Table of contents for Issue 107 in Prog

Anathema have revealed that work is well underway on the follow-up to 2017’s Prog Award-winning album The Optimist. The new record, currently untitled, will be out later this year and will mark the band’s first release since signing with Mascot Records last year. The group are currently in the studio recording demos and Daniel Cavanagh’s enthusiasm and energy are palpable. “Nothing makes me happier. Literally, this is my favourite thing to do in the world,” he says. “I’m very optimistic. I would say the last two or three writing sessions are among the best times I can remember us ever having in a musical sense.” After a decade of releases with Kscope, there’s a sense of anticipation about working with a new label at Mascot. “They’re a great young team…

Dark progressive metal troupe Enslaved will release new album Utgard via Nuclear Blast in late May. “In the past we have had themes running through our albums,” begins guitarist Ivar Bjørnson. “But this time, we’ve gone further and developed a full concept. This is about a place called Utgard, which, in Norse mythology, is where giants live. But, beyond that, it can also be viewed as a metaphor for psychological interactions. “What we’ve done here is take the listener on a journey that involves many different levels, including the physical and the psychological.” Utgard was co-produced by Bjørnson with vocalist/bassist Grutle Kjellson and drummer Iver Sandøy, who joined the band in 2018. “Although [Sandøy] is a new member of Enslaved, he has worked with us in the past as a…

Norway’s gloomy prog metal outfit Green Carnation will release their long-awaited sixth album, Leaves Of Yesteryear, on May 8 via Season Of Mist. The album is the band’s first since the cessation of their 10-year hiatus in 2016, and marks their return to a progressive metal sound. “During our first stint, it was important for us not to do the same album over and over again,” singer Kjetil Nordhus remembers. “Coming back in 2016 and discussing where to go, we felt that we’d completed a circle. So, this album is a tribute to the band’s past, present and future. You can hear elements from the early albums. It’s more heavy and proggy.” Green Carnation originally reunited to commemorate the 15th anniversary of their lauded Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness…

Rhodri Marsden on three of the latest must-have gizmos currently putting the prog in progress. MEGA DRIVE SYNTH Nearly all of us spend our days using electronic gizmos, but very few of us actually understand how they work. That’s why people like Sam Battle get such huge online audiences: they take things to bits, explain how they work and do weird things with them. In this project, he uses the sound chips in an old Sega Mega Drive to create a beast of an instrument, all bolted into a wooden case the size of a Welsh dresser. You may well find his presenting style exhausting. But his skills are, as they say, mad. www.lookmumnocomputer.com SHANLING Q1 One audio player is much like another. You load music onto it, you listen…

“My love for cooking started at a very early age. On rainy days, my mother would keep me entertained by making fairy cakes with me. “I actually went on to choose food studies as one of my GCSEs in school. In other subjects, I was always a rebel, a class clown, never interested in any of the lessons. I would purposely disrupt things by doing something silly to make my classmates laugh – I guess I was already an entertainer. But the first time we had to cook in class, I made spaghetti bolognese with apple crumble for dessert. I can still remember the shocked expression on my teacher’s face when I presented it. ‘Turns out you are good at something, Alice,’ she said. I received top marks for both…

Progressive rock is instinctively inclined to embrace all manner of different genres in its pursuit of the new. But if there’s one musical strain that has yet to be effectively embraced by the prog world, it’s hip-hop. In truth, it would be reductive and unfair to describe Georgia Anne Muldrow’s expansive catalogue of music as wholly rooted in rap music, such is the New Yorker’s inventive approach to everything from modern R&B to experimental electronica. However, there’s no denying that last year’s VWETO II album is, at heart, an instrumental hip-hop record. It just happens to be one of the most psychedelic and immersive instrumental hip-hop records you’ll ever hear. It certainly helps that the album’s artwork is highly, and perhaps deliberately, redolent of Mati Klarwein’s iconic work for Miles…

Amy Birks (right) will release her debut album, All That I Am & All That I Was, on April 3. The record features the single I Wish, to which Genesis legend Steve Hackett lends his talents on the acoustic guitar. Post-rockers God Is An Astronaut have announced a UK and Ireland tour for April 2020, during which they will play their All Is Violent, All Is Bright album in its entirety. Their musical jaunt starts in Dublin on April 17. Instrumental progressive metal trio Toska will perform debut album Fire By The Silos in full on their UK tour in April. The band also promise to unveil some new music during the 10-date run, which starts in Bristol on April 17. Math rockers Black Peaks will embark on a headlining…

