Peter Leijdsman was born on June 2, 1964, in Groningen, the Netherlands. His musical journey began at the age of 14 when he started playing the piano. However, classical music did not resonate with him, and after a little over two years, he abandoned the piano. Soon after, he discovered drumming and took lessons for about two years, although he found them uninspiring. He enjoyed jamming in school bands with a friend who played guitar, but his interest in drumming waned, leading him to sell his Pearl Export drum kit after just a year.
A pivotal moment in Leijdsman's life occurred at the age of 17 when a classmate introduced him to a tape of Level 42. From the first notes, he was captivated, particularly by the bass playing of Mark King, which inspired him to take up the bass guitar. He purchased his first instrument, an Aria Pro II bass, and spent countless hours listening to Level 42's debut album, striving to emulate King's style. During this time, he developed a passion for jazz-funk, jazz-rock, and fusion, drawing inspiration from notable bassists such as Stanley Clarke, particularly his album "Schooldays," as well as Marcus Miller, who was emerging as a prominent figure in the genre.
In the years that followed, Leijdsman played in various session bands, participated in numerous jam sessions, and performed alongside his future wife, Helga, who was a singer at the time. In 1989, he met Gert Emmens while joining the jazz-funk band Villa Djawa, where Emmens played keyboards. Later that year, they left the band to form Confusion, becoming close friends and collaborators. They began to compose and record their own music at Emmens' studio in Arnhem, initially focusing on jazz-funk influenced by Level 42. Over time, they expanded their musical palette to include R&B, techno, electronic music, rock, and ballads. In 1999, they released a compilation of their best work titled "Decade," which was contracted by Peoplesound.com in England. Following this project, they decided to pursue new creative directions and launched two new ventures: Event Horizon and Native Elements. Event Horizon blended Emmens' traditional electronic music with Leijdsman's progressive trance influences, while Native Elements was inspired by lounge and ambient music.
After nearly two decades of playing bass, Leijdsman sought a fresh avenue for his musical expression. By the end of 1999, he stepped away from active bass playing. His interest in dance music, particularly trance, techno, and lounge, had been growing since around 1995. A significant turning point came in 1996 when he first encountered the band Underworld, whose fusion of pop and techno resonated with him similarly to his initial experience with Mark King's playing. This inspired him to delve deeper into music production, leading to the purchase of his first synthesizer, the Korg X5d, followed by several others, including a Yamaha AN1x, a Roland Juno 106, and a Roland JX-1 from Emmens. By late 1999, he had streamlined his setup to a single Roland JV-30 and discovered Propellerheads Reason, which he purchased to begin composing music.
Over the next year, Leijdsman developed basic song ideas, which he collaborated on with Emmens, resulting in two separate projects: Native Elements and Event Horizon. Recognizing the limitations of Reason, he upgraded his setup in 2002 with a Novation Supernova II Pro X synthesizer. During this period, he was influenced by techno and minimalistic psy-trance artists such as Atmos, Vibrasphere, and Son Kite.
As his studio in Zoetermeer evolved, he acquired more sound modules and drum machines and upgraded his PC with high-quality hardware to enhance his production capabilities. In 2003, while Emmens focused on his solo project and Leijdsman welcomed the birth of his daughter Joël, he continued to develop new material for Event Horizon. By March 2004, they completed an album for Event Horizon consisting of nine tracks, which they submitted to various record labels without success. Meanwhile, Leijdsman dedicated his time to his solo project, further enhancing his studio with virtual instruments and equipment such as the Virus|powercore and Nord G2, which offered greater creative flexibility.
In February 2005, after 14 years of collaboration, Leijdsman and Emmens decided to part ways to concentrate on their individual projects. In April 2006, after a year and a half of dedicated work, Leijdsman released his first solo album, "Six Degrees of Separation," featuring 11 tracks. One track, "Clouds," was recognized as 'demo of the month' in the August issue of Interface magazine, and in June 2007, his track "Mindsphere" was aired on the Danish radio show Elektroland.
