Kayak is a Dutch band, originating from the early seventies. The band began as a symphonic progressive rock act with an emphasis in songwriting, but from 1977 on Kayak changed direction moving into crossover territories. Kayak revived in the 21st century, recording new albums and touring again. The band checked in with the following announcement:
Kayak‘s live line-up is now official! The band that will go on tour features keyboardist Ton Scherpenzeel, guitarist Marcel Singor and vocalist Bart Schwertmann, as well as bass player Kristoffer Gildenlöw (who can be heard on the new album “Seventeen”) and- recently added to the band- drummer Collin Leijenaar.
Collin‘s resume is impressive. (collinleijenaar.com) He has played a.o. in the band of Neal Morse as sub for Mike Portnoy, and is currently drummer for the band of UK based guitarist/keyboardist Dave Brainbridge, and also plays in three other prog rock/metal bands Affector, Dilemma and Dusk.
Collin runs his own music school Novae Popschool with several locations in Holland. Soon we hope to share with you some fantastic news about Kayak‘s live plans- and more!
June 16th saw the Universal release of the Kayak complete works box entitled “Journey Through Time”. The box contains 21 CD’s, and holds the sixteen studio album (including three double albums) and two bonus CD’s with non album tracks, rarities and demo’s. One of the bonus CD’s most remarkable items is Happy New Year, a Kayak demo dating from ’74 or ’75, that has never been released. There are several Kayak-related tracks like the singe Fluffy/White Walls (1970) by High Tide Formation (with Pim Koopman, Ton Scherpenzeel, Chiel van Praag and Ron v.d. Werff). Then there’s an outstanding collection of no less than eight home recorded demo’s with previously unreleased material by Pim, Ton, Johan Slager and Carwin Gijsing under the name of Ten Ride Ticket. The Plan (with Ton and the Kayettes) are represented by their 1982 single If This Ain’t Love/Hit Bottom. Finally we mention the version of I Want You To Be Mine that in 1978 took Kayak to the USA top-50. Worth mentioning is the fact that Universal has included an empty wallet for the yet to be released album “Seventeen”, which enables the true Kayak collector to really complete this unique album set.
CD’s featuring the original eight vinyl LP’s have been remastered from the original studio master tape.
Albums: See See the Sun, Kayak II, Royal Bed Bouncer, The Last Encore, Starlight Dancer, Phantom of the Night, Periscope Life, Merlin, Close to the Fire, Night Vision, Merlin- Bard of the Unseen, Nostradamus- The Fate of Man (2CD), Coming Up For Air, Letters From Utopia (2CD), Anywhere But Here, Cleopatra- The Crown of Isis (2CD)
Kayak‘s new album “Seventeen” is scheduled for release in October 2017. Pre-orders are up now.
The history of Kayak goes way back to 1972, you can read it here (in Dutch).