Maiden uniteD | |
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Background information | |
Origin | United Kingdom, Netherlands |
Genres | Acoustic rock, influenced by heavy metal |
Years active | 2006–present |
Labels | Private Management |
Members | Damian Wilson Ruud Jolie Joey Bruers Marco Kuypers Mike Coolen Perttu Kivilaakso Anneke van Giersbergen |
Website | www.MaidenuniteD.com |
Maiden uniteD is an acoustic project. Musicians from different bands join together to play an all-acoustic tribute to English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The songs are played with new arrangements.
In 2006, Joey Bruers was asked to perform a tribute at a convention for the Dutch Iron Maiden fan club in Dynamo, Eindhoven. [1] Together with several musicians he played a set of acoustic Iron Maiden songs. [2] Steve Harris attended the convention and gave the band ‘two thumbs up’. [3]
There were a few more shows like this and then he started to write new acoustic arrangements for a series of songs with Ruud Jolie (Within Temptation).
They began to search for musicians to record these songs and on 9 December 2010 their first album was released; Mind the Acoustic Pieces , an all-acoustic reinterpretation of Iron Maiden’s classic album Piece of Mind.
The album was supported by the "Pieces Over Europe Tour" (December 2010 - April 2011). Maiden uniteD played at the 2011 Wacken Open Air festival in Germany [4] and they played at the 2011 Download festival in the UK. [5]
Their second album 'Across The Seventh Sea' was released in September 2012 and followed by a European tour in November and December. This album contains rearranged songs from several Iron Maiden albums. Perttu Kivilaakso (Apocalyptica) plays cello on the tracks 'The Evil That Men Do' and 'Infinite Dreams'. [6]
Maiden uniteD brought their third album Remembrance out in 2015. There are also special guests on this album such as ex Iron Maiden singers Paul Di'Anno and Blaze Bayley. Next to them are Wudstik, Marcela Bovio of Stream of Passion and ex Iron Maiden drummer Thunderstick also on the album. A European tour follows from September through December.
Perttu Kivilaakso (Apocalyptica): Cello
Anneke van Giersbergen (formerly The Gathering), (Devin Townsend), (Ayreon): Vocals
Luke Appleton (Blaze Bayley, Absolva): Bass
Lee Morris (formerly Paradise Lost): Drums
Huub van Loon (Dearworld): Keyboards
Joe Lazarus (Voodoo Six): Drums
Marcela Bovio (formerly Stream of Passion), (MaYaN), (Ayreon): Vocals
Martijn Balsters (The Dust Connection): Guitar
Wudstik (Ayreon), (For all we Know): Vocals
Tom Sikkers (Daybroke): Guitar
Dennis Stratton (formerly Iron Maiden): Guitar
Stef Broks (Textures): Drums
{List of Maiden United concert tours}
Duration | Concert tour | Lineups | |||||||
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Vocals | Bass | Guitars | Drums | Keyboards | Guests on Tour | Gigs | |||
2010/2011 | Mind the Acoustic Pieces Tour | Damian Wilson | Joey Bruers | Ruud Jolie | Mike Coolen | Marko Kuypers | Anneke van Giersbergen | 24 | |
2012/2013 | Across the Seventh Sea Tour | Stef Broks | Huub van Loon / Thijs Schrijnemakers | Perttu Kivilaakso / Luke Appleton / Lee Morris / Martijn Balsters / Tom Sikkers / Wudstik | 42 | ||||
2015 | Remembrance Tour | Dirk Bruinenberg | Huub van Loon / Thijs Schrijnemakers | Marcela Bovio, Wudstik, Joe Lazarus | tba |
Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk, electronica, experimental and classical music. The majority of Ayreon's albums are dubbed "rock operas" because the albums contain complex storylines featuring a host of characters, usually with each one being represented by a unique vocalist.
Damian Wilson is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Wilson works in the progressive metal genre and was the lead singer of Headspace and Threshold. He sang and toured with bands and projects for Star One, Ayreon, Landmarq, Praying Mantis and with Rick Wakeman's English Rock Ensemble.
Anna Maria "Anneke" van Giersbergen is a Dutch singer, songwriter and guitarist who became known worldwide as the lead singer for the rock band The Gathering between 1994 and 2007. She also has a solo career. The project was originally called Agua de Annique, but now goes by her own name.
