Artist
Information
Instrumentation
Andrei Arsene - vocals, guitars
Marco Schaap: guitars, backing vocals
Jonathan Ketel - bass guitar, backing vocals
João Eliseo - drums, percussion
Jasper Wijnands - keyboards (LIVE)
Biography
Romanian born newcomer Andrei Arsene is quite
impressive. I’m not a huge fan of male singer/songwriter music
but Arsene’s talent is undeniable... [complete review under
PRESS]
Mark Fisher @ 1340mag
Andrei
Arsene was born in Romania in 1984, and has been obsessed with
music (especially guitars) ever since he was a kid. “I even
had a small plastic toy guitar to play with,” he recalls. “We
were inseparable! One time when a local band was playing at
some restaurant, I couldn’t control myself, grabbed the guitar,
and stormed the stage and jammed along with them.” His family
moved to the Netherlands in 1990, and it was around this time
that he finally grew into the guitar skills that had been waiting
within him. He also learned to play the piano and drums, joining
a handful of different bands throughout high school in an effort
to perfect his skills. He even admits to being expelled from
school on more than one occasion for consistently skipping classes
in favor of playing guitar.
In
2004, at the age of twenty, Andrei decided to pursue music more
seriously, and he applied to the Conservatory of Rotterdam,
where he is currently studying music production. He also decided
it was time to do something with the material he had been accumulating
over the years, and so he took a job in order to make money
to transform his bedroom into a project studio, where he immediately
started putting things down on tape.
Now,
it is Andrei’s mission to get his music heard. He has dreams
of touring in the United States, and has taken several steps
toward making that happen, including working with various online
and radio outlets to help generate some buzz. He has also released
the stunning EP, Where We Started, and is getting ready to release
his debut full-length album in September. Along the way, he
has started generating interest from various record labels,
and is keeping his fingers crossed.
“Basically,
I just want to be able to, at some point, make a living out
of what I do best,” says Andrei, “which is music. My ultimate
goals would be getting my stuff on the shelves and doing a lot
of shows. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a major record deal,
although
I wouldn’t mind! But whether I’m releasing my music myself or
through a big-shot label, as long as people are buying the record
because they’re enjoying the music, I’m happy!”
For
more information on Andrei Arsene, please visit www.arseneweb.com.
Straight
out of the Netherlands, eh? How is it over there? Are there
a lot of places for you to perform?
First of all, it’s cold, rainy and we don’t get to see the sun
much (I originally hail from Romania, so I’m used to a lot of
sun!). But still a fun country, overall. There are plenty of
places to perform, but nowadays the Dutch live scene is more
geared to Metal and Punk styles.
What
is it about guitars that you love so much?
I don’t really have a rational answer to this one! Maybe those
curves? But seriously, it just appealed to me so much ever since
I was a kid. The sounds you can get out of it, the way you can
put your soul in it… I’m not saying it’s better than any other
instrument, it’s just different… you can do things on a guitar
which are impossible on a piano and vice versa. And for me,
it’s the ultimate songwriting tool as well. I love to dream
away in my backyard (on the precious little sun moments here
in the Netherlands) or on the sofa with a couple of drinks and
an acoustic guitar.
How
long did it take you to learn the guitar, piano and drums?
The guitar – I’m still learning. I picked it up when I was 12
years old – so exactly 10 years ago. Although I like the way
I play, I know that there’s a world out there that I don’t do.
Which is okay for me, I don’t need to be a virtuoso. But I still
need to improve my scales. And chord voicings, I’m learning
that now. Every now and then I pick up a guitar mag and always
find new stuff to learn, which is great, but most of the time
I give up because I don’t have the time anymore.
It’s really a good thing to surround yourself with good musicians.
They’re the best teachers, just by watching them and playing
with them you can discover whole new worlds.
