Upon leaving bands ARRYTHMIA and MEXICAN SEAFOOD, guitarist Mark REIJVEN and singer/guitarist Paul SIEBEN begin jamming in Nederweert (southeastern Netherlands) during the summer of 2004. Soon bassist Henri van ZELST and later drummer Paul van LIMBEEK are added, and the group begins honing original material influenced by the heavier side of prog in bands as PAIN OF SALVATION, TOOL and DREAM THEATER but with a less metallic posture and sound.
Eventually Dennis RENDERS (ex-GENTLE NOVA) is drafted on keyboards, giving the band a slightly more prog sound and professional sheen. Their debut 'Opportinities of Tomorrow' is recorded in September 2006 and released the following year, and the band is back writing new material for a follow-up.
I got in touch with Mark and here is their story. ###############################################################################
When
and by whom was your band formed ? Did any of you, past and present
members, play in any other bands before joining up in your band ? Why
did you choose that name and which bands were you influenced by
?
Nem-Q
was formed in 2004 by Paul Sieben (vocals, guitar) and Mark Reijven
(guitar). Shortly after Paul and Mark came together, bass player
Henri van Zelst joined. Before Nem-Q we all played in other
bands with different styles like grunge, jazz, funk, punk
and industrial metal. Each individual band member has his own
perception on making music, and that makes Nem-Q special and
interesting for all of us. The name Nem-Q is a degradation from the
Latin word namque, which means 'for example' or 'for instance'. No
particular reason to choose that name, it just sounded
right.
Your
debut album Opportunities Of Tomorrow was released in 2007. Please
tell us more about this album.
Opportunities
of Tomorrow was our search for the right direction. The album
contained heavy progmetal songs, but also subtle and funk/jazz
oriented songs. We are still very proud of the results. It gave
us insights about each other, various music styles and recording
in general.
For
those of us unfamiliar with your music; how would you describe your
music ?
Our
first album was sort of 'easy-to-listen' progrock. Our second
album will have a more darker and heavier sound and will contain
more progrock/metal elements. Although the second album is still
in the making, it already feels like a giant step forward in our
development.
What
have you been up to since 2007, what is your current status and what
are your plans for next year ?
At
this moment we are recording our second album (release date mid 2012)
completely by ourselves. We take our time to record everything
exactly how we want it, to get the best result. Since our debut album
a lot of things changed. Not only we had a change of drummer in
2008 (Twan Bakker), we now know better what we want and how to
achieve it. The second album is written in a theme and the 9 songs
together form a story told from someone else's twisted perception.
This starting-point challenged us to think harder about the lyrics in
relation to the music. To support the right 'feel', our
keyboardist Dennis Renders will have a more prominent role
on the second album.
To
wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this
interview ?
Thank
you very much for reading about Nem-Q. If we made you curious about
our music, please check http://www.nem-q.com/" rel="nofollow - to
keep in touch.
Thank you to Mark for this interview
The PA profile is http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=3810" rel="nofollow - and the homepage is http://www.nem-q.com/" rel="nofollow -
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