Arjen Anthony Lucassen is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as the guitarist and backing vocalist of Dutch band Bodine as Iron Anthony, before joining Vengeance in 1984. After eight years he left the band, wanting to go into a more progressive direction, and released two years later an unsuccessful solo album entitled Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy under the nickname Anthony.
Stream of Passion is a Dutch progressive metal band with symphonic and gothic influences founded by guitarist and composer Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Mexican singer, violinist, and lyricist Marcela Bovio. They have released four studio albums.
Ruud Jolie is the lead guitarist of the symphonic metal band Within Temptation.
Marcela Alejandra Bovio García is a Mexican singer and violinist who is currently a member of the Dutch symphonic death metal band MaYaN.
"The Evil That Men Do" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It is the band's seventeenth single and the second from their seventh studio album, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988). The single debuted at number six in the UK charts and quickly rose to number five. The single's B-sides are re-recordings of "Prowler" and "Charlotte the Harlot" which appear as tracks number one and seven/eight respectively on the band's debut album Iron Maiden.
"Infinite Dreams" is a live single released in 1989 by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It is the only single to be released in sync with a home video; 1989's Maiden England. The performance was recorded in Birmingham, England in 1988 towards the end of the massive world tour to support the album where the song originally appeared, being Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. It was the band's final single to feature "The Trooper"-era lineup for an entire decade until 2000's single "The Wicker Man" with guitarist Adrian Smith leaving the band in January 1990 after he did not approve of the direction the band were aiming for on their next album No Prayer for the Dying.
Johan van Stratum is a Dutch bassist and a member of the progressive metal band VUUR.
An Acoustic Night at the Theatre is the fourth live album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation that has been released in October–November 2009.
Pure Air is a compilation album by Agua de Annique, a band formed by the former The Gathering vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen. It was released in 2009. It contains tracks from their first album Air, and also songs featuring other artists.
Mind the Acoustic Pieces is the first studio album by Maiden uniteD. It is an all-acoustic reinterpretation of the 1983 Iron Maiden album Piece of Mind with rearranged music for an acoustic setting
The Theater Equation is a live album and DVD/Blu-ray by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's progressive rock/metal rock opera project Ayreon. The Theater Equation originally consisted of a four live performances, with cast, choir and small orchestra, of the 2004 album The Human Equation, as an actual rock opera, complete with mise-en-scène. It is the first Ayreon live release, although Ayreon songs had previously been featured on live albums by two of Lucassen's other musical projects, and marks the first time an Ayreon album was performed live in its entirety. The Theater Equation consisted of four shows, all played in Rotterdam between September 18 and 20, 2015, with the last performance being the one recorded for the album.
The Gentle Storm is a Dutch musical project by singer and lyricist Anneke van Giersbergen and composer and musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen, founder and leader of other musical projects such as Star One, Ayreon, Guilt Machine and Ambeon. The duo has previously collaborated in Ayreon albums Into the Electric Castle and 01011001. The project's debut album, The Diary, was released on March 23, 2015, in Europe, and the following day in the US.
The Gentle Storm Exclusive Tour CD is a cover EP and the first release of the Dutch heavy metal/folk band The Gentle Storm. It is entirely acoustic, and features only bandleaders Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Anneke van Giersbergen, and drummer Rob Snijders.
Ayreonauts Only is the first compilation album by Dutch progressive metal project Ayreon by Arjen Anthony Lucassen, released in 2000. Although categorized as a compilation album, it consists only of previously unreleased material, with alternate versions of Ayreon songs with different singers, demos, and of the song "Cold Metal" from Lucassen's then-upcoming project Ambeon.
VUUR is a Dutch progressive metal band formed in 2016 by singer and lyricist Anneke van Giersbergen and musicians she has worked with previously in bands like The Gentle Storm or her own solo band.
In This Moment We Are Free – Cities is the debut studio album by progressive metal band VUUR. It was released on 20 October 2017, via Inside Out Music. Apart from the regular edition, the album was released on special editions including a CD digipak and a gatefold 2LP + CD.
Electric Castle Live and Other Tales is a live album and DVD/Blu-ray by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's progressive rock/metal rock opera project Ayreon, that was released on March 27, 2020. It is a live version of the 1998 studio album Into the Electric Castle, performed as an actual rock opera, complete with mise-en-scène; it is a recording of one of four live performances between September 13 and 15, 2019 in Tilburg, to celebrate the original album's 20th anniversary in a way similar to The Theater Equation, with songs from other Lucassen projects performed once the songs from the albums were all performed.