“Bruce Dickinson’s manager was really angry. He cancelled the whole project”: Arjen Lucassen stupidly talked himself out of making an album with Iron Maiden’s singer

Dutch composer Arjen Lucassen , through projects including Ayreon, Star One and Ambeon, has collaborated with a wide variety of musicians including James LaBrie, Mikael Åkerfeldt, Steve Vai and Floor Jansen. He did one song with Bruce Dickinson too. But as he told Prog in 2009, there could have been a complete album with the Iron Maiden singer – until he did something stupid.

It must be satisfying that Ayreon is so popular given that, when you first came up with the concept, record labels dismissed you.

They laughed at me! I think between 30 and 50 record companies turned me down. The first album was recorded in 1995 – those were the days of grunge, and there I was with a progressive rock opera! So that was hard but finally I found a Japanese company who were interested. To everyone’s surprise, including my own, it started selling. When I was working on it, I’d had a good feeling about it. I knew there had to be people who were interested – people like me who grew up with Jesus Christ Superstar or with The Who’s Tommy, as well as all the prog concept stuff like Journey To The Centre Of The Earth.

Was it hard getting musicians to become involved with Ayreon, and has that changed?

Well, to a degree it’s still hard. For the first album I managed to get Barry Hay from Golden Earring, and I think that gave me confidence for the next album to try other people. I did the second Ayreon album completely differently, and the result was that it really didn’t sell that well.

Ayreon - Into The Black Hole feat. Bruce Dickinson (Official Lyric Video) - YouTube

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So when it came to record the third album, I really had the feeling that I had to do something really huge and really over-the-top. I approached Fish and I think having him on that album was the beginning of Ayreon’s success. Nowadays, people in the prog and metal scene know me, but it’s hard to get the really big names, like Ian Gillan or Dave Gilmour.

I remember I spoke with Dave Gilmour; I don’t think he really listens to this kind of music – it’s too far from his style. I also came very close to getting Ian Gillan, but unfortunately at the last moment he couldn’t do it. Then again, there are people like Dream Theater’s James LaBrie, who actually approached me, which was such a big compliment.

What are your thoughts on some of your other projects, such as the space rock of Star One’s 2002 debut Space Metal, or the laid-back Ambeon album Fate Of A Dreamer?

Star One was originally going to be a Bruce Dickinson solo album. Bruce had sung on one of my Ayreon albums [Into The Black Hole from 2000’s Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator]. He really liked my stuff and wanted to do an album with me.

So I wrote these 12 songs, which were in the style of Deep Purple and Hawkwind, and sent them to him. He started working on them – but then I did a very stupid thing. I spoke about it on the internet, and before I knew it the news was everywhere. Bruce’s manager was really angry, and he cancelled the whole project.

So there I was with 12 songs that were a bit too heavy for Ayreon, and that was how it turned into Star One.

Star One - Lost Children of the Universe (Roy Khan, Tony Martin, Marcela and Irene, Steve Vai) - YouTube

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As for Ambeon, I basically wanted to make an electronic album as I’m a big fan of bands like Tangerine Dream. I was working on it when I got a recording of singer Astrid Van der Veen, and she was amazing. She sang on the album and it worked out so well. She was only 14 and she was the most talented singer I’ve ever worked with.

You seem to be constantly working; are you someone who has to be busy all the time?

Yes – if I’m not being creative, I’m in a deep black hole, and that happens after each album that I do. When an album is done and mastered, it’s horrible because you want to continue. As I don’t [often] play live, I want to dive straight into another project; and when I do start again, the ideas don’t come.

It happens every time; I worry that the creative well is dry. But luckily, so far, the inspiration always comes back. People often think that I’m a workaholic because I do so many albums and get involved in so many projects – but really I’m not. I don’t have kids, I don’t have a family and I don’t have to play live, so that gives me a lot of time.