Innehållsförteckning för Issue 86 från Prog

We’re now in an unprecedented age when major band anniversaries are coming thick and fast. Last month we doffed our cap to Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull. This month we celebrate 50 years of progressive pioneers Yes. A week from writing this I shall be compèring the fan day at London’s illustrious Palladium venue, where the band play both Saturday and Sunday. What an honour it will be, as it is to feature various members of Yes talking about some of the major moments of their career, which they also do in this very issue starting on page 40. You’ll see we chose to go with Chris Squire on the cover. With the release of a lovely deluxe edition of his 1975 solo album Fish Out Of Water, it seemed…

Getting hold of your magazine in Malta is always hit and miss. Yes, I know I could get a subscription, but the nature of my job means I can’t always ensure money is in my account. However, after today’s trip to hospital I managed to get hold of a copy of issue 84, which I am now reading. Once I got home from hospital I found to my joy that the Lifesigns CDs and a DVD had arrived at last. Prog mag and Lifesigns playing: such bliss. A large voddy to help remove the memory of where the probes went and I’m in heaven once more. Keep up the good work, Prog mag. We do have a thriving prog scene here in Malta (check out ‘Prog The Islands’ on Facebook)…

Kavus Torabi releases a three-track solo EP called Solar Divination via Believers Roast this April. It’ll coincide with a UK mini-tour. “When I was doing Gong last year, I had all these songs coming out with nowhere to go so I started writing this solo material,” he reveals. “Solar Divination has more of a subdued sound [compared to Knifeworld] but the songs are very much about love, death and loss. “The EP was written specifically for harmonium and guitar. It’s nice to be able to sing over something gentler and I can do a lot more with my voice.” Torabi has also confirmed that he’ll begin working on a new Knifeworld album later this year. “It’s going to be a very different approach,” he teases. “I’m very excited to see…

The Aaron Clift Experiment release If All Goes Wrong independently on May 4. Despite the negative title, vocalist and keyboard player Aaron Clift says it carries a message of perseverance against the odds. “This album was all about taking risks, learning to live with uncertainty, and ultimately coming out the other side triumphant,” he reveals. “It felt like a very dangerous title, [but] the more we thought about it, the more it felt right.” The hook-driven release takes them to even more melodic territories than before. “I wanted to make an album that didn’t pull any punches,” says bassist and co-writer Devin North, whose brother Dave (The Cuckoos) is one of several guest guitarists on the album. “The biggest influences were King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Queen, The Beatles – bands…

BLIPBLOX Many of us will have nostalgic memories of the Fisher-Price Activity Centre: the lurid plastic, the whirring and honking, the inexplicable tortoise. The Blipblox is faintly reminiscent of that classic toy, while also introducing innocent children to the beard-stroking world of sound synthesis. Three-year-olds tend not to have much understanding of what a low frequency oscillator is (I’m not sure myself, to be honest) but the important thing is that you can turn the Blipblox’s knobs at random to create a wealth of unexpected, squelchy sound. Just like a real synthesiser player. www.blipblox.com DJENT2018 Here we have an 18-string guitar, partly made of stone, courtesy of Ormsby Guitars of Western Australia. As magnificent an instrument as it is unplayable, it was custom built for Jared Dines, a YouTuber who…

On the menu: Tales Of Topographic Gumbo “I first got into cooking when I moved to New Orleans as a teenager. I loved the Cajun style seafood there so much that I decided to reverse engineer signature dishes like BBQ shrimp and seafood gumbo. Most restaurants outside of New Orleans don’t seem to get it right, so let me bring you some authentic N’arlins flavour wherever you are!” Ingredients (serves two) 180ml (¾ cup) vegetable oil, 125g (1 cup) white flour, 470ml (2 cups) water, 170g (1½ cups) chopped onions, 130g (¾ cup) chopped green peppers, 75g (¾ cup) chopped celery, 150g (1½ cups) chopped okra, 2 bay leaves, 1 tbsp gumbo filé, 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1½ tsp celery salt, 2 tsp Old Bay spice, 450g medium raw shrimp…

