|
- What is your name?
Marcel Slaman - Which country are you from?
The Netherlands - What do you do in your daily life?
I'm a student majoring in Sociology and currently also taking a minor in Norwegian at the University of Amsterdam. I also work at the University of Amsterdam as a teammember of the ICTO team of the College of Social Sciences. ICTO stands for ICT in Onderwijs (IT in education) and basically entails that we do the day-to-day facility management on the online learning environment and any related software, training teaching staff to use this software and also keeping an eye on interesting developments when it comes to new/improved implementations of IT in education. - When did you visit PP Europe for the first time?
In 2006 - What was the main reason to visit PP Europe for the first time?
I was basically dragged along by Legana, who had attended the festival several times before and was a regular up to the point where she discovered the wonderful world of Australia. She's the one that introduced me to the wonderful people at the festival. She managed to drag me along because I wanted to see Scar Symmetry and Textures that year, and she convinced me it would be worth my while to just stay the entire weekend and enjoy the festival atmosphere. She didn't really go for the music, she went for the people and from the moment I set foot in the castle courtyard for the first time, I understood why and haven't looked back since. - How many times have you visited PP Europe so far?
Haven't missed a single one since I first attended in 2006, so 7 so far. - What was your first impression of PP Europe at your first visit?
My first impression was both awkward and awesome at the same time. On the one hand I was brought along by someone that already knew a good chunk of the regulars and I didn't know a single soul beyond the person I came with. I did however already do some research on the festival and managed to connect some names from the internet to people that sat around one of the tables in the castle courtyard. I was first introduced to the Swedes and some of the Germans and later on, introduced to others by them as if they had known me for years, started making more and more peoples acquaintance. People who I now call friends. The awkward part was not knowing anyone at first, which put me at a slight social disadvantage. The awesome part was the way that I was taken in in the group. People warmed to me easily, I got offered beers left and right and settled in quite comfortably. - What is your overal impression of PP Europe?
Progpower Europe is in my opinion the most amazing festival that I have ever attended. It shows in the fact that people keep coming back for the festival and book their tickets ahead of time, regardless of which bands will be booked. The crew are great and friendly, the bar personel are good and always ready with a smile, the bands are usually both surprising and amazing and the best part is meeting all those friends you haven't seen in a year who are sometimes closer to you than your friends are. Another reason that makes this festival so great is that the bands are very accissble for the fans. They will ofcourse take their time away from the crowd before and after their gig, but most bands stay around during the entire weekend and take the time to talk to everyone that has something to say to them and drink a beer with those that offer one. All these things are reasons for me to keep coming back, but the main one has to be my Progpower Family. These people go the extra mile for eachother, for people they have met on a festival and stay in contact with throughout the year to discuss wonderful music and earthly matters. 
- Why should people visit PP Europe?
For all the reasons I mentioned above. I always tell everyone I meet and is willing to hear my stories that Progpower is an experience. I can tell you about the atmosphere, I can show you how awesome these bands are that you don't know, but the atmosphere and the people is something you have to experience for yourself. I tell people this, tell them they'll be hooked and keep coming back, and some don't believe me. And then book their tickets for the next year right after they've returned home from the previous edition.The bands may be the reason that drew your eye to the festival, it's the people and the atmosphere that will keep you coming back. - Tell us in 1 sentence what PP Europe means to you?
Progpower to me means a wonderful community of people that are close to me like family, that I talk to throughout the year through various means, who supply me with new wonderful music, are true friends in every sense of the word and who are always good for a beer whenever we happen to meet. - The last words are yours....
Progpower has been a big part of my life eversince that first time I went there. I've made a lot of friends there, had a lot of interesting experiences. The only negative thing that I can remember that happened at a Progpower was the passing away of Mikko and even that was an accident and not something of harmful intent by one of the festival goers. And how terrible the entire event was, the way that the Progpower family bonded over it even tighter than they had in the past, and the amazing way the crew and festival organizers handled the aftermath is just one of the examples that makes this festival into so much more than just an expertly booked selection of bands performing their songs while the crowd has their beers.Because this spot has been left open for me to do my own thing, I would first of all like to thank René, Christian and Martijn for putting on this amazing festival year after year, and for making it one of the most tightly ran festivals I've ever been to. They can't do that alone, obviously, so a very big thank you to Sjiwa and their amazing crew of volunteers for delivering every year. And then there's ofcourse a massive thank you for my Progpower Family, who make every PPEU edition an edition to remember. I would also like to use this stage to plug something I organize every year: the great and epic public transport prog exodus! I try to set up a schedule of trains people can take so we'll end up on station Venlo together, and can all take the bus to the castle, so we'll arrive in as large a group as possible. The idea is to make the otherwise somewhat boring train journey from Amsterdam/Schiphol/Utrecht/Eindhoven a bit more entertaining by doing it with a big group of various nationalities. So far we've had a wonderful time every time we travelled together, and as long as people want to come along on one of my planned trips from a number of trainstations to the castle, they're more than welcome to come along and enjoy the discount that we can offer you on train trips (only when travelling together with us, ofcourse)! This year I'll be organizing the trip to the castle on the thursday before the festival, October 3rd. There will be beer, and possibly music from either devices people have brought along, or accoustic guitars! Some fond memories: - The human christmas tree
- Cooling beer on the window sill in castle De Berckt
- My very first Progpower Europe with Legana, meeting the swedes and being offered a beer first thing right after being introduced to them
- The very first time I organized Cello's Amazing Dutch Prog Exodus
- Meeting the various artists and having a beer with them afterwards, in particular the guys from Chaos Divine and the fans they brought along.
- The epic after parties in the basement, hearing metalheads singing along to Piet Veerman's Sailing Home
- Balls to the Wall!
- Sitting at the castle, having a drink after the afterparty on a saturday. Håkan was left behind at the afterparty, but managed to find his way back and shoved his head through the tiny window in the main entrance of the castle. Hilarious (you had to be there
 ) - Losing Michael Eriksen of Circus Maximus somewhere in the park on the way back to the castle, only to have him drive by, halfway through the walk, in a car with some of the guys from Meyvn.
- Having some of the bandmembers from Meyvn jump out of the bushes, covered in scratches from the barbed wire in the bushes, because they were hoping to scare their bandmates. The same bandmates drove by in a car several moments before, with Michael Eriksen in the car with them.
- Playing pool all weekend with all the members from Suspyre
- The Flugl wall (tradition started by Chaos Divine and crew, carried on religiously by Thijs and whoever else will drink the sugary stuff)
- Every time I'm pleasantly surprised by a band I didn't know, or impressed by a band I did know.
- Disagreeing with Andrew on musical matters and being able to discuss it in friendly banter, respecting eachothers opinions and being especially surprised when we do end up agreeing every now and then
Writing all of this has sort of made me homesick. I can't wait for it to be October again! 
|
