Around 15 years now. Being brought up in a creative and music-loving family and taking a year of percussion/big-band lessons in primary school, my obsession with music started at a very early age. It wasn't until when I was 14, though, when I got involved with music seriously. When I told my parents I wanted to learn to play guitar, thankfully they were very supportive. They paid for a guitar starter set and all of my lessons throughout my formative years. Never stopped playing since! I have had the pleasure of studying with some amazing teachers, which has been vital to my development as a player. Along with that, I joined my first band after only a year of playing.

Today, I am fortunate to call myself a professional full-time musician. I have been writing, performing and recording with several bands and projects, either as a permanent member, band leader or as a session artist. I also run a one-man guitar teaching business and have helped players of all ages and levels reach their goals since I was only 16.

I honestly don't recall the first ever concert I attended, as I've lost count of how many I have seen, haha! The ones that have been most memorable to me, however, are definitely Roger Waters performing "The Wall", The Theater Equation (Ayreon's "The Human Equation" performed live in a theater production) and also seeing KISS live was a fantastic experience! Musically, they're getting rusty, but their live shows are incredible. Other awesome shows were Iron Maiden and also Andy McKee, a acoustic fingerstyle guitar virtuoso. The night I watched him play, he didn't play a single wrong note!

The first guitar clinic I ever attended was from Andy Timmons in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. In my humble opinion one of the best players in the world. Absolutely fantastic and extremely inspiring experience!

New musical contacts and extra promotion for the bands and projects I'm involved in would be great. It's paying off already!

Guitars:

Ibanez RG 320 DXFM (Yellow, 6-string)
Ibanez RG 1527 Prestige (Blue, 7-string)
Sterling by Music Man Silo 30 (Black/white, 6-string)
Sterling by Music Man JP70 (Red, 7-string)
Oscar Schmidt by Washburn semi-acoustic (Black)

Amps:

ENGL E606 Ironball head
Kool & Elfring 112 cabs

Effects/Amp Modelers:

Line 6 POD HD 500
Engl Z-4 footpedal

Miscellaneous:

Dunlop John Petrucci Jazz III black + regular Jazz III picks (red and black)
Elixir .09 gauge strings
Elixir guitar strings (for semi-acoustic guitar)
DiMarzio V87 pickups (for bridge in Ibanez 7-string guitar)
DiMarzio V77 pickups (for neck in Ibanez 7-string guitar)

I love all my gear, but my favorite piece is probably my ENGL tube amp, as I have used it in a number of settings, both onstage and in the studio. It is just such a versatile and compact amp, sounds great and is so easy in use. I can literally use it to play anything, anywhere!

I have many different influences and grew up listening to a variety of music, ranging from rock and metal to jazz, fusion, blues, funk, classical, movie scores and even some pop music. Early influences in my playing came from guitarists and bands such as Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Gary Moore, David Gilmour, Carlos Santana, Metallica and Iron Maiden.

Even though my musical taste is broad, my greatest passion today lies with progressive rock and metal. I was brought up with certain proggy acts such as Pink Floyd and Genesis, but after discovering Dream Theater and ultimately John Petrucci's guitar playing around the age of 17, I would say my overall perspective on music and really my whole life changed. That was the turning point and the moment I decided I wanted to become a professional musician. To me, prog is the ultimate combination of all elements I enjoy in music. From that point on, I started exploring lots of different styles of progressive music and became even more serious about practicing guitar.

My passion for music and prog especially led to me founding my former band ReSolve back in 2010, which unfortunately split up in 2018.

I am! Currently, I'm writing, recording and playing live internationally with my two main bands:

- Dreamwalkers Inc: a symphonic, progressive metal band from the Netherlands. We are signed at Layered Reality Productions and so far, we have released 1 full-length album and a live album. We are currently working on our new album, which will be released late 2021/early 2022.
http://www.dreamwalkersinc.com/ (Official website)
https://www.facebook.com/dreamwalkersinc/ (Facebook page)

- Elithium: a new symphonic metal band with progressive rock and neo-classical influences from the Netherlands. We are currently signed with Made4EachOther and will be releasing material throughout the coming year:
https://m.facebook.com/elithiummusic/ (Facebook page)

I am also a session guitarist both in the studio and live. I have worked with various bands, projects, artists and producers, including Kristoffer Gildenlow (Kayak, Pain of Salvation, Neal Morse, etc), Dan Pierson (Ayreon, UK solo artist), TDW, Heidevolk, various singer-songwriters, pop bands, cover bands, but also local television and advertising companies.

I used to play in progressive rock/metal band ReSolve, which I founded and led together with our former drummer in The Hague (NL) when I was in college. We released our album 'Wayward Sanctuary' in October 2015 via Layered Reality Productions:
- http://www.resolveband.nl/ (Official website)
- https://www.facebook.com/ReSolveNL/ (Facebook page)

My very first band was a hard rock/heavy metal outfit called Seventh Gate, which was my high school band I joined when I was only 15. Even though we were all very young and inexperienced, we played shows across the Netherlands, recorded a demo and wrote own material which actually sounded somewhat decent. I learned a whole lot from that time and it's been a crucial part of my musical development. We've done a few reunion shows since then. I started playing more professionally in 2013, when things started taking off for ReSolve.

Pfff, too many to name. I've already had the honor of playing together with incredibly skilled musicians!

To jam with John Petrucci, Joe Satriani, Marco Sfogli or Andy Timmons would be a dream come true, although I don't think I'd be able to play a single note right!

Up until now, I think the biggest crowd I played to was at a festival called Plein Open, a local outdoor festival in The Hague. We played there with ReSolve in 2013. It was purely a coincidence, since we heard only a week in advance that we got the slot due to another band being forced to cancel. That particular band had quite a big name in the local scene, so we didn't expect much of a crowd, as we play a completely different style of music. Yet, the place was packed! Very cool experience.

Another memorable gig I played was at ProgPower Europe 2016 at Castle de Berckt, Baarlo, the Netherlands, where we played a semi-acoustic set with Dreamwalkers Inc. It was our debut as a live band and the turnout and vibe were absolutely magical. We were slightly nervous, as PPE is THE festival for bands within the progressive music spectrum and the audience is usually quite critical. Thankfully people enjoyed our set. I would say it's been the best head start to our career as a band we could wish for.

The smallest crowd I think was 4(!) people at a venue in the east of the Netherlands back with ReSolve. The venue had hardly done any local marketing and we had traveled a long way, so that was a disappointment. Those things happen, though, and is all part of the growing pains as an unknown band or artist.

Very, VERY difficult one! If I had to choose, it would be either Dream Theater's 'Images and Words', Rush's 'Moving Pictures' or Ayreon's 'The Human Equation'. One of these three, really because they're all so diverse and exciting in their own way. Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon), for example, is a pioneer at composing dynamic rock operas which can really "suck you in" and take you on a musical journey through a complete story with different characters, interpreted by various incredible singers. The songwriting on his albums is simply mind-boggling.

The other two records I mentioned are, in my opinion, absolutely revolutionary in every respect, especially for the time in which they were released: long songs, odd time signatures, extended technical and instrumental passages, dramatic changes in dynamics and tempo, while maintaining melodic hooks and choruses. This, I find, is the very definition of expanding the boundaries of popular music, taking risks and thinking "outside the box". 'Images and Words' is one of the key albums which got me into progressive music and inspired me (and still does today) to become the best possible guitarist and overall musician I could be and still is my personal favorite DT album to this day. So, one of those three!