Albert-Jan started playing at the age of 12 on the Spanish guitar of his mother. After a couple of years, he traded it in for some real stuff: a Les Paul imitation, tube amp and a distortion pedal. Like most kids at his age, he played mainly metal and rock. When he was 17 he joined his first serious band: Decision-D. In the style of Metallica: mainly riffs, the faster the better. This is when he started writing a great number of songs and started playing live regularly in venues such as Tivoli and Dynamocafe in the Netherlands.
During his psychology study, developing his guitar playing got less focus. He did continue to play in a number of fun bands. Mainly covers, few rehearsals and just going live on stage unprepared.
When he turned 25, Albert-Jan decided to take his talents more seriously. He picked up guitar lessons again, play more regularly and ended up in increasingly interesting and challenging bands. When his last band (Glowstar) collapsed at it's climax, Albert-Jan decided to start playing on its own for a while and further develop his own style. That proved to turn out to fit extremely well when he joined Graze late 2005. Everything simply fell into place. The synergy is energizing. "We're heading for something good ", according to Albert-Jan.
Equipment: Orange and Marshall amps, custom built guitars from "de Gier gitaarbouw", various pedals in changing combinations
Albert-Jan started playing at the age of 12 on the Spanish guitar of his mother. After a couple of years, he traded it in for some real stuff: a Les Paul imitation, tube amp and a distortion pedal. Like most kids at his age, he played mainly metal and rock. When he was 17 he joined his first serious band: Decision-D. In the style of Metallica: mainly riffs, the faster the better. This is when he started writing a great number of songs and started playing live regularly in venues such as Tivoli and Dynamocafe in the Netherlands. 