Michel van Wassem (Keyboard player) Michel was born on 29-12-1956 in The Haque Holland He started to play on his 8th birthday in 1964 when he got a accordion
When he was 14 he started a band as keyboard player with a Hohner pianet, a Dynacord amplifier and self made speaker cabinets.
After that he came into the jazzrock music with Jaap de Jonckheere (Urban Heroes) For 1 year they played in the Hague band  Mobilae, further for a short time in a group called The Internationals.
In 1976 he was playing in the legendary music shop Servaas where he met  Albert de Keijzer who asked him if he wanted to play sympho music (instruments were already  there). It didn’t took a long time to think about it ; PLACKBAND was completed.
He was the last one and it became the band of his life. Until 1986 he played in Plackband.
In 1994 there was a new period with Ronald Brautigam in the band  November.
They made an album called The First of November and a single, Memory.
In 1999 he was one of the initiators to do a reunion with PLACKBAND.
From that moment he plays whether his life depends on it in this band 		Equipment  
  • 2  x Roland JV-90 one wth a Vintage expansion board for making solo’s and one with an Orchestral II expansion boardfor making string sounds.
  • an original analogue ARP Pro-Solist (monophonic) from1978 also for making solo's
  • a Hammond XB-1
  • a A-33 Master keyboard from Roland who drives the Kurzweil 2500R (rackversion)
  • 2 JBL floor monitors
  • a Leslie for the Hammond of MacSound

De Hammond, JV-90strings are basic sounds The ARP gives the sound that was used in the first period of Plackband and has a part of the Genesis-sound in it. Also Tony Banks was the owner of this analogue instrument. The other sounds such as piano, Hohner D6 clavinet and acoestic guitar sounds are used in combination with Ronald (guitar player, are coming from the Kurzweil 2500R. On the album After the Battle the varied sounds of the Kurzeil are often used.

To compose he uses a PC with Cubase and some virtual expansions.
Further he owns a Wagner piano and a  Hammond L-101 from the sixties.
Last but not least he has an instrument on which he started when he was eight years old. . . an accordion