Digitalizing my old cassette tapes I came across demo tapes dated from 1996.  A chance to share “Step 2: The Chapter”.

It was launched by Lead vocal rapper Melchissedec; outlaying his social criticism on politics, society and life in his lyrics.

At that time we categorized our style of music as crossover,
Influenced by the old-school rap from “Jay-Z” with Funk,
Acid Jazz and even Symphonic Rock…
Artist like Frank Zappa, P.Funk All-Stars, (FFF French Funk Federation), Erykah Badu, Beastie Boys, Guru's Jazzmatazz, Me'Shell NdegéOcello, Galliano, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and others were sources of inspirations.
As musicians, some of us at that time studying at the “Jazz-Studio from Antwerp”, were integrating what we were learning into the bands arrangements. At times heavy for the listener and commercially not a good idea (hence the reference to iconoclastic Zappa), we called it "Jazz-core Funk Rap".

Listening to it now I feel like my keyboard playing was overfilled and I  should have played differently! Well...It were my first steps into FM-Synthesis with a Roland JVC 1080 and my pride owned Kurzweil K2600 Workstation with SCSI daisy-chaining external CD-Rom and Hard drive. The Kurzweil K2600 was the synth my hero, American keyboardist “Jordan Rudness”, best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, played on. After so many years I finally start to understand how It’s programming works and now I feel some other sounds would have been more appropriated then... The band competed succesfully in various Belgian competitions in the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels region giving us Nice memories, like performing twice at the city festival “Marktrock” in Leuven and a personal high; the jailhouse of Antwerp, where our track “Minority” was much acclaimed.

So enjoy these old-school 1996 demo releases of this to short lived former Belgian band. So step 2 “This Chapter"

Band members:
Mechissedec Vocals
Ayco Van Leemputten Backing Vocals
Tom Commerman Guitar
Dries Jordaens  Bass Guitar
Tim Vleminckx Drums
Yannick Heeren Keyboard

1 Step 2 This Chapter
2 Choose (Don't Loose!)
3 The Answer To The Question Is "Why?"
4 The Story At The Crossroads (Short Version)

This Is 7496! Step 2: The Chapter I

Welcome to my SoundCloud. This is me, YannickH, and I am researching music. Revving up once more with reworked compositions and new content, as well musical activities alongside my work as piano-tuning and maintenance services; as a trained jazz pianist and freelance composer for your projects. 

I am available for musical performance, collaborations and recording. 
Unhindered by my visual impairment and operating out of Antwerp, Belgium, I’ve been tuning and maintaining pianos for more than 20 years, alongside composing and playing piano in various collaborations, including making and advising on recordings for small groups.

https://sites.google.com/view/yannickheeren/home
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yannick-heeren-a436209/
https://musescore.com

This Is 7496! Step 2: The Chapter I

I am Yannick Heeren