20 questions with Noud Smeets from Project Masquerade - Interview

Here's an interview with Noud Smeets from Masquerade. Stick with us while we talk about their new album "Nothing but everything will remain" and lots of other interesting stuff

1. Hey Noud! . First off all thanks for taking the time and giving us this interview. To kick
start the questions, tell us a bit about your new album "NOTHING BUT EVERYTHING WILL
REMAIN" set to release on July 8th?

Thank you Vin for having me on .Noting but everythin will remain is an album with a lot of shredding stuff , but I’ve decided not to make a guitar masturbation album. There’s only one instrumental track, a lot of melody and male and female vocals.NBEWR has a lot of different moods and shows lot of different styles of heavy metal.

I started doing pre-production about two and a half years ago writing songs and recording ideas.I moved to Rotterdam where I have a small studio were I can record vocals, bass keys, and of course guitars. I started with drumkit from hell for the drumparts but ended up using a real drummer.

I think I have some real killer guest musicians on the album that is recorded in the Netherlands and in New York. On drums there’s Dennis Leeflang (Bumblefoot, Lita Ford, Sun caged). Besides being a

true professional who is also capable of delivering astonishing drum parts, Dennis is a really nice guy.

Thanx to Dennis I found Chandler Mogel (Outloud, Tallon) who is singing two tracks on the album. Chandler has a real American soulfull hardrock voice like Ray Gillan and Glenn Hughens . I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard him singing the first time! This guy is gonna be huge in the future. Besides Chandler on the clean vocalsounds there’s Grain on vocals. Grain is a very talented singer songwriter (and my lovely girlfriend). And last but not least Michel Zandbergen. Michel kan also be heard on the first Masquerade album (Cybernetic

empire) For the real heavy grunting stuff I have Daniel Verbrugge on vocals and Dimitri Konstitsyn from the NY band Hung who does a blowing version of ”Carve your heart” Barend ”The Bear” Courbois is playing bass guitar on four tracks on the album. Barend came straight from his tour with Steve Fister to my house to record his bass parts. He is really one of worlds best rock players who played with people like Mike Terrana, Zakk Wylde, Michael Lee firkins, and Steve Fister to name a few on his very long list and I’m

really exited he plays on the album. At the moment i´m talking to some labels but in case thats not going to work, I´m releasing the album on cdbaby and Itunes.The release on cdbaby will be 1.9.2011

2. There are different reasons why each one of us picked up the guitar in the first place,
What was yours? and what, or rather who were your early influences who inspired you to
reach where you are today?

I´m lucky to come from a family who loves music. Both my grandfathers used to sing in a

choir and one of them even made a record just after wwII.My father played saxophone for almost 9 years.

I have one sister who is 7 yrs older and she used to listen to bands like Deep Purple all day when I was 7 or 8 yrs old so that was my first influence. When I was around 9 I saw Redbone and jimi Hendrix on on tv and after that I made a cardboard strat to take with me around the house all day. When I was around 15 I got my first real electric guitar, took guitarlessons at the local musicschool and started to play in local bands soon.

I liked players like Blackmore a lot. I remember buying Ozzy's ‘Blizzard Of Ozz’ and listening over and over again to Randy's amazing playing. I’ve always been interested in all kinds of different music besides metal. I really love to hear Tori Amos and jazz players like Charlie Parker to name two different places in the music spectrum. But of course metal will always be the main core. Besides almost all the Schrapnell players from the '80´s my biggest inspirations are Randy Rhoads, Ritchie Blackmore, Joe Satriani, Racer X, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Akira Takasaki, Tori Amos, Charlie Parker, Robert Fripp, Chriss Olivia, George Lynch, Deep Purple, Queensryche, Crimson Glory, Killswitch Engage and my 5 crazy maine Coons

3. I've heard someone qouting that you guys are the hidden treasure of Netherlands!
Although, I know for sure that this is just the beginning for you. So how was it like growing
up and performing there?

My recordings alway get great reviews, exept in the netherlands...lol Especially the Cybernetic Empire album got good international reviews like people writing “ the band is a hidden treasure from the Netherlands” . Remember, the music from the first Masquerade album was recorded between 1989 and 1994 and released in 2010! .