Time and time again, bands tell me that their latest album was recorded remotely. “We’re spread out all over the place,” they say. “It’s so much easier!” Long gone are the hefty advances and bottomless budgets that saw prog bands moving into studios for months, sometimes years, on end. These days, most prog albums are self-financed or crowd funded, so home studios and remote recording make sense both financially and geographically. And there are other advantages too. Remote recording offers the freedom to re-record sections without having to worry about cost or eye-rolling bandmates. In a genre where technical details play such an important role, such an approach provides progressive artists with the keys to perfection and the opportunity for some interesting collaborations. Take for example Steve Hackett’s The Night…

A CHRIS SQUIRE FISH OUT OF WATER BOX SET! What got us all grooving this month… Esoteric Recordings are releasing an official limited edition deluxe box set of Yes founder Chris Squire’s legendary 1975 solo debut Fish Out Of Water on April 27, and we have one to give away. The highlight of this set is a stunning new 5.1 surround sound mix (exclusive to this set on an NTSC/region-free DVD). There’s also a new stereo mix taken from the original multitrack master tapes by Jakko Jakszyk, and a new remaster of the original 1975 mix by Paschal Byrne. Fish Out Of Water also includes four bonus tracks of the single edits of Lucky Seven and Silently Falling, along with both sides of the 1981 single by Chris Squire and…

“Music forms a huge part of an identity and that’s a lifelong search for me. My biological family came to Australia from the UK and my mother had mental issues so I was taken away from her when I was three months old and given to a family in Wollongong, a steel town south of Sydney. It’s one of the better-looking steel towns in the world, and from your front yard you could always see a giant smokestack. I grew up loving metal and it’s no wonder – metal was in me. So much so that at school we’d have our blood tested regularly to check for industrial toxins. My early musical taste was Elvis and The Partridge Family and my first kind of rebellion was Kiss. Then I moved…

“I was influenced by many players from the 70s but Chris Squire was the number one geezer as far as I was concerned. He was where I saw my sound and where I wanted to go musically. I was aware of Fish Out Of Water when it first came out but I didn’t get a chance to hear it until sometime around 2005. I took it around on tour with me, listening to it almost like a piece of homework because I felt like it was one of those things that I had to get into. Hearing it initially, like most really good records, I knew it was going to take a bit of listening because it was quite dense. When I delved into it and got into the orchestration,…

A lthough time now flies past quicker than ever, it’s bewildering to calculate that Kino’s debut studio album, Picture, was released way back in February 2005 – that’s in the year 4BP (Before Prog magazine, obviously). With little in the way of a support system, those were dark times for a neo-prog group like Kino. Picture was purchased and enjoyed by fans of Marillion, whose bass player Pete Trewavas was at the heart of Kino’s operations, and also by those who retained a soft spot for It Bites, John Beck providing a feast of melodic keyboard playing. The presence of Chris Maitland, who was the drummer of Porcupine Tree and No-Man, rendered Kino more interesting still, though at the time John Mitchell (Arena, The Urbane) was perhaps the least recognisable…

“For sure. Floor is a prog masterpiece.” Sean Hollenhors “Never saw them as prog. More avant-garde pop with aspirations to the genre.” Marc Hughes “Lifelong fan, but would say intelligent, quirky pop/alternative more than prog.” Jimmy Fawcett “Of course they’re prog: they condensed the music of Yes into a brilliant one-minute song – Dallas (Trees). Okay, probably prog-in-reverse.” Mychael Gertsenberger “I’ve never really listened to them but I am listening to their song XTC Vs. Adam Ant now. It’s prog based on the subject alone.” Lawrence Chamberlain “Great band, prog in the sense that they are completely unafraid to experiment with musical styles… but not prog as we know it.” Kevin Gover “Prog like the Flaming Lips, which means very prog.” Brad Whitcomb “Delightfully eccentric.” Josephine Elliott “I agree with…

