SHADRANE
was founded by Vivien Lalu in the winter of 2001 after his former band MIND’S
ORCHARD disbanded. At first the project was called KHARMA but it was quickly
renamed due to numerous other bands using the same name. Ex-DREAMSCAPE’s
singer and now solo artist Hubi Meisel kindly helped Vivien pick the name
SHADRANE after the young keyboardist sent him a list of different names to
choose from. Hubi also helped Vivien to prepare a couple of demos (“Neurastasia”)
that he would send at labels, including drum tracks recorded by Anders
Johansson (Hammerfall, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen) who wanted to help Vivien as well.
A deal was struck with Lion Music and the rest is history. Joop Wolters
a long timer figure in Vivien musical output since 2002 was the natural choice
to provide the bulk of the guitar work, with his place in the project becoming
more important as time went on becoming Shadrane’s co-producer and writing 3
songs for the debut album: TEMPORAL. The Bissonette brothers joined
later on in 2006 after being contacted by Viv’ to complete the line-up along
with numerous guest vocalists.
Name:
Vivien Lalu
Position: Keyboards (founding member)
Vivien
Lalu, a french keyboard player and producer, is the initiator of the SHADRANE
project. He is known as a HUGE fan of Dream Theater, Symphony X and Devin
Townsend. He started his career by playing Hammond organ on a CD featuring
Glenn Hughes of Black Sabbath & Deep Purple! (Chris Catena’s Freak Out! -
2003) In the meanwhile, he wrote the instrumental music of Hubi Meisel’s
conceptual trilogy (EmOcean – 2004, Kailash – 2006 and Trinity – 2008), and
found the time to produce his own debut titled “LALU – Oniric Metal” in 2005.
The album (featuring Ryan Van Poederooyen from The Devin Townsend Band and
Russell Bergquist from Annihilator) has been well received in his home
country, and got the “Album of the Month” title in the french edition of ROCK
HARD magazine. Vivien also did a lot of guest appearances, recording keyboard
solos for progressive acts such as Tomorrow’s Eve, Mind’s Eye, Expedition
Delta & more!
Name: Joop
Wolters
Position: Guitar, bass (founding member)
Joop
Wolters is fast gaining a reputation as one of Europe’s finest new breeds of
virtuoso guitarists. Having been involved in the music scene on a recording
level since 1995 with numerous solo albums and band projects under his belt,
Joop’s trademark style is fast gaining a solid fan base around the world and
with his third solo album "Out Of Order" (June 15th 2007), Joop has raised his
performances to even greater levels. 2000 saw Joop’s first partnership with
Lion Music with "Arabesque – Beyond The Veil" and this was followed in 2002
with the release of Joop’s debut solo album on Lion Music entitled "Workshop".
Joop then participated on Lion Music tribute albums to Uli Jon Roth, Gary
Moore, Ritchie Blackmore and Shawn Lane. "Speed, Traffic & Guitar Accidents"
was released in 2004 which saw more critical acclaim poured onto Joop’s work
which was further enhanced with by praise for his contributions to "Lalu -
Oniric Metal". Throughout the years Joop has always been active on the studio
side doing all kind of diverse sessions from funk to jazz to metal to
classical to pop to acoustic works…etc
This diversity is also his trademark when it comes to his solo-releases. As
well as being a player for commercial live-gigs ranging from pop, jazz, rock,
fusion and metal. In addition Joop can also be seen regularly on the
instrument trade show circuit demonstrating for Engl amps and BO-EL guitars.
Name: Matt
Bissonette
Position: Bass
Matt
Bissonette is an American bass player and the brother of drummer Gregg
Bissonette. He attended the University of North Texas's jazz music program.
According to Guitar 9, an online musicianship magazine, he has played bass and
other stringed instruments on at least 22 albums, with music styles ranging
from jazz, jazz fusion, progressive metal, and instrumental rock.
The October 2002 edition of Bassinside, a bass musician's online magazine,
reports that Matt has played in several different bands and has recorded with
various artists. Such artists include Joe Satriani, David Lee Roth, Julian
Lennon, Steve Perry, Brian Wilson, Don Henley, Ty Tabor (of King's X), Tom
Andrews, and Peter Frampton.
In 2003 he and his brother Gregg backed Ringo Starr on a promotional tour of
the United States. The two brothers backed Starr again in 2005 at live shows
at Irving Plaza in New York City in June 2005, at the Genesse Theatre in
Waukegan, IL for the PBS show SoundStage, and the El Rey Theatre in Los
Angeles, CA, as well as on several TV appearances (CBS This Morning, etc.)
Matt now lives in Orange County, Los Angeles with his wife and two children.
