by Carl Begai

With the exception of a few dates in France this past November and some scattered gigs across Germany, prog-metal heroes Vanden Plas haven't done any serious touring for their latest album, Beyond Daylight, which has been out for the better part of a year. In fact, Vanden Plas turned down an offer to tour for eight weeks with Savatage across Europe in early 2002 and bowed out of supporting the high profile Star One tour through Holland and Germany this past October, two moves that have been considered career suicide by some people, including the band's record label. According to guitarist Stephan Lill, Vanden Plas does perhaps have a few lingering regrets about

not going out to support Beyond Daylight properly, but prior commitments and signed contracts forced them off the road.

"We're heavily involved with playing in a theater production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Kaiserslautern (Germany), and we were booked to play the show at the same time the Savatage tour was offered to us," explains Lill. "We were under contract and we have to earn money, and doing the theater production made the most sense because it pays well and we have a lot of fun doing it. We're responsible for all the musical arrangements, which makes the music heavier and fresher, which is really cool. It would have been nice to do the Savatage tour, but eight weeks away would have been too long, and we have a reputation to maintain since the contracts with the theater had been signed. At the end, we don't regret any of the decisions we've made."

Theatrical productions, it turns out, will continue to play a big part in Vanden Plas' career from now on. Singer Andy Kuntz is the lead actor in a stage play of Nostradamus for which his bandmates are supplying the music, with the production due to start its run in Kaiserslautern early next year. And, the next Vanden Plas album will be a conceptual piece based on the classic tale The Count Of Monte Cristo.

"The next album will be done in the style of a theater production," Lill reveals. "There will be ten songs done in typical Vanden Plas style, but there will also be ten songs done in a theatrical style that could be presented on the stage. It sounds crazy, I know, but if there is a band that should be allowed to do something like this, it's us. We've been involved with the theater for ten years now, so we have the experience to pull it off. It's not going to be the next all-star rock opera kind of thing. We want to do this ourselves, and if we need other singers to make it more

colourful we won't take them from the metal scene, but from people that we've worked with in the theater."

Thus, we will see a somewhat different Vanden Plas experience on the shelves towards the end of 2003, or possibly early 2004. In the meantime, Lill will be playing all the guitars on Elegy singer Ian Parry's third Consortium Project album, due to be recorded between January and February.

"Well, that's the plan for now. The only problem is that rehearsals for this Nostradamus play begin at the same time I'm supposed to be laying down the guitars. So, it will take some work to juggle my schedule so that it works for everyone. But, I will definitely be doing the Consortium Project, for sure."