Table of contents for Issue 101 in Prog

Nick Mason is to be lauded Prog God at the 2019 Progressive Music Awards. He’ll be presented with the coveted award at a star-studded ceremony on September 12 at London’s Underglobe Theatre. Previous recipients of the title include Steve Howe, Carl Palmer, Jon Anderson and Peter Gabriel. “I’m all in favour of recognition for drummers – particularly when it’s me – so I’m really delighted to be recognised as Prog God,” Mason tells Prog. “It’s hard to believe that it was over 50 years ago that the music we know as prog rock was born, and it’s still being celebrated, played and developed in the 21st century. Long may it continue!” Birmingham-born Mason helped found Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Rick Wright in London in 1965. He…

IQ’s Resistance, out in September, showcases a very different side to their music. The double album, which comes five and a half years after The Road Of Bones, sees the band not only bring in orchestral elements but also embrace a much grander sound. “On a couple of tracks on disc one, we started to get a lot more orchestral, in a cinematic type of way, and I really liked that feel,” explains guitarist Mike Holmes, who reveals he was inspired by film scores such as Alexandre Desplat’s The Shape Of Water, as well as the work of Thomas Newman and Hans Zimmer. “I tried to get some authentic string sounds and orchestral sounds, and to capture that massive atmosphere in the production. However, there are other tracks that are…

In the 11 years since his last solo studio recording, bassist Bryan Beller has been incubating ideas for his epic double concept album Scenes From The Flood, out on September 13 via Onion Boy. “With any album of this scope, you have to go out and live in order to be able to absorb the experience and emotional content required to be the grist for the mill for a work of art,” says Beller, who plays with The Aristocrats and Joe Satriani. With a cast of 26 musicians including Satriani, his Aristocrats bandmate Guthrie Govan, Dream Theater’s John Petrucci, Haken’s Ray Hearne, and Godsticks’ Darran Charles; the album is the four-part story of someone experiencing life-changing upheaval. “There’s this point in everybody’s life where you have a traumatic event that…

“It was my grandmother’s recipes that first got me interested in cooking when I was about 12 years old. She made traditional Chilean dishes, sweet and savory, but they were all simple and delicious, and so I started making cakes, pizzas and desserts based on them. I remember when me and my family visited her, she was always in the kitchen. For every birthday celebration she would ask each of her 17 grandchildren what cake they wanted, and she would make them for all of us. What I like the most about cooking now is that by mixing very simple, everyday ingredients you can make creative, delicious recipes. I also like making sure that I eat healthily. Lately, my wife and I have been preparing more elaborate meals with vegetables,…

Some truly immersive talent emerged from this year’s Prognosis Festival which has helped to renew the focus on Dutch prog. Utrecht’s Skylake are one such band and they’re helping to propel the next generation of prog artists from the Netherlands. Back in February, they released their stirring debut In Orbit. This beautifully arranged and skilfully accomplished album blends the flavours of Karnivool, Riverside and Steven Wilson with Suzan van den Engel’s gorgeous vocals. “I mostly write on an acoustic,” says the five-piece’s guitarist and co-vocalist Bart Laan, “so our pieces end up with very intricate guitar parts that don’t always work with distortion. I’m very inspired by Steven Wilson because he has the same approach; if you only have distorted guitars, you essentially remove the power from the sound. I…

Beer has long been the perfect partner to progressive music, and many a musician has found musical and lyrical inspiration at the bottom of a pint glass. Now, a small brewery in Newcastle have turned the keg over and used prog as inspiration for their amber nectar. Errant Brewery was founded four years ago by Martyn Stockley and brewer Tom Meads as an antidote to bland, mass-produced booze. “I’ve always had a passion for craft beer and when I saw how it was to set up a business, I thought, ‘Why can’t I be the one to do it?’” says Stockley, who previously worked for SAGE. “We got sick of the word ‘craft’ because it had lost all meaning. At one point, I said we should call ourselves Progressive Beer…

IT IS NOT every day you get the chance to chinwag with the Bakmaster, the powerful overlord of Baklandia. But put the map down now, though, as you won’t find it anywhere on this planet. “Baklandia is essentially a kind of multiverse where all the different baks in the world reside and come together,” the Bakmaster proclaims. Any clearer? No? A ‘bak’ appears to be anything in our own universe with the same name, like the crater on Mars called Bak, while there is also an Egyptian sculptor and an orchid too. Don’t worry – you’re still reading Prog, and not some overblown sci-fi magazine. Experimental rockers BaK, self-described as Australia’s ‘most famous unknown band’, indulge themselves in this cornucopia of craziness as they soundtrack the baks through their music…

