I did yes. But I feel it will be better for the whole band to play if we had a longer concert to play. If we only have half an hour or so, it will be better just for some of us to do it. If it would be a full-scale gig, an hour or more, then yes it would have been nice. But... I can wait.

Is it, for you personally, important to have commercial success with the CD?
It helps, yes. It is nice to be able to make a living out of doing this. But what I think is also important is not to change the music so it would sell more. That is a very easy mistake to fall into. If you start doing that, and I do not understand why some bands do it, then what you got in the first place can get lost.

Is there any pressure from the record company to make a commercial single?
Not really, because the record company is run by the band. It is actually Mick, Clive and Mandy [Mick’s girlfriend – eds.] who run Verglas Music. So there is no pressure in that respect.

What is the response to the CD in England?
It has been very good. We had some very good reviews. Curiously a lot of the heavy metal press have all given the album good reviews and also a lot of the progrock press love it. It’s gone down very well. We have not had so much success with the more traditional national press. They are not really interested in music like ours. 

Does it bother you when you get a bad review?
Well, it depends really on what kind of review it is. If it is somebody who is saying, ‘I don’t like it because it is not my type of music’, then I don’t mind. But if that someone just says, ‘This is crap’, without giving any constructive criticism, then I don’t like that. If criticism is just destructive then I can’t stand it.

Everybody is comparing Arena with Marillion. Does that bother you?
Not particularly. For one thing a new band is always going to be compared to somebody else. Secondly, Mick writes and plays in a certain style which was very much there in the those early Marillion recordings and I suppose it is still there, now only more updated, a more mature version I suppose. So I am not too concerned with the comparisons. We have also been compared with Genesis, Pink Floyd and Yes. I don’t mind.

Which number on the CD is your favourite and why?
Oh, I suppose it would have to be Solomon. Not because it is the longest track, that is not really the point, but because it is such a challenge to play. There are some tricky parts for all of us in it and to actually play through it is very satisfying. It was a lot of fun to record. The whole album was fun to record. But that one I like the best. That’s my favourite.

After the first Arena CD there is already a European fan club. What do you think of that?
I am staggered. It is wonderful. I would never have expected this. When we were recording the album we knew it was going to be a good album and we hoped that people would like it. But the way it has taken off, it astonished me. 
I am blown away by it. So to have a fan club at this early stage is amazing.

Can you describe, in short, what you have been doing for the last 12 months?
To begin with, after I got to know Mick (Clive introduced me and got me into the band), I was just learning the music. We had some rough bass parts on keyboard originally on demo tapes. Using those as starting point we were expanding upon them. It did not take long to learn the basics, but it took a while longer to put something of myself into it. This was between January and April. After that recording started, with the drumming first. The summer was spent at the studio at Maidenhead, where John and I recorded. We did not do it in straight blocks, we actually took turns. I did it in about three and a half days all together.

After the summer we lost our original guitarist. He realised it was not really his style. So he decided to leave. So we called Keith. He came down and did a fantastic job. Finally we got our band. Since then we have been rehearsing now and then. We get together when we can to rehearse. There is a great chemistry between us. It’s that situation where the whole is greater than some of its parts.

What are the plans for the next few months?
Touring. We are starting here in November [Tivoli 17 November – eds.]. Then we are off to Germany for a few days. Then I believe Poland, Italy, Switzerland and then were are coming back here for a few days and we will be finishing off in December in London.

When I will be speaking to you in about ten years, what will we be talking about?
I think the first thing is about this conversation ten years ago.

Then Arena will be known worldwide?
Let’s hope so.

And you will all be very rich?
Maybe?

Is that your goal in life, to be a famous rock star?
Not so much famous. Just to make people aware of the music that we are making and to bring it to as many people as possible and hopefully make a living out of it as well. But famous in itself doesn’t bother me. It is nice. I admit it.

Thank you very much.
Thank you. I look forward to see everyone on tour next year.

By: Erik Meijer