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Ed Warby


Member

1982- Impact (NED) - drums  
1992-2009 Gorefest - drums  
1993 Elegy - drums  
2002- Star One - drums  
2006-2017 Hail Of Bullets - drums  
2007-2014 Demiurg - drums  
2008- The 11th Hour - all instruments, vocals  
2016- Vuur - drums  
2019-2022 Heads For The Dead - drums  

Studio musician

1998- Ayreon - drums  
2000-2002 Lana Lane - drums  
2012 Arjen Anthony Lucassen - drums  
2014- The Gentle Storm - drums  

Live musician

1994 Orphanage - drums  
2003 Erik Norlander - drums  
2005 After Forever - drums  
2015- The Gentle Storm - drums  

Guest musician

1998 Love Like Blood - drums  
2004 Thanatos - vocals  
2015-2016 Doomed - vocals  

Interviews


Personal information

Born on: 07.03.1968

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Edward R. Warby (march 7th 1968), born and raised in the not so fair city of Rotterdam. Already at an early age I displayed a fondness for drumming on anything I could get my hands on, so my parents decided to buy me my first real drumkit at the tender age of 12. I quickly demolished it playing along to my favourite Kiss records, but my dad had seen enough to once again splash out for a bigger and better kit. Around that time I discovered Cozy Powell, who used not one but two bassdrums. My life (and drumming) would never be the same...

I spent countless hours studying videos of my newfound hero and started my first band Agressor in 1982. The band progressed from appearing at the members' schools to doing "real" clubshows, but eventually broke up. After that I played with some local bands (including the illustrious and elusive Valkyrie) before joining Eindhoven-based prog-outfit Elegy in 1987. Despite an abundance in talent this band didn't really go anywhere and when I was offered a position in the massively popular Gorefest it didn't take me long to decide. I did still play on Elegy's debut album Labyrinth of Dreams and also helped them out with a few shows before finally committing heart and soul to the mighty Fest in 1992.

A short UK tour served as a taste of things to come, and when False hit the stores GF hit their stride. A massive European tour supporting Deicide was the highlight of 1992, while 1993 took us to the famous Dynamo Open Air festival where we played a thunderous set to an ecstatic crowd of close to 50.000. The more the band grew and changed, the smaller my kit became, eventually shrinking to a very minimal 4-piece set-up, much to our fans' dismay!

During GF's twilight years I made my first non-GF appearance on the ambitious Ayreon project. The resulting album, Into the Electric Castle, was the first of many fruitful collaborations with Ayreon mastermind Arjen A. Lucassen. After Gorefest imploded I became Arjen's first choice for his studio- and liveprojects. Through Arjen I ended up serving a stint with LA based prog diva Lana Lane, appearing on her 2000 album Secrets of Astrology and subsequent European tour. In 2002 Ayreon spin-off project Star One, featuring among others members of Symphony X, Q65 and After Forever, took to the road for a glorious crowdpleasing tour which was immortalized on a double CD/DVD.

To keep myself busy, I also appeared quite anonymously on several non-metal projects, most notably playing 90% of the drums on Dutch chart-toppers Krezip's 2002 album Days Like This. 2004 saw the release of the most accomplished Ayreon installment yet: The Human Equation, a gargantuan double CD loaded with special appearances by the likes of Devin Townsend (SYL), Mikael Akerfeld (Opeth) and Jamse LaBrie (Dream Theater). It was hailed universally as a masterpiece and my career gained a very welcome new momentum, resulting in a much coveted first place in the Slagwerkkrant's annual drummer's poll.

Also in 2004 a mutual love for Thin Lizzy reunited Ed and former GF bandmate Boudewijn for what was to be a one-off show. However, one thing lead to another and soon enough the band (christened Live & Dangerous after Lizzy's famous double live album) was causing quite a stir, even playing the legendary Paradiso club in Amsterdam (ironically also the location of one of Gorefest's most disastrous last gigs). All this rocking made us yearn for the glorydays of the Fest, and this eventually lead to the full scale GF reunion we're experiencing at the moment.

Bio from Gorefest official homepage.