Lucassen's musical journey towards The Gentle Storm

Arjen Lucassen has explained how his love for Led Zeppelin’s heavier music finally led him to folk-rock icons Fairport Convention and Renaissance – and finally to upcoming The Gentle Storm album The Diary.

Released on March 23, it’s a collaboration with Anneke van Giersbergen featuring ten tracks recording in “gentle” and “storm” versions.

In the exclusive video interview below, Lucassen says: “I was this metalhead. With Zeppelin you’d hear the heavy songs and there was this ‘acoustic shit,’ but it was an LP so you had to listen.

“After five listens it was, ‘Damn it, I love those acoustic tracks too.’ After a while it was, ‘Maybe I like the acoustic tracks more – let’s delve into that kind of music.’ I discovered Fairport Convention, Renaissance and the whole folk thing.”

He hopes The Diary will have a similar effect on another generation, joking of the “gentle” tracks: “Metalheads maybe won’t admit it – but at the back of their heads they might go, ‘Damn it, I like this…’”

The Gentle Storm teased their video for Shores Of India earlier this week. The Diary is available to pre-order in a variety of bundles via Lucassen and van Giersbergen’s websites. The Gentle Storm play their debut live show in the Netherlands on March 26 with Lucassen – although he won’t be in the lineup for the band’s live dates in the UK in April:

Apr 23: London Garage

Apr 24: Leicester Musician

Apr 25: Manchester Roadhouse

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.