‘Pace your tread out carefully, before you know it, what will be is written in the footprints that you leave behind you before you know it the unconscious steps you take define you…’ Peter Hammill is leaning into the microphone, carefully enunciating the opening lyrics to Before You Know It. It’s the first track from In Amazonia, his collaboration with Swedish chamber rock ensemble Isildurs Bane. They are headlining at Portugal’s Gouveia Art Rock festival held in early May 2019 in front of a capacity, rapturous crowd. Led by keyboardist and principal composer Mats Johansson, the 10-piece group featuring guitars, mallet percussion, brass, violin, two drummers, and a 25-string koto expertly manipulated by virtuoso Karin Nakagawa, Isildurs Bane are cloistered around the singer in a loose horseshoe shape. The music…

In October 2018, Jane Weaver set off on her Loops In The Secret Society tour of the UK. Ditching her regular band, she opted to build a solo show around what she described as an “assemblage of custom-built vinyl discs, unlikely instrumentation, tape loops and zoetropic imagery.” It was a bold experiment that presented a number of challenges. “I didn’t want to do a singersongwriter type thing,” she explains, sitting opposite Prog in a corner of her local boozer near Stockport. “And I didn’t want to use backing tracks. When I started out, I used to do gigs playing dubplates and keyboards, trying to be a one-woman band. It was pretty stressful, but I decided to do it again. I just threw myself in at the deep end, really. It…

Annie Haslam has one of the most remarkable voices in progressive music. A five-octave range gives her not only tremendous vocal versatility, but has also helped to make her instantly recognisable. The singer first came to the fore in 1971 when she joined Renaissance, and has spent the decades since leading the band. Their most successful period was definitely in the 70s, thanks to albums like Turn Of The Cards (1974), Scheherazade And Other Stories (1975) and Live At Carnegie Hall (1976), plus the surprise UK top 10 single Northern Lights in 1978. Since those halcyon days, the band have undergone many line-up changes, as well as being on hiatus between 1987-1998 and 2002-2009, but throughout Haslam has remained steadfast, a guiding light with a firm vision of how Renaissance should…

Rising ruminative Russians sustain their ap-peal. None-more-Russian duo iamthemorning’s third album Lighthouse was Prog’s 2016 album of the year, its sweetly sinister tales of mental illness and tempestuous emotions inspired by Plath and Woolf hitting the spot between gothic and grand guignol. Happily, their follow-up is every bit as epically morbid. The motif of The Bell is the 19th century “safety” coffin bell, which victims of premature burial could ring if they woke up six feet under, chucked literally undead into a grave by some careless soul who hadn’t read enough Edgar Allan Poe. So your suspicions that nobody on this album is singing ‘push pineapple, shake the tree’ are entirely well founded. Epically morbid, The Bell finds peace among the shadows. Yet just as Lighthouse let light in through…

The dark singer-songwriter goes acoustic, and personal. Over the last decade, singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe has made a name for herself in the alternative scene with her dark neo-folk, too gothic to be mainstream, and too brooding to be metal. Her last album, 2017’s Hiss Spun, was the heaviest thing she’d done to date – a roiling mass of white noise and dramatic drumming and distortion, which saw her support the likes of industrial pioneers Ministry and A Perfect Circle. Touches the nerve of female collective experience. Seventh album Birth Of Violence is Wolfe stripped back to the bones. It’s moody Americana in tone, with acoustic guitar, quiet keys, viola, background electronics and barely there percussion accompanying her haunting voice. She wrote it at her remote home in northern California and…

A third solo LP; Hammill-style chorales meet future-dream masterpiece. Launched with a viral marketing campaign in world cities, projections on London landmarks and a Netflix short by renowned US director (and long-time Radiohead associate) Paul Thomas Anderson, Thom Yorke’s third solo album will already be familiar to his following, no doubt poring for deeper meanings. As he says in a recent interview, this kind of forensic bedroom analysis gets the Radiohead singer-songwriter’s goat, protesting, “It’s like people walking over your grave,” stressing his work is never biographic, more about “images, imagery, visuals”. Rather than make Glasto-friendly anthems, he fights against the grain. More accurately, Yorke’s devotees are also hailing Anima (the Carl Jung-derived title enhancing that dream obsession) as his most fully-realised work yet. After the electronic experiments of 2006’s…

Revisiting stunning electronica from multi-instrumentalist legend. Eddie Jobson has been having a bit of a moment. In 2017, the violin master and synthesiser-pioneer received Prog Awards’ Lifetime Achievement and this year, as a member of Roxy Music, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For all his achievements as a member of – deep breath – Frank Zappa’s band, prog supergroup UK, Curved Air, A-era Tull and early-80s Yes, a reappraisal of his groundbreaking solo albums is long overdue. Finally, The Green Album, recorded with studio outfit Zinc, and the truly innovative Theme Of Secrets have received a three-disc CD and Blu-ray audio remaster. Theme Of Secrets will surely go down as a masterwork. Of the two albums, The Green Album is the weaker, not least…