4. What was it like playing for your first band, Lion's Pride ?
Thats a long time ago.
I joined Lions Pride who had just released their first album on Mausoleum records and departed with one of their guitar players in 1985. I travelled once or twice a week from Holland to Belgium for rehearsals, played live gigs, but also had to go to school every day at that time! We played a lot of gigs in Belgium and Holland. Sometimes 2-3 gigs a week Lions Pride was my first semi-pro band. They had a real roadcrew and a good
management. I remember we were writing for the new album and already played new songs live but we had to wait for the “GO” from Mausoleum to record the second album.We wrote a lot of fast guitar orientated stuff that was lot more heavy than the first album.The band played at the Shockwave Festival in Belgium and our gig was filmed with 6camera's for a video to support the new album but there was still no go from Mausoleum. Actually they never released the video (Some parts of the video are on YouTube nowadays ) and I didn’t want to wait anymore. I finished school, moved to another place and started to study film and photography for four years. Besides that I started my own band Masquerade.

5. Your band "New Breed" was the winner of the "Westerpopbokaal", a prestigious
bandcompetition in the south-west of Holland? Tell us a bit about that.

After Masquerade I played in a lot of different Dutch bands.New Breed started as a nu-metal band playing a Limp Bizkit style of music complete with turntables, and developed later into a pure rockband. The band was getting successful in the Southwest of the Netherlands making one official EP entitled ‘Cut The Crap’, (reviewed in Music Maker magazine as the dutch CD with the most original guitar work ) and a lot of demo’s and promo’s.
Being the winner of the "Westerpopbokaal" competition gave us a lot of attention in the dutch press, a lot of gigs and the money to make some good recordings and a promo video. The band had the opportunity to play a lot of festivals and gigs and we also recorded music for a Dutch horror movie that unfortunately was not released after all. We even had a track in a compilation album mastered by the great Bob Katz who has engineered and mastered recordings that received Grammy Awards and nominations.
Unfortunately the band had a lot of line-up changes and never met the right people at the
right place.

6. What other projects have you worked on before Lion's Pride?
Nothing realy serious, just local bands from school

7. How was it like working with Project Masquerade ?

I started Masquerade when I left Lions Pride in 1988 I listened a lot to guitar players like Marty Friedman, Tony McAlpine Vinny moore and all the other Schrapnell guys at that time but also to a lot of US power metal bands like Vicious Rumours and Crimson Glory (The name Masquerade actually comes from the CG track Queen of the Masquerade !) With Jack Kraal on drums and Ronald Klatt on bass guitar, I started the band Masquerade. Already from the beginning we had problems finding a decent vocalist who was capable of
producing those high pitching screams. Our very first gig, also recorded by Dutch radio, was done with a guest-singer. When we entered the studio for recording our first and only demo (‘Behind The Mask’) we were not very happy with the recorded vocals. We knew that Richard Muermans just had left the in Holland well known band Avalon and after a short rehearsal at his living room he rewrote all the lyrics and a week later recorded the vocals within a few hours! When I heard him singing together with the tape at the studio I knew something magical happened. He managed to sounds very different from the things he did with Avalon and just everything fitted in the right place. The demo turned out to be a real killer selling about 400 copies
(and that’s without the internet lol). I got the craziest reviews from all over the world and than Richard told us he didn’t wanted to continue because the music was to heavy for his taste.

The band was on the verge to sign a deal with a quite popular record label We had a few labels interested in the band. But one company from Franc was really interested. I One of the band members even talked to them in Paris and they told us that they wanted Richard as a singer and they wanted to see the band play live as soon as possible... That wasn’t possible anymore because Richard already had left the band. We auditioned more than 30 singers during the next year and we got mad of sitting in our rehearsal room that long without any result. We also met some crazy people that time. I remember there was one guy who had to travel for hours by train to get to our rehearsal room. We went to the station to pick him up and we introduced ourselves to him. Then he turned, stepped back into the train and left… lol… I wish we had a video camera there that time.

Jack Kraal (drums) was the first who made the decision to quit and that was the end. Somewhere around 1993 / 1994 Ronald and I decided to rewrite and record some of the Masquerade stuff and also wrote some new tracks. I heard Rob Snijders playing drums and was really blown away by his playing. He was
playing with Kong at that time and not really into metal. I asked him if he had a student who would be capable of playing the tracks in the studio and was surprised he told me that he wanted to do the job. But again there was the vocal problem. We did some auditions in the studio spending a lot of money, and that decided to record with a few different metal singers like Gregoor vd Loo who was playing with Lemur Voice at that time, Hans Reinders from Form and Michel Zandbergen who played with bands like Picture. We recorded eight tracks but only had the money to make a final mix for five tracks. The final mix was done bij Ron Lieberton
(Zinatra) . I moved to the north of Holland and dropped he Masquerade tapes in a box in the attic.

