Jan Bechtumhttp://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/heavymetalears/files/ (born 15 June 1958,

Spijkenisse Spijkenisse () is a city in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. Following an administrative reform in 2015, it is part of the municipality of Nissewaard, and has a population of 72,500. It covers an area of of which is water. It is part ...

) is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

guitarist and composer. Bechtum was the first lead guitarist of

Picture An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

. He was influenced by

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

, (mainly

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guitar ...

), Yes and

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

. In 1979 after having played in a few local bands, he got involved with Picture and was responsible for writing most of the songs for their first three albums. He left the band for personal reasons in 1983, right after their tour in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. In 1992 and 1993, he performed in the gospel rock band Changed where he played with drummer Mark Maas. When that band stopped in 1993, Bechtum and Maas decided to try something and reformed Picture. With bass player Johannes Adema and vocalist Michel Zandbergen, the band recorded a demo and did a few good shows in the

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. However, Bechtum decided to quit playing live performances in 1997 because of the growing violence in the Dutch nightlife. Bechtum's favourite guitar is a Music Man Silhouette. While with Picture, he plugged straight into a Marshall with no effects. In late 2007, Bechtum and the original members of Picture, with Ronald van Prooijen, teamed up for a reunion rehearsal. It went so well that they decided to continue rehearsing for some concert dates, and considered recording a new album in early 2008 with Shmoulik Avigal from the

Diamond Dreamer Picture is one of the first Dutch heavy metal bands. Formed in 1979, they were especially popular in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy for their live performances, and still have a fan base in South America, Mexico and Japan. Picture support ...

lineup as their singer. As of mid-2008, a permanent lineup was established with Bechtum,

Rinus Vreugdenhil Rinus Vreugdenhil (born 1951) http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/heavymetalears/files/ is the bass player and longest standing member of the Dutch heavy metal band Picture. Rinus started out in the band Lemming as the bass player and sound mixe ...

, Laurens Bakker,

Rob vanEnkhuizen Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob ( ...

, and

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. They are currently playing throughout

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to very enthusiastic crowds. A limited edition live album was recorded at various venues and was released by the band. Plans are to go into the studio in early 2009 to record a new CD with new songs, two of which appeared on the limited edition CD. The album ''

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'' was released on October 1, 2009 on the MarsMountains label. It contains 12 songs of all new material, released 30 years from when the band first formed. On December 18, 2009, Bechtum announced his departure from Picture. He is being replaced by

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. In October 2010, Bechtum revealed he formed a new band, Diamond Dreamer (named after the classic 1982 album), with former Picture member Rob van Enkhuizen (g), and also singer Martin van der Meyde, bassist Sander "Odie" Op Den Kelder and Nop Ton (dr). When asked by the co-founding members (

, Laurens Bakker) to rejoin Picture together with Ronald van Prooijen in 2016 he readily agreed.

References

1958 births Living people Dutch rock guitarists Lead guitarists People from Spijkenisse Dutch heavy metal guitarists Dutch male guitarists {{Netherlands-musician-stub