BIOGRAPHY
This is the musical biography of Roel van Helden. A drummer living in the south of the Netherlands (in a little place called Lottum to be exactly).
I was born on September 2nd 1980.
When I was 11 years old my parents bought a drum kit for my brother and I. It started out as a basic setup, but every summer when we had earned us some money with vacation-jobs we would expand our kit with more toms/cymbals, etc. So in a few years we had the biggest kit a young teenager can wish for himself. Soon enough I took weekly lessons, although I wasn’t very serious with practicing a lot. But that changed by the time I got my first band together with some friends.
This was somewhere in 1996, it was a punk group named Gramoxone (after an agricultural toxic). It was pretty much crap, but hey, it was a punk band!
After a year we changed the line up and the name into DVPLO (after the toys). We made two demo tapes and one self-financed album. The music became a bit more serious and evolved from punk to a kind of melodic death metal/hardcore style. We did about 40 live gigs with Gramoxone/Dvplo. In 2001 we quit Dvplo, due to changing musical interests.
In the summer of 2000, guitarist Coert Bouten (who I knew from an other local band) and I started a new band. We were both into metal like Nevermore and Dream Theater. So we decided to start what would later become (after a dozen line-up changes) Delphian.
Delphian started performing live by the end of 2003. Soon we recorded a demo, which led to a record deal with Finnish label Lion Music. The first result of this deal was the debut album called Oracle, released in july 2005. Delphian's second album Unravel was released in april 2007. Delphian disbanded shortly after the release of the 2nd album.
By that time I had already auditioned and joined Sun Caged as their new drummer (joined them late 2003). We recorded the second album (first one with me in the band) Artemisia, which was also released by Lion Music in 2007. We played gigs in various places, from the UK to San Francisco to Sweden. The third album The Lotus Effect will be released early 2011.
I am a fan of the German progressive rock band Sieges Even. When I read in Aardschok magazine that 2 Sieges Even members where starting a new band and were looking for a drummer, I didn’t hesitate one minute and contacted them. Fortunately, I got the job. The band is called Subsignal, and is going really well. We released our debut album Beautiful & Monstrous in 2009, and did some European tours. Right now we’re focussing on writing and recorded the follow up album The Size of Light on Earth.
The best thing about music for me has always been being creative and recording my own songs. Ever since my parents bought me and my brother a 4-track recorder (way back...) I have been recording stuff. The 4-track recorder eventually evolved into a computer and descent microphones. Right now I’m working on my debut solo-album which will go by the name of Rule from Heroes.. Yes, a very crappy translation of my real name, but it sounds cool, doesn’t it? It will be released early 2011 by German label Hands of Blue.
As if I didn’t have enough musical things going on, I’m always playing with cover/tribute bands as well.
In the band Up the Irons I try to recreate Clive Burr/Nicko McBrain style drumming while playing Iron Maiden songs (my favourite band when I was a teenager).
With the band System Pilot I play classic rock covers by Aerosmith, Whitesnake, ZZ-Top, Queen, etc.
Along the years many more tributes came and went, such as tributes to Kiss, Manowar & Mötley Crüe. I’m sure many will follow…
Besides all the rock and metal mentioned above, I’m also familiar with playing some other styles such as jazz, latin and funk. This is mainly because I’ve been studying drums and percussion at the Fontys Conservatorium in Tilburg since 2001. I graduated in april 2006. I studied improvised music (everything from jazz, latin, pop, rock to funk, etc.) and took courses to become a certified drum/percussion teacher. For more info see the Drum Lessons section.
