MaYaN - Topic

MaYaN was conceived early 2010 by versatile musician and Epica mastermind Mark Jansen and old friend, ex-After Forever keyboardist Jack Driessen to write an album in the style they always really wanted. Mark asked guitarist Frank Schiphorst (Symmetry, Christmas Metal Symphony) to join in. Frank has a broad range of experience and skills aboard. When put together with Mark and Jack, an undeniable chemistry takes place producing songs in no time.

Evolving from a project to a real band, MaYaN needed the perfect musicians to work this out with, and as a logical result Epica drummer Ariën van Weesenbeek and guitarist Isaac Delahaye joined in. Soon also guest vocalists Henning Basse (currently Firewind), Laura Macrì, Simone Simons (Epica) and Floor Jansen (currently Nightwish) were a fact. Not much later, they were followed by bassist Rob van der Loo (ex-Delain).

With their first release ‘Quarterpast’ (2011) through Nuclear Blast, MaYaN received instant recognition in the media as proven by the excellent reviews, in-depth interviews with many provoking questions about the band‘s point of view and raving reactions of fans throughout the world.

After very successful tours through parts of Europe, Central and South America plus playing renowned festivals like ProgPower USA, Graspop Open Air, Heaven & Hell (Mx), Zwarte Cross and PPM Fest for thousands of fans, the band put themselves on the map instantly. Hundreds of thousands of views and confronting discussions from all over the world on their video ‘War on Terror’ prove they set the world to think about and hopefully act upon what is going on nowadays.

Laura and Henning joined the MaYaN Tribe as permanent members in 2013. That same year, Isaac was followed up by the talented female guitarist Merel Bechtold (currently Delain).

In 2014 MaYaN released their second full length album ‘Antagonise’ through Nuclear Blast. On this album MaYaN introduced two great guest musicians: Vocalist Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion), giving extra depth by adding choir layers and vocal lines, and Greek violin virtuoso Dimitris Katsoulis.

The ‘Antagonise’ concept is about the current state of the world in which spying is more present than ever before. Our privacy has been taken away step by step. Some people say "We have nothing to hide so I don't care", but after all we all have our secrets, not just the criminals. Under the flag of 'war against terrorism' governments - and above all the big corporations - all over the wor