Ivar de Graaf made one of the toughest decisions of his life in 2001: he decided to leave the successful Dutch band Within Temptation: "The band was becoming a fulltime job. I no longer had the time to write my own music, which is something I really love doing. So I really had no choice, but to leave Within Temptation."

So Ivar completely devoted himself to developing his own work, together with singer Judith Rijnveld. The first band to originate from this cooperation was a rockband called 'Jambone'. This band seized to exist only one year later, because the songs were all tied to a certain musical style. Therefore, drummer Ivar and vocalist Judith decided, in 2004, that they would try a different approach: they would take a couple of years just to write music that appealed to them, without having a certain genre or style in mind.

Thus, Ivar's Progressive Rock and Traditional Folk influences collided with Judith's classical conservatory background, and also her preference for Soul and artists like Aretha Franklin. Combined with their mutual love for bands and artists like Porcupine Tree, Jethro Tull, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and Tori Amos, new songs were written.

Ivar and Judith spent 2 years recording a demo; at home, in their rather narrow corridor. They finished it at the beginning of 2006. Armed with that demo, but without a band, they started contacting record labels; to see if they were interested. The good people from Suburban Records, however, were só enthusiastic, that a contract was signed right away in October 2006 - but there was still no band. It had to be formed now, and quickly!

Bass player Eric Hoogendoorn (ex-Orphanage) was the first new member to join the band. Eric had already leant Ivar and Judith a critical ear during the process of recording the demo and Ivar and Eric had known eachother for years (Orphanage and Within Temptation always got along well), so he was a logical choice.

Guitar player Daan Janzing was introduced to this musical trio by Ivar's former band-buddy Ruud Jolie (Within Temptation). Daan happened to share Ivar, Judith and Eric's musical opinions and was therefore the perfect addition to the band.

Then the search for an adequate keyboard player began. Our hunting field: the World Wide Web. We thought this was going to take a very long time - we knew we would eventually have to resort to websites like eBay and Amazon - but... we were wrong. The first young man to react was George van Olffen (ex-Moonflower) and he was só impassioned he played all the songs perfectly during his first audition. So that was an easy choice.

As for the second guitar player: Ivar had let his old friend from High School, Edo van der Kolk - with whom he has been making music for over 15 years now - play a guitar solo on the song 'Through My Eyes', which he did so beautifully, Ivar felt he had no option but to force Edo into the band as well.

And thus, the new band Kingfisher Sky was born. What started as a one-man-and-one-woman-project, ended up becoming a real band. The band member's unique talents can be heard on their fantastic debut album 'Hallway Of Dreams', for which the recordings were finished in July 2007.

Kingfisher Sky's brilliant debut album, 'Hallway Of Dreams', is available for purchase now.

I started singing at the age of 2. I have been influenced by great singers like Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Aretha Franklin and Cecilia Bartoli. I started taking singing lessons during High School at the age of 14, and continued with Broadway diva Pat Gideon afterwards. I starred in the musical 'Mahagony' by Bertolt Brecht at age 19, and started my classical singing education at the Koninklijk Conservatorium (Royal Conservatory) in The Hague at age 20. I sang in a well-known soul band and a couple of rock cover bands after that, and I sang guest vocals on Ian Parry's albums 'Visions' and 'Consortium' 3 and 4. My current band is Kingfisher Sky.

Back to top

I started playing the drums at age 16. I completely focused on music after High School and I played in various rock cover bands. At age 18, I also started playing the guitar and bass guitar, and writing my own material. I joined Within Temptation in 1996; I recorded 3 albums with this band - the last of which ('Mother Earth') reached the platinum status. I quit Within Temptation after 7 years to develop my own work known by the name Kingfisher Sky, in cooperation with singer Judith Rijnveld. Later, I played drums on 3 songs of Ian Parry's solo album 'Visions' and I co-composed and played 5 songs on his 'Consortium 4'. My recent band is Kingfisher Sky. Our debut album, 'Hallway of Dreams' was released in September 2007.

Back to top

I first picked up the guitar in 1986 and took private lessons for about 5 years. After that, I continued learning by myself. Also learned to play bass guitar and drums and developed an interest in writing and composing. Over the years I played in a number of bands, of which Jambone and The Saturnine were probably the most well known.

I have always tried to keep an open mind as far as musical genres are concerned, both as a musician and a listener. I do prefer heavy rock like King's X, David Lee Roth-era Van Halen and Pride & Glory. I like jazz-rock too. As far as guitar players go, Ty Tabor (King's X), Chris Poland (Ohm) and Brian May (Queen) are amongst my heroes. Other musicians I admire are Peter Gabriel, Ron Thal, Kevin Gilbert, Neal Morse and Devin Townsend. I must add that my "top" favorites change from day to day.

Back to top

Name : Daan Janzing

Birth date : November 17th 1981

Place of residence : Tilburg

I started playing the guitar at the age of 9. I have worked as a guitar technician for various bands since 2000. I started playing again fairly recently. I am otherwise very uninteresting.

The bands I play in at the moment : Kingfisher Sky, Bodybag Society and SeperationS.

Former member of : Violent Solution and Antro.

Greetings, Daan.

Did I mention I'm also very handsome and heterosexual?

Back to top

Musical education : Local music school (organ and piano lessons) from age 12 till 19 and private teachers.

Bands : My first band was the High School Band (1976). After that I played in many bands that either nearly made it, hardly made it or never made it at all. Until I joined Secret Sounds in 1986, that is, which used to be a celebrated wave/rock band. We played many gigs, but no drugs, no money, and sadly, no interested women. I joined Moonflower in 1998 and played some amazing concerts with them. In 1990 I founded The Blame and we recorded a single for EMI - unfortunately the singer died in a car crash. Time passed and after many attempts to start THE band - which led to accidental bits of hope and glory - I read about Kingfisher Sky looking for a keyboard player in February 2007, and the rest is history!

Education : Master degree in History & Information Management.

Marital Status : Not married, but I have a lovely girlfriend who lives in Amsterdam.

Back to top

I first started playing in early 80's wave bands similar to Joy Division.
I also played in Orphanage and Silicon Head.
I am not a great writer.

Back to top