Without the usual knowledge of our instruments we took our first musical footsteps. And started June 1985 the all over girlband
Twins No Twins
Conny - drums
Elfriede - bass
Karin -guitar
Margriet - vocals
Margriet, Marja and Karin
Fire 1985
Hester and Diana
Fire 1985
Margriet
Karin
Marja
Hester
- Vocals
- Guitar
- Bass
- Drums
Margriet
Karin
Elfriede
Conny
- Vocals
- Guitar
- Bass
- Drums
After just five weeks of being together, we played our first gig and we had a taste for more. The music we were making was sober and emotional, especially because of Margriet's vocals, and it wasn't long before we could be seen regularly on stage. However, a few months later Hester decided to quit the band and Diana joined for a short time, after which she passed the drumsticks to Conny. Marja also decided to leave the band and a short time after that we met Elfriede...a moment we will never forget.
I
The Asrai are small, fragile, female beings who turn into a puddle of water when they are captured or exposed to sunlight. This makes them unreachable. We felt this was a good representation of our music.
When Conny left the band, Karin decided to play the drums instead of the guitar and our first male guitarist entered the band. Many gigs followed with the same line-up for eight years.
We recorded several tapes
The Blue Tape
So clear that you couldn' tell where the water ended and the air began
Love is a Lie
Asrai
Asrai
We wanted to record a CD,unfortunally it was that Elfriede and Bert decided to leave the band, and for the last time we went to the studio and recorded the tape for Asrai
Soon afterwards we found good replacements in Serge on guitar and Leah on bass.
Margriet
Serge
Leah
Karin
- Vocals
- Guitar
- Bass
- Drums
Margriet
Bert
Elfriede
Karin
- Vocals
- Guitar
- Bass
- Drums
We finally recorded our first our first cd
As Voices Speak
It wasn't long before we were noticed by Michael Zoller from Poison Ivy Records and a German release of As Voices Speak was issued.. And you could find us on several compliation cd's
Margriet
Rik
Jos
Leah
Karin
- Vocals
- Guitar
- Guitar
- Bass
- Drums
However, Jos became so successful with his other band, Grendel, that it was difficult for him to combine the two bands, so only four of us played on the next CD. We met Roman Schoensee and we decided to record the next CD at his studio, the beautiful Lake Studio. Unfortunately, a short time before we went to the studio, Leah became ill and we asked Martin, a good friend and brilliant bass player, to fill in for her until she had recovered, and thus we recorded our demo. By now Transmission records was interested and gave us the opportunity to record the album with a larger budget and one of the better mixers, Sascha Peath. We also wanted Roman to be our producer. Sadly, before we went to the studio for the second time, it became clear that Leah wouldn't recover enough to play the bass a lot, and she decided to leave the band.
Then a friend of ours, Manon, heard our demo, and before she even realised what was happening, soon there were five of us rocking on stage. The line-up remained this way and the five of us went to the Beautiful Lake studio and Excess Studio with
Hans Pieters, and recorded our next CD, Touch In The Dark. With Roman Schoensee as our producer and Sascha Peath mixed the album
Manon
Martin
Karin
Rik
Margriet
- Synth
- Bass guitar
- Drums
- Guitar
- Vocals
Touch in the Dark
It was time to herald a new beginning of wild times rocking on stage, and so in December 1987 we became....
Asrai
Live in a package
However, Serge's career had taken off, so he left the band, this time it wasn't so easy to find the right replacement, eventually, Jos took over as the new guitarist. We also wanted to explore and deepen our music, so we started searching for a keyboard player or a second guitarist, and this was when we discovered Rik.
Poison Ivy Strike
X-treem cd
Touched by the hand of Goth
Twilight of the Gods
German Issue
As Voices Speak
In Front of Me
Their second single "In front of me"from the album "Touch in the Dark" was released September 23 the. And again the videoclip was made by Marcel de Jong and Jelle Swetter and Maud Mulder.
May 26 the 2004 the album
"Touch in the Dark" was been released in most European countries as well as in Asia and North and South America.
Pale Light
The single "Pale Light" was released may 6 the. The video-clip made for their single "Pale Light" was made by the versatile and talented duo Marcel de Jong and Jelle Swetter .
Asrai did several tours and ened up in studio again to work on their next CD. Again at the Excess Studio with Hans Pieters and this time with Sascha Peath as our producer.
For the finishing touch some parts were recorded at the Gate studio by Sascha Paeth. and Amanda Sommerville. We did a photo shoot with Alex le Heux which was used for the artwork.
After the preproduction it became clear that Transmissions wouldn' be able to release our next album. And end 2006 we'e pround to announce that we'e signed by Season of Mist.
Who will release the cd Pearls in Dirt
The cover of the "Sour Ground" single was made by Marcel de Jong who also did the "Pale Light" and "In front of me"
video clips."
Upcoming release: "Pearls in Dirt" (digipak in velvet o-ring + booklet)
Release date: Nov. 12th, US Nov. 20th