SATURDAY MAY 12 Trinity takes place at London’s Islington Assembly Hall. Doors open at midday. Curfew is at 11pm. Last Flight To Pluto Ghost Community Tin Spirits Touchstone Knifeworld Steve Rothery Band A charity raffle and auction will also take place on the day. TICKETS: Seated and standing tickets are available from £30 (plus booking fee) from www.seetickets.com/tour/trinity-live. LOCATION: This year’s Trinity Live takes place at the Islington Assembly Hall, Upper Street, London. The closest underground stations are Highbury And Islington (Victoria and Overground lines) and Angel (Northern line), both of which also run the Night Tube. Local buses 4, 19, 30 and 43 stop right outside the venue at the ‘Islington Town Hall’ bus stop. There’s no parking but drop-off is allowed at Islington Town Hall forecourt. DISABLED ACCESS:…

Eat The Elephant BMG Comeback album shows the enigmatic Tool offshoot are up to the tusk. Fourteen years is a long time. You could fit three-anda- half Donald Trump presidencies into that time, or half a Rick Wakeman keyboard solo. Fourteen years is how long it’s taken A Perfect Circle to produce their fourth studio album. The band – featuring enigmatic Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan and guitarist/backroom wizard Billy Howerdel – have always worked to their own internal clock, one which apparently stopped in 2004. Nearly a decade and a half after their last record, A Perfect Circle have finally emerged from the studio, blinking in the light of a strange and chaotic world. And it’s been worth the wait. “Tool wrestle you to the floor, APC are more…

Bobby Previte’s Rhapsody (Rarenoise) has the feel of an epic undertaking about it. A concept album about the experience of travel, it features elegant songs exquisitely voiced by Jen Shyu, rippling with intricate harp, rolling piano and chiming guitar (Zeena Parkins, John Medeski and Nels Cline respectively). Previte’s vision encompasses jazzy swing, meditative improv, surging Glass-like arpeggios and the astringent quasi-classicism of RIO settings. Keyboardist Dominique Vantomme’s Vegir (Moonjune) was recorded in 2016 but the long wait is most definitely worth it. Benefitting from King Crimson’s Tony Levin trademark bass, squalling guitar from Michel Delville and explosive grooving from drummer Maxime Lenssens, what is in truth a one-off session has all the force and power you’d expect from a long-established outfit with a supernatural empathy. Exuding a relaxed confidence that’s…

The weird and the wonderful are in no short supply this month. Weirdest of all are Bristol-based quartet The Evil Usses, who follow up 2016’s Amateur Pro Wrestling with mini-LP Muck (Stolen Body). Displaying all the fidgety restlessness of Cardiacs or Schnauser, they switch from wild instrumentals (Grouse) and off-centre jazztronica (American Cocker) to squidgy avant-psych with an almost total disregard for conventional song structures (Wellard J. Fowler). Equally striking is Hardly Strangers, the second studio effort from Psychic Markers (Bella Union). The London five-piece cook up a dizzying array of musical ideas, held together by loose lyrical abstractions. The electronic throb of Pyramids eases into a coasting motorik rhythm; The Moon Sits In Lonely Places is trippier, with spoken-word passages sliding across distorted ambience. A Place To Bury Strangers…

Rob Young & Irmin Schmidt FABER & FABER First definitive biography of Germany’s most magic band – with a twist. Since witnessing Can at full stratospheric throttle in February 1973, nothing has come close to that mindblowing display of spontaneous combustion as they gatecrashed dimensions rarely glimpsed in rock. Nobody seemed able to describe it either, until this first proper biography that not only reveals the band’s whole astonishing story, but manages to pinpoint their supernatural essence. Driven by extreme personalities colliding on a mutual mission to explore the unknown, Can were formed by classical composer-conductor and keyboardist Irmin Schmidt and electronics boffin bassist Holger Czukay, who recruited behemoth drummer Jaki Liebezeit, guitarist Michael Karoli and singers Malcolm Mooney and, later, Damo Suzuki. “Every page flaunts eyebrow-raising facts or trivia.”…

For neo-prog veterans Galahad, tonight is a night of many, many firsts. It’s their first live show in two-and-a-half years. It’s their first time in Southampton in over a quarter of a century. It’s their first performance with new guitarist Lee Abraham and returning bassist Mark Spencer. And, most importantly, it’s their first concert to promote their brand new record Seas Of Change. However, before the quintet can storm the Talking Heads and mount their massive onstage comeback, the dulcet acoustic tunes of Tiger Moth Tales’ Peter Jones begin proceedings. Armed only with a keyboard and guitar laid out in front, and a foot drum beneath him, Jones lays out a stripped-back yet charming 45-minute set. The performance is one dominated by sorrowful ballads taken from Tiger Moth Tales’ latest…