40. THE REMEMBERING (HIGH THE MEMORY) Tales From Topographic Oceans, 1973 Jon Anderson wanted “a calm sea of music” for Side Two of …Topographic Oceans, according to biographer Tim Morse. But nothing ever turned out so simple with this band. The opening passages are dreamy, but Howe can’t help but disturb the peace with emotive guitar lines and electric sitar. Squire’s lively bass offsets the singer’s Hindu-influenced visions and vocal musings, to beguiling effect. JS 39. THE FISH (SCHINDLERIA PRAEMATURUS) Fragile, 1971 A showcase for its composer Chris Squire – the title came from Squire’s nickname as a result of his fondness for taking very long baths. It’s built around a groove in 7/8, with Steve Howe picking out the harmonics on guitar as a backdrop. Live, the track was…

A recording studio in southern France called L’Abeille Rôde has been a veritable hive of activity over the past few months, where, like the bee that graces the band’s T-shirt slogan ‘Music flies over borders’, Lazuli have been buzzing. Tantalisingly, Lazuli told UK audiences last year that their next studio album would be a special one for their fans - and they kept their promise. The album, Le Fantastique Envoi de Dieter Böhm (The Fantastic Flight Of Dieter Böhm) that has since emerged is dedicated to their devotees, but it’s one of their most well-travelled fans who provides the storyline. “Last year, we spent some time on the road, but with every free moment we worked on the new album. I must say I spent days and nights with this…

RareNoiseRecords© Download the FREE 10-track sampler from www.bitly.com/ProgSampler or scan the QR code below One night in 2011, Giacomo Bruzzo found himself walking through the streets of Genoa’s old town in the city he’d called his home until the early 90s, when he’d left for academic life in London. On his headphones were the rough mixes of tracks submitted for release on RareNoiseRecords, the label Bruzzo co-founded with Eraldo Bernocchi in 2009. The project was called Naked Truth and featured trumpeter Cuong Vu, King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto, pianist Roy Powell and bassist Lorenzo Feliciati. Although Bruzzo knew of the players and their reputations, up until that point the music hadn’t gelled with him. “It had been with me for a very long time and, for whatever reason, I’d not…

Not many artists can claim to have had a hit song quoted by Frasier Crane on the classic sitcom Cheers, scored Hollywood movies, made an album with Tony Banks, played jazz alongside Syd Arthur, and won a Prog Award (in the Outer Limits category). But Jack Hues – (real name Jeremy Ryder; his pseudonym puns on the French “J’accuse”) – has had an unorthodox, convention-defying career. Frasier beaming as he declared: “Everybody Wang Chung tonight!” was just one step on the journey towards what is, surprisingly, Hues’ first solo record. Primitif, a double album rich with genre ignoring twists and turns, is “as close as I’ve got to what I wanted a record to be”. The thoughtful, soft-spoken Canterbury resident, who recently turned 65, muses, “I guess this makes me…

Back when Prog Magazine was but a mere puppy, it unleashed its first issue upon an unsuspecting world. As is traditional with such publications, a CD of music from up-and-coming artists from the progressive music realm was attached to the cover, and there, eight tracks in, were south coast hopefuls Diagonal. The song was Semi-Permeable Menbrain, the opening track from their self-titled debut album. “A waltz through the obscure sounds of the early 70s,” we wrote. “This is some of the best new prog we’ve heard.” The album was greeted with glowing reviews, and for a while it seemed Diagonal might become a hot property. But the music business is a fickle mistress, and the band faltered. Singer/keyboardist Alex Crispin and bassist Daniel Pomlett departed, and a new line-up released…

Preaching To The Choir GENTLE ART OF MUSIC RPWL’s Kalle Wallner dives into decorative banality with his fourth. An artist almost always deserves recognition for trying something different with their solo project, so the fact that Blind Ego has little in common with the luscious Floydian delights of RPWL isn’t inherently problematic. That said, what Kalle Wallner and co do provide on Preaching To The Choir – an impassioned leap into riotous hard rock/metal commonalities – is disappointing. There are some standout tracks, and the performances are always striking on a technical level, but there’s very little leftover that excites or lingers. Comes with talent and dedication, but we’ve heard it all before. Here, Blind Ego is completed by vocalist Scott Balaban, drummer Michael Christoph, bassist Sebastian Harnack, and guitarist…

