The Concept:

Basically the thought is very simple: Take the biggest pop-hits but play them as a rock-band. Hence the name Monsters of Pop! We are looking forward to take the worlds biggest hits (from the biggest artists up to the one-hit wonders), pump them up with the right ROCK ingredients and kick everyone’s butt with a killer live show. The goal is that the rockers can bang their heads and the little-less-rockers can sing along with every song none the less! It’s time to PARTYYYYYY!

The Beginning:

Back to early 2009: After Forever had just decided to call it a day and André was still involved as the drummer for Rob Valentine. In february 2009, Erik still jammed with Vengeance and during their CD Release Party for Soul Collector, Erik met up with André for the first time as Valentine was very special guest for Vengeance that day.

Not long after this event, Erik and André got in touch with each other to investigate the possibility of working together. Very quickly it became obvious that both guys were heavily influenced by (primarily) 80's popmusic and they both very much enjoyed the idea of overworking the biggest pophits into heavy rocksongs. Since both guys were stage animals, the question quickly came: Why not take this concept and bring it to the stage?

As soon as they guys knew they wanted to do this, Luuk was the obvious bassplayer to get into the picture. Luuk, as co-founder of After Forever, already had a long working history with André and they also jammed together from time to time in a coverband where André already handled the guitars. Luuk also enjoyed the idea of the Monsters of Pop-concept very much, so we got to work.

However, for this concept to succeed, all three guys realized that they had to get a singer on board with not only a killer voice, but also a stage-presence that no one could deny. This is when Erik placed a call to Rodney Blaze, who people may know of his contribution on some Ayreon albums. Erik had known Rodney on and off for a few years and from the first moment they met, there was always a feeling that they would work together somehow, someday. Rodney enjoyed the idea and soon thereafter all four guys agreed to meet up in the rehearsel studio to check each other out, both musically as well as socially.

The rest, as they so beautifully say, is history. After a preparation time of about six months, Monsters of Pop hit the stage for the first time last march 13, 2010. It became every bit of the party that the band had set out to create, and more...

for more info visit: www.monstersofpop.nl

 

Monsters of pop is:

Rodney Blaze - Vocals

Andre Borgman -Guitar

Luuk van Gerven - Bassguitar

Erik Stout - Drums