Emerald
Heavy Metal uit Kloosterhaar/IJmuiden (1976-heden)
Aankomende shows
One of the crown jewels of the Holland Heavy Metal scene!
We have to go back to the mid 70s to find the origin of Emerald. In this time a demo is recorded under the name “Warrior”. It takes until ’84 when the name changed to Emerald and a 4 track demo is released. Bert’s unique voice and the Randy Rhoads style playing of Allard Ekkel are quite remarkable, Megaton boss Bram Kloos gets interested and so it happens that on the 24th of January 1985 the band signs a deal with Megaton.
When later that year the album ”Down Town” is released, Emerald got a huge live reputation and is called ‘The best Heavy Metal band from the East’ (of Holland that is). The LP gets a lot of good reviews in heavy-metal zines worldwide. Unfortunately soon after the release Megaton becomes bankrupt and the band is on the streets again. They replaced drummer Gert Slot for Rudy Marissen (ex-Revenge)
In ’86 a gig is recorded by Radio East, It proves Emerald only got better after the album. But the band didn’t get a new deal and at the end of the 80s the band splits up. It takes till 1998 when the German That’s Metal magazine do an interview with Emerald. It puts the band back in the spotlights.
One year later ‘D-Day’ from the Down Town LP appears on the 1st HM Maniacs compilation CD. Iron Glory Records from Germany released the album "Down town "on CD. They changed the artwork and renamed the c.d. ‘Iron on Iron’.
In ’99 the CD gets released and gets very good reviews in several magazines. The band is honored by all the attention and decides to answer all the begging to do a reunion gig. So it happens that in 2002 Emerald appears on the HM Maniacs festival followed by a number of gigs in Germany. Around this time the band added Paul van Rijswijk (ex-Hammerhawk, Goddes of Desire) as 2nd guitarist.
Most memorable gigs are the Keep It True festival Germany 2005 and the spectacular show in Athens Greece at the Up the Hammers festival 2009, the crowd gets totally nuts and sings along with every song word by word!
The band is still alive and kicking and records one new track for the Headbanger magazine compilation CD. April 2010 Emerald played for the second time at the Keep it True festival Germany in front of more than 2500 of the best headbangers!! This show is also released on the official K.I.T. DVD in 2011. June 2011 Emerald played at Sweden's best metal-festival Muskelrock, and started working on new material.
November 2011 Emerald played a hell of a show in Madrid Spain and Januari 2012 a kickass show in Athens Greece where also the new release of the first album on vinyl including new tracks and artwork was celebrated
New shows for 2012 also include : Germany,Italy and a few in The Netherlands.
2013 Emerald will be playing at the Power of the night Festival in Cyprus , Metal Magic in Denmark, Sun Valley Metalfest Italy , Taunus Metal festival in Germany, Taken by Force Festival Holland and To Hell with Cancer in Holland
Line up:
Bert Kivits : Vocals
Allard Ekkel :Guitars
Paul van Rijswijk: Guitars
Essie Zagers : Bass
Rudy Marissen : Drums
Links
Myspace Facebook Reverbnation Hyves Holland Heavy Metal
Contact
Egbert Berenst : berenst65@gmail.com
Booking
Egbert Berenst : berenst65@gmail.com