NEW BASSPLAYER FOR SUN CAGED

Last sunday we found our new bassplayer.
His name is Roel Vink, he is a young bassplayer with a lot of good musical ambitions, and we will start to work hard on learning him all the songs.
Rob Van Der Loo will play the last time with Sun Caged on April the 27th in Tilburg (013, Batcave). Free entrance. Our drummer Roel Van Helden also has his conservatorium examn this evening.
Roel Vink will play live with us for the first time at the Elsrock festival in Rijssen, The Netherlands on August 26th.
We welcome Roel in the Sun Caged camp !
CD RECORDINGS IN PROGRESS

We are currently recording our second album.
All drums have been recorded, and now Marcel and Rene are recording their tracks.
Barend Tromp (ex Lemur Voice) will play bass on a few songs, and also will play a sitar solo in one of our songs. It will be great for the fans of Lemur Voice to see Marcel work with Barend again, since Lemur Voice splitted up in 2000.
ROB VAN DER LOO QUITS SUN CAGED

After almost 7 years of being a member of Sun Caged bass player Rob Van Der Loo decided to leave Sun Caged. Read his official statement below. Of course we regret his decision, but despite that we respect his reasons. Rob is going into a totally new musical direction, and he was not happy anymore playing the music of Sun Caged. Rob will stay close to the band, regarding the friendship we have with him, and we truly wish him the best in his musical career and his new direction.

Here his statement:

"I've been a member of Sun Caged for almost seven years which is quite a while.
Playing in Sun Caged convinced me that I wanted to be a full-time professional musician.
But seven years is quite a long time and in this period a lot of things like personal interests and musical taste can change . As a musician I need to be challenged and through the last 18 months I started to realise that Sun Caged wasn't longer the challenge for which I was looking.
When I'm a member of a band I need to support the music for 200% and not for 100% or less.
Making decisions like this can be very hard but I took a lot of time to think about it and I'm sure that this is the right choice for as well me as the band. The fact that I'm leaving the band doesn't mean that it's the end of my musical career. In fact I think it will give me much more new fresh ideas and possibilities to work on. And there's always a big chance that we will work together again in the near future.
I would like to thank all the (ex-)Sun Caged members for the awesome years we've played together and for their friendship. Of course I'd also like to thank all the Sun Caged fans all over the world for their great support: you guys rule! And last but not least I wish the band good luck with the upcoming line-up and the new album.

All the best,

Rob"

Of course we also thank Rob for his amazing presence in the band and friendship throughout the years.

This also means that Sun Caged is looking for a new bass player.

If you are interested to join Sun Caged as the new bass player, then send an email with a sound file of your playing to marcel.coenen@gmail.com.
It is obvious that we are looking for a good replacement, auditions start soon and we already have a lot of options.

For the people who might fear that this affects Sun Caged in a bad way: No worries ! The band is very strong, and we are convinced that we will find a replacement soon. The recordings of our new album won't be postponed, we will enter the studio in April 2006, as planned.

Rob will play with us for the last time at Thursday April 27th in 013 in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Sun Caged drummer Roel Van Helden will play his Conservatorium graduation concert this day and afterwards we will play a set with Sun Caged.
NEW SONG AT OUR MYSPACE SITE

At the official Sun Caged MySpace page you can now hear a new song of the band. The song is called "Unborn". A note: The recording is a demo, we recorded some new songs end of 2005 as pre production for the new album recordings. This song is one of the songs we recorded.
Have fun listening to the new Sun Caged !

NEW SUN CAGED ALBUM, RECORDINGS START IN APRIL

In April we are starting the recordings for the second album. We are aiming for an october 2006 release.
Some new song titles: Unborn, Dialogue, City Walls, Re-Enter The Dream, Doldrums, Afraid To Fly, Engelbert, Blood Lines, A Fair Trade, Missing Third.
FIRST GIG IN NEW LINE UP CONFIRMED

After some silence (for the fans) we now can announce that Sun Caged is busy planning some try out gigs from July 2005.

The first gig has been confirmed: July 17th 2005: Weistock, Lottum (Netherlands).

Keep an eye on the website the coming weeks for more upcoming dates. Make sure you come down to visit to see the brand new line up live !

The two new members on board, Rene and Paul, are doing very well. The vibe is fantastic, and we are sure lots of fans will be surprised with the new line up !
Paul Adrian Villareal, the new singer on board, moved from the sunny San Diego, California, USA, to the european continent, and is now rehearsing with us. Rene Kroon, the new keyboarder, also gives a fresh breath into the band, with his original sounds and textures and virtuosic playing.

We are writing lots of new material at the moment, 6 songs are completely done and you will hear some of these new tunes also live when you come down to see us at the upcoming try out gigs.
We will record a demo first with some new material to have a good overview of the new songs and sound, before we start working on the next Sun Caged album later this year.
We surely hope you will welcome us again when we get on stage again, and ofcourse also welcome the new members on board. We want to thank everyone for believing in the band, without you Sun Caged would not be where the band is, so thanks to all the fans worldwide to keep believing in us, YOU RULE !