As for the drums and piano, I don’t really consider myself a
drummer or pianist. It didn’t take me long to get the basics
of both instruments. Maybe six months or so before I was confident
enough to go on stage playing those instruments. The key is
listening really. That’s how I learned everything. I have had
some piano lessons when I was a kid, while I don’t remember
much of it I think something must’ve stuck because I didn’t
experience picking up the piano as hard. Listening and playing,
that’s all I did. Also with the guitar, and drums. For guitar,
I listened a lot to Mark Knopfler, Chet Atkins. Santana as well.
Later I discovered guys like Wes Montgomery, George Benson.
For drums, it was Phil Collins all the way. And for piano, I
don’t know – a bit of everything really! I’m now taking actual
piano lessons again, at the Conservatory.
But if I could give any advice to your readers who are learning
an instrument right now or are planning to – just listen. Be
like the little kid that hears a nice rhythm or a nice melody
and just wants to copy that. He doesn’t think about it, in what
key or time signature it is. He doesn’t count the 1234. He just
thinks it’s a swell tune, it makes him happy and he wants to
play it! It’s gotten to his heart, not his head (yet!). Listen
to people you admire, people who put soul in their playing.
Try to understand that, try to capture that. If you learn to
listen like a little kid again, you’ve already done 75% of the
work. Oh, and practice, anywhere, anytime!
Were/are
your parents also musically inclined?
My mother actually played the piano and my dad is known to have
had some lessons on the accordion (but he went fishing instead).
My uncle is an accomplished organist. And he built electric
guitars (and played them as well…).
Do you have brothers or sisters?
I have a kid brother, named Chris. He says he’s gonna be a doctor,
but I know he’s gonna be a rockstar. He just has it in him.
When
did you put your band together?
Just in time! Right before “Where We Started”, the title song
of our album, was to be played on some U.S. radio stations,
so must’ve been early March 2005.
How
long did it take you to find them?
Not very long at all! I already knew the bassist and the guitarist.
I’ve been in other bands with both of them. I actually went
to school with Marco, the guitarist. Jonathan, the bassist,
told me he knew a guy who knew how to handle a drumkit. I called
him up, he was interested, we met up, he turned out to be a
great guy… so it was perfect. Finding a band for me was in fact
very easy. They’re great musicians and great friends!
Does
the rest of the band also share in the responsibilities of the
band (i.e. booking, promoting, etc)?
We all do our part when it comes to promotion… Jonathan, the
bassist, he pretty much does the business side of things. I
share booking duties with him as well. I do most of the U.S.
promotion (and all the fun stuff of course, like interviews!).
But I do discuss everything with the band before doing something.
Well, I try to, really. Most of the time.
What
is the most challenging aspect to the music industry that you've
experienced so far?
There’s a lot going on in the industry today. It’s easier than
ever to record your music and ‘put it out’, with companies such
as CdBaby focusing on independently released CDs, and a wealth
of promotional services and other things to choose from. Websites
like Sonicbids.com make it possible for an independent artist
to really get his or her music out there. With that in mind,
I think the biggest challenge that not only I, but all indie
artists have to face, is standing out from the crowd. With today’s
possibilities, every man, woman and his dog can be an artist,
a producer or whatever. What I’ve found is, that it takes more
than good songs to get somewhere. You’ve got to have a story.
There’s gotta be something that makes people coming back to
your website that makes people who are important in the biz
want to do the Google on you.
How
many songs do you have written so far?
I would say around 20-30 finished songs. That is, if you don’t
count the songs that are now somewhere in the trash can. Then,
I would probably need a bookmaker.
What
types of lyrics do you tend to write? More personal, stories
or anything that comes to mind?
Pretty much anything that comes to mind I guess. It could also
be stories other people tell me. Or stuff I read. The other
day I got this idea for a song when I was walking past a restaurant.
On the outer side of the restaurant’s window was written: “If
you can read this, you’re standing on the wrong side of the
glass”. Then I thought of this idea that a lot of people, in
life, actually stand on the wrong side of the glass. So I’m
working on a song with that theme. To give you an extreme example:
I woke up once in the middle of the night, with a finished song
in my head. I mean, music, lyrics, everything, even ideas for
the arrangement. It was a beautiful song, but that was just
once – never happened again.
What
is your live show like?
