Sander Biography
Hi everybody,let me explain who I am and how I got into music.
I'm Sander Gommans, founder, songwriter and guitarist/grunter of After Forever.
Since 1995, I'm playing in this band, giving 100% to give this band the opportunity to get known by the metal fans.I never thought we would get this far, and I still wonder how the hell it's possible that we already played in so many countries and that we already released six albums, including a mini album.
I guess our devoted fans make a lot possible, personally I've seen few bands that you can compare with us, that have such an enthousiastic group of fans with an everlasting support, thanks for that!I was always into music, since "The Final Countdown" of the Swedish band Europe. It made me listen to hardrock and metal, and this never chanced.
Through Europe I got into Whitesnake, and after that I dicovered Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron maiden, Dream Theater and those bands got me into the more extreme metal like Dimmu Borgir, Dissection, In Flames, Annihilator and At The Gates.
Of course I like much more bands, but these are just examples.Despite the fact I was so much into music, I never thought of playing an instrument....until 1995, when we started After Forever.
Some friends of mine started to play guitar, I wanted to be able to play to famous tunes to, so I decided to start playing guitar too.My first guitar was spanish guitar I borrowed, after that I bought a cheap electric one.
I decided to skip the basics of the guitarplaying, took no lessons and that's how I was able to play the stuff I liked pretty quickly, I just concentrated on metal riffs.
This aso had a negative site, because I miss some basic elements of guitarplaying, there are still some very simple things I just cannot play and the way I hold the pick is also unconventional:-)Anyway, thus I created an own style and used it in After Forever, and now I use the real agressive part in HDK.
The fact that I also do grunts was not planned, but was coincidence, the grunter left the band and somebody needed to replace him.
Ever since I do the grunts and now also screams for After Forever, I always try to improve them and on our last album you'll hear some different approaches.
You'll also hear a lot of "voices from hell" on HDK, also from other musicians!About HDK I'll give you more info next time, almost everthing has been recorded so let's hope the mix can be finished in the summer!Next to composing for After Forever and HDK, I aso handle a lot of the business stuff for After Forever.
That has always been a lot of work, but I learned a lot from that.
Unfortunately, it also gives a lot of stress, espcailly because it's heard for me to let things go.
Thank goodness we have a manager nowadays, Emiel Govaert, wich helps a lot!
Floor's dad Paul Jansen and my mother Marlies Gommans are also very important for the band, they do a lot of work to help the band out, without their support I would never have been able to combine After Forever with my job as a teacher.I've combined this job with After Forever for six/seven years, and this year I've become a full time musician.
That means I have more time to relax, and as usual, when you have the time to relax a bit more, all the stress of the past years comes to the surface.
Things haven't always been easy for After Forever, and behind the screens a lot of things happened no one except the band knows about.
This took a lot of energy, and I guess my body now undergoes the effects of working too hard all these years.That's the reason I have to take absolute rest, and I will not be able to perform for an undecided period.
But don't worry, it's for a good cause and I'll be back!I could go on and on with details about me, After Forever an HDK, but I guess that's enough for now, thanks for your great support and take care!
Special thanks to Franciska and Andrezza for creating the fansite!!!!!!!!!!CheersSander
By:Sander Gommans
