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EPICA Guitarist's MAYAN Parts Ways With Bassist, Announces Replacement

January 23, 2011

Due to his "very busy schedule," bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling (PESTILENCE, OBSCURA) has been forced to leave MAYAN, the new band featuring EPICA guitarist/songwriter Mark Jansen alongside Jack Driessen (ex-AFTER FOREVER) and Frank Schiphorst. MAYAN says in a statement, "MAYAN wishes [Jeroen] all the best for the future and you'll see him around at one of the MAYAN shows for sure."

Thesseling's replacement in MAYAN is Rob van der Loo (ex-SUN CAGED, DELAIN).

MAYAN will release its debut album, "Quarterpast", on May 20 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD is being recorded and mixed by Sascha Paeth (EPICA, KAMELOT).

"Quarterpast" will feature vocal contributions from the following musicians:

* Mark Jansen (EPICA, ex-AFTER FOREVER)
* Ariën van Weesenbeek (EPICA)
* Jack Driessen (ex-AFTER FOREVER)
* Floor Jansen (REVAMP, ex-AFTER FOREVER)
* Simone Simons (EPICA)
* Henning Basse (SONS OF SEASONS)
* Laura Macrì (Italian opera singer)

New video footage of the "Quarterpast" recording sessions featuring vocalists Floor Jansen, Simone Simons and Henning Basse can be viewed below.

In a recent interview with The Great Southern Brainfart, Mark Jansen stated about MAYAN, "It started as just something for fun but soon it grew into something that had to be perfect as well. I thought it was just for fun to make music with old friends but now it's as serious for me as EPICA is. Of course, EPICA remains my priority band and that's the band that's doing the most of the tours but MAYAN will fill in the gaps and maybe we will do some touring with EPICA in the future."

When asked if the MAYAN material will — conceptually and lyrically — be similar to EPICA, Mark replied, "Lyrically, you will find a lot of comparisons because it's my style of writing. I didn't attempt to write about completely different stuff. It could have been lyrics for an EPICA CD as well but music-wise it's completely different. It contains way more grunts and it's way more heavy. It is still symphonic because I love that kind of music. It's like a mixture of SYMPHONY X and OPETH style. That kind of direction."

MAYAN is:

* Mark Jansen (EPICA, ex-AFTER FOREVER) – Guitar, Vocals
* Jack Driessen (ex-AFTER FOREVER) - Keyboards
* Frank Schiphorst - Guitar, Vocals
* Rob van der Loo (ex-SUN CAGED, DELAIN) - Bass
* Isaac Delahaye (EPICA) - Guitar
* Ariën van Weesenbeek (EPICA) - Drums

For more information, visit MAYAN's official MySpace page.

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