Rik Priem’s Prime – Rik Priem’s Prime (2014)
The debut album of RIK PRIEM’S PRIME will be released through Avenue Of Allies on May 23rd 2014. Several familiar names of the international Hard and Heavy scene were involved in the recording and the production process of guitar player Rik Priem’s band project. The German musicians Carsten ‘Lizard’ Schulz (Dead End Heroes, Frozen Rain, Lavalle, Evidence One, Midnite Club) on lead vocals and Rami Ali (Freedom Call, Iron Mask, Lavalle, Frontline, Evidence One) on drums are well known faces in the recording studio and on stages around the world. Rik first met Carsten during the making of the second Frozen Rain album “Ahead Of Time”.
The band is completed by bass player Vincent De Laat, who also participated in the Frozen Rain sessions and Rik’s long time friend Geert Margodt on keyboards.
Producer Steffen Seeger (Iain Ashley Hersey, Midnite Club) oversaw the sessions, before the finishing touches to the album were put on the recordings in the German Empire Studios by Rolf Munkes (Dead End Heroes, Empire, Razorback, Tony Martin), who handled the mix and the mastering of the tracks.
Reading the names of everyone involved in RIK PRIEM’S PRIME it becomes obvious what to expect from the record, a hard rockin’ slice of energetic Heavy Rock. The breath taking musical performances of each musician combined with Carsten’s vocals on each song of the album, except for the instrumental “Chameleon”, will attract any fan and follower of the previous and current bands and projects of the participating musicians to RIK PRIEM’S PRIME.
Rik Priem’s musical history started with a bass guitar when he was 14, among the bands he discovered during his teen years were Rock and Punk icons like Deep Purple, Kiss, AC / DC, Dead Kennedys and the Sex Pistols. At the dawn of the 80s Judas Priest’s “British Steel” album left a lasting impression on young Rik and when he heard the music of Def Leppard, Ozzy Osbourne, Dokken and Iron Maiden, he knew that he wanted an electric guitar and an amplifier. His parents granted him the wish and Rik’s Hard Rock infection made him practice on the guitar for hours almost every day.
Over the years Rik’s curiosity to explore music led him to listen to a variety of styles ranging from his Hard Rock roots to Blues and from Fusion to classical pieces. His passion for the guitar grew even stronger with the years and he developed his own technique to play the instrument. Joining a band and composing original music seemed like a natural move for Rik, so he began writing instrumental songs and playing with various local bands.
In 2000, after years of working on his skills in playing, tuning and repairing guitars, Rik finally decided to make a living out of his love for the guitar and became a professional guitar teacher and guitar technician.
The band experiences however didn’t meet Rik’s expectations on many levels and besides a few instrumentals on compilation albums his playing wasn’t heard on a CD until he joined Kurt Vereecke’s Melodic Rock project Frozen Rain in 2008 . The album “Ahead Of Time”, on which Rik also co-wrote five songs, eventually came out in the spring of 2012.
Being a member of Frozen Rain was not only the starting point for a further co-operation with Carsten, who was the vital spark for RIK PRIEM’S PRIME as a band project, but it also opened the door to work on the debut of the Swedish AOR band Sapphire Eyes as a guest musician.
01. Sunset Over Agartha 2:23
02. Babylon Rising 4:43
03. The Future Is Now 4:30
04. Hungry At Heart 4:30
05. Blindfolded 4:53
06. Chameleon (instrumental) 4:22
07. Flirting With An Alien 4:38
08. Kneel Before The Pieces (Of A Broken Heart) 4:27
09. In With The Freaks 4:20
10. Looks Like Trouble 4:31
11. Run Angel Run 4:34
12. Bloodrush 4:23
13. Child Of Anger 6:21
Rik Priem – all electric & acoustic guitars, bass on “Chameleon”
Carsten ‘Lizard’ Schulz (Dead End Heroes, Frozen Rain, Lavalle, Evidence One, Midnite Club) – lead vocals
Geert Margodt – keyboards
Vincent De Laat – bass (except on “Chameleon”)
Ramy Ali (Freedom Call, Iron Mask, Lavalle, Frontline, Evidence One) – drums
Produced & engineered by Steffen Seeger (Iain Ashley Hersey, Midnite Club)
Mixed & mastered by Rolf Munkes (Dead End Heroes, Empire, Razorback, Tony Martin) at Empire Studios, Bensheim / Germany
Rik Priem’s Prime – Rik Priem’s Prime (2014)