VENUE THE NJ PROGHOUSE, DUNELLEN, NEW JERSEY DATE 15-16/06/2019 Established in 1999, the NJ Proghouse is the go-to spot for progressive music along the eastern coast of America. As such, they absolutely deserve the jam-packed two-day celebration given here. Filled with knockout performances from some of the biggest modern genre artists, as well as copious chances to connect with them and fellow fans in-between sets, it’s the perfect way to commemorate NJ Proghouse’s 20th anniversary. SATURDAY Saturday morning starts off with an impromptu solo set from Rikard Sjöblom, as the original opener, Advent, had to cancel. Unsurprisingly, he handles the situation with self-effacing professionalism, dishing out several original gems and characteristic yet faithful covers of tunes like Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues. Afterwards, Echolyn’s Brett Kull and Ray Weston –…

The illustrator behind some of Magnum, Asia and Eloy’s iconic cover art releases his first album in September via Gonzo Multimedia. Each song on Trinity is inspired by Rodney Matthews’ fantasy illustrations. “I met [blues guitarist] Jeff Scheetz at a music event about 20 years ago. I was selling my posters and we got talking. He said, ‘We could put some music to these!’” Matthews reveals. “There was a long gestation period but John Payne from Asia agreed to do some bass for me as well, and I approached Oliver Wakeman on keyboards. Although I’m known for doing album covers for hard rock bands, my own preference is for prog and jazz.” The album includes songs inspired by pieces such as The Heavy Metal Hero and Rivendell. The title track,…

65daysofstatic return with replicr, 2019 on September 27, via Superball. While the album contains what the band’s Paul Wolinski calls the “ghosts” of their Decomposition Theory experiments in algorithm-led music, the 14-track follow-up to 2013’s Wild Light takes an almost opposing approach. “We wanted to reclaim a sense of focus and intentionality — make sure every note was there on purpose,” Wolinski tells Prog. “There’s plenty of stuff on the record that did stem from that experimentation, but it went through a ‘mercenary’ process of being arranged. We didn’t want this to be Decomposition Theory: The Album. It’s the opposite of that. Some of it’s very different from what people expect from us.” While he admits replicr, 2019 carries a relatively negative analysis of the current human condition, it also…

Alcest are bringing messages of hope and positivity on Spiritual Instinct, out on October 26. France’s concept-driven duo’s sixth album — their first on Nuclear Blast — explores selfdiscovery and the idea of embarking on a spiritual journey. “It’s pretty much my vision of spirituality,” explains vocalist and guitarist Neige. “Although musically the album is darker [than 2016’s Kodama], it’s never gloomy or creepy. I have a very positive approach to life so even where there are dark landscapes, the end is always bright. It’s a very cathartic album.” Their self-described “blackgaze” sound pays tribute to a range of influences including John Carpenter, Pink Floyd, Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, and Dead Can Dance. One song on the six-track even includes guest vocals from Norwegian post-rocker Sylvaine. “I think this album is…

I have an extremely busy 18 months ahead of me so I’ve decided the best way to get through it all is to be as fit as possible. As all diet and exercise plans carry a disclaimer to ‘check with your GP before starting’, I made an appointment with mine the other week. He asked me to touch my toes. I said this was impossible because I couldn’t even see my toes. I did manage to touch my knees though, but he wasn’t impressed. After giving me the once over, he looked at my blood test results and told me, “You’re overweight, completely unfit, eat at all the wrong times, don’t get enough sleep and have an ingrowing toenail.” He agreed there was plenty of room for improvement so I…

“I discovered Opeth in around 2003/2004 when I was about 16 or 17. A friend of mine gave me a mix CD with a bunch of different bands on, and that’s when I first heard Damnation. I fell in love with it and have been a huge fan ever since. It’s now my favourite album of theirs. Oh my God, it’s so atmospheric and Mikael Akerfeldt’s voice is so soothing. I’d never heard a male metal vocalist sing so clean before, but when he growled, it was the deepest shit I’d ever heard. He’s also a wonderful composer, he really hits the jackpot. Mikael’s vocals have definitely inspired me to growl as deep as I can, but I try not to imitate other performers as I prefer to do my…

