Recently Enjoy it While It Lasts has been getting some radio play in Europe and Henk's been busy promoting the album by doing interviews. Special thanks to radiozender.fm for playing "the Final Frontier" on September 9th, 2012! If you missed it, and haven't gotten the album yet you can always give it a free listen on our streaming page which is located here. Here is an excerpt from the radio broadcast from that date - keep in mind that it's in Dutch, but listen for my name!
Laser One Broadcast - The Final Frontier On dutch radio 9-10-12
We edited out the actual song, but you get the idea! If you want to listen to the song, check out the aforementioned streaming page.
Henk also got a very extensive Interview on the Dutch website Progworld, specifically from interviewer Hans Ravensberger . You can check out the original interview in Dutch by going here. I've translated segments for your reading pleasure below.
Your life philosophy is your motto and also the title of your album?
Yes. Carpe Diem, seize the day because every day could be your last. I am now 60 years old, happy, and healthy, but you never know when you'll die or become seriously ill. When I ponder that I think, "enjoy it while it lasts." I wrote songs about that specifically, like Keep The Faith. The motto of the album is:
Before me is the future, behind me is the past. ?This is the present, enjoy it while it lasts.
(Henk Bol)
I got a picture of Ky Fifer (vocalist on the album) and his wife where he's holding her in his arms. I loved the drama of that picture and asked him if it'd be over the top to use the picture for the cover. He said, "The whole album is already over the top, so go for it!" LOL.
(original photo by Tyler Gould)
(Album cover for "Enjoy")
After that I got an email from my old buddy and fellow musician Nick Oosterhuis from Germany who looked at the cover and noticed that it resembled an LP cover by the band 10CC.
(10cc's album Deceptive Bends)
It turned out to be a cover by the famous design studio Hipgnosis (from the album "Deceptive Bends", HR). I had already done so much work on the album art that I decided to leave it that way. Maybe that 10CC album cover was subconciously on my mind when I saw that photo of Ky and Margie.
"Enjoy It While It Lasts" is a major project. Tell me about the origin and how the project progressed
It all began in 2006 when I finished an album of my previous band (Precious Time, HR). In 1985 I made my first solo album (still available on iTunes, HR) and I had been writing and saving up ideas again. So I thought that it was about time.
I wanted at least twelve songs on the album because there are 12 months in the year. I didn't want to work on it forever so I promised myself it would be ready on my 60th birthday in 2012. I'm not that fast when it comes to writing, composing, and making recordings. It consumed a lot of my time. Even then I knew if I worked to that date I would be sixty years old. Actually, it all worked out as planned.
(Henk Bol)
I had already planned to work with various guest musicians. I did that in 1980-1985, only with fewer people. Most people were still around, but I had fallen out of touch with some of them. Nick Oosterhuis and his studio went to Germany in 1985. But thanks to the internet I found them all again.
I wrote almost all the songs. John Geel did a song and co-wrote CIV9. Ky Fifer has done a lot for me. He did some cool arrangements and helped me with lyrics along with a few other people.
(Ky Fifer)
I originally had one lead guitarist in mind, but he dropped out. Then I found another one on the internet and thought; this is cool! It would be fun to find a virtuoso guitarist for every song. It was a very successful idea. Joop Wolters, Greg den Hartog, Albert Houwaart, Dennis de Bruijn, Michael Samson, Nick Oosterhuis, Bas van Erkel, Ed Bol (not related), they were all excited and have worked selflessly. Only the lead guitar on Dance, You never look, iPad and Golden Days were played by me. I'm eternally grateful to all the 25 musicians who participated.
(Joop Wolters)
What were the highlights in those six years? And the lows ...?
There were no highlights. It's all been an ongoing process. For this last year I've had to do a lot with all the solos and pre-mixes. The exchanging of tracks, including tracks from America, went on endlessly. I also wanted a luxurious 3 panal cover with a booklet inside. That's taken me months to design and implement.
You met Ky Fifer on the internet. Or was it the other way around? Did you both 'click' right away? How did you go about working with him?
That was on a German website for musicians called V-band. Its a forum where musicians can park their ideas and ask other musicians to cooperate. That was what I did with the song How Wrong and I got a response from Ky Fifer. The song worked out very well, and Dance The Night Away followed right after. This pleased us well enough that we continued outside of V-Band.
You should know that I've never met or spoken with Ky in person. Everything was done via e-mail and social networking sites. He asked me if he could bring in his wife Margie "to sing as a background singer." She's a music teacher. Furthermore, I found out that his sister Tiger Brooke and his brother in law Greg West are singers too. I thought that was very cool. They also helped me with writing the lyrics and editing text.