Kitchen sink treatment for seventh Parsons Project album. The age of the deluxe reissue reaches its apex again with Cherry Red’s extraordinary efforts for Ammonia Avenue. It’s moot whether anyone would herald this album as the strongest within the Alan Parsons Project’s back catalogue, but a reissue provides ample opportunity for reassessment and this extraordinarily lavish package gives Ammonia Avenue its chance to shine. “This gives Ammonia Avenue its chance to shine.” On offer is a set comprising – deep breath – three CDs, a Blu-ray disc, two 12-inch vinyl records in a gatefold sleeve, a 60-page book, a replica poster and a reproduction press kit from the album’s original release back in February 1984. Of course, a deluxe box set is only ever as good as the raw materials…

VENUE THE ROBIN 2, BILSTON DATE 26/01/2020 This is the first of a new series of one-day events at the splendid Robin 2 in Bilston, curated by Midlands prog fan Ken Slater, who should take great credit for a varied six-band line-up. In fact, the organisation is hard to fault as the youthful technical staff perform admirably and the day runs to time. Opening are the modestly-monikered Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate, aka guitarist and vocalist Malcolm Galloway and bassist Mark Gatland. This two-men-plus-backing-track set-up, delivered with admirable good humour, works very well in a relatively low-tech way. Their gear allows a more varied instrumental palette, with electronica used effectively, in a similar fashion to Norwegian techno proggers When Mary. However, one does suspect that an occasional full band set-up…

VENUE DINGWALLS, LONDON DATE 31/01/2020 SUPPORT OAK It’s Friday night at Dingwalls and Brexit is happening outside. Inside, Norwegian proggers OAK have been chosen to bring some Scandinavian flair to the occasion – it’s their first ever UK show – and Dave Foster’s singer Dinet Poortman has flown in from Nijmegen to ensure the Dutch are represented at the farewell party. “This is dedicated to all the people of all nationalities all over the world,” she says, slightly forlornly, which is about as diplomatic as you’re likely to get 90 minutes before the UK cleaves itself away from mainland Europe. First up, though, the Norway option. OAK, standing amid a forest of foot pedals, kick off with ambient, disembodied voices crackling through the ether, before launching into a set that…

VENUE BUSH HALL, LONDON DATE 19/01/2020 Twenty years after he left the band, Francis Dunnery has reclaimed the mantle of It Bites, which seems fitting now that the version of the group led by Bob Dalton and John Beck has closed shop. London marks the last night of the tour, Bush Hall is sold out, Marillion’s Steve Rothery is in the crowd, and Dunnery’s arrival onstage is greeted like Caesar returning to Rome in triumph. The audience sings along to every song without encouragement and the mood is borderline ecstatic. The performance is punctuated with Dunnery’s bawdy humour. “It’s like a big bath of love,” he beams. “We’re naked in a Jacuzzi together, rubbing each other’s bits.” The set leans heavily on Dunnery’s time with It Bites, including every track…

VENUE O2 SHEPHERD’S BUSH EMPIRE, LONDON DATE 02/02/2020 No matter what he did before or since, the biggest, most colourful and flamboyant feather in Roger Chapman’s musical cap is that he fronted the band that recorded Family’s classic Music In A Doll’s House. One of the very first true progressive rock albums (released in July 1968, pre-dating prog cornerstone In The Court Of The Crimson King by more than a year), it was a fabulous, ground-breaking, experimental and adventurous record, pushing the rock envelope like few, if any, before it, with Chapman’s startling bleating vibrato vocals sounding strangely menacing when he cranked it up. Family recorded two more excellent albums – Family Entertainment and A Song For Me – before their prog muse was elbowed out by commercial imperatives and…

Rick Wakeman and The English Rock Ensemble will release a new album, The Red Planet, on April 3. The LP is said to be a “keyboard-heavy” instrumental experience, where Wakeman is joined by guitarist Dave Colquhoun, bassist Lee Pomeroy and drummer Ash Soan. “The basic tracks are already recorded,” Wakeman said in a recent statement on his website. “That includes contributions from the musicians named above, and I am thrilled with the results so far.” The album is a return to the legendary keyboard player’s roots, inspired by debut solo album The Six Wives Of Henry VIII. Recording wrapped up in late February and the album is currently being mixed by Erik Jordan. Wakeman says: “There are great plans afoot for a very special playback session and other surprises too.…