8. Tell us a bit about Cybernetic Empire?
‘Cybernetic Empire’, is a compilation of the complete works of Masquerade from 1989 to 1994 released by Adrenaline / Steelheart Records from Italy in 2010. the album is still available (http://www.bol.com) and got great international reviews About two years ago I got an email from one of the label owners. When Masquerade released the ‘Behind The Mask’ demo, he wrote a very positive review
in an Italian magazine. He asked me if it was possible to do a release on their Steelheart Memories label! So, after being surprised for a week, I had to search in the attic for the old tapes. The ‘Behind The Mask’ master was in really poor condition and was full of mungus! It has been cleaned second by second and is remastered in Italy. From the Project Masquerade recording sessions I had only a master on CD. Steelheart decided to ad some extra’s as well. I have a lot of studio-outtakes and was also lucky to get two live tracks from the very first gig Masquerade ever played. Unfortunately there are not any recordings of the Mark II line up that were good enough for the CD. The guys at Steelheart really did a great job and made the ultimate Masquerade CD with a sixteen page booklet. I even got the opportunity to do a part of the front cover design.

9. What got you into Guitar playing?

I think it was seeing Jimi Hendrix and Redbone on tv.
I still want to cover one of Redbone's tracks :-)

10. What's your favourite music related website?

I've grown up when a band needed to send tapes around.
There were no downloads, no Internet, no possibility of meeting anybody.
Now I can meet and talk to all my favorite musicians, discover new music and musicians,
sell my music and invite musicians for my new projects.
I left Myspace about half a years ago. Its terribel nowadays and I prefer ReverbNation in
combination with facebook and youtube.
http://www.reverbnation.com/noudsmeets

11. Tell us a bit about your last show. How do you find playing live?

For the last year I decided to concentrate on finishing the new album .
I think it will be very difficult to get the musicians involved together for a live show
presenting NBEWR. Their from both the Netherlands and the US.
But you never know whats going to happen in the future.
My last liveshow was in 2010 with dutch singer-songwriter Grain.

If you´re into artists like Tori Amos or Kate Bush I realy recommend her album “Shut your
mouth Kevin”.
Besides that I did a lot of shows with Dutch band Edge of Serenity who released their first
album on Romulus X records.

12. Besides music, what else are you into?

My daily Job is working as a coach in photography and film and as a photographer.
I love to be with my family: singer-songwriter Grain and our little son Kick (who was born
during the recording of NBEWR ) and our 5 cray Maine coones
Besides that I'm realy into Photoshop. I started working with Photoshop in 1991 already

13. Enchant us a little more about your gear! Guitars, effects, picks, amps , what would we
find if we were to walk in to your studio?

For recording, most of the time I use a POD XT. On the NBWER album I used also a Engl
530 with inpulses on a few tracks
Besided that in the studio its only a fast computer running cubase, a piano and a few
guitars.

I used a lot of different gear during the years. I have old pics where you can see a lot of
Marhall stuff on stage like JMP and JCM amps with 4x12 cabs.
When I joined New Breed I realy liked Line6 amps.
A few years ago I fell in love with Engl Amps. I used a rackmount preamp (e530) and
poweramp (e930/60) for years but changed It for an Engl Blackmore last year.
For cabs I use 2x12 cabs. One with V30 and the other with GT75 speakers.
For effects I dont use very much, a tubescreamer for boosting the Engl, (in combination
with a Keeley compressor and a noisegate, a rackmount TC electronics delay and a
rackmount boss harmonic delay.(a pedal rebuilt to “19)
Besides that I have an old roland gp8 from where I get some chorus and I use a Digitech
whammy.