I also came into contact with a guitarist from New York, Steve Vincent and two writers in England via V-band. The rest of the musicians came from around the Netherlands, with the exception of Nick Oosterhuis and Magnus Brandell, a drummer from Sweden.
I was urgently in need of odd time signatures and Magnus sells his awesome loops on the internet. Using the computer I arranged all the loops and finished the songs. They're loops, but the drums sounds quite lively. I used loops because I had to get the album done and Mels Bol and Reno de Bruin weren't always available for drumming. When composing it's a good thing to have some good and inspirational drummers on hand.
(Mels Bol)
The album was mostly done over the internet. Which of the litany of assisting musicians have actually met with you in the studio?
My buddies who helped already came over here regularly. The rest recorded in their own studios. Nowadays almost every musician has a homestudio (after the interview I get a tour in the impressive studio of Henk, HR).
Mels Bol, Cleem Determeijer, Reno de Bruin, John Havermans, Greg den Hartog, Michael Samson, Pjotr Jurtschenko, Arie Noordzij and Evelyne Visser have been here.
(Cleem Determeijer)
Talk about your studio. You named that The Sound Art Workshop. Explain that please.
The Sound Art Workshop is my nickname for all the studios worldwide that were involved in this project. I call my own studio the same.
What’s your infatuation with iPads? How did How I Love My iPad come about?
Everything! When you read the text carefully you can see that I make no jokes about the iPad. I'm a fan of Apple and Steve Jobs. You should know that I have used apple devices professionally for years. They've had the best stuff for a graphic designer like myself since 1985. Also for photography and video.
(Henk Bol)
You can do anything with their stuff and I think that is a blessing. When Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) actually started to integrate the iPad as a musical instrument I wanted to have an iPad next to all my Apples. I purchased his application MorphWiz as my first app. Today the iPad is a standard tool in many studios for composing and playing music (after the interview Henk give me a demonstration in his studio playing some keyboard solos on his iPad ..., HR). The sound effects, the organ and synthesizer solos you hear on How I love My iPad are all played on my iPad …. I used the apps and MorphWiz, AniMoog (polyphonic synthesizers for iPad, HR). Actually the song is an ode to all Apple products and Steve Jobs who passed away much too early. At the end Ky sings: "All I can say is Jobs, well done." Indeed the work is very well done!
What is the song "Ulumka'an" about?
"Ulumka'an 'comes from the Mayan language and means "bird from the sky." The Mayan Calander and the book "The Gods Were Astronauts" by Erich Daniken were my inspiration. Furthermore, I wanted an instrumental track on the album, like the previous one. The Mayan calendar stops at the end of this year, making people think the world will end. Will we still be around at the end of the year or not? If not, Enjoy it while it lasts. Our perception of the Mayan calander fits the context of the album.
The music on the album can be described as progressive pop. I think the most proggy song is Golden Days (Strange Kind Of Song Revisited) Do you agree?
I agree with you. I composed the song Strange Kind Of Song in 1972 and wanted on the album as a tribute to that time when we are young. The song is along the lines of Super Sister and Soft Machine. I also took some inspiration from the album "Actual Fantasy" by Ayreon. There was a 'revisited' version of a song and I thought that was a good idea. Ky asked if he could write new lyrics and named it Golden Days. That's why I only had my buddies from 1972 playing on this recording. We got together to figure out how we played it in 1972. That was quite a lot of work, but it ending up sounding pretty good.
Can I ask you some questions? Don't think too much and respond quickly:
Henk or Philhelmon?: Philhelmon.
Sassenheim or Barendrecht?: Sassenheim
Past or Future?: Past.
Past or present?: (Thinking long and doubts his answer, HR): I can't choose! Both have advantages and I like to think long about these things...
Prog or pop?: Yesssss, prog!
Like or addicted?: Addicted, haha!
After the interview Henk shows me his studio and played a little on his Moog Voyager connected to a modular synthesizer under construction. Then he gave a demonstration of how a keyboard solo is played on an iPad. Of course there are his collection prog CDs to look at. In the corner of his studio is a soundproof cell where his collection of guitars are kept.
Some time later when as we say goodbye, Henk has a hard time stopping. He concludes with a startling anecdote. "I used to tell my wife before we got married: music was my first love and It will be my last ..."
I get in my car and leave via the Music Square in Barendrecht. It's nearly sunset and I spin "Enjoy It While It Lasts" once again in my CD player. From now on I decide to enjoy each day before it's too late.
Hans Ravensbergan - Progworld
September 9th, 2012