“I ALWAYS KNEW I wanted to be a performer in some sort of musical capacity,” says Sara Loera, who played the piano and flute as a child. “I dreamt of being on Broadway and was initially a theatre major in college but quickly realised that theatre people were not my style, so I started playing in bands.” Loera’s first introduction to progressive rock came when she was around eight years old, thanks to her dad’s record collection. “The first prog band I fell in love with was technically The Beatles, as I consider a lot of their stuff pretty proggy,” she explains, “but Jethro Tull was the first legit prog band that I was heavily into. One of my first concerts ever was Jethro Tull – I think I was…

July 2019 1 MUSE Simulation Theory (HELIUM 3/WARNER RECORDS) 2 SIGUR RÓS Agaetis Byrjun – A New Beginning (KRUNK) 3 MIKE & THE MECHANICS Out Of The Blue (BMG) 4 STEELEYE SPAN Est 1969 (PARK) 5 NAD SYLVAN The Regal Bastard (CENTURY MEDIA) 6 JANE WEAVER Loops In The Secret Society (FIRE) 7 WITHIN TEMPTATION Resist (SPINEFARM) 8 TANGERINE DREAM Stratosfear (VIRGIN) 9 TANGERINE DREAM Phaedra (VIRGIN) 10 DREAM THEATER Distance Over Time (CENTURY MEDIA) 11 TANGERINE DREAM Rubycon (VIRGIN) 12 RUSH Hemispheres (UMC/VIRGIN) 13 PERIPHERY IV – Hail Stan (CENTURY MEDIA) 14 STRAWBS Deadlines (CHERRY RED/ESOTERIC) 15 JEAN MICHEL JARRE Equinoxe Infinity (RCA) 16 PROCOL HARUM Broken Barricades (CHERRY RED/ESOTERIC) 17 TANGERINE DREAM Force Majeure (VIRGIN) 18 KATE BUSH The Other Sides (RHINO) 19 ARISTOCRATS You Know What (BOING…

“I call our style ‘dirty space prog’ or ‘punk prog’.” MUSIC MAY NOT be able to change the world, but it can definitely provide us with somewhere far less stressful to escape to. Purveyors of an irresistibly trippy strain of retrogressive prog-doom weirdness, Lazertuth have gone the whole conceptual hog by creating their own lyrical universe full of beastly heroes, evil scientists and Mellotrons set to stun. The urge to shriek “What’s not to like?!” may become overwhelming. Go with it. “Originally we wanted to be an all G.I. Joe-themed band,” says bassist Kevin Fernandes. “That cartoon was a big part of our youth and we loved the idea of all of the different and colourful characters that we could add to that universe. As we continued to write, we…

“As a progressive band, making a fullblown concept piece was a box that had to be ticked…”John Petrucci From a global perspective, 1998 was an eventful year. The Good Friday peace agreement was signed, ending the decades of Troubles in Northern Ireland. The Euro was introduced across the Continent. Bill Clinton admitted his indiscretion with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, leading to impeachment and eventual acquittal. France won the World Cup. A financial crisis hit Russia. The latest internet sensation was something called Google, and Titanic became the first movie to gross $1 billion. These facts are, of course, well documented. What you may not know is that 1998 was also the year that Mike Portnoy quit Dream Theater for the first time – for a nanosecond, at least. “For…

The history of music is full of passionate conflicts between rival subcultures, factions and fan tribes – some more celebrated than others. But while, say, punk’s implacable opposition to prog in the late 1970s has been well-documented, and often wildly overstated, other battles are largely forgotten. Take the searing distaste jazz aficionados once had for rock’n’roll and its myriad stylistic offshoots. From the moment Elvis and his vulgar, backbeat-pounding friends stole the limelight from them in the late 1950s, many uncompromising fans of jazz dismissed the simple, sleazy, overhyped charms of rock as intrinsically inferior, juvenile and moronic. This continued even after rock’s desire to broaden its sonic palette saw a generation of musicians draw on numerous unorthodox influences. As a young teenager, Bill Bruford had particularly mixed musical heritage,…

Were you aware of Anders’ writers block, going into Night Is The New Day? “Going in to it, yes. And during the preparations for it. But as soon as he gets going, he’s fast. I just think he is a slow starter and might need the pressure of a deadline to get started. I think it’s been like that at least since Night Is The New Day. The Great Cold Distance was a little bit different since Jonas, Anders and I were together during the pre-productions.” Did you realise the album would become such a fan favourite, and especially the song Forsaker? “No, I never do. I’m too much in the zone while I’m working to reflect over such things. I’m only focusing on making each song the best I…

“It should always be about the music and what you feel in your heart. And if you don’t do that, it’s going to come across.”Mike Holmes The myth that punk killed prog has been conclusively laid to rest over the last decade. However, in 2009 when Prog launched, the scene was not nearly as vibrant as now, and many bands had endured rather than thrived since the 70s heyday of progressive rock. To examine this further, we gather IQ guitarist Mike Holmes, Pendragon vocalist/guitarist Nick Barrett, former Pallas singer Alan Reed and Twelfth Night drummer Brian Devoil at Prog HQ for a discussion to cast minds back to the 80s as well as consider their bands’ respective positions and legacies today. Prog: What was your perception of the progressive rock…

