ProgForum.nl recently conducted an interview with AFTER FOREVER keyboardist Joost van den Broek. The following is a brief excerpt:

ProgForum: Arjen Lucassen (AYREON) has a big influence on your career; can you tell something about this (musical) relation?

Joost: "Since the day Arjen and I had our first contact through the phone a very good and special relation started…as well musically as personally. Arjen believed in me when a was a 19 year old pretty inexperienced musician, by that he gave me the biggest opportunity in my life till now and everything after that has started with that chance of playing in STAR ONE. I will always be very thankfull to him! The last time we try to help each other out in many ways…that’s a great thing."

ProgForum: What or who are your biggest influences?

Joost: "One of my biggest influences in playing is Steve Vai. I really admire him in a lot of ways…his songs, his technique, his performance…he’s just a super artist and stays rock’n roll and edgy all the time. Besides that I listen to a lot of different styles of music. Out of my youth Michael Jackson and his music has always been very important. But nowadays I listen everything, a lot of commercial music, classical/film music, very experimtal and productions…too much to name…"

ProgForum: Is this, or soon, the time for your own project/band? Or; do you think about such thing, and how would it be, musically?

Jooost: "Well, it’s still my dream to record my own project’s CD…but I really wanna have the timing right and feel I’m ready for it. I’ve been writing a lot in the past years, so I know what I want and how it should be. But I really need the time and focus for that to do it exactly as I want it to be. But I’m sure sooner or later this will come true!"

ProgForum: Is After Forever you’re future, or do you have also other new plans/projects?

Joost: "For sure After Forever is my future the upcoming years probably. We just signed with Nuclear Blast and the Entertainment Group. This gives us a lot of new opportunities to achiever bigger things with AF. We’re now finishing our new album and we’re really excited about what the future might bring for us!"

To read the entire interview go to this location.