Sparklands – Tomocyclus (2013)

Music was everything for Thomas Riekerk and his brother Robert Riekerk when they grew up in the Netherlands and AOR was Thomas’ first love. Band posters of Bad English, Giant, Toto and Foreigner were all over the walls of their rooms and in every corner there were guitars and amps. Back then music was not available digitally so the record store became their second home, when they were in search of that one album that was only available through import.

AOR was the music the parents of the Riekerk brothers played at home. Not a day went by without banging drums or screaming guitar solos, Thomas remembers there was always a Giant or Toto track coming from his parents’ stereo. These are the memories that both brothers cherish a lot after their father passed away a few years ago. Times were tough for the Riekerks and the sadness they all experienced could not have been channelled better than through a song. In remembrance of their father, Thomas and Robert wrote the song “Tomocyclus” together, named after the boat of their late father. This song could be described as the beginning of SPARKLANDS and it also became the album title.
Despite all the different musical directions they had both travelled since the AOR filled days of their youth, suddenly there was the urge to make a record together that could have been played on their dad’s stereo. Their first love AOR, the remembrance of father Riekerk: it all comes together in SPARKLANDS.

1.  The Game
2.  Skyline
3.  Joanne
4.  Oasis
5.  Shattered Dream
6.  Afterlife
7.  State of Mind
8.  The Feeling Has Gone
9.  Sparklands instrumental
10.  Let Sparks Fly
11.  Lost in Space and Time
12.  Let It Out
13.  Open Your Eyes
14.  Tomocyclus

Thomas Riekerk lead and backing vocals
Robert ‘Ty’ Riekerk acoustic, electric guitars, keyboards
Simon Gitsels synthesizers, keyboards
Minco Eggersman drums, percussion, synthesizers, keyboards
Martijn Groeneveld synthesizers, keyboards

turbob