For guitars, My main guitar is a bo- MC7 (7 string) that I play exclusively from the bo-el
guitarcompany in the netherlands.(http://www.bo-elguitars.com)
Besides that I have an Ibanez 8 string prestige, an Ibanez 520 with dimarzio evolution
pichups, a Charvel usa strat from 1988 and an old Fender telecaster.
The mc7 is the best I have ever played. I had old Fender strats, Ibanez, Charvell, Yamaha.
Sold it all . On the NBEWR album you only hear the MC7 (and the 8 string Ibanez on one
track)

My fav. picks are ”Twins”, handmade by Wegenpicks (http://www.wegenpicks.com)
These are 3,5 mm thick gypsyjazzpicks. (Sometimes I use Dunlop jazz III)

14. Do you also play in studio sessions? If so how has it treated you?

I've done one session for a coveralbum initiated by American producer Chris Barth called
Skinny bones and monsters a few years ago. Its a cover version of a track by Dutch
rockstar Herman Brood who comited suicide a few years ago by jumping of the roof of the
Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam. The track was mastered by the great Bob Katz!!
I heard they made a lot of different mixes before chosing this one. The first one was really
heavy, bit Limp Bizkit like, but they wanted a more mainstream sound and edited the

guitar solo at the end.

15. Without thinking for a second if you had to name your favourite guitar player, who
would it be?

Thats Joe Satriani for shure.
But when I think a few seconds...There are so many good players out there. But some of
my fav players are: Randy Rhoads, Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie van Halen,
Joe Satriani, Jason Becker, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Akira Takasaki, Chris Olivia
and George Lynch

16. How does a normal day in your life go?

I used to work 4 days a week teaching photography and film and when I have to work I
do not play guitar a lot because I work all day.
But I lost my job last week......So besides al the hassle to find a new job, I'm playing a lot
right now and I´m lucky that I can spent a lot of time with my son Kick who´s 8 months old
now
Besides that I started writing for a new Project Masquerade album and also have started
a new project together with Grain. I have a small studio of my own where my girlfriend also
works as a vocalcoach.

17. Your 5 most favourite movies?

Being a cameraman and photographer, I love the cinema but is impossible for me to
choose just 5 movies!
I love old movies like Metropolis by Fritz Lang (1927)
The movie tells the story of a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class
and the city planners The son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class
prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences. This film was
an inspiration for a lot of movies like Starwars, The Matrix and Blade Runner. The track
Masterplan on my last album is inspired by this movie.
I also love films like Van Helsing, Lord of the Ring, the Star Wars trilogy or Alien

18. Which is the one place where you've always wanted to perform?

Love to play everywhere. Only thing I want is a decent PA system and some lights.
Would be cool to do some gigs in the US in the future.

19.You are pretty active on facebook and Reverbnation! how do you find surfing these
social networking sites and meeting fellow guitar players?

What bothers me is that social networking takes so much of your time but gives very little
effort.
But thanx to the internet and Myspace I was able to make the last album.
On the other hand, surfing on the internet is very band for your ability of concentration.
(Nicolas Carr has written a great book about that titled The shalows, what the internet is
doing to our brains)
I also think it makes people lazy. They just copy from youtube but dont learn.
You hear a lot of guys who can copy a Malmsteen or Gregg Howe solo but they can not
write decent songs themselve.

20. Any plans for the future?

A lot but unfortunately a day has only 24 hours...
The NBEWR album wil be released on 1.9.2011 and I' m making a new website and some
making-of video's.
I also started writing for the new Masquerade album already.
Besides that I have a new project together with Grain (bit Nightwish meets Dreamtheater)
and I want to record some instrumental stuff as well.

That puts this interview to an end. Special thanks to Noudfor being a sport and giving us an interview.And all the best with the new album

Hope you guys liked this one. Do let us know what you thought about this interview! Leave a comment below

If you are famous and would like to get interviewed or reviewed by us then, Let us know


Sneek Peek About the Album. "Nothing but everything will remain" - Review


Well as you all know the album is set to be released on 1st september. But Noud was nice enough to send us a little sneek peek of things to come. Before we go into the track listings, let me just tell you this is one amazing album. To be honest I had no idea who Project Masquerade was before I ran into Noud in facebook, but now I'm finding myself listening to their albums all day.

Knowing Noud's ability, I was expecting this album to be highly guitar dominated. But to my surprise, the album is filled with some real old school Vocals (both male and female) augmented by some pretty amazing overall compositions.

If you haven't heard Project Masquerade, then you should know that they are a new breed in the genre of Melodic Metal. Their new album "Nothing but everything will remain" is definitely something to look forward to. We will keep you posted on the release dates and any further developments.

For now here's a sneek peek on the track listings

1. Disease
2. Carve your Heart
3. Restless Souls
4. Killer of Life
5. Masterplan
6. King of the wasteland

Hope you guys enjoyed the interview and the lil' sneek peek thanks to Noud Smeets .

You can catch Noud at his facebook page or visit his website

Website : www.noudsmeets.com