John Dyer Baizley is what you might call a modern-day Renaissance man. As the sole constant member of Baroness since their inception in Savannah, Georgia 16 years ago, not only does he continue to steer the band’s musical output with passion and creativity, he also paints their beautifully vivid album artwork. The band’s new, fifth album Gold & Grey closes the chapter of a 12-year-long, colour-coded mega-concept. What could be proggier than that? For all their progressive tendencies, Baroness began life leaning more towards prog’s nemesis – punk rock – and were active in the Georgian metal scene of the noughties alongside bands like Mastodon – another band who have found a home in the prog world – and Black Tusk. “We were into punk and classic rock like Thin…

I would say we’re definitely prog, but I wouldn’t say we’re the thing that people think of in their head when they hear the word prog. “I look at prog the same way I look at punk,” says Tom Monda, guitarist and bandleader of New Jersey’s musical miscreants Thank You Scientist. Before you run for the hills at the mere mention of punk, fear not, he’s not talking about just bashing out three power chords. “Both of those genres started where it was less of a sound and more of an ethos as to how the music is created,” explains Monda. “Over time it came to define a sound. When you read, ‘This is a prog band’, your first instinct is, ‘Oh, they sound like Peter Gabriel-era Genesis or Yes…

Much like the curate’s egg, Tool’s long-awaited new album is good in parts. Some people will tell you the 13-year gestation was worth every moment, that avid anticipation has its own reward, and those people are best avoided, especially in lines for all-you-can-eat buffet and the inscrutable geometry of the queues on theme park rides. What, you’ll think, are they talking about? It’s good, even great in moments like the spiralling Invincible, but if Fear Inoculum isn’t the work of a band that have driven themselves to distraction and then mad and muddied in their pursuit of greatness in the studio, then we must have missed a meeting. Stand this up next to an album such as 1996’s Ænima or even their 1993 Undertow debut and the jigsawing of songs…

Davis and Torabi take a kosmische trip into the unknown. First came The Interesting Alternative radio shows, then the DJ sets, and now Steve Davis and Kavus Torabi have come together to make music of their own, teaming up with Michael J York (Coil/Teleplasmiste/Guapo) as The Utopia Strong. It’s a natural progression for a pair of guys united first and foremost by musical adventurism – this feels like an album without preconceptions, driven instead by a simple desire to combine sounds in new and, yes, interesting ways. Davis’ modular synthesiser plays a key role throughout, but this is more than just your average ‘synth project’. As he states in the blurb, “The instrument has the ability to create whatever your imagination can deal with” – on the evidence of this…

Last year’s Philadelphia shows captured with crystal clarity. As golden wedding anniversaries go, a cynic might have argued that last year’s Yes 50 tour – which this double live album is taken from – was celebrating a marriage in name only. Steve Howe was of course the only member of the classic line-up to perform the whole show, and in that sense it was a decidedly qualified Yes. But we suspended any disbelief when they toured over here, and it’s even easier to do that listening to these recordings from two nights in the band’s spiritual US home of Philadelphia. Soon is arguably superior to the version on Relayer… Up front at least, Jon Davison’s performances are pretty tidy, and the harmonies added by Billy Sherwood and Howe on The…

VENUE MOTE PARK, MAIDSTONE DATE 20/07/2019 For the second year running, the Prog In The Park Stage at Ramblin’ Man Fair is housed inside a tent, which works rather well, allowing the bands to showcase their individual approaches without the more intricate moments being lost in the wind. Thankfully, throughout the day there’s a growing number of people checking out what’s going on. While last year’s timing problems led to headliner Fish having to massively chop down his set, this time the lessons have been digested as, for the most part, the timetable is adhered to without much bother. And the diversity on the stage this year is most welcome. Openers Scardust quickly overcome an initial problem with their vocals to deliver a set from the symphonic end of the…

VENUE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, LONDON DATE 14/07/2019 It is one of those nights. Just before the lights dim, a cheer ripples through the audience. The English Chamber Choir filter into the seldom-seen (at rock shows) choir stalls of the Royal Festival Hall. As the orchestra enter, out walks Rick Wakeman, our caped crusader, informing us that England have just won the Cricket World Cup. It’s like an advert for a green and pleasant land; in this most British of venues, this quintessentially eccentric performer is about to play one of his most-loved works and to top it all, Jesus is narrating. Or at least, Robert Powell, taking the role that David Hemmings made his own on the album. Forty-five years ago, Wakeman prepared an evening that was, for many, the…