Disappointingly for artists and promoter alike, snow and Arctic temperatures have taken their toll on the show night, with a regrettably small turnout. But bravely throwing an impromptu set together, scratch duo The Two Of Us entertain with a collection of stripped-back Peter Gabriel covers – it’s not often you’re going to hear the likes of Humdrum, Secret World and Biko performed live in a small Hackney club! Given the weather, it’s slightly ironic that When Mary have made it all the way here from Norway. Now down to the core of singer Trude Eidtang and guitarist Christian Paulsen, liberal use of looping, triggered samples, heavy effects and backing tracks help to produce an enthralling sound that veers from the haunting and ethereal to rolling bombast. Drawing on their 7summers7winters…

When Gizmodrome take to the stage, it’s their first London appearance and only the third live performance in the band’s short history, but they’re greeted like returning heroes. It must help that the supergroup is composed of players with illustrious careers. Whether on guitar or drums, Stewart Copeland is the engine driving the band. He’s an intensely animated frontman, acting out the lyrics as he sings them. They’re still getting comfortable with the material. Guitarist Adrian Belew watches Copeland for cues, but the band blast through any hiccups. Luckily, they’ve got a superb rhythm section with Mark King on bass, Pete Ray Biggin splitting the drumming with Copeland, and Vittorio Cosma on keys. They open with Zombies In The Mall and the catchy Man In The Mountain. On Stay Ready,…

In this era of ‘post-truth’ and fake news, conviction is the most precious of commodities. From politicians to musicians, there’s a public backlash building against those who play fast and loose with sincerity. The heavier side of the music industry is especially guilty of leveraging the darker side of humanity to create their art. That’s why Orphaned Land, a prog metal outfit from Israel, feel like a breath of fresh air, despite having been around in one form or another for the last 17 years. In the hands of less accomplished musicians, their politically charged subject matter could seem overwrought. Tonight at The Underworld, they strike a balance between delivering their message of Middle Eastern unity and snapping riffs tinged with the folk music of their homeland. But as vocalist…

Since signing to Kscope in 2016, the former Mansun frontman has enjoyed a late-career resurgence. A tour in support of Spooky Action, his solo debut, received glowing praise. Tonight is the last night of his current tour, featuring a set of new material followed by the Mansun classic Attack Of The Grey Lantern in full. Many here have waited 20 years to see the man perform live again and they greet each new track like a long-lost friend. This is no nostalgia tour – it’s the return to duty of a much-loved British musician. Can-inspired funk underpins Grey House’s spiky new-wave guitar, and all manner of synth weirdness elevates these melodic rock songs to anthemic technicolour psychedelia. Fittingly for this Liverpudlian artist, it’s The Beatles’ Tomorrow Never Knows that springs…

Arguably Tangerine Dream’s most divisive album, Cyclone both alienated fans and was also one of the band’s better-selling albums. A line-up change in 1977 saw Klaus Krüger brought in on drums and Steve Jolliffe re-join after being in an early incarnation of the band. The latter added a variety of wind instruments and, controversially, also added vocals. The resulting album was probably the group’s most obviously progressive release and showed distinct influences from the likes of Pink Floyd and Hawkwind. Edgar Froese said of it: “We only had one record which was more or less unsuccessful… I haven’t listened to that record any more, and I never will.” Jolliffe has a lot more invested in the album, and 2018 sees him release a re-recording, for which tonight is the launch…

Let’s face it, back in the 1970s, few of us really thought we’d still be seeing our favourite bands out there on the circuit, and 50 years later, it can be a bit of a lottery. Voices fade, line-ups disintegrate and the music stagnates. Curved Air can be accused of just one of the above faults, and that sole quibble could be disputed. Sonja Kristina is the final remaining member of her band’s original line-up, which means not only are violinist Darryl Way and keysman Francis Monkman absent, but also drummer and fellow co-founder Florian Pilkington-Miksa, who departed last year. However, save for new skinsman Andy Tween, the remainder of the line-up can hardly been considered freshmen, having backed Kristina for a decade or thereabouts. Better still, Curved Air continue…

