“It was originally going to be a Bruce Dickinson solo album – but then I did a very stupid thing”: Arjen Lucassen didn’t make it easy for himself with Ayreon, Star One, Ambeon and other projects

They laughed at me. I think between 30 and 50 record companies turned me down. The first album was recorded in 1995 – those were the days of grunge, and there I was with a progressive rock opera! So that was hard but finally I found a Japanese company who were interested. To everyone’s surprise, including my own, it started selling.

When I was working on it, I just had a good feeling about it. I liked it so much that I knew there had to be people who were interested in this kind of stuff. You know, people like me who grew up with Jesus Christ Superstar or with The Who’s Tommy, as well as all the prog concept stuff like Journey To The Centre Of The Earth.

Well, to a degree it’s still hard. For the first album I managed to get Barry Hay from Golden Earring, and I think that gave me confidence for the next album to try other people. I did the second Ayreon album completely differently, and the result was that it really didn’t sell that well.

So when it came to record the third album, I really had the feeling that I had to do something really huge and really over-the-top. I approached Fish and I think having him on that album was the beginning of Ayreon’s success. Nowadays, people in the prog and metal scene know me, but it’s hard to get the really big names, like Ian Gillan or Dave Gilmour.

I remember I spoke with Dave Gilmour; I don’t think he really listens to this kind of music as it’s too far from his style. I also came very close to getting Ian Gillan, but unfortunately at the last moment he couldn’t do it. Then again, there are people like Dream Theater’s James LaBrie, who actually approached me, which was such a big compliment.

What are your thoughts on some of your other projects, such as the space rock of Star One or the laid-back Ambeon?

Star One was originally going to be a Bruce Dickinson solo album. Bruce had sung on one of my Ayreon albums; he really liked my stuff and wanted to do an album with me. So I wrote these 12 songs, which were in the style of Deep Purple and Hawkwind, and sent them to him.