Coldbones release their second album, Cataclysm, on April 17. It marks the instrumental trio’s first release on their new home of Dunk! Records. “The album is conceptual,” begins bassist Nick Suchak, “and that made it easier to get the songs together. It took shape because of our interest in Graham Hancock, an author and journalist, who wrote a pseudo-scientific book about how a comet hit the Earth 13,000 years ago, wiping out all life. From there, we look at other predictions about the end of the world.” Cataclysm has 10 tracks overall, before ending with a spoken-word piece. “It’s part of a poem by Lord Byron, which fits nicely into what we’re dealing with. We got an actor called David Whiting to do it, as his voice fits the emotion…

Bradford’s ambient post-rock outfit Worriedaboutsatan will issue their seventh album on May 8 through n5MD. Time Lapse follows January’s Crystalline as the second release under the name since Tom Ragsdale’s departure in June last year, leaving Gavin Miller to fly the ’Satan flag solo. “It felt weird making the album alone at first,” Miller tells Prog. “I did feel lost at times but, in the end, I learned to trust my intuition, and I’m really happy with it.” Exploring the project’s progressive side, the five-track album includes two dramatic, 10-minute movements, Dawn and Point Of Departure. Worriedaboutsatan performed at ArcTanGent festival in 2017 and have worked with Vessels and Maybeshewill. They picked up major traction through the support of Anathema vocalist Vincent Cavanagh, who guested on ’Satan’s 2016 LP, Blank…

“I won’t keep you a minute,” or, “This will only take a few minutes of your time,” are two phrases that are heard all too often. And they’re two of the biggest lies in the world – well, along with: “The cheque’s in the post,” and a rather rude vow that includes the words “I promise” and “mouth”. The truth of the matter is that when someone says to you: “I won’t keep you a minute,” they don’t mean it. Translated properly, it actually means, “I will keep you for 10 minutes at best. These 10 minutes will interrupt whatever you’re currently working on, so that another hour or so is then wasted after I’ve finished so you can try to get back into whatever it was you were doing…

“Tangerine Dream feel like one of those groups that have always been there, even if you don’t know it. You hear their music in soundtracks without realising. When I was a kid, I watched the movie Legend I don’t know how many times, and they did the score for that. It was obviously linked to what they did on their own albums but it had that dungeon synth-y sound to it. “I started to totally pay attention to them when I was in my mid-to-late 20s. I’d grown up with the punk, hardcore and noise rock scene in Providence, but I’d always had a broad taste and I was going through various prog and krautrock records. With Tangerine Dream, it was like, ‘How did I miss this very obvious thing…

“Belgium has an amazing alternative scene,” The Guru Guru’s vocalist, Tom Adriaenssens, enthuses of the nation he and his band members are scattered across. “There are a lot of new bands around who are all looking for something new. Many artists are afraid of being seen as copying others, so everyone wants to do something original and you can really feel that in the music.” Formed in 2012 by guitarist Jan Viggria – who scouted four unique but complimentary musicians for a new, genre-fluid project – The Guru Guru are one such Belgian outfit that have since grown into much more than musical fantasy football. Their fiendish blend of rock flavours metamorphosises every time you think you’ve got them sussed. Their relentless touring, meanwhile – marked by performances with Brutus,…

There’s never been an easy relationship between prog and radio. Or, more specifically, daytime radio. Let’s be honest: daytime radio airplay was set up to appeal to those millions who don’t want to think about music. It was to treat songs as background noise that comes in simple, melodic, bitesize chunks, And that has never been prog’s modus operandi, has it? In the 70s, radio did offer the occasional outlet celebrating the progressive genre: Rock Salad on Radio 3, as well as Sounds Of The 70s and Alan Freeman’s Saturday afternoon show, both on Radio 1. But for the most part, mainstream radio ignored what Yes, Genesis, King Crimson et al had to offer, and this was met by a wave of indifference from fans of such bands. It almost…