In other news: Merchandise (T-shirts, size XL and girlie shirts) with the debut album cover on the front are still for sale, they go out now for 10 euro's a piece. If you are interested in obtaining one just write an email to us at suncage
SINGER FOUND

Finally the biggest news since the personnell changes a while ago. SUN CAGED is complete again !
We found a new singer for the band, His name is Paul Adrian Villarreal.

Paul is currently residing in the USA in San Diego (California) but he will be moving to Europe soon.
He is a very talented singer and has a wide range of influences, amongst them are: Daniel Gildenlow, Neal Morse and Russell Allen but also older blues rock singers like Paul Rodgers and Tommy Shaw.

Paul impressed us with an MP3 he sent us earlier by singing "Hollow" along with the CD, and when he came over to rehearse with us, he impressed even more by singing the complete album.

We welcome Paul in the Sun Caged camp !

New stuff is being written, and the band will now concentrate on the next album, which hopefully will be recorded within a year.
UPDATE

Sun Caged is currently busy writing songs for the second album. The songs sound great so far and show some different aspects from the band.
The search for a good singer goes on and we have some good options ! Things are looking positive currently and we hope to announce the news pretty soon.
The band will first work on a new album and when that album has been released the band will start playing live again, so have patience !
We want to thank the fans for their loyalty regarding the band and the changes and we hope you will all like the new material.
NEW KEYBOARDPLAYER FOR SUN CAGED !

After several auditions we can announce the new keyboard player for Sun Caged.
The new man is Rene Kroon, better known to some people as "Pingel".
Rene is a very good player with a lot of technical abilities, and he managed to figure out the audition songs with no errors. Also his sounds came very close to the original sounds Joost used on the CD.

We welcome Rene in the Sun Caged camp !!

A new singer has not been found yet, but auditions are still going on, so we hope to announce the new singer also soon.
PROGPOWER USA PRE PARTY

Unfortunately the band has decided to postpone the ProgPower PreParty show, which was scheduled at the 16th of September in Atlanta Georgia USA, to next year's edition.
The main reason is that the band is still having auditions to find the right people for the band and time is running short for the gig.
We are terribly sorry for the people who were anxious to see us play this year, but we think it will be even better to play next year since we will be stable again by that time and can guarantee a great show for everyone to enjoy.

AUDITIONS STILL GOING ON

We are still auditioning people, we had several good ones, we hope to announce the new band members soon !
TWO GIGS CANCELLED, STILL LOOKING FOR PERSONNELL

Unfortunately the band had to cancel two upcoming gigs due to the personnell changes. The band regrets this decision but cannot help it either. Sun Caged was supposed to play at the Dwergpop festival in Driebergen at the 3rd of July, and also at the Weistock festival the 18th of July in Lottum.
Roel, Rob and Marcel will play at the Weistock festival doing a KISS tribute gig, they will be assisted by Tim Van Der Loo (brother of Rob) on second guitar and previous Sun Caged singer Sascha Burchardt (he sings on the Dominion EP) on vocals.
The band already had some auditions but haven't found the right people yet. There will be more auditions soon. We are looking for: A singer with a high range, comparable to Andre's Voice, he does not have to sound the same as Andre but he should be able to sing the songs from the album in a good way. The band rehearses in The Netherlands (Lottum, in the south, near the German border) so if you think you are the singer for us contact us at: suncaged@suncaged.com.
Also still wanted a keyboardplayer, you should be technically skilled, be able to play along leads, you should have great sounds and ofcourse you should be able to play the songs from the album in a good and professional way. If you think you are the perfect keyboardplayer for us contact us at the same email address: suncaged@suncaged.com.
PERSONNELL CHANGES IN SUN CAGED

Sun Caged is going through some changes currently. Keyboard player Joost Van Den Broek decided to leave Sun Caged because he had an offer from the band After Forever. He regrets his choice but he sees a lot of new chances and opportunities in a professional and musical way. Also singer Andre Vuurboom decided to leave the band since he and Joost worked very closely together since they live in the same town and the distance he has to travel to rehearsals caused him troubles. Joost and Andre want to thank the fans for all their support throughout the years and they hope that the fans will support them with their new bands and projects.
Sun Caged regrets their decision but of course the band will search for new musicians since the band is going very well at the moment. The band has gigs planned at Sweden Rock and Prog Power USA Pre Party and more. At Sweden Rock the band will play with singer Andre and keyboard player Joost for the last time. All planned gigs will NOT be cancelled for now. In the meanwhile the band will start searching for new musicians, so are you a singer or a keyboard player and you want to join a band which is growing each minute, and has international success, then contact us right away, auditions start soon. Contact the band at: suncaged@suncaged.com.

