Autumn - Biography
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1999-
Biography
The band was founded in autumn 1995 by Bert Ferwerda (guitar) , Meindert Sterk (bass) and Hilbrand v.d Woude (drums) under the name "Stonehenge" to play mysterious and atmospheric music. Menno Terpstra soon joined the line up as keyboard player and the band's name was changed to "Autumn". Two months later Hilbrand v.d. Woude was replaced by Jan Grijpstra, who plays the drums for the band to this day. In the spring of 1996 Welmoed Veersma joined the band as female vocalist.
One biography describes the beginnings like this: "The combination of a female singer with bombastic riffs and melancholic interludes perfectly reflects the lyrics, which take you into tales about mysteries and legends."
In the summer of 1987 a 4 track demo CD was published under own production and called "Samhain". The band began touring in The Netherlands. In the spring of 1999 Welmoed left the band because of health problems and was replaced by Nienke de Jong.
One month later Jeroen Bakker was added as rythm guitar player. In summer of that year a three track Promo CD called "Autumn" was published.
In 2001 the band published another Promo CD called "Spring starts with autumn", this time with the Samhain record label. Meanwhile Jeroen and Bert got replaced by Jasper Koenders and Jens van der Valk.
During 2002 the band released their first full CD called "When lust evokes the curse". The lyrics revolve around mysteries and tales of ancient times, while the music is heavy, dark and indeed mysterious.
The band toured this album extensively in the Netherlands and for a while played support for another renowned Dutch female fronted metal band called "After Forever".
This symbiosis brought the band good publicity and found its end at a memorable goodbye concert in October 2003 in Hardenberg/NL.
While the countless live gigs already had become momentous events on their own, the record suffered from somewhat weak production and was hard to get outside The Netherlands.
In 2004 Autumn got themselves a new record label, The Electric Co. with Universal as distributor. This year also saw publication of the second full CD "Summer's End", wherein the band connected to its earlier work and yet started to experiment with more modern styles. Jasper Koenders left the band and got replaced by Mats v.d. Valk. A tour early in 2005 as support for Within Temptation opened a new audience to the band e.g. in Germany. Shortly after this tour Menno Terpstra left the band and they sat without a keyboard player. Another hard blow came when founding member Meindert Sterk left in 2006.
Production and distribution of "Summer's End" were markedly ahead of its predecessor. However the record soon became difficult to obtain and there was an overall lack of promotion for the band.
Although Autumn played many great gigs that year, a certain fatigue could be felt late in 2006. However, the seed for a new start had been laid already. Competent staff were found in Jerome Vrielink for the bass guitar and Jan Munnik as the new keyboarder. A record deal with Metalblade records was signed and in May 2007 Autumn's third CD "My New Time" was presented to the world.
Musically the new CD reflects a marked change in the band's style and may be described as an ambitious blend of symphonic metal, rock and psychedelic influences.
One biography describes the beginnings like this: "The combination of a female singer with bombastic riffs and melancholic interludes perfectly reflects the lyrics, which take you into tales about mysteries and legends."
In the summer of 1987 a 4 track demo CD was published under own production and called "Samhain". The band began touring in The Netherlands. In the spring of 1999 Welmoed left the band because of health problems and was replaced by Nienke de Jong.
One month later Jeroen Bakker was added as rythm guitar player. In summer of that year a three track Promo CD called "Autumn" was published.
In 2001 the band published another Promo CD called "Spring starts with autumn", this time with the Samhain record label. Meanwhile Jeroen and Bert got replaced by Jasper Koenders and Jens van der Valk.
During 2002 the band released their first full CD called "When lust evokes the curse". The lyrics revolve around mysteries and tales of ancient times, while the music is heavy, dark and indeed mysterious.
The band toured this album extensively in the Netherlands and for a while played support for another renowned Dutch female fronted metal band called "After Forever".
This symbiosis brought the band good publicity and found its end at a memorable goodbye concert in October 2003 in Hardenberg/NL.
While the countless live gigs already had become momentous events on their own, the record suffered from somewhat weak production and was hard to get outside The Netherlands.
In 2004 Autumn got themselves a new record label, The Electric Co. with Universal as distributor. This year also saw publication of the second full CD "Summer's End", wherein the band connected to its earlier work and yet started to experiment with more modern styles. Jasper Koenders left the band and got replaced by Mats v.d. Valk. A tour early in 2005 as support for Within Temptation opened a new audience to the band e.g. in Germany. Shortly after this tour Menno Terpstra left the band and they sat without a keyboard player. Another hard blow came when founding member Meindert Sterk left in 2006.
Production and distribution of "Summer's End" were markedly ahead of its predecessor. However the record soon became difficult to obtain and there was an overall lack of promotion for the band.
Although Autumn played many great gigs that year, a certain fatigue could be felt late in 2006. However, the seed for a new start had been laid already. Competent staff were found in Jerome Vrielink for the bass guitar and Jan Munnik as the new keyboarder. A record deal with Metalblade records was signed and in May 2007 Autumn's third CD "My New Time" was presented to the world.
Musically the new CD reflects a marked change in the band's style and may be described as an ambitious blend of symphonic metal, rock and psychedelic influences.