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- What is your name?
Martijn Balsters - Which part of the Netherlands are you from?
I'm from Tilburg, a city in the south of the Netherlands, most widely known as the town that hosted the very first ProgPower festival in history at the 013 venue.  What do you do in your daily life?
I currently work as a post-doc researcher at Tilburg University. I recently finished my PhD-thesis and hope to defend it successfully in June. Being a psychologist, my areas of investigation are depression, emotion research, and doctor-patient interactions (by using automated techniques). I also have teaching responsibilities, such as supervising students with their bachelor or master-thesis and teach some courses.Besides this, there's my big passion called music. I'm a guitar player and have been (or still am) active with acts such as Forever Times, The Dust Connection, Up The Irons and Maiden United. And of course, I'm constantly listening to old and new music (varying from classical, pop, jazz, dance to death metal and everything in between), and try to visit as many concerts as I can. More things that I enjoy: football (I'm quite a fanatic supporter of my local football club Willem II), movies, reading books, travelling, and most of all the company of good friends. With and without alcohol.. - When did you first get involved with PP Europe?
I started the event, together with René and Erik van Geel, somewhere in 1998. I already knew René for a while, as he was maintaining the news page on the Dutch Progressive Rock Page (DPRP) back then. He also used to help out with the promotion of my old band Forever Times. Although the internet was in its "Jurassic age" at the time, it was already quite easy to find other fanatics like myself, who loved the same music.At that time, it was really hard to get any gigs as a band that carried the label "progressive'. There were some small progressive rock festivals, but virtually nothing was happening on the metal side of the spectrum So one day, René sent me an email asking if I would be interested in organising a festival, primarily focussed on progressive metal to fill the existing gap. I immediately said yes, as it seemed a great opportunity to finally do something about the situation instead of complaining about it  . Although we never organised such an event before, we took things very seriously from the start. We approached the well-known 013 venue in my hometown Tilburg, and (to our surprise), they were interested right away. After the first single-day edition, we moved to René's hometown Baarlo. Although it seemed an illogical decision to some people at that moment, it was the best thing we could ever do in retrospect. In the years that followed, we were able to expand the festival to a three-day event, thanks to Sjiwa, the bands and our loyal visitors. The rest is history. 
- What is your role in the PP organisation?
I'm one of the three main organisers, responsible for booking the line up. While enjoying Christian's cooking skills, we dig our way through hundreds of cd's every year and constantly search the internet for new talent. I'll never grow tired of that. I'm also the contact person between the bands and the venue. I make sure all technical and logistical details are being taken care of, so everything will go according to schedule. On a little less serious note, I remember Christian describing me as "The Festival's Conscience" once. Although I'm not a politician, I apparently seem to be a mediator sometimes during our debates.. reminding people of the original philosophy of the festival every now and then . - What have been memorable performances from you in the past?
Gigs that come to mind: Riverside's first performance out of Poland (totally blowing away everyone), Opeth in 2000 (before they got "big'), Heaven's Cry's gigs, Pain of Salvation (1999), Myrath (2010). And of course, playing myself with Forever Times and The Dust Connection. But my absolute highlight was Devin Townsend's performance in 2004. He's one of my alltime favorite artists. Being able to fly him and his band over for an exclusive gig was a dream come true. - Why should people visit PP Europe?
The music and the people! You get to see 15 (mostly exclusive) gigs of high quality music. You will meet like-minded people from all over the world while sleeping and (after-after) partying at a beautiful castle. I know I'm biased, but it never ceases to amaze me how great the atmosphere is: newcomers are immediately welcomed by the regulars, bands partying along with their fans. - Tell us in 1 sentence what PP Europe means to you?
Something I'm really proud of, always look forward to, and still feel privileged to be part of. - The last words are yours....
See you all in October! Although I'm quite busy during the festival, I always try to hang out with everyone as much as possible and make some new friends along the way. It's you, the bands, volunteers and visitors that make this festival so unique!
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