Where’s home? Lincolnshire, just south of the Humber Bridge. We’ve been here 17 years. Earliest prog memory? Listening to my older sister’s Vanilla Fudge records when I was eight. Mark Stein’s Hammond organ on songs like You Keep Me Hangin’ On got me hooked. First prog record bought? Fragile by Yes, around 1972, from a record shop called Williams in Darlington. I just loved that album – hearing Rick Wakeman’s keyboard parts was a real turning point for me. It made me realise this was what I wanted to do. First prog gig attended? My sister was the singer and keyboardist in a band called Nimrod Fisk they used to do a lot of Jethro Tull covers. I saw them play, and win, a battle of the bands contest in…

Esoteric are to release Colosseum II’s remastered War Dance on April 27. The band’s final album originally came out in 1977 and features Jon Hiseman, Gary Moore and Don Airey. It’s the first time it’s been released on CD in the UK. Hawkwind (left) have added another six UK dates to their sold-out orchestral tour. In Search Of Utopia – Infinity And Beyond will now stop at Leeds, Salford, Gateshead, Bath and Birmingham. An extra show has been added at the London Palladium on November 5.…

LONDON AND ROME-BASED duo The Z (pronounced The Zee) are continuing prog’s lifelong stance against corporate pop and its love of concept albums concerned with struggling in a distant sci-fi future on their ambitious debut album, People Of The Mirror World. Singer Zoot’s force-10 vocals recall the operatic psych of Grace Slick colliding with Nico, and they get Shocking Blue camp and stroke deeper erogenous zones on subterranean forbidden love song Laser Love. Meanwhile, Sebastian Wilde’s electric music for the mind and body charges Magic Ship and Heaven Is A Melody with panoramic influences including West Coast psych, early Brit prog, sci-fi elements and even Glitter Band drumming. Although the reclusive Zoot shuns interviews, Wilde carries the fevered passion of the prog evangelist as he declares: “The Z operate outside…

Starting his recording career as a backing vocalist on Roger Daltrey’s 80s albums, Londoner John Payne became better known as the singer and bassist who enabled Geoff Downes to extend the life of Asia throughout the 90s and beyond. When a reunion of the original Asia members brought his tenure to a close, he formed his own touring version of the band, as well as the short-lived GPS for an album and tour. Payne also used his flirtation with musical theatre in Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds as the inspiration for the successful Las Vegas show Raiding The Rock Vault. During a break in rehearsals for his occasional touring show The Rock Pack, Payne explains the history of the newly released album by another band he fronts: Dukes Of…

Yes. From the joyful, enabling positivity of their name onwards, for 50 years they have been welcoming fans across the globe into their wonderous universe, and by doing so, they remain one of the most loved of all prog groups. Even with the welter of personnel changes there have been across the years, there’s always been a tremendous cohesion to the brand, and one that has adapted with the times. Everything is part of a piece with Yes: the parallel universe they established with their expansive run of albums between 1970-1977; their blues and pop psych Soho roots; their rebirth in the 80s; and their constant presence from then to the present day, regardless of who exactly may be in the group. Although he tragically left us in 2015, founder…

“Ialways found it frustrating that Kino’s potential was never fulfilled. So much time had gone by and the first album was a decent seller for InsideOut. Had they made another album, they’d have become a much bigger name. But those guys had a great chemistry. Whether Picture sold 20,000 copies or less, that didn’t make a difference to me. It was a good album – so fucking get on with it and make another! “Of course the second album would have been better had John Beck had more time, but getting them back together was about seizing an opportunity. I think of Radio Voltaire as a jump cable – sometimes you need something to start the car. If the album makes certain people realise they should be much more involved,…