Where’s home? Adelaide, South Australia. But I was actually born in Swindon! First prog memory? My dad buying me a copy of Rick Wakeman’s Journey To The Centre Of The Earth when I was 14 years old. That’s what started me off on this journey. First prog record bought? Relayer by Yes. And the last? The Secret by Alan Parsons. It’s fairly light but I really like it. First prog gig? Genesis on their Invisible Touch tour. It was December 2, 1986 at Football Park at West Lakes, Adelaide. And the latest? We supported Haken at [Adelaide venue] The Gov in June. They’re absolutely amazing and lovely guys. Your newest prog discovery? Snarky Puppy. I love their restraint, there are so many musicians but they all play their own part.…

Follow us on twitter.com/progmagazineUK NICK BEGGS @NickBeggs Today is the day and I have some big decisions to make. It is a watershed moment for me. Do I go feral, rogue male, hide in a hole in the ground, whilst conducting guerrilla strikes against a political system that must be destroyed. Or do I put the kettle on? MIKE PORTNOY @MikePortnoy FC3 Vinyl Masters: Signed (off), Sealed & Delivered! @FlyingColors @ MikePortnoy @nealmorse @casiomac @SteveMorse #davelarue MARJANA SEMKINA @marjanasemkina I guess it’s worth mentioning that today I got a Spotify account. (Promise, I won’t endlessly spin The Bell on mute to improve our stats haha) GREG SPAWTON @bigbigtrain One of those rare moments when two progressive rock bands are working at Real World studios at the same time. With Marco…

Dream Theater return to the UK and Europe from next January to perform their groundbreaking fifth album in full. The first half of An Evening With Dream Theater will concentrate on Distance Over Time, and the second will focus on Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From A Memory with a new animated video featuring the characters, plot and storyline. “There have been some staple songs that we’ve played fairly regularly throughout the years, such as The Spirit Carries On or The Dance Of Eternity,” guitarist John Petrucci tells Prog. “It’s the ones that we haven’t had a chance to perform live until now, such as Beyond This Life, Through Her Eyes and Fatal Tragedy, that we’re most looking forward to playing again. The fact that they’re some of the more story-driven…

The Cocoon contains some of Haken guitarist Richard Henshall’s most ambitious work to date. His debut solo album, delayed until August, combines his love of jazz fusion with prog metal. “I’ve been listening to Bon Iver and a lot of Deerhunter, as well as the Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan. His work has really inspired me to play more piano, which is something I’d stepped down from doing with Haken,” explains the musician, who’s joined on the album by Haken bassist Conner Green and Nova Collective drummer Matt Lynch. The seven-track also features Haken vocalist Ross Jennings, Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess and half of Bent Knee, including guitarist Ben Levin who wrote the rap-infused Lunar Room. “It’s probably my favourite song on the album,” Henshall says. For more, visit his…

Diagonal release Arc, their first album in seven years, via their own Cobblers Records on September 6. The third record came together after the band regrouped and spent a solid week writing and recording. It went so well that they’ve since completed another album using the same method. “I don’t think even two years ago we expected it to happen,” saxophonist and vocalist Nick Whittaker tells Prog. “But I don’t think we ever lost faith that we had something to say.” The previous jilting workflow that caused the band to drift apart was replaced with an organic approach that Whittaker calls “a lot more natural and a lot less forced than it used to feel”. He highlights a “nice kind of lyricism” that he thinks was less obvious in the…

YOU MIGHT RECOGNISE Rendezvous Point’s drummer, Baard Kolstad. He’s in Norwegian progressive metallers Leprous – formerly Ihsahn’s backing band – and hits the kit with the precision of a robotic octopus. Search YouTube, and you’ll find videos of his limbs moving so fast that it’ll make your brain spin and your stomach lurch. Kolstad’s performing career was sparked by a clip he saw back in 2006, when he was 15 years old, of a man playing drums on buckets in the street. It inspired him to do the same thing, before switching to an old kit with a baseboard made by his father. Attracting a huge amount of attention, he remembers these performances as some of his best ever. But he wanted more. That same year, he saw a band…

If California’s Drowning Pool have been largely obscured in the mists of posterity, you can pin some of the blame on the vastly more successful Texan nu metal band who later took on the same name. The original four-piece — Adam Elesh (guitar), Brett Smith (bass), Jon Thomas (drums) and Andrew Crane (vocals) — were a very different proposition, however. They were part of a loose-knit affiliation of LA bands whose coastal bearings gave rise to speculative, open-ended experimentation, and all sounded as though they were concocting sketches of possible lands beyond the horizon. Blending Americana, post-punk, goth, industrial, Eastern scales and more to varied if synergistic, mutually enhancing effect, the likes of Savage Republic, Shiva Burlesque, Red Temple Spirits and Drowning Pool were marking out new, expansive sonic territory,…

