I have posted some new pictures sent to me from Yoeri Fransens in the Pictures of Paul section. I asked Yoeri if I could share his note with you, and he agreed. Following is his note.
____________________
Hello Dave,
My name is Yoeri Fransens and I am a guitarplayer who had the honour to be in a band with Paul for several year. I hadn?t been in contact with Paul for a while so the news of his passing earlier this week came as a total shock. I still can?t believe that he has left this planet for that great gig in the sky.
The 1st time I met Paul, when we just formed the band Drive, he struck me as an extremely gentle and kind person. Although he was a lot older then me, I immediately found an enormous friendship with him. We 'clicked', not just musically but also on a personal level. He had some things in his personality that I find of the most importance. I never have known him to be mad at anyone, he always tried (and succeeded) to see the good in anybody and any situation. His often philosophical ramblings would be spot on.
I always regarded Paul as a special person, one of the few people who are able to make their way thru live on their own terms, not hung up on what others would think about them. A kind of person that is very rare in this day and age but Paul was definitely one of them. So in some way, it is rather fitting that Paul would leave us due to an illness that only strikes 1 in a million people, a rare disease for that rare type of person.
I also want to thank you and the Alembic-forum for the kind words that have been said and for the 'in memoriam' that is ongoing. I saw that some wonderfull pictures have been posted. I uploaded some pictures I have stored from when we were playing with Drive. Feel free to post any of them on the forum.
Kind regards,
Yoeri Fransens
Hever, Belgium