Leo - Drummerszone

Leo

Jordan Rudess

album 2019

Self-Released

release notes

LEO is Dutch drummer and composer Koen Herfst's second solo album, which he worked on over the last 3 years between touring and releasing albums with his many different projects. LEO is a progressive metal concept album about the death of Leo Herfst, Koen's father, who passed away when Koen was only 10 months old, while his mom was pregnant with his sister.

After the successful release of his first solo album Back to Balance (2015) and developing as a composer over the last few years, the moment came to tell this tragic story through music. The music came to life during a household move, after finding personal items like his father's glasses and agenda. Koen also found tapes on which his father's voice could be heard, as well as him playing the piano. Leo's piano eventually moved to Koen's studio and Koen wrote most of the music on this instrument. Because of this, the piano is the central point of this album and even features a recording of Leo's playing.

The concept album has four main characters; the mother's role is played by Anneke van Giersbergen (VUUR) , the father by Merijn van Haren (Navarone), 'Death the person' by Koen (voice with effects), and 'the Son' by Koen (singing). The album tells the tragic story from the characters point of view, expressing their emotions, thoughts and feelings. It takes the listener on a journey through this process, in the spirit of a progressive rock opera.

The album is mixed and mastered by the legendary Dan Sw�no (Unisound) and the artwork is designed by Robert Muda van Hamel (Spacebar), who worked with De Staat a.o. Artwork will be revealed soon in an update!

Koen says:

"My first solo album Back to Balance I wrote together with many different guest musicians'. For LEO I wrote every note, melody and lyric myself. Next to playing drums, I also play most guitars on the album, programmed most keyboards and also sang quite a few songs. So for me this is a very special album for many different reasons".

LEO released worldwide on 14 July, 2019: Leo's birthday.

Guest artists
- Anneke van Giersbergen (VUUR): vocals
- Merijn van Haren (Navarone): vocals
- Rob van der Loo (Epica): bass
- Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater): keyboard solo
- Paul Quinn (Saxon): guitar solo
- Ruud Jolie (Within Temptation): guitar solo
- Jord Otto (VUUR, My Propane): guitar solo
- Mendel Bij de Leij (ex-Aborted): guitar solo
- Ben Mathot (Ayreon): violin solo
- Marcela Bovio (MaYaN): backing vocals
- Harrison Young (The Cards): backing vocals

show full notes

artists Leo

Koen Herfst

video Leo

'LEO' - Documentary about drummer Koen Herfst

Documentary about the making of my soloalbum 'LEO' (and my career so far) by Alfredo Pouwiel & Anko Fekkes.

Listen to the album 'LEO' here:
song.link/album/i/1470816102

More information about the album/CD orders:
www.leothealbum.com

#LeoTheAlbum #koenherfst #conceptalbum

//

A big thanks to:
Alfredo Pouwiel
Anko Fekkes
Marcin Kaminski
Cleo van Wetten-Herfst
Dons Herfst
Joran Dijkstra
Michiel Eilbracht
Claudia Soumeru
Eller van Buuren
Armin van Buuren
Valerio Recenti
Vernon Chatlein
Cesar Zuiderwijk
Peter van Wijk
Anneke van Giersbergen
Merijn van Haren
Robert Muda
Michael Schack
Sonja Fikkers-Koen ?

In honor of my father Leo Herfst ?