You’ve heard about the terrible financial deals some bands have suffered at the hands of agents, managers and labels. And we’re all familiar with certain wrangles when bands break up or reconfigure and yet would like to continue touring and recording under that band’s name (see: various versions of Groundhogs, a couple of Hawkwinds, the two Yeses, and so on). But it takes some front to register the trademark and copyright of an artist’s name as yours if you haven’t even been in that band. For comedic art-prog heroes the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, who’ve flown their Beatles-approved freak flag high for more than 50 years, this happened in 2017. Generally, a band doesn’t have to register their name as a trademark, but it could avoid using a name already…

Earthworks Complete is a Summerfold Records box set reissue of the band’s back catalogue across their 20-year career, and we have one to give away. The set includes 15 titles on 20 audio and 4 DVD discs, including previously unreleased and little-known material, documenting the band’s history from 1987 to 2006. All of the audio, visual and print materials were compiled and curated by Bruford, and it includes additional original artwork by award-winning illustrator, photographer and filmmaker Dave McKean. The box set includes the following: 1. Earthworks 2. Dig? 3. All Heaven Broke Loose 4. Stamping Ground – Live 5. A Part, And Yet Apart 6. The Sound Of Surprise 7. Footloose And Fancy Free (2CD) 8. Random Acts Of Happiness 9. Footloose In NYC (2CD & 1DVD set) 10.…

The sprawling conceptual Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory might have come from ideas bandied about by Dream Theater’s creative duo Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci, but the whole album has its roots in a song thats genesis can be traced all the way back to when original singer Charlie Dominici fronted the band in 1989. Originally known as Crumbling Metropolis, the song was based on a lyrical concept from Petrucci, with the whole band chipping in with the music. The earliest versions of the song featured a different introduction and a shorter outro to the one fans would eventually become familiar with, but it remains a perfect example of both the band’s musical dexterity and progressive inclinations, featuring a lengthy instrumental segment and multiple sections. Crumbling Metropolis was…

From 1986 until his retirement from live work in 2009, Earthworks was Bill Bruford’s primary creative outlet as a composer and player in between his stints with King Crimson, ABWH and Union-era Yes. Describing the group, Bruford once said that they “were in the business to break some rules and ask some questions”. The 80s period contains the precocious talents of Django Bates on keyboards and tenor horn and Iain Ballamy on saxophone. Their compositional chops, as well as their supple interactions and lightning responses, dominate Earthworks’ early albums. The self-titled 1987 debut, co-produced by ex-Bruford band cohort Dave Stewart, who also makes discrete appearances on the record, mingles smart, sinuous jazzy heads with some of the rhythmic and timbral aftermath of the Beat/Three Of A Perfect Pair electronic drumming…

As fans of psychedelia are compelled to contend, nothing is ever quite as it seems. But despite Rosalie Cunningham’s oft-stated familiarity with altered states of consciousness, the task of crowdfunding her debut solo album and releasing it to an expectant fanbase still ended up being a reality-shattering experience. Originally planned for release via PledgeMusic earlier this year, Cunningham’s first new music since Purson split in 2017 got drawn into the punter-driven company’s very public disintegration, wherein the money ran out, taking Pledge with it, leaving thousands out of pocket and numerous artists like Cunningham wondering what the hell was going on. “It was a massive pain in the arse but it’s turned out to be a kind of blessing in disguise, because it’s ended up with me signing with Esoteric…

“John and I are both songwriters in our own rights. I remember Trevor Rabin saying, ‘There is only one way a song should go, and that way is your way.’ I definitely agree with that.”Tom Galgano New York-based IZZ have a lengthy back story, with eight studio albums already under their belt prior to the recent release of the splendid Don’t Panic. While the septet’s catalogue offers an abundance of quality prog that builds respectfully upon the foundations of the genre’s best-known names, their ninth album has raised the bar significantly. In part, that’s down to a back-to-the-roots songwriting approach. “We went into making Don’t Panic with a sense of freshness,” explains bassist, guitarist and vocalist John Galgano. Taking some individually penned parts as a starting point, the band focused…

I t’s difficult to speak to Dean Wells without alluding to the past few difficult years that broke him. You wouldn’t guess it from his razorsharp technical profusions, but the lead-up to his band Teramaze’s new album, Are We Soldiers, has been fraught with personal stresses and strains that culminated in the hospitalisation of the Australian guitarist, writer and producer on the day that Teramaze were meant to play ProgPower USA in 2017. “The rest of the band flew over there and I was in hospital thinking I was dying,” Wells recalls. “It came down to being completely and utterly burnt out. I thought I was invincible: turns out I’m not.” The impact of losing his father together with a workaholic lifestyle and a fractured hand drove Wells to a…

