Who is Wim Roelants: Wim is mainly a self-taught musician and started to play guitar at the age of 8. The music he was playing at that time was mainly music written for classical guitar. 5 years later his parents bought him his first electric guitar. He started practising on his own and he learned a lot by jamming on records of bands such as AC/DC and Iron Maiden. Later he started to listen to more complicated, sophisticated music such as Ozric Tentacles, Dreamtheater, Meshuggah, ... Wim's music style is a mixture of superb technique and a queer melodic approach combining different musical genres such as blues, funk, rock, fast fusion,... Curriculum: “Music has always been the leading thread running through my life.” Often described as a mixture of Rock, Fast Fusion & Blues, Wim Roelants’ incredible playing-style inspires a lot of guitarists. His work as a session-player, clinician and teacher has given him a well-earned place among the leading guitarists today. The Belgium born guitarist / singer songwriter, Wim Roelants, started playing music at the age of 8. Some time of hard practice and dedication went by before he began touring the clubs of the Benelux and the north of France. This gave him international attention and some time later, he was asked to do guitar work for numerous artists. At the age of 20 he moved to Spain and played in the local clubs. This period he was playing 6 concerts a week. When he came back to Belgium, he was asked by Yamaha Guitars to become their Benelux-guitar-demonstrator and this was a turning point in his musical career. The word was spread and other companies started to show interest in his musical skills. This resulted in cooperation with the many companies. Now he works exclusively for Laney Amplification, Lag Guitars and Elixir strings. For these companies he’s the official International Endorser. ( In the past he’s been working with Yamaha, Line6, Rocktron, … ) Endorsed by the companies above he played at every big guitar-event ( Frankfurt Music Messe 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,2007 London Guitar show, Birmingham Guitar show, … ) and he has done master classes and clinics in all the following music stores. Currently he’s working on his own signature model guitar (WR1) with the French company “Lag” ( www.Lag.fr ). These guitars are manufactured in France. He’s been seen on TV all over Europe Wim’s musical interests were, and still are, profoundly rooted in instrumental music & the rock of the 70’s. As a solo artist he’s pushing his way up in the “Rock-industry”. His instrumental compositions are a reflection of his song writing abilities that are highly appreciated by its listeners. From the Press : “ a master of tone and melody” “ a true virtuoso in balancing music, show & technical skills” Wim has just finished his new album “Burn”. Guitar, syntax : yeah right, Me of course Drums : Bruno Meeus Bass : Roman Korolik Keys : Vander I know you all have been waiting a long time for this to happen. Due to the work at fairs, clinics, workshops, … time was not on our side. Never the less, our patience is rewarded. Several ideas have erupted during studio process. Burn is a 10 song instrumental album. It is a memory of the lovely times we shared with our two dogs "Harley" & "Schweppse". We love you forever … thank you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Special Thanks To my friend for making this possible: Luc Peeters / www.uscars.be The story: Wim Roelants, born in 1974, started his musical studies at a local academy in 1982. Fortunately his teacher noticed his technical skill for playing an instrument. For 5 years he studied classical guitar and thereafter continues on his own during 2 more years. Then he changed to electric guitar and was engaged in several bands. In spite of all this, he wasn't really satisfied and felt the need for further studying. This is why he visited the Antwerp based rock-school 'the Till' from which he graduated after 3 years. During this period he became acquainted with the music of people like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci,... only to name a few, realizing that he had to practice a whole lot in order to achieve his dream of becoming a real guitarist who can keep up with only the best. This dream resulted in a daily study of 10 to 14 hours and learning about discipline and dedication. By time he began to teach himself and at te age of 23 he went to Spain for about half a year, picking up the classical guitar again as well as observing and listening to Spanish guitar music. Returning back to his homeland, Belgium, he continued his daily practice and at the same time playing in bands like In-Quest (which he left in June 2000) and Askari, still writing his own music and developing his solo-project, Mr.G. He is now an officially recognized composer, but nevertheless went to the Antwerp High School for a further 3 year-study at becoming professor in music. And the story continues: Giving a lot of workshops in local schools and music-stores he was approached by YAMAHA to work for them as an endorsed artist. This amalgamation resulted in a great number of clinics and a lot of new contacts. A few months later he got in contact with the ELIXIR company (guitar-strings ) who asked him to play at the Frankfurt Music-Messe 2 years ago. Given this great opportunity for promotion Wim' s library of mutual contacts kept on growing and in the year that followed LINE6 approached him to endorse their products. That year he graduated from the Antwerp High School that he attended earlier and is now officially professor in music. A month before the Music-Messe 2003 he was contacted by the French Guitar-company LAG to play on their instruments. This Month he will play at the Music-show in Frankfurt for Elixir, Line6 and Lag-guitars Wim Roelants plays a variety of musical styles (blues, rock, funk and jazz), all put together combining two-handed tapping, legato techniques and much more in order to create an unique and extra dimension to (instrumental) music. I love all my fans all over the world. Love and Peace to you all. Wim