Pascal Escoyez

Pascal Escoyez was born on March 17th 1962 in Brussels. From the age of 9 to the age of 11, he studied the violin and then turned to classical guitar and in particular the baroque and South American repertoire. In 1976 he founded a Progressive Rock band with Christophe Dutordoir and Dominic Sandford inspired by groups such as ELO, Yes but mostly Genesis. After Dominic's departure, the group became a duo, joined from time to time by other members such as drummers Carlos Seynave and Eric Brusselmans. The group made a few recordings ("The Vane and the Dell" recorded in 1978 at RTBF thanks to Claude Delacroix in exchange for jingles for Radio 21, "In the Dark" and "Underneath" in 1982 recorded at the studio Pyramide in Beersel), but they never performed live. From 1984 to 1992, Pascal Escoyez did not play, for professional reasons. In 1992, he started the group up again with Christophe Dutordoir for two years of new compositions. It was during this period that Pascal composed pieces such as "Everything we can" and "Another Day" and the beginnings of "Beslan" the solo from which at the time was referred to as "Factory". It was also during this period that Pascal began to collect synthesisers, guitars and effects that were to form the basis for his personal studio later on. Pascal developed an interest in in ethnic sounds and in all instruments, notably African and Indian, but also East European and Asian. Sampling was common at the time which encouraged the discovery of new sounds. In 1995 and 1996 Pascal worked with Dominic again when they founded Sphere Studio together in the suburbs of Brussels. When Dominic moved back to England for good, Pascal took over the studio that was then transferred to the current premises in the South West of France in the Dordogne region. (www.sphere-studio.com). During this period, Pascal gave a few classical guitar concerts mainly of the work of Villa-Lobos. From 1996 to 2005, the opening and refurbishment of the studio took up most of Pascal's time and it was only in July 2006 that he began working on his project with the production facilities he now had at his disposal. While he is French-speaking, this album is in English mainly to make it available to all but also because all his musical influences from the seventies and eighties are English for the most part (Peter Gabriel and Genesis, Tears for Fears, Sting, Duran Duran, Dead can Dance, Simple Minds,...).