Arid | Lunascape | Ben Stassen | Charlotte Huggins

ARID

Featured Band

Jasper Steverlinck • Vocals/Guitar
David Du Pré • Guitar
Steven Van Havere • Drums
Filip Ros • Bass

The music of Arid pulsates throughout the Haunted Castle soundtrack, as Johnny (Arid’s lead singer Jasper Steverlinck) makes his way through the mysterious world of the castle….

Toward the end of the last century, a deluge of musical talent was uncovered in Belgium. Band after band exploded onto the music scene, taking the rest of the world by storm. And it was within this thriving musical environment that Arid was formed.

Shortly after their first rehearsal, Arid rocketed into the finals of the 1996 Rock Rally—Belgium’s most prestigious rock contest. The jury report states: “It was like being struck by lightning!”

Despite this initial impact, the band members devoted themselves to a period of intense rehearsal, honing their musical talents and writing new material. Toward the end of 1997, representatives from Double-T Music (now part of Sony Music Europe) went to see Arid perform and were completely blown away. A week later the contract was signed.

After being courted by a number of internationally-renowned producers, band members eventually chose to work with David Anderson (Fine Young Cannibals, Al Green) for their debut album, Little Things of Venom. They were determined to make everything sound as natural as possible, with the real sound of real instruments—no effects, no samples.

Little Things of Venom showcases Jasper Steverlinck’s elegant and pure vocals. The songs themselves are anthemic and melodic, with lyrics that have a unique poetry about them. Unsurprisingly, the press were enamoured with the album and consistently praised the depth of emotion expressed in the music and lyrics. Before Little Things of Venom was even released in Europe, Arid was snapped up by Columbia Records in the U.S..

In 1999 Arid opened for the successful Belgian band, K’s Choice, then embarked on a mini-tour of Europe supporting Suede. They soon gained a reputation as a thoroughly captivating live act that, together with the success of “Too Late Tonight” (their first single release in Belgium), helped secure them a stream of shows and festivals. Perhaps Arid’s biggest touring breakthrough came at the beginning of 2000 when they were hand-picked by Counting Crows to open for them on the extensive European leg of their tour.

Meanwhile, record sales continued to soar and Little Things of Venom went Gold in Belgium. In April 2000 Arid’s debut album was released in the US under the title At the Close of Every Day.

Arid continued with their busy touring schedule through the Summer of 2000, playing to overwhelmingly enthusiastic audiences at many of the major European festivals.

The band is currently crafting material for their second album.

Visit Arid on the web at: www.aridcentral.com.

Lunascape

Kyoko Baertsoen - vocals
Walter Hilhorst - guitars and programming
Jo Mahieu - guitars
Mirko Banovic - bass
Didier Devogelas - drums

At the core of Lunascape are musicians Kyoko Baertsoen (26) and Walter Hilhorst (31). The duo originally met in 1993 at the television and film academy in Brussels, Belgium. Prior to meeting, Kyoko studied German flute at the music academy, while Walter was (and continues to be) intensively autodidact.

After touring through Europe as lead female singer for the band Hooverphonic in 1997, Kyoko combined forces with Walter to form Lunascape. They created their own unique sound influenced by such acts as Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, Sinead O'Connor, Portishead and many others. They soon expanded Lunascape with the addition of three other musicians: Mirko Banovic (bass), Jo Mahieu (guitars) and Didier Devogelas (drums).

The Lunascape sound mixes catching rhythms, sampling and loops with acoustic and electric guitars reinforced by strong melodies and Kyoko's enchanting voice. The music of Lunascape can best be described as ethereal ambient trip-pop music.

Lunascape soon caught the attention of the recording industry and signed a record deal with Double-T Music Belgium, which is now Sony. In the summer of 1999 the band recorded their first album in Belgium. Unfortunately, due to internal problems of the record label, the album was never released. At present, Lunascape is in search of another record company to release their latest album, which they are currently producing.

For their latest song "Tears From the Moon," the band collaborated with songwriter Rick Nowels, who contributed three songs on Madonna's "Ray of Light" album and has also written for Céline Dion, Mel C, Dido and many others. "Tears From the Moon" was released as Lunascape's second single after "Your Shadow."

Lunascape's new album will include "Lane Navachi" (featured in "Haunted Castle") and is planned for release in the near future. For more information please visit: www.lunascape.net

Ben Stassen

Director

A graduate of USC’s School of Cinema and Television, Ben Stassen began his career in the film industry by producing My Uncle’s Legacy, a film that earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1990.

It was during the making of his second feature film that the Belgian native was introduced to the Brussels-based company, Little Big One. A high-end computer graphics company, Little Big One enlisted Stassen’s talent as a filmmaker to help get their work acknowledged by the international film community. Stassen welcomed the challenge and suggested that the company use CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) technology to make a simulator ride film as a way to showcase their work in high-end venues around the world. He met with Showscan Entertainment and got them interested in tackling the challenge of producing Devil’s Mine Ride, one of the first high-resolution computer graphics films in the large screen format. Devil’s Mine Ride achieved huge success and set the precedent for many other ride films to come.

Stassen went on to co-found nWave Pictures with D&D Media Group, the largest television production company in Belgium. As a content producer, D&D Media Group welcomed the idea of setting up nWave Pictures not as a service company doing production for third parties, but as a fully integrated digital studio developing, financing, producing and distributing products for the location based entertainment market. The plan was a solid one—in less than five years Stassen produced 17 ride films and has built the largest independent library of motion simulation films available in all formats.

In 1996, nWave had the privilege of producing three CGI sequences for Special Effects: Anything Can Happen, a WGBH/Nova giant screen production directed by Ben Burtt. The success of that venture inspired Stassen to move nWave into the giant screen industry head first and undertake their own in-house production. What emerged was the company’s first feature-length giant screen film and Stassen’s first directorial effort, Thrill Ride: The Science of Fun, co-financed with and distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. The success of Thrill Ride fostered further giant screen efforts, which include 3-D Mania: Encounter in the Third Dimension, Alien Adventure, and Haunted Castle—all directed by Stassen.

Charlotte Huggins

Producer

Charlotte Huggins experienced many facets of the entertainment industry before realizing her passion for special venue productions. As a first time writer/producer, she made Interview 15. A docudrama made with one roll of film, Interview 15, was honored by several film festivals, including the New York and Berlin Film Festivals, as the best Educational Film of the Year. Huggins sharpened her marketing skills in order to raise funds to do three more docudramas before taking a job as head of public relations with Stephen J. Cannell Productions.

At Cannell, Huggins got a job in story development with television legend Roy Huggins, who later became her father-in-law, and went on to write for the hit show Hunter. She was soon offered a position at Boss Film Studios, where she produced several Clio Award-winning Magnavox television campaigns. However, Huggins finally discovered her niche when Boss won the contract for the special venue attraction Journey to Technopia, which was created exclusively for the 1993 Korea World Expo. Journey to Technopia, for which she served as producer, received rave reviews and proved to be a breakthrough in ride film technology.

Huggins subsequently went on to work on a number of highly successful large format films, including serving as visual effects producer for Disney’s themepark attraction Honey I Shrunk the Audience and Sony Pictures Classics’ film Wings of Courage, which starred Val Kilmer. She also acted as producer for LG Group’s 35mm 3-D attraction film Ahead of Time and executive producer for the “King Kong” sequence in WGBH/Nova’s Special Effects: Anything Can Happen. Huggins currently serves as President of nWave Pictures, and has served as producer of all of nWave’s giant screen productions, including Thrill Ride, 3-D Mania: Encounter in the Third Dimension, and Haunted Castle.