Name:
Gregg Bissonette
Position: Drums
Gregg
was born in a family of musicians. His father Bud Bissonette plays drums, his
mother Phyllis plays piano and vibraphone, and brother Matt Bissonette plays
bass guitar. Gregg started learning to play the drums at age 5 from his
father. Gregg went on to study at the University of North Texas where he was
featured in the famed One O'Clock Lab Band. After college he soon joined Matt
in the Maynard Ferguson Big Band. Bissonette was the drummer for Steve Vai and
played on multi-platinum releases from David Lee Roth, including the albums
Skyscraper and Eat 'Em and Smile.
He has recorded and toured with an array of other rock artists, including
Electric Light Orchestra in 2001. In 2002, he was involved in the band Jughead
with Ty Tabor of King's X, Derek Sherinian, and brother Matt. In 2003 he and
his brother Matt backed Ringo Starr on a promotional tour of the United
States. The two brothers backed Starr again in 2005 at live shows at Irving
Plaza in New York City in June 2005, at the Genesse Theatre in Waukegan, IL
for the PBS show SoundStage, and the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, CA, as
well as on several TV appearances (CBS This Morning, etc.)
Gregg played drums on Santana's multi-platinum album "Supernatural". Gregg
plays on the weekly NBC TV show "Friends", as well as movies like "American
Pie 1 and 2", "Payback", " Waiting For Guffman", "Best In Show", and "The
Mighty Wind". He recently toured with James Taylor, Jeff Lynne, as well as
with the semi-fictional band Spinal Tap.
Name:
Virgil Donati
Position: Drums
Virgil
was born of Italian descent in Melbourne, Australia, and got his first drumset
at age 2. He started playing right away with his father's showband, and kept
on doing these shows until he was around 6 years old. He began taking lessons
at age 7 with Brian Czempinski and later Graham Morgan, now a legend in the
Australian drumming community. He joined his first rock band at the age of 20.
The band was called Cloud Nine, later to become Taste.(www.taste.us.com)
Donati left school when he was 16, focusing mainly on the drums, but also
piano, and practicing hard every day. These days he spends most of his time in
the United States playing with a number of different bands. Playing 6 nights a
week with Taste was what really “got his chops together”.
Australia was very isolated as far as instructional books and big
international tours, so he had to rely on self-motivation and listening to
records. With his father's choice of records, including Louie Bellson and
Buddy Rich albums, Virgil quickly became a fan of those great jazz drummers,
trying to emulate their solos. The first rock drummer to make a big impact on
him was Ian Paice of Deep Purple. Donati was “blown away by his clarity and
power”, something for which he later would become famous himself. Practice
became a way of life for Virgil, who tried to learn as many different styles
as possible, enabling him to cope with any musical situation he was confronted
with.
At age 19 Virgil travelled to the U.S. to study with Philly Joe Jones, and at
Dick Groves School in L.A. He also took lessons from snare drum specialist
Murray Spivack. He returned to Australia at the age of 21 where his career
finally took off. Playing jazz with Allan Zavod and Brian Brown, and rock with
Peter Cupples' band, he was a busy touring and session drummer Down Under. His
own pop band, The State turned into Southern Sons, which led to Virgil's first
taste of international fame, with their self-titled debut selling
multi-platinum and producing the international hit single 'Heart In Danger'.
The big break came in 1995 where Virgil's first solo album Stretch was
released to a stunned community of drummers worldwide. In 1999 Virgil
relaeased On The Virg: Serious Young Insects through Melbourne based record
company Vorticity Music. With tracks like the timebending Native Metal this CD
cemented Virgil's status as a progressive musical mastermind. Virgil was voted
the number 1 clinician of the year (2004) by the readers of the popular
drummer magazine, Modern Drummer.
Virgil's own band 'Planet X', formed after Virgil's collaboration on Derek
Sherinian's 1999 solo album "Planet X", is one of the most advanced
progressive fusion groups, setting new standards for other musicians to
follow. They have released three studio albums; Universe,Moonbabies, Quantum
and one live album, Live From Oz. Virgil has also made numerous live
appearances worldwide with fusion leaders Scott Henderson and Tribal Tech.
Name :
Göran Edman
Position : Vocals
Göran
Edman is a Swedish vocalist. He is noted for his session work with many
artists through the years but mainly for his early work with guitarist Yngwie
J. Malmsteen. He has also recorded with bands and artists such as Brazen
Abbot, John Norum, Karmakanic, Street Talk, Kharma, Crossfade, and Richard
Andersson among others.
Göran was formerly the only Shadrane vocalist, but left the project before
it’s completion. He made an official statement on his website: "No hard
feelings between me and Viv [...] The reason is that I'm drained from all work
with Vindictive and also that I did not think the songs fitted my style. I did
not like the basic ideas and did not know how to change them to anything else
either." Thankfully, Henrik Båth (Darkwater) and Björn Jansson (Beyond
Twilight) could record the unsung material, and by doing so allowed the album
to be mixed definitely.