A smorgasbord of pescatarian delights, tied together as ‘new’ album. This publication is avowedly internationalist and therefore eschews cheap cracks about the paucity of famous Belgians. However, when it comes to well-known Belgian progressive rock bands, names are in very short supply. While they are far from a household name, it is perhaps therefore not hyperbole to describe Fish On Friday as Belgium’s leading progressive rock band. A solitary unreleased track is slim pickings for long-term fans. An Initiation gathers together 13 tracks from the act’s four studio albums to date, extracting the most compelling moments from each of 2010’s Shoot The Moon, 2012’s Airborne, 2014’s Godspeed and 2017’s Quiet Life, and adding a previously unavailable bonus song, Wings. Led by Belgian producer Frank van Bogaert and fellow keyboardist William…

Irish symphonic rockers remastered and reboxed. In the last 20 years or so there’s been a small but surprisingly productive industry in books chronicling the underground scene and its transformation into the prog rock movement of the 60s and 70s. However, you’ll struggle to find a reference to Fruupp, who formed in Belfast in 1971. Readers of a certain age might recall seeing that odd-looking name (apparently pronounced like ‘cup’) listed in the gig adverts at the back of Melody Maker where they typically occupied support slots with the likes of Genesis at Aylesbury’s Friars club. They arrive with a grandiose flourish, in the spirit of the age. Signed to Pye’s progressive-orientated Dawn label, by the time of the band’s 1973 debut, Future Legend, there’s a sense of Fruupp having…

Official, no-frills online documentary and birthday celebration. In this unvarnished, low-budget YouTube freebie, Steve Howe guides the viewer into the documentary explaining the circumstances of his joining Yes in 1970, and all the current group members are interviewed along with logo and covers artist Roger Dean, in an assessment of where the band is in 2019. Elsewhere, Billy Sherwood assesses how time is gradually healing the sadness of the passing of Chris Squire in 2015, who he knew as a friend and who he has replaced on bass. A large elephant is in the room: the case of two distinct Yeses. One-time vocalist Trevor Horn admits that he first heard Yes’ music – I’ve Seen All Good People – played live as a cover version by another band. He recalls…

VENUE KOKA BOOTH AMPHITHEATRE, CARY, NORTH CAROLINA DATE 10/07/2019 Crisscrossing North America through much of June and July, this Royal Affair tour comprising Yes, Asia, John Lodge and Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy really does epitomise prog rock royalty. Tonight’s show is in an idyllic, tree-fringed amphitheatre situated between the North Carolina metropoles of Raleigh and Durham. As several thousand fans sizzle in 33 degree heat at 6pm, Carl Palmer opens the show. The sole ELP survivor shoehorns the best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer into his half hour set, with Paul Bielatowicz dazzling on guitar and guest vocalist Arthur Brown making eye catching appearances in his full regalia for Karn Evil 9: First Impression Part 2, Knife-Edge and his own signature tune Fire. Palmer concludes with a ferocious romp through…

VENUE ROYAL ALBERT HALL, LONDON DATE 18-20/06/2019 Forty-nine years and 50 weeks after a career-changing Hyde Park slot opening for The Rolling Stones, the cirkus rolls back into London for three concerts as part of the 50th Anniversary Celebration Tour. On each night Robert Fripp’s recorded intro welcomes us to “a hot date” and his invitation “Let’s have a party!” is met with enthusiasm by an audience aware that they’re about to experience something extraordinary. The immaculately turned-out, seven-headed hydra that is 21st-century King Crimson has been terrorising crowds since 2014 with its unique three-drummer setup and it is the thunderous display of the Hell Hounds Of Krim that heralds this Albert Hall residency. The interplay between Gavin Harrison, Pat Mastelotto and Jeremy Stacey, counterpointed with a healthy dose of…

VENUE MONTREAL JAZZ FESTIVAL, QUEBEC DATE 27/06-06/07/2019 Now in its 40th year, the biggest Jazz Festival in the world continues to widen its musical boundaries. Although the majority of artists are from the world of jazz, there are enough diverse additions to attract the attention of any music lover. A festival that has hosted acts as diverse as Tony Bennett, Robert Plant, King Crimson, Lionel Richie, Leonard Cohen, Buddy Guy and Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin and Noel Gallagher, can only increase the variation of its musical output – and it definitely does so again this year. In one of the various massive, acoustically-perfect concert halls, Alan Parsons brings the final show of his North American tour to a triumphant conclusion. Including a selection of material across 10 albums and 43…