Next to that we hope it will give us the possibility to get more gigs as main act in the Netherlands and abroad.
		Could you give some insight in the Ricocher writing process? I usually write the basic structure, melody and lyrics of all the songs at home. When I’m ready I’ll take them with me to rehearsal to give them a listen to the rest of the band. Then we’ll decide to arrange the song or throw it away.
		Which of the new songs took the most time writing and / or recording? That’s a difficult one. Due to the fact that this album is a concept album, a lot of melodies return throughout the album. It was very difficult to let them appear at the right moment. But as a song I think “Virtual Images” took most of the time for me to get the basic structure. I had some ideas but they weren’t all accepted by the band. So I had to start writing some new ideas and/or arrange the parts I had. As a band it took us a long time to get a good end to the last song “Breaking The Chain”. Because we recorded the album instrument by instrument I can’t really tell you which song took us the most time to record. The whole recording process went very smoothly and easily. It was a very relaxed time and the guys at the studio really helped us out with the difficult parts of the songs.
		How do you give direction to your music? Is there a certain direction the band is aiming for or is there a musical mastermind within the band who decides where to go? We just play the music we all like; this is the way the Ricocher sound is made. When we start arranging the song, we only have the chords, the lyrics and a basic idea I made at home. This is our starting point. We all add our own ideas to it and listen whether these are good or not. Sometimes it takes several weeks before some parts are good enough and then it might happen that the rest of the band has to change their playing just to make the idea work. Other ideas simply fit in the music that’s already there.
		What is the biggest difference between the four track debut Quest For The Heartland and Chains? I think we all have been growing, both as musician and as a band. When we recorded Quest For The Heartland, Bart (our guitar player) only played in Ricocher for a year. We did not have any live experience except some local gigs. After we recorded Quest For The Heartland we had some very interesting gigs (support act for Saga and Arena on their Dutch shows, Rotherham Rocks in the UK and the Bospop festival). This way we could improve our playing a lot. Next to that you learn a lot in a short time when you’re recording an album. All this was taken with us when we were writing songs for Cathedral Of Emotions, which was a step forward for Ricocher. Now we’ve recorded Chains with all these experiences (we hope that it will be heard on the album). Besides that the songs on Quest For The Heartland are separate songs and the songs on Chains tell a story.
		What is the biggest compliment and what is the biggest bullocks you’ve read about Chains’? The biggest compliment: that we improved ourselves again and that we definitely left the stage of being a support act. Another big compliment: reviewers write that we’re one of the few bands in the Netherlands that put in a lot of effort in getting attention (reviews, interviews, gigs etc.). The biggest bullocks: that our music is not innovative enough and that we do not experiment a lot with the music. This was never our intention; we just want to play the music we like.
		There is quite a vivid prog scene in The Netherlands but somehow there are not that many Dutch bands that can please the critical proggers. Do you have any idea why that is? A lot of gigs are organized, but it’s very hard to get the audience to the gigs. Even when bands from abroad are playing in the Netherlands the audience isn’t that big, or the band must be very well known. And next a lot of people seem to think that bands from abroad must be better in general. We have met a lot of different Dutch progressive rock bands and my opinion is that the quality of the music is very high.
		Is there much contact between the Dutch progressive rock bands? Solution Productions handles our management and bookings and we frequently play together with another band of Solution Productions. This will make it more interesting for bookers to book bands, because more people may show up. Next to that we also play together with other Dutch bands from our neighborhood. I also have frequent mail contact with other bands and we do not see each other as competitors.
		Is there enough opportunity to play and get the attention you deserve? When a lot of bands from abroad are playing in the Netherlands it’s very hard to get some gigs for Ricocher. Most of the venues just want to do a couple of progressive rock shows a year. We also try to become support act for these bands, but they mostly bring their own support act, or do not want any support act at all. Solution Productions also do have a lot of good contacts with venues and this makes it easier to get some gigs. We usually play about 8 to 15 gigs a year. But we hope to be able to do a real tour by ourselves or be the support act for a well known band that tours through Europe.
		How did you manage to be the support act of Saga and Ryo? Are there any further tour plans? We know the bookers of the venues by mail. After we were the support act for Saga in 2001 we stayed in contact with the booker of 013, so when Saga returned some weeks ago, we asked if there could be an opportunity to become the support act again. We also know the booker of the Boerderij (where a lot of progressive rock bands play). We did have a double gig with Everon booked over there, but they had to cancel because their bass player was in hospital. Now we finally had the chance to do a gig over there. We always have further tour plans, but it’s very hard and a lot of work to be able to play a lot.
		One personal question. What is the most embarrassing album or single in your personal music collection? How did this album or single wind up in your cd rack? The album of Milly Vanilly. It’s an old album of my wife she bought even before I knew her.
		Is there anything else you would like to share? That everyone should listen to our new album and buy it instantly. And we hope to meet a lot of people at one of our gigs we play. Everyone who wants to be informed regularly, just check out our internet site: http://www.ricocher.com/.
live band picture by Erik Schepers live picture of Erwin by Geert Oldenmenger (Geert Oldenmenger)