Wounded - The Sky Is Ours

Описание: I met Alwin a long time ago, must be the late eighties, when we were still kids banging our heads on heavy metal music. Now and then we met at metal gigs and party’s. Always a good laugh and a good chat. Because he is close family to my girl we became closer friends. Around the release of monument he joined us at gigs as a drum tech and when Ralph left it was a no-brainer that Alwin was the one to take over the job in 2002. In these years, like as in other bands, of course we had our differs. Growing up and learning life, the last fifteen years it all settled down. We agreed that making fun and creating good memories should be the most important thing in The Wounded. We had our dreams and we worked them out. The fanboys we were of bands like Paradise Lost, Anathema and Tiamat we were like kids back then when we played as support act of these bands. In 2016 Alwin said he had health problems and soon later he told us he was diagnosed with cancer which was disastrous news. After a few months it seemed that he had it under control. The cancer was mostly gone. He had to take medication but was able to play music in The Wounded and in his other band Departed Souls. It was not an easy task for him. Taking his chemo pills between two songs while on stage during a gig supporting Tiamat, just on time leaving the stage before the pills kicked in hard. It said a lot about his fighting spirit and the urge to be on stage. Alwin had this gift to play our songs in a way that you had the feeling you could lean back in the music. Groovy, loud, direct and playing from the heart. He is such a big important part of our sound. We always had our special little moments on stage. Looking at each other with a huge smile. Making fun. Late 2020 Alwin recorded all the drums for the upcoming album, “The Sky Is Ours". He played better than ever, so you will all experience. We had one agreement, Andy me and Alwin. Whatever happened, we would never end The Wounded. We would never call it quits… It will stay alive beyond us. When we were in Madrid for a festival waiting on the plane to get us home we had time to talk about the future. It was a very emotional chat, and it’s still a very special memory. He told us he was sure he would not grow old... Thou he wasn’t afraid of dying he was afraid for leaving his wife and kids behind. Scared that he would not be able to see them grow up. As a father, I could feel that fear. Last year he told me he thought about quitting the band. He didn’t want to hold us back. I asked him not to do so. “Just be the drummer till you get better” I asked him. "And if you can't play live anymore then you'll do the studiowork." We agreed finding someone to help us out rehearsing for live gigs and maybe do some shows till he could take over again. We had a few options for the job but Alwin told us that Peter Deddens would be the best choice to fit in. He knew him as a good bloke from gigs. And so we agreed. When I visited him December last year we spoke about the band and the album. We spoke about the recordings and the mixings and what should be changed or not. He was so thrilled about the new songs telling me he liked this song “The sky is ours” so much. Alwin said that this would be a wounded song that should be on his funeral… Two months ago he became very sick. Marieke told me he was on the edge of life and it was very serious. But a few days later he got back on his feet a bit. I was convinced he would be better and we would soon enjoy the release of our first new song. Last Wednesday I asked everybody what to do with the artwork and the logo. Alwin was not able to respond much on these questions but now he did. He told us: “Ik vind 't oke…", "ja, maak er iets moois van" (“I'm ok with it all.” “Make something beautiful out of this.”) These were his last words to the band. The next day he passed away. For his funeral we made a video for “The sky is ours” and was shown to everybody there. The song of course will be on the album which will be titled The Sky Is Ours. We don’t really know what the future brings and how it will be. We miss him already. His laughs, his music, his dark humor. But we need to move on. Because of him and for him and his legacy for the band. Marco, Wounded…