“After we finished Endless Forms Most Beautiful, I felt bland – I just didn’t feel like doing anything for Nightwish,” confides Tuomas Holopainen. It seems unbelievable, but after two decades of riding on the crest of a creative wave, the composer hit a dry patch. So it’s a relief to learn that after a two-year barren period, the ideas have come flooding back. “It’s a really funny thing and I can’t explain what happened, but to the day that Auri finished [the album], all the floodgates opened and I felt really enthusiastic about starting the next Nightwish album,” he reveals. “Since late September/early October, I’ve just been immersed in the new Nightwish album. I have the basic ideas for six songs at the moment and a whole bunch of ideas…

Richelieu’s Prayer (1991/2012) The eight-minute climax of the band’s 1991 debut album Nothing Is Written is a pianoled ballad that recalls late Fish-era Marillion, replete with the slightly dated guitar and keyboard sound, but the power of the songwriting is already shining through. The band re-recorded the track for 2012’s Beyond The Realms Of Euphoria, but there’s an affecting fragility to the original vocal, even if Nicholson had technically improved as a singer by the time it was revisited. Sleepers (1995) This is Galahad at their most atmospheric and unpredictable. One minute they channel powerful metal accompanied by sweeping strings, the next they sample Edith Piaf in a disorientating synth rock wilderness. They then build back up to an anthemic, optimistic arena rock crescendo, punctuated by Roy Keyworth’s riveting fret…

Àmr CANDLELIGHT/SPINEFARM A seventh portal to invention from the former black metal master. First impressions are curious things. Take Ihsahn, for example. Approach his music with one eye on his murky, black metal past as bandleader with the pioneering Emperor and you’d be mistaken for thinking that he had hooves, a tail and spent his downtime lunching on virginal flesh. Take his latest album cover too – a darkened room with a solitary chair that suggests Satan’s been sitting there and has only just popped to put out to put some hideous kettle on and plant his pitchfork in some poor soul. This, you’d think, weighing up the album in your hands, is what Beelzebub must work out to. “Bible-black notes and devilish, all-encompassing melodies.” Don’t get me wrong, Emperor’s…

The Age Of Insanity: Ad Vitam Aeternam BUMNOTE Twelfth Night man thrills with his nightmare visions. These are anxious times. Social media generates wonder, bile and confusion in equal measure. We’re told we live in a ‘post-truth’ age full of ‘alternative facts’. The C:Live Collective – led and curated by ex-Twelfth Night maestro Clive Mitten – reckon it’s time for a counterblast The Age Of Insanity is a prog state-of-the-nation address: a call to distinguish fact from fiction. “A nightmare vision that’s both beautiful and disturbing.” Mitten’s first new music for over 30 years is welcome and bracing, drawing directly on Twelfth Night’s classic Fact And Fiction. On that album, he and the late Geoff Mann practically predicted the troubled age we now live in. On The Age Of Insanity,…

Fly From Here – The Return Trip PLEDGEMUSIC Trevor Horn’s vocals replace Benoît David’s in a curious act of revisionism. In 2011, Yes released their first studio album in a decade, with Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White produced by Trevor Horn for the first time since 1987. Horn insisted on his Buggles buddy Geoff Downes being brought back to replace Oliver Wakeman, while Benoît David, plucked from a Canadian Yes tribute band in 2008 when Jon Anderson fell ill, handled lead vocals. The material was chiefly based on old demos from the Drama era, which had since appeared in part on a 2005 live Yes album and on a 2010 Buggles reissue. Got that? The history of Yes is a complex, confusing subject. We’ll be testing you later.…

Fish Out Of Water ESOTERIC Repackaged Yes-man classic, which redefined the role of bass players. When Yes decided, after touring 1974’s Relayer, to take nine months out to record solo albums, the results were largely fruitful: the astral whimsy of Jon Anderson’s Olias Of Sunhillow, the Brazilian rhythms and Moog squawks of Patrick Moraz’s The Story Of I, the guitar dexterity of Steve Howe’s Beginnings and, er, Alan White’s ropey Ramshackled. Arguably, Squire’s release was the best of the lot. It was already established that he was more than just “the bass player”, but the ambition of this record and its alchemy in turning bombast to beauty proved how vital he was to the Yes sound, his influence extending far beyond four strings. It confirmed that his voice, usually layered…

