On May 17th, Arjen Lucassen released Ayreon's 01011001 - Live Beneath The Waves DVD / Blu-Ray and Lucassen & Soeterboek's Plan Nine album, The Long-Lost Songs. In celebration, he and vocalist Robert Soeterboek held a livestream Q&A. Check it out below.

Lucassen recently checked in with the following:

"And here's the final preview video from the last Ayreon Live beneath The Waves DVD/BluRay: 'Fate of Man'. Maybe it's weird to not pick a song from the 01011001 album, but this song really stood out for me... such energy on stage! The band is just amazing as we all know, I'll never know how they manage to play this complicated song with such unflappable ease. And what about these breath-taking vocals from Brittney Slayes? She's unbelievable, right? Let me know if you agree... thanks and enjoy!"

01011001 - Live Beneath The Waves formats:

- Artbook (Webshop only) - 2CD+2DVD + Bluray incl. Behind The Scenes (BTS)
- 3LP - Green vinyl
- 2CD+DVD: Full show on 2CD and DVD
- Blu-ray: Full show + BTS

"The Sixth Extinction" video:

May 17 also saw the release of Lucassen & Soeterboek's Plan Nine album, The Long-Lost Songs, via Music Theories Recordings / Mascot Label Group.

Arjen Lucassen has issued the following update: "Howdy y’all! I’m proud to present you the second Plan Nine videoclip and single, 'Ice On Fire'. It was very hard to pick a second single, because we love them all! And they are all so different from each other. So we had the label pick this one. As you can hear his track is quite different from the first bluesy song 'Before The Morning Comes'. I think you’ll agree that this track sounds quite 80’s. Which is no surprise…  because we wrote it about 35 years ago! The clip is illustrated by Elan Lopez and edited by Dionne Mokkenstorm at Mascot Label Group. We hope you will enjoy all the silliness, have a real good time and let us know what you think!"

It was the early nineties, and musical polymath Arjen Lucassen had begun working on several projects: a solo album, a progressive-rock opera and a rock album. Around this time, he watched singer Robert Soeterboek perform live with Bodine, his former early-eighties heavy metal band. "His vocals truly impressed me, a rarity!" Lucassen recalls. "He had the charisma and power of singers like David Coverdale and Robert Plant. Discovering that we really got along personally, we decided to collaborate on some songs, just for fun."

"We started writing songs together and found a natural flow, leading to a wealth of ideas," remembers Soeterboek. "Our friendship grew as we spent more time together, and I remember that there were lots of shenanigans and laughter."

Fast forward to 2022, and they revisited those recordings. The album encapsulates a glorious treasure trove of 11 original songs with a loving 70s and 80s nod. It's a blistering romp through the good time rolling rocker of "Let It Ride", the Beatles-esque "Doctor Robert's Medicine Show," the bluesy groove of "Annie Moore," the chugging glam stomp of "High-Speed Chase" to the 80s metal of "Ice On Fire”, whilst "The Preacher" would fit on a number of Arjen's back catalogue records. The bonus disc features all the demos and some more newly recorded tracks.

The Long-Lost Songs are lost no more. Plan Nine is reborn, giving the long-lost songs a second life!

Order the album here.

Tracklisting:

Disc 1:
"Doctor Robert's Medicine Show"
"The Preacher"
"Annie Moore"
"Get Down To Bizniz"
"Before The Morning Comes"
"High Speed Chase"
"Let It Ride"
"Ice On Fire"
"Long Cold Night"
"Drunker Than Whiskey"
"Die With Your Shades On"

Disc 2:
"Stand Tall
"Gimme The Nighttime"
"Annie Moore" - Demo
"Get Down To Bizniz" - Demo
"High Speed Chase" - Demo
"Gimme The Nighttime" - Demo
"Magic Moments" - Demo
"Let It Ride" - Home Demo
"My Baby Loves Me" - Home Demo
"Stand Tall" - Home Demo
"Night On Fire" - Home Demo
"Life Goes On" - Home Demo
"Doctor Robert's Medicine Show" - Instrumental Demo
"Get Down To Bizniz" - Home Demo
"Magic Moments" - Home Demo
"Drunker Than Whiskey" - Instrumental Demo
"Long Cold Night" - Instrumental Demo
"Die With Your Shades On" - Instrumental Demo 1
"Die With Your Shades On" - Instrumental Demo 2
"Unnamed 1" - Instrumental Demo
"Unnamed 2" - Instrumental Demo

"Before The Morning Comes" video: