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Artist News: Ayreon vs. Avantasia!, And Other InsideOut News

Posted on Monday, April 07 @ 05:08:59 UTC by nightowl

On January 25, 2008 the rock operas of Arjen Lucassen and Tobias Sammet, respectively Ayreon's 01011001 and Avantasia's The Scarecrow, were released simultaneously. The music press, always eager for a story, called this event the 'Clash of the Titans', gleefully portraying the two musicians as bitter rivals and urging each to comment on the other in countless interviews. There was much speculation about which album would be more successful, but upon release both albums immediately charted in several countries around the world.

When asked about the so-called rivalry, Arjen explains: "I'd not yet even heard Tobias's album, but when I found out he'd managed to get my all-time favourite artist Alice Cooper to guest on The Scarecrow, I totally freaked out and sent a hate-mail to Tobias's MySpace. Fortunately, he never received it."

Coincidentally however, Tobias, who was fed up with having to talk about Arjen in interviews, grudgingly decided it was time to get acquainted. He emailed Arjen, and in the stream of email and insults that followed "it turned out that Tobias hated me just as much for having got Bruce Dickinson to guest on an Ayreon album, haha!" Arjen explains.



Despite their mutual hatred, the two musicians eventually hatched a plan to put some fuel on the fire created by the press by doing the unthinkable: recording a song together. The result is a mind-blowing over-the-top cover version of "Elected," the original version of which was a big hit for Alice Cooper back in 1973.

The song "Elected" will be featured on a 4-track EP released by Inside Out Music/SPV (release dates: 25 April for Germany/Austria/Switzerland; 28 April for Europe). The 3 other tracks featured on the EP are an acoustic live radio session of the 01011001 track "E=MC2" with Marjan Welman on vocals, "Ride The Comet" taken from the album 01011001, and a touching piano-only version of the Human Equation track "Day Six: Childhood" featuring Joost van den Broek and Marjan Welman.



This year's Night of the Prog Festival (July 18.-20, Loreley) will see the following InsideOut bands: Pain of Salvation, Neal Morse & Band, The Flower Kings and Sieges Even. And speaking of The Flower Kings, they announce a new drummer - Erik Hammarstom.

Beardfish will release Sleeping In Traffic: Part Two on May 19; a European tour with The Tangent and Ritual begins May 16. King's X will also release a new album on May 19, XV.

You can find the brand new video clip of "Sacred & Mundane" from Tiles' latest album Fly Paper on the InsideOut website.

This is what Ian Anderson said about Tiles: "Tiles' best yet! Hard-edged sounds from the Michigan Prog-rockers show off their prowess as maturing, well-formed music-makers for the new age of inventive, guitar-based Rock. Sharp, precise vocals tell tales and set scenes. Thundering drums and bass lines connect weaving melodies. Strong stuff from a band who must soon find long-deserved success." - Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull.

InsideOut is proud to announce the signing of French Progressive Rock band Demians around mastermind Nicolas Chapel. Their debut album Building An Empire will be released on May 19th. The initial pressing will be in a lavish digipack and contain a 9 minutes bonus track.

Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree about Demians: "One of the most assured and accomplished debut albums I've ever heard, the textures and dynamics within the music are breathtaking. A must for anyone that appreciates the art of epic and ambitious 21st century rock music."

InsideOut Music will release Dominici's final part of the O3 trilogy in April. A progressive power metal masterpiece written by former Dream Theater singer Charlie Dominici and mixed by himself and Markus Teske (Vanden Plas, Abydos, SAGA live).

Posted in Band News (tours, comings/goings, etc)

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Album Release News