Metal Express Radio correspondent Mick Burgess caught up with EPICA bassist Rob Van Der Loo on their recent UK tour. Hear them talk about touring smaller venues in places they've never played before, his other band MAYAN, their upcoming one-off 10th anniversary concert with full-on orchestra and choir in March and a possible DVD release of the concert.

Van der Loo on the upcoming 10th Anniversary show: "We have a choir, one big orchestra, we got some guest musicians as well coming up. Of course right now we're not gonna say that much about who. We have a quite an interesting list of people we have asked, but a lot of those people are pretty busy bees, they're touring all the time, or making albums themselves, so we have a few very, very interesting guests, but we still need some confirmation before we're gonna name names."

Epica

The 10th Anniversary show, dubbed Retrospect, will be Epica’s most ambitious project to date, joined by a 70-piece symphonic orchestra and choir, international guests and lots of special effects.

For the first time in their 10 year career, Dutch symphonic rockers EPICA will perform in the far east, hitting China and Taiwan with more shows in planning. Dates are currently as follows:

April

11 - Yu Gong Live House - Beijing, China
13 - Mao Live House - Shanghai, China
14 - KHS Hall - Taipei, Taiwan

Maria Voutyriadou and Dimitris Kontogeorgakos of Metal Kaoz recently conducted an interview with Epica's mainman Mark Jansen, who talked about the band's 10th anniversary show and upcoming album. An excerpt follows:

Q: So, we saw a post in Facebook that you have already recorded the next album, is this correct?

A: "No, it is not recorded. We have been writing some songs and it’s developing very well. We have about 10 songs but it’s still a lot of work that needs to be done. And before entering the studio to record, it will take a while since now we are very busy with the preparations of the 10th anniversary show that we are going to do next year and that’s going to take a lot of time as well."

Q: So are you talking about only music or do you have a concept already behind the upcoming Epica album to support it?

A: "So far it’s only music; we start now discussing some topics but that’s only in a premature phase."

Q: So there is no timetable about book a recording studio and I don’t know, stuff like that?

A: "No, we avoid using timetables too much because then you are force to finish something. Also, inspiration comes when it comes. And when you have to go to the studio, you need to have finished before, and when you think we have only six great songs, you don’t want to record because that’s could be eleven great songs as well."

Q: Any hints about the music?

A: "Well, it can still develop in many directions (laughs). We are still in the ‘developing’ process."

Q: OK. You talked about the 10th anniversary show; so how many songs are we talking about?

A: "We are thinking about a very long setlist, we don’t know exactly how long it’s gonna be, but don’t be surprised if it’s gonna end up like 3 hours or something like that. It’ll be a whole evening with Epica."

Q: Wow! And I know you probably won’t tell me, but what about the guests?

A: "We are still working on that (laughs)... we have some guests in mind, and one of them really wants to do it. But still has to wait for his or her schedule (laughs)."

Q: So after this tour, we are talking about next year of course, you are having the Australian live dates and then the anniversary show, and then?

A: "First it’s the anniversary show and then it’s Australia. We are also working on some Asian dates and then we want to do a lot of summer festivals again."

Q: So, when does the recording of the new album fit in all of these?

A: "We have to see (laughs). Things go like they go; of course we think about the schedule, but we don’t over-think it. Like I said, inspiration comes and when the album is finished we will start recording it. But we are not going to push it; take things step by step."

Read the entire interview at this location.