Anton Roolaart was born in Netherlands but being very young, he moved with his family to United States, he grew listening Classical music that his father loved so much and shared with him, at the age of 13 decides to study Classical guitar before exploring the secrets of the instrument by his own.

In the next years and being obsessive about the evolution and development of Progressive Rock he decided to expand his studies to Jazz guitar, Piano and Drums, which have been very important for the release of his debut album "Dreamer".

I got in touch with Anton and here is his replies to my questions.

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You have a long career behind the scenes in the music industry which also include a stint with ProgRockRadio.com. Just to start with, please tell us more about your background and why you took up music.  

Well, I am originally from the Netherlands but have lived in USA most of my life.  I like to travel and visit the Netherlands now and then since my father, sister, and relatives live there as well as Belgium (where my mother is from).  I was brought up listening to my father play Classical and Opera records when I was young, especially on Sundays - he loved to listen and work on his art (he is a painter) or read, I will also say we had a nice sound system for the times.  My father liked to play the music loud..  Soon afterward my parents divorced and he went back to Europe.   My mother raised me and bought me a classical guitar at the age of 13, I proceeded to study classical guitar for about 2 years, taking private lessons with a gentleman named Gus Tool.  After that I guess you could say I was teaching myself guitar.  Soon I started learning songs from Cat Stevens, Beatles, Neil Young, etc ...  My older brother had records from ELP, Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, etc... which I liked as well. I wrote my first song when I was about 18 years old.  The song is entitled "Shipwreck" and it's about people that get stranded on an island, learn to live a different, hard but simple life, and opt to stay on the island when given the opportunity to return to civilization.  I  hope to record that song one day...  My brother was also in a rock band for a little while and I thought that was cool.. but I was kinda doing my own thing.. mostly on acoustic 6, 12, and classical guitars with friends .. and I starting to write some my own songs... I also become a fan of guitarists like Steve Howe, Alvin Lee, David Gilmore as well as the music of Pink Floyd, Yes (who really stood out for me), early Genesis, King Crimson, Bowie,, just to name a few... Many of the veterans of prog rock as well.   After high school I became interested in recording and went to school for that.   Then I also started my home studio with MIDI and keybaords... etc...  I played in several cover bands over the years but preferred writing and performing original music. 

You were working with the Spanish band http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1610" rel="nofollow - on their only album so far; The City Lights from 2005. Please tell us more about this cooperation and album.

It is an interesting story.   I was in the middle of writing and recording tracks for "Dreamer" when I received an email from a guy from the Basque area of Spain named Jupe.  He is the drummer for JESDAT.   He had found me and my music on the web.   Jupe and some other Spanish musicians from various parts of Spain were working on a theme-based album of ambient, prog rock and they needed a vocalist to sing in English.  What was interesting to me was that we worked remotely and at the time none of the musicians had never met each other.  Anyway, they asked if I would be interested to sing lead vocals for them.  now, I lived in Spain for a short while in the early 80's with my sister who lived there for many years and I speak Spanish as well.  Anyway, they sent me some music and lyrics and I worked with them to make it all fit and work vocally.   Then, I sent them tracks and they used it on their CD for "Wings of Fire".  The story (theme) for that CD is about a boy that was raised in darkness at home in a basement or something like that, thinking he was blind, then one day he escapes to find he is not blind at all, he experiences the "City Lights".  It was a nice idea and experience.  We continued to keep in touch with each other and talked about another project but I unfortunately could not put the attention to it at that time that I wish I could have and the new project never really took off as far as I know.  I am very grateful to have worked with these creative and talented guys from Spain.  Maybe one day we'll pick it up again.

You eventually went your own way as a solo artist. Please tell us more about your first and only album to this date; Dreamer from 2008.

How is your writing and creative processes ?

For those of the readers who are not familiar with your music: How would you describe your music and how would you describe your guitar style ?

To wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this interview ?