Original from Roman of The Dreamside

BBE Biography of The Dreamside



Beautifully Bound Entertainment Would like to thank Roman of The Dreamside for taking the time out of his busy schedule to entertain us with his thoughts and biography of The Dreamside.

BBE: This biography was received and written in July of 2007. It was then lost and today we are pleased to release it to the public. The biography in its entirety was presented to me via the band last year. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have.

The Dreamside Bio

Before the likes of Evanescence, Nightwish and Within Temptation popularised the Metal Female Voices genre, The Dreamside were already creating a diverse fusion of symphonic goth metal in their Dutch homeland. Blending elements of gothic and metal music with female vocals and lyrics commonly centred around themes like the supernatural, The Dreamside, formed by vocalist Kemi Vita in 1994, opened their account the same year with Pale Blue Lights on Nuclear Blast, a well-received if slightly naïve debut. Shortly after its release, Fried Bruggink, who'd supplied guest vocals on the album, joined the band, although at first filled the vacant bassist slot.

Consistent and well-received live shows helped spread the word about the band and, at a time when the gothic/dance scene was thriving, their follow-up release in 1996 was a three-track dance mini-album entitled Nuda Veritas.

In many ways, The Dreamside's third release was a turning point. Released in 1997, Apaika revealed both the power and the diversity of the band. Apaika – a Slavic word for 'moon', a theme which runs through The Dreamside's releases – was a personal challenge for Kemi as the recording sessions ran far from smoothly and she found herself taking over more and more of the recording process to both complete the album and keep the band alive.

Cees Viset joined the band after the Apaika tour but it was to be four years before The Dreamside released another album. Owning their own studio at that time, they were able to work for other bands on a number of projects, as musicians and producers. Furthermore, the addition of bassist Roman Schoensee gave more depth and vision to both the band's songwriting and production techniques, and from this point on he and Kemi worked together on The Dreamside, the immediate priorities being to find a new label and to looking for a new sound that would showcase the band's music in a harder, darker vein.

The resulting album Mirror Moon finally appeared in May 2001, and indeed marks something of a new start for the band with louder guitars and a true mix of metal, gothic, electro and ambient elements. At the end of that same year the band contributed a cover of Die With Me to a Type O Negative tribute CD, one of the thirty-plus audio and video compilations on which The Dreamside have featured thus far in their history.

A further turning point in the band's career came in 2003 when Dancing Ferret Discs put together Faery Child, a compilation of The Dreamside's material for the American market. Faery Child featured a cross-selection of the band's material, together with two previously unreleased songs from the Mirror Moon album sessions and a Cruxshadows remix.

Signing with Dancing Ferret Discs, The Dreamside first appeared on the 4 Factor various artists album. A full-length CD with exclusive material from four bands at a budget price, 4 Factor not only reduced the waiting time until the next CD but was also an interesting release for fans of the four contributing bands.

2005 saw the release of Spin Moon Magic, the band's first full-length album for Dancing Ferret Discs, and a single, Open Your Eyes, taken from it. The album also featured a bonus track, a dance club version of Die Huffnung, the band's first ever German-language song, and the eye-catching video for Open Your Eyes featuring Rogue from the Cruxshadows.

While acknowledging that their highspot was yet to come, headlining the Dracula's Ball, being named Band of the Year by readers of Gothic Beauty magazine and having two roads – Kemi Street and Dreamside Way – named after the band in Bakersfield, California are all "pretty cool."

The addition of Merijn Mol to the band just before the sessions for Spin Moon Magic commenced has given the band a stable line-up and The Dreamside is now very much looking to the future. At the time of writing, their back catalogue is being re-mastered and re-issued, starting with Pale Blue Lights which will also feature the Nuda Veritas material.

In 2007 The Dreamside celebrate their 13th anniversary and a special release to celebrate this event is due to be released. This CD contains remixes from Hungry Lucy, Angels and Agony, Lunascape, Satyrian and Vigilante as well as duets with 18Summers, Born from Pain and the Japanese poet Kenji Siratori.

For more information on The Dreamside, go to:

www dreamside.nl

Email: dreams@dreamside.nl