“FROM THE AGE of 14, I was spending most of my time drumming. I wasn’t even doing my school homework!” says Jimmy Pallagrosi, who was introduced to prog at a very young age. “One of the very first prog albums I listened to was The Turn Of A Friendly Card by The Alan Parsons Project; I remember liking the artwork, which I have tattooed on my arm! However, from the age of five I was listening to Toto, which can be prog too, but as I was getting into drumming my cousin got me to listen 6:00 from Dream Theater because of that big drum intro!” Pallagrosi’s DIY project, ZIO, have just released the vibrant Flower Torania and, while musically it’s heavily influenced by the likes of Steven Wilson, Haken…

When Prog caught up with Steve Howe he was getting ready for a series of dates with rehearsals that would take him to Yes’ American warm-up dates in March 2020. Those shows, supported by Alan Parsons will culminate in their now-annual Cruise To The Edge event that leaves Florida for the high seas, taking in Belize and Honduras along the way. Despite Yes’ association with the event, Howe hasn’t always been comfortable with the idea of playing on a cruise ship. “I did one in 2000 and I said, ‘Never again!’ That was as a solo artist. So when Yes got offered one I took a bit of persuading. They said I’d be getting my own room, that there would be security and so on. So, I thought I would…

A young boy is climbing a steep hill at night. Carefully, he makes his way through the tangles of sparse scrub that cling to the side of Lion Rock; from his vantage point he can see Kowloon spread before him, the name of which comes from the term for nine dragons. Immediately below, the very last house of the accommodation reserved for British army personnel in Hong Kong, where he lives with his parents, huddles into the mane of Lion Rock. Beneath his feet, time stands still, the passing of millions of years solidified in granite. Above him, a scattering of distant stars wink through the pearlescent glow of a glorious moonlit night. “It was just magical,” says Roger Dean with a sigh, he’s clearly moved by the memory of…

Go to most Lazuli shows and you may well encounter the ever-smiling, always friendly Dieter Böhm standing in the audience getting lost in their music, offering a helping hand behind their merch stand or acting as an unofficial roadie. Böhm got word from Lazuli last year that one of the songs on the new album would be about him. This was swiftly followed by another message that the album was to be all about him. “I wrote to Domi Leonetti and said to him, ‘Do you really think this is a good idea? This is going to be a quality product and you are going to put my name on it!’” exclaims Böhm. However, the affable fan is at pains to point out: “It is only a name. You could…

Three years ago, Amalie Bruun posted a video of herself on YouTube, performing the traditional Nordic folk song, Gammelkäring. It’s an ethereal piece of film. Bruun sings while playing a nyckelharpa – an ancient key harp – on a lakeshore in northern Denmark. The positive reaction took her aback. “When I saw the response to it worldwide, I realised that maybe it’s not just me who’s interested in this kind of music,” she tells Prog. “I’ve always played folk music, it goes back to my childhood. It’s such a deep universe that you can dive into. There is an endless amount of it, from all different times in our history. And I’m definitely still in the learning process with all that.” Gammelkäring now forms part of Folksange, the latest album…

When Prognosis Festival, in the southern city of Eindhoven, Netherlands, was announced last year, the prog world stood up and took note. Not only did the organisers have a stellar and diverse line-up that celebrated acts both established and young acts eager to prove themselves, but they also had a vision to match the progressive minds driving those artists. Musician clinics, art exhibitions and insightful conferences about the music industry created a multi-dimensional environment. Fans didn’t just show up, grab a beer and enjoy the music, they immersed themselves in the event and its championing of left-field, forward thinking music. “We loved the first edition,” reflects Rob van der Donk, head of marketing and communications at Loud Noise. “It was a dream come true.” This year, Loud Noise returns with…

On Who Really Are We?, the penultimate track of Pendragon’s new album Love Over Fear, Nick Barrett sings, ‘To my mind it’s a miracle we got this far.’ He’s talking primarily about the human race and humanity’s capacity to be its own worst enemy. But it could also apply to Pendragon themselves – a band that formed at the height of punk’s popularity (and the beginning of prog’s long residency as the love that dared not speak its name), who missed out on the success and profile the neo-prog scene promised. The band also had to deal with poverty, bitter divorce, label and management turmoil, and see-sawing fortunes as well as the regulation line-up changes, yet they managed to hold their own creatively and commercially. Still retaining a strong following…

