Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One, Guilt Machine) and Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering, Devin Townsend Project) will release the debut album, The Diary, from their new band The Gentle Storm, on March 24th. They have now released a video for the new song "Heart Of Amsterdam".

Due to an ongoing dispute between YouTube and the GEMA - a performance rights organisation - some fans in Germany are unable to watch the video. The full length clip can be viewed by German fans and everyone else via this link to Muzu.tv. It will begin playing automatically.

Anneke: “The song is a tribute to the city of Amsterdam, the home town of the story’s leading character Susanne. Seventeenth-century Amsterdam was a centre of shipping, shipbuilding, and trade. Amsterdam flourished, and a wonderful city was the result. We shot the video in the centre of Amsterdam. It was freezing cold and I couldn’t move my fingers anymore during the last shots, but it was all worth it. I love how the video turned out!”

Anneke will take The Gentle Storm on the road, backed by well known Dutch talents. Arjen, however, will not be part of the live production with the exception of the album release show in Amsterdam, March 26th. Dates are as follows:

March

26 - Melkweg - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
28 - Rock Itervoort Festival - Itervoort, The Netherlands

April

3 - Hedon - Zwolle, The Netherlands
5 - Paaspop - Schijndel, The Netherlands
11 - Paard van Troje - Den Haag, The Netherlands
15 - Colos-Saal, Aschaffenburg, Germany
16 - Zentrum Altenberg, Oberhausen, Germany
22 - Divan du Monde - Paris, France
23 - The Garage - London, UK
24 - The Musician - Leicester, UK
25 - The Roadhouse - Manchester, UK
26 - Prog-Resiste Convention - Soignies, Belgium

More dates to be announced soon.

The Gentle Storm live is:

Anneke van Giersbergen - vocals

Merel Bechtold (Purest of Pain, MaYaN) - guitars

Ferry Duijsens (Anneke van Giersbergen, ex-Dreadlock Pussy) - guitars

Ed Warby (Hail of Bullets, Ayreon, ex-Gorefest) - drums

Johan van Stratum (Stream of Passion) - bass

Joost van den Broek (producer, ex-After Forever) – keyboards

Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion) - background vocals