In 2013 Arjen Lucassen’s Ayreon released eighth album The Theory Of Everything. As ever it was a star-studded studio project, this time featuring Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett and John Wetton, among others. That year Lucassen demonstrated a little bit of the character that drove such productions.
In a competition to find the most guest appearances on one project, Ayreon would probably win. Conceptualised, composed, played and produced by Dutch polymath Arjen Lucassen, 2008 album 01011001 boasted a whopping 16 guests, including Michael Romeo and Anneke van Giersbergen – and told such an intricate and mind-expanding story that even its creator had trouble following it up.
Even when he was putting the finishing touches to his solo album Lost In The New Real last year, Lucassen made no suggestion that another Ayreon album was on the cards. And then, as if from some mysterious vortex that throws out albums without warning, The Theory Of Everything lands in our laps, featuring a heart-stopping cast of suitably progressive magnitude: Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett, Keith Emerson and John Wetton – the pillars of all things that are indulgently and formidably esoteric – plus Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess, Lacuna Coil’s Cristina Scabbia and Nightwish’s Marco Hietala, among others.
“Lori calls it Jedi mind tricks,” says Lucassen, talking about his manager-partner’s take on his high-profile acquisitions. “A lot of them I’ve been trying to get for years, like Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman. I started with them 15 years ago. I even went to the US to record Keith and I got there and he couldn’t do it because he was doing a gig with other people! It was heartbreaking because those are my keyboard heroes of the 70s and I’ve always wanted to work with them. But now I’ve done Genesis, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yes and King Crimson, and it’s very cool to be able to say that.”
The latest album, then, has an overtly prog flavour, carried away on a wave of multi-layered musicianship and brilliantly audacious, cinematic soundscapes that are part of the patchwork quilt of Lucassen’s discography. None of the typical epic stance is lost – each vocal part is belted out like a West End stage show, while the instruments, ranging from Uilleann pipes to Irish bouzouki, weave in and out of an opulent sonic tale.
Part of the fun of any Ayreon release is playing Spot The Singer, which fans have been eagerly trying in response to audio clips. “I worked with singers that I’ve never worked with before,” Lucassen says. “People go, ‘I wanna hear Floor Jansen again; I wanna hear Damian Wilson again.’ No, not this time! The voice has to do something for me.
“Michael Mills – no one knows of his band Toehider yet; he’s an unknown guy from Australia. But I heard him do some acoustic thing on YouTube and I thought, ‘He’s going to be so good and I want to show the world.’ That guy has so much talent. Then there’s Sara Squadrani from a band called Ancient Bards. She’s so much better than all the others so I just want to give her that chance. The fans expect big names. On one side I want to fulfil people’s expectations, but on the other hand I don’t want to repeat myself – it’s boring for me, and I’m guessing it’s boring for the fans too.”
That’s why on this album you’ll hear some fresh voices that still fulfil the ‘big name’ brief. “Marco Hietala gets to sing these ballads, very low and very dramatic. It’s good for him to show people how good he actually is. He’s so emotional and he acts out the words. The same goes for Cristina Scabbia – Lacuna Coil have a certain style and she’s known for that, but she can do so much more.”
Lucassen has a rule (Emerson aside) when it comes to singers on his albums: if they don’t come to him, they don’t get the gig. It’s imperative that he can record his vocalists in the comfort of his Netherlands home. It doesn’t always initially go down well with some of the artists. “Janne Christoffersson of Grand Magus said he wouldn’t do it because it’s out of his comfort zone. I was like, ‘Idiot! That’s the reason you should do it!’ I said: ‘Come here and I swear you’ll be happy you did it.’ And so he came over. He was actually pretty nervous.”
Lucassen doesn’t drink, hates socialising and never goes on tour. His studio is a converted garage with all the technology he needs to produce his albums to crystal clear quality, while Lori pops in to offer constructive criticism. For a self-confessed hermit, the lifestyle suits him perfectly. The luxury of focus pays dividends when it comes to the details of an album – concept, lyrics, artwork. The last seven Ayreon albums have been part of an epic tale about Planet Y and its alien race; but The Theory Of Everything is a new story, exploring themes a little closer to home.
“It’s about this scientist who’s working on a theory. He discovers that his autistic son, who’s really introverted, is actually a prodigy who could help solve the theory of everything. But the only way to get him to do it is make him take a dangerous drug that has side effects.” He explains: “I’ve always been interested in physics. Where did the universe come from? Is it endless? Are there multiple universes? Every time there’s something on TV like Stephen Hawking or Carl Sagan, I always watch it.”
On the other hand, he accepts the album concept is “idefinitely not about physics.” He explains: “It would be too complicated, and I’m not mathematical at all. You’d think all my stories are these cheesy sci-fis with all these aliens, dragons, kings, diamonds and rings, but at the end it’s always about human emotion in a sci-fi setting. This time it’s not even a sci‑fi setting – there’s no time travel like the last album. It could be now and it could be real.”
I don’t want short catchy songs. I don’t want choruses to repeat over and over. If there are repeats, they’re 20 minutes apart
Lucassen is no stranger to working with Lori – they played together on Guilt Machine – but this is the first time they’ve collaborated on lyrics. Fortunately, it was a project Lori could really get her teeth into. “It was something we were both interested in so I felt I could come in and be a part of,” she explains. “But we’re a couple and we both work from home, so we’re around each other 24/7. That makes it hard if to get distance or be critical.”
Speaking of criticism, are they worried about getting any hate mail from the next Brian Cox? “I would love to get emails from real physicists saying: ‘Oh, you should have never even mentioned sparticles because that’s so 2010,” Lori jokes. “But I hope people don’t take it too seriously.”
Ever the perfectionist and no stranger to raising the bar, Lucassen is always ready to try new things; and for The Theory Of Everything, he tried a completely new approach to songwriting.
“I don’t want short catchy songs, I don’t want choruses to repeat over and over. If there are repeats on this album, they are 20 minutes apart. There are no choruses really, so it’s not a catchy album, and I’m sure when people hear it for the first time, they’ll be like, ‘Woah!’”
Of course, there will be plenty of Facebooking with fans in the lead up to the big release, something Lucassen is very passionate about and takes seriously. But in the end, he knows it’s all worth it.
“People tell me that I saved their lives,” he explains with raised eyebrows. “You can’t imagine that I do the same for people that Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin did for me. It’s incredible.”