Sincerely

Sun Caged.
SUN CAGED GOES ATLANTA USA

Sun Caged is confirmed to play the ProgPower USA Pre-Party in Atlanta USA on the 16th of September 2004. The band will play there together with Outworld and another local band. Finally the band is going overseas, so don't miss this opportunity to see the band live !
More info on http://www.progpowerusa.com.
SUN CAGED wins monthly finals for 3FM Buzz Awards

The band has just won a month final for a radio competition in The Netherlands for the famous radiostation 3FM.
People could vote for the competing bands on the internet and there was also a professional jury who gave the bands a rating.
Sun Caged got the most internet votes and also the highest ratings from the jury, which made Sun Caged the winner for the 3FM Buzz Awards for the month April.
This means the band will start recording a session for 3FM radio soon and will be competing at the end of the year with 11 other bands for the yearly finals.
We want to thank everyone who voted for the band, we got this far because of you all !

You can download the MP3 files from the radio show here:
Buzz 3FM 11-04-2004 (weekfinals)
Buzz 3FM 25-04-2004 (monthfinals)
First gig with new drummer a big success !

We are very happy to say that the first gig we did with new drummer Roel Van Helden was a big success.
The fans reacted great on his performance and we were simply shocked by the positive vibe on the stage.
Make sure you visit a Sun Caged show soon to see why we chose to pick Roel for the job !
Roel says that it was his best and coolest gig until now since he started drumming. We are very happy that he truly likes playing with us.

New Drummer for Sun Caged !!

After several auditions Sun Caged have found a new drummer.

His name is Roel Van Helden, age 23, student at the academy of music in Tilburg, Netherlands.

He surprised us with the fact that he managed to play the whole album within a week. Besides that, there is a very good chemistry between us and Roel, musically as well as on a personal level. We never played our songs that well before !

What's funny is the fact that Roel is already a member of Marcel's soloband and he is also the drummer our bassist Rob played with, at age 14, in his first band.
We welcome Roel in the Cage, and we are sure that this has brought Sun Caged to a higher level.

We also would like to thank all other drummers who showed interest, and we also hope that the true Sun Caged fans will welcome Roel with open arms, possibly at one of our upcoming gigs.

Rob, Joost, Marcel, Andre and Roel !!

Sun Caged

Sun Caged parts ways with drummer Dennis Leeflang

Read Dennis' statement below:

"After almost five years, three demo-cd's, one album and 61 shows, I am no longer part of Sun Caged. This was a mutual agreement between myself and the rest of the band.

When you realize that you've grown apart as friends, as well as musicians, and you just don't seem to be able to grow back together, the only fair decision to make is to part ways.
I've had some great times in Sun Caged, especially doing the awesome live shows I did with the band, for which I'm very grateful. I've learned a lot in these years, musically as well as on a personal level.

For now, I'm focusing on my work for the Headway festival, which takes place in April 2004. It promises to become quite a party once again.
I will be back with a new band next year, which I've already formed with a couple of friends. This will be something completely different. Keep an eye on http://www.thesaturnine.com.

I would like to thank Lasse Mattson at Lion Music and the fans for their support. I also wish the guys in Sun Caged all the best for the future.

Hope to see you all again, sometime, somewhere!

Cheers,

Dennis Leeflang
December 15th 2003"
We would like to thank Dennis for the past years for all the work he has put into the band, and we wish him the best for the future.

More news, which will have the announcement for the new drummer, will be posted soon.

Rob, Andre, Joost and Marcel, on behalf of Sun Caged.
Vote for Sun Caged!
Please vote for Sun Caged at http://www.popinstituut.nl/low3/stemlijst.txu. Thanks!
Sun Caged have just been confirmed to replace a band called In Extremo at the METAL BASH XL festival in Den Bosch this sunday (November 23rd). The event takes place at the Maaspoort venue.
Schedule for the festival that day is as follows:
14:35 - 15:05 - Xystus
15:50 - 16:35 - Silent Edge
17:20 - 18:05 - Epica
18:50 - 19:50 - SUN CAGED
20:20 - 21:20 - Trouble
22:00 - 23:30 - Machine Head
More info: http://www.metalbash.nl
Earlier that same day, Sun Caged will be playing at 013, Tilburg, The Netherlands. Playing time for Sun Caged's show there has been changed to 16:00 - 16:45.
Swedish band Amaran, who were supposed to play before Sun Caged at 013, are now headlining this show so that Sun Caged can leave early to make it in time for the Metal Bash show.
The show with Queensryche was a great experience for the band. Both Queensryche's bandmembers and Mojo Concerts treated the band really nicely. The crowd seemed to really like Sun Caged's show and hopefully the band gained a new share of fans with this gig.
Yesterday the band were asked to be Queensryche's opening act when they play in Amsterdam on June 4th. Ofcourse the band agreed! The concert takes place in the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam.
The release of the album has been pushed forward to October 22nd 2003.
Just when the cd was about to be manufactured, Lion Music was able to agree on a licencing deal with Japanese Maquee/Avalon Records. This means the album will be released in Japan, with a bonus track. The band will soon record this bonus track.
Marquee insists that the regular (European/US) version of the album won't be released before the Japanese version, so the global release date has been pushed forward to October 22nd 2003.