Dark metal denizen reborn in acoustic splendour. Best known as frontman with Swedish dark metal terrors Tribulation, Jonathan Hultén has shrugged off all artifice and laid his soul bare on his first solo record. Chants From Another Place is a delicate, deeply atmospheric affair, full skeletal acoustic folk and gently lysergic melancholy. “Shorn of its rough edges, Hultén’s voice is a revelation.” A Dance In The Road provides a magical starting point, like a long-lost John Martyn outtake fed through some shape shifting, malevolent prism. Hultén’s voice is a revelation, shorn of its usual rough edges and placed front and centre, as a delicately intricate arrangement unfurls in the background. In much the same way that Opeth have frequently evoked the past while remaining perfectly detached from time, A Dance…

Precocious prog metal Londoners – featuring Ross Jennings – power up. Sneaked out with inadequate fanfare in 2016, Novena’s debut EP Secondary Genesis was a startling debut from a relatively unlikely meeting of prog-inclined minds. With Haken vocalist Ross Jennings on board, this London-based quintet were always going to grab the attention of the prog world, but with several notables from the modern UK death metal scene in their ranks, Novena were plainly predisposed to lean towards a more brutal and fervently metallic sound. Fortunately, for less sensitive proggers, it’s a formula that works brilliantly and that’s been expanded beyond comprehension on Eleventh Hour; a rich and red-blooded full-length debut to savour. The band’s ongoing use of aggressive, death metal vocals aside, it’s hard to imagine what even bitter…

Curved Air violinist turns guitar hero. Niccolò Paganini was arguably the world’s first ‘axe hero’. Okay, his main instrument was the violin, but his virtuosity was such that his string-wrangling generated adulation more akin to that given to Van Halen or Steve Howe than your average classical musician. Darryl Way’s reputation as a violin master is beyond question, not least because of his groundbreaking work with Curved Air, as well as recent outings such as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in Rock. He’s also a decent keys man, but guitar hero? That might be about to change. “Way plays arch melody maker, chops in service to the song.” Destinations is Way’s full-debut as ‘geetar man’, and, as the title suggests, a travelogue: 10 instrumental picture postcards of some of the world’s most…

The sound of Annie Haslam’s band’s future arriving. It’s a curious thing that Renaissance weren’t a bigger deal in their native UK until Northern Lights ushered them into the singles charts in 1978. Why this might be is a matter of speculation. Leaving the Island Records roster would be one explanation. Perhaps the shift in personnel and the band’s subsequent reinvention – often described as folk-rock in early-70s press – might be another. What’s certain, however, is that the success of Northern Lights and its parent album, A Song For All Seasons wouldn’t have happened had it not been for 1974’s Turn Of The Cards. Finding their stride after Prologue and Ashes Are Burning, the writing here is noticeably more confident, the sound of a group truly finding its metier.…

Follow us on twitter.com/progmagazineUK JOE PAYNE @thatjoepayne @maxjosephread and I are finally mixing the last remaining track for the album. Things always take longer than you expect, but trust me, this will be well worth the wait! The song features a special guest vocalist. Who could it be? Have a guess… MIKE VENNART @Vennart I’ve been informed that you need to be ‘high AF’ to appreciate my music. Dunno whether to laugh or cry BRYAN BELLER @bryanbeller “Merci beaucoup” to all who came out to the 5 @acratsband shows in France (Paris, Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Toulouse). It was wonderful to meet so many of you at the merch table after the shows NAD SYLVAN @SylvanOfficial I am working on a new solo album that I hope will come in the…

Peter Jones will release the fifth Tiger Moth Tales album, The Whispering Of The World, on April 27 through White Knight Records. Coming just two months after his live CD/DVD set A Visit To Zoetemeer, it’s his first set of new material since 2018’s Story Tellers (Part Two). “This is my most personal album since Cocoon,” Jones tells Prog. “It started with a theme of being at one with nature and rejoicing in it, but then I lost a couple of people who were close to me, and it became about coming to terms with loss, with mortality, and about making the most of life while you can.” Recorded at Fieldgate Studio in Cardiff, the eight-track album features Jones on just piano and vocals, accompanied by a string quartet comprising…

