Modest Midget – Crysis 2014

[spoiler]Lonny grew up hearing Classical music as well as Dixieland, North American Cool / BeBop, Latin Jazz, Argentinean, Brazilian & Andenean folklore, West European, East European and Middle-Eastern music, learning to appreciate the warmth and intensity of Muddy Waters besides the craft of Ravel. He played guitar in different formations and productions, eventually having completed a Master in Classical composition in The Netherlands, alongside having studied Jazz guitar and Orchestral conducting.

Lonny played guitar in different formations and productions and has eventually completed a Master in Classical composition in The Netherlands, alongside having studied Jazz guitar and Orchestral conducting.

After years of focusing on composing and arranging music for different instances he started recording an album that ended up combining all these roots under one wing, an album that ended up being the hatching egg for Modest Midget. The Great Prophecy of a Small Man was warmly received by music critics worldwide, particularly within the Progressive and Art Rock circles. Delicious Agony, Prog Positivity, Prog Awards declared it to be one of the Top 10 albums of 2010. Many others described it as possibly the best debut of the year.

Lonny´s main partner during the production of this album was Emiel de Jong, who played most of the woodwind parts and sang along on Troubles in Heaven. The first recording session took place in 2006. The Last Straw, the first recorded track ended up as the closing tune on the album. In 2008 a very short round of try-out concerts took place, where they were joined by Artis Orubs on drums and Tristan Hupe on keyboards. The group did not seem to mash well and Lonny concluded that touring was not going to happen.

The album was completed in 2009. As bass player Richard Zoer (Kayak, Andre Hazes) joined the group the band took a first acquaintance tour around The Netherlands,closing it with the official CD presentation on May 9th, 2010.A tour of the Baltic States then followed (home base of then drummer Artis Orubs), after which challenges in the personal lives of the guys forced the group to take a break. During this time Lonny completed his intimate production – Songs From The Drawer – which was published in 2011.

During the same period Lonny’s father passed away and he focused mainly on composing and arranging music, though the occasional concert would take place, in a more intimate setting, sometimes solo and sometimes alongside his Modest partner Hupe on keys.

January 2012 brought two new guests into the group. Bass player Maarten Bakker and drummer Willem Smid. After a short and intense rehearsal period the group took on a new tour around The Netherlands. Lonny was preparing ideas for a new album and several songs were already performed regularly.During the same year Lonny wrote Birth and and an arrangement of Orbison’s Pretty Woman, each being surprisingly well received by the audiences. Gone Is was written specifically for a try-out recording session planned in June, along with a first draft of what was to become Flight of The Cockroach.

After 4,5 years of hard work Hupe decided to part ways with the band and the remaining guys completed recording the backing tracks for what was to become Crysis. Lonny took two months to finish writing, composing and pre-producing the new album. Recording commenced in December 2012 (right about around the time that the world was supposed to end). Two intensive days of recording allowed completing the backing tracks for the whole album, but for one song that was re-recorded in a later session in February. Apart from the June session, the period between December 2012 and August 2013 saw the guys taking major efforts to complete the production.

The album was mastered in the very crafted hands of Darius van Helfteren and the art work was made by a promising young artist by the name of Netaly Reshef. It also counts with the support of an arsenal of phenomenal musicians and other professionals.

These days Bakker is working on a new solo project and Lonny is composing music for films, as well as two new albums: A second solo album and an album focusing on instrumental music, orchestral and cinematic oriented compositions.

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