Well, to start with a cliché, it depends, really. It
depends on the type of venue, who’s coming, and so on. I’ve
always felt that as an artist, your job is to be able to offer
people something. Tell them a story, make them laugh, cry, think.
Make them happy. Give them whatever they need. Of course, that’s
a bit of a utopia – you can’t please all the people at the same
time. So whatever show we are doing, we always try to be as
honest as possible. I want people to think, “hey, that guy is
just like me, he sings about stuff I have to deal with as well.”
That kind of recognition is important. You don’t go and sing
about how you’re unhappy that your guitar won’t stay in tune.
Not all people can relate to that.
To give an example – yesterday we had to play at a really small
venue. We’re used to playing electric sets, but now all of a
sudden the venue manager tells us he’d much rather want us to
go unplugged (that’s what the audience preferred, anyway). So
we just did. You’re not going to connect to the audience if
you say, “no, we won’t do that,” and leave, in an attempt to
defend your ‘artistic integrity’ or whatever. You wanna be an
entertainer – so be one.
How
did you do at Emergenza?
Well, this is a nice question, considering my answer to the
last one! To be very honest – not extremely well! Although we
did very well in the first rounds, we were eliminated in the
semi finals. We simply did not connect to the audience. It wasn’t
a bad show at all, we played pretty well - we even had a keyboard
player and two trombonists for the occasion. But we weren’t
able to connect. I must add, in our defence, that connecting
to that particular audience wasn’t as easy as it might seem
– remember when I said Holland’s live scene mainly focuses on
Metal-stuff? Well, most of the other bands were playing some
form of metal. Considering Emergenza is all about getting as
many fans as you can to your gigs, we were placed in a situation
where 80% of the audience preferred the (extremely) hard side
of rock. Picture this: the band before us ends with a song called
“suicide”, and we open with ‘In your world’, a folk/country
pop kind of tune. They were shocked, to say the least.
We did get more votes than we actually expected, but it just
wasn’t enough to go through to the final. Good thing: we did
get to play in one of Holland’s bigger venues (P60)!
Have
you gotten your music played within the states yet and if so,
how has it been received?
Yes it has been played on several radio stations (AC/CHR). At
one point I got quite a lot of spins, and some requests as well,
so it has been received pretty well. Only thing I didn’t think
of was that radio promotion is not very cheap. I soon ran out
of money and couldn’t pay the promoter any longer. I did get
one of my songs on a compilation disc, issued by Innovation
Entertainment. That’s gonna get some airplay as well, so I’m
happy that worked out well, as I don’t have to pay a single
penny for that!
How
far along are you with the recording of your full length album?
It’s already done – November 2005! But I already have some new
tracks ready – for a second album I guess. I will put them on
my website real soon.
How
many tracks are going to be on it?
There are nine tracks on it. Nine seemed like a nice number.
Not too long, not too short.
Will
it be distributed to the states as well?
Of course! Via CdBaby.com,
Towerrecords.com and
of course my own website. It is actually made for that purpose
– to be distributed in the States. I feel there is a bigger
market for our music over the pond than here in Holland right
now.
What
do you have planned after your concert in June?
Apart from getting more gigs and promoting my music like a maniac,
I have some plans to co-write and co-produce some material with
a friend of mine. He works at one of the best-known studios
in the Netherlands, and we’re going to shop those songs to some
Dutch artists.
The June concert is not the last one, by the way. There will
be many others – and there is even a small chance of coming
to the states this summer – but we still have to set the exact
dates. It will appear on my website, of course.
Anything
else you'd like to share with our readers today?
Yeah, I hope you enjoyed reading this interview – if you have
any comments or thoughts to share, please don’t hesitate to
contact me! I really hope to come to the States soon, but until
then, have fun with music and take care!
Well, we look forward to hearing more of your music
and one day seeing you here in the states.
Thanks, keep an eye on my website for more on that…
Thank
you very much for your time!
My pleasure!
Contact
Andrei Arsene:
info@arseneweb.com
Website
http://www.arseneweb.com
Discography
2005 - Where We Started