Ever since hypnotising the late Greg Lake with a voice he hailed as “beautiful, brave and heartfelt”, Italian singer Annie Barbazza has helped bring his legacy to a new generation. Her guest-studded debut album, Vive, is out now via Dark Companion Records. It tells the tale of her growth since that fateful meeting. “Over the years, I’ve met and become friends with some incredible musicians and I’m thankful to have them appear on this record,” says Barbazza. “Their knowledge and friendship helped me perceive music from many different perspectives.” With guests including Lake, John Greaves and Fred Frith, their individual personalities all work to highlight the magnificence of Barbazza’s voice. “The challenge was being able to open up and find a way to tell my story,” the singer adds. “I…

Canterbury scene veterans Soft Machine will release Live At The Baked Potato via Tonefloat on March 20. The first time Soft Machine played in Los Angeles was in 1968 supporting Jimi Hendrix. Over half a century later, they returned and played a pair of storming sets with material drawn from their classic 1970 album, Third, through to 2018’s Hidden Details. Live At The Baked Potato will be a vinyl-only double LP. Presented on deluxe 180 gram coloured vinyl, the 12 tracks are spread across three sides with the fourth given over to a special etching. “We’re very pleased with this recording,” says guitarist John Etheridge, who joined in 1975. “The band really shines, sounding absolutely at the top of its game in this live context.” Head to www.softmachine.org for more…

If you’ve watched a modern day prog band play live then there’s a decent chance you’ve also seen Chris Edrich plonked in the middle of the venue, studiously twiddling knobs at the sound desk. The Frenchman’s prog certified credits include doing the front-of-house mix for favourites like Leprous, TesseracT and Caligula’s Horse – all while finding time for studio work, too! It wasn’t planned like that, though. Edrich’s association with prog came through nothing but pure grit and talent – and a bit of good fortune. “I’ve been pretty lucky with being in the right place at the moment,” he smiles. It all started in 2005, when the then guitarist began fiddling around with his band’s recordings at home. An unexpected turn, as Edrich had tended to keep things simple.…

If you enjoy reading all about Roger Dean’s art in this issue and would like to find out more about his extensive portfolio, this month’s competition could be just the thing. One lucky reader will win a set of Roger Dean hardback artbooks, signed by the artist himself, courtesy of Trading Boundaries. The fantastic three-book collection chronicles Dean’s art, from architectural concepts and aircraft livery, to stage sets and movie visuals, with previously unseen pieces and sketches. The prize features: A revised edition of Sunday Times bestseller Views. First published in 1975, the book surveys the first seven years of Dean’s professional career and contains innovative furniture designs as well as album covers such as Tales From Topographic Oceans. Magnetic Storm, originally published in 1984, explores his work on albums,…

“We are going to come to Europe. We’ve got a little problem with the other band who registered the damned name and are trying to stop us from going to Germany, which is not fun, but we are trying to deal with that now.” e started putting it together about a year ago and the first rehearsal was fantastic,” says bass guitarist and vocalist new version of Nektar. “We just clicked again. It was like going back 40 years.” The bass guitarist and vocalist’s enthusiasm for the reformed US-based band, who have just released a new album, The Other Side, is tangible. He was one of their founder members, playing with Nektar from 1969 in their progressive space rock heyday through to their dissolution in 1978. Since then, with shifting…

No doubt some of you are wondering: “What on earth is Biff Byford doing in Prog?” Certainly the Saxon frontman is one of the iconic heroes of British heavy metal, but is there any connection between him and progressive music? Well actually, yes there is. “I enjoy prog music,” he proclaims with considerable enthusiasm. “In the early 70s, I used to see bands like Yes and Genesis when they came to Barnsley Civic Hall or Sheffield City Hall. At the time, I was heavily into the whole prog scene. There just seemed to be so many great bands around, all of who sounded very different from one another and had a big influence on me as a budding musician.” Byford was actually in a progressive-style band for three years, from…

“E verything that is and was will cease to be.” So says the Connacht Irish proverb adapted by Moya Brennan in Theme From Harry’s Game, the unlikely 1982 Top Five hit. Its two-and-a-half minutes propelled Clannad from niche to known-by-all. Popularised then by its use in a TV series about The Troubles, it featured later in Hollywood movies and Volkswagen commercials, its status as a go-to choice for suggestions of warmth and lushness of sound established. But nothing lasts forever, and to prove the proverb’s point, Clannad are calling time on their travels. This year sees the Irish folk giants’ farewell tour, after a 50-year career. Over that time they’ve brought Irish music and language to a global audience, winning multiple big-league awards. It’s a demonstration of how music can…

Ghostly folk from the black metal maverick. Blurred boundaries between the world of prog and the left-field metal underground have led to some extraordinary music and the unlikeliest of crossovers over the last decade or so. The rise and rise of Amalie ‘Myrkur’ Bruun has been a thrill to witness, not least because the Dane’s earliest releases gave only the smallest of hints at the expansive, windswept adventures to come. Regardless, both 2016’s ghostly choral live album Mausoleum and its fullyfledged full-length follow-up Mareridt (2017) changed the game, revealing myriad new layers to Bruun’s sonic mystique, while also straying far enough away from standard notions of black metal to indicate that those resistant to being screeched at might have a more accessible future to look forward to. But in keeping…

High times with Steve Hillage, Miquette Giraudy and Roger Eno in the mix. The Orb’s relationship with prog feels rather like Wire’s in that opposing factions, who might be seen as mutually exclusive, both claim the group as their own. In The Orb’s case their exploratory, long-form pieces, psychedelically-informed sonic palette and surreal British humour gives us the point of crossover between dance, electronica and prog. And as well as the musicians who contribute here, two of prog’s biggest guitarists have previously collaborated with them: Robert Fripp played with The Orb as FFWD in 1993 and David Gilmour featured on their 2010 album Metallic Spheres. “They peak at the cosmic breakbeats of Queen Of Hearts.” That said, the opening song, the soulful house number Daze – Missing & Messed Up…

Dev’s burger splurge, live and now on shiny plastic. Originally released in 2012, By A Thread: Live In London was the big, fan-friendly climax at the end of Devin Townsend’s bewildering, four-album, cheeseburger-themed concept splurge that began with the astonishing Ki in 2009 and ended with the blissful Ghost, two years later. Performing each of the albums in full, with lots of bonus encores thrown in, Townsend and his self-named Project were clearly revelling in the opportunity to play some challenging, dynamic music to an audience that clearly hung on every last note. The frontman’s endearing humility aside, these are all powerful ensemble performances, revealing both the endless invention in Townsend’s work and the spirit of goodwill to all men that glues these wild and disparate ideas together. Newly converted…

VENUE THE ROXY, HOLLYWOOD DATE 25/01/2020 A few years back, Mike Portnoy and Billy Sheehan founded an exciting new band with a virtuoso guitarist and gifted vocalist. They made a well-received debut album and toured the world aggressively to support it, then quickly recorded a solid follow-up before taking a second lap around the planet. Unfortunately, The Winery Dogs proceeded to abruptly tap the brakes on further laying the foundation for what – at least from the outside looking in – seemed like a promising future. Although the band temporarily regrouped in 2019 for a short US tour, it’s now been more than five years since the Dogs have released any new music, and at time of press, there’s no sign of that changing any time soon. Sons Of Apollo…

VENUE THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER DATE 10/02/2020 SUPPORT THE NEW DEATH CULT While bringing a stadium-styled lightshow for a tour through some of the UK’s more intimate venues may seem a little overkill, that extravagance is a dazzling representation of Wheel’s lofty ambitions. Green and blue lights beam upwards from the stage, illuminating a disco ball that’s hung above, and strobes pulsate behind the band’s four hooded silhouettes, making for a powerful, lasting image. With a performance that more than backs up their visual impetus, those ambitions feel more probable than hopeful now. The New Death Cult have only 30 minutes to convince the gathering throng that their anthemic, progressively tinted alt-rock is worth turning up early for, and they set about that task determinedly. Fresh faces on the scene…

Where’s home? I live in a tiny little village in north Yorkshire. Earliest prog memory? Sitting in a darkened room with my dad when I was about 10, listening to Rick Wakeman’s Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. First prog album you bought? My very first album was actually the soundtrack to Jaws, closely followed by The Dark Side Of The Moon. And the last? Fordlandia by Jóhann Jóhannsson. He was known for composing music for films like Arrival and Sicario, but this is a concept album he made in 2008. First prog gig? Pink Floyd’s The Wall tour at Earl’s Court in 1980. I’d just turned 16 and it completely rearranged my consciousness, and put me on the road that I’m still trundling along. And the latest? The…