“What we do up here is a big, sexy rock’n’roll show,” says Steven Wilson. “But it’s like we’re the only people dancing at a party. We could hear our own footsteps as we walked on stage.” Wilson is faced with an audience well settled in comfortable seats, and he clearly wishes they weren’t. He wants people on their feet, and it’ll happen eventually, but more of that later. To be fair to the crowd, it doesn’t start like a party. The evening opens with a rather stern voice introducing a short film that plays on a gauze curtain strung up in front of the stage. A series of apparently unconnected images flash up. There are pictures of football violence and newborn babes, cowering families and CCTV cameras, ISIS fighters and…

Snowmaggedon has thankfully made a detour around the south coast, where prog’s pocket dynamo Alan Reed and his Daughters Of Expediency are powering up for the start of a three-date mini-tour. Supporting him are Reed’s French chums, Weend’ô, who usually inhabit the metal end of the prog spectrum. Playing here in acoustic mode, they’re hypnotising. Laetitia Chaudemanche casts magical musical spells through her exquisitely haunting voice and nuanced movements, joined by husband Térence Nguyen Van on guitars, and stand-in bassist Bruno Consolo. Reed’s in a bullish showman mood, donning a star-spangled jacket and shades as he hits the stage and whips up some audience participation for opener Begin Again. Buoyed by the release of a new live album, he and the band appear to be hot-wired into the National Grid,…

“Loads of you voted for your favourite songs… so we’d like to play you Enter Sandman!” Amplifier’s Sel Balamir is on top form tonight as he flips from crowd teaser to crowd pleaser in the blink of an eye. It’s the second night of the travelling showcase for his Rockosmos label and Amplifier’s first London gig in three years. It’s also satisfyingly sold out, despite the bad weather that has already resulted in the band postponing their Glasgow date. Balamir has clearly nailed a winning formula as the compact venue is almost at capacity by the time Awooga launch into their grungy riffs and fat soundscapes. A short but impressive opening set sees the Sheffield newcomers preview tracks from their melodic debut Conduit, including the moody Blue Rose, which takes…

With London encased in snow and ice, anyone hoping to find sanctuary from winter’s frigid grasp inside Heaven tonight finds only disappointment – it’s scarcely warmer within the venue than without. Even if most of the crowd opt to keep their heavy coats on, Arcane Roots get everyone moving, which helps fight off the chill. Half the set comes from their latest album, Melancholia Hymns, and the changing nature of their sound is borne out by the greater use of electronics and keyboards. Musically, there are progressive moments alongside post-hardcore and plenty of alternative influences – the loud/quiet/loud formula so beloved by the Pixies is almost ubiquitous in their arrangements. They open with Off The Floor, a slow burn that gradually works up to full boil, only to break up…

follow us on twitter.com/ progmagazineUK MARIUSZ DUDA @Marivsz_Riv We’ve just started recordings for the new, seventh Riverside album @riversidepl GANDALF’S FIST @gandalfsfist We’ve started our own record label! Please follow @NKeeperRecords for updates on our global domination! MIKE PORTNOY @MikePortnoy Exactly ONE YEAR AGO TODAY we were secretly in the studio creating @SonsOfApollo1 Psychotic Symphony… on that day it was @MaxPortnoy’s 18th birthday and we were writing a crazy instrumental… so we decided to name the song after him! Thus OPUS MAXIMUS was born. NICK BEGGS @NickBeggs Thank you Amsterdam. Always a joy to play for. TOMMY ROGERS @tommybtbam I like to imagine what my son’s friends imagine when he tells them that “my dad is in a band”. A lot of imagining going on. MARJANA SEMKINA @marjanasemkina Went to…

MOST PEOPLE WOULD be mortified if their dad showed a video of them performing in a school music production to a famous musician. But for Donna Zed, one fleeting moment of embarrassment kickstarted her music career. “My dad runs a music school, and Steven Wilson came to the meet-and-greet there four years ago,” remembers the softly-spoken 20-year-old. “I came by, we met, and then my father gave him a DVD of me performing on stage when I was 12. He actually looked at it!” She had nothing to be embarrassed about. So impressed was Wilson with her performance that she was his first choice to support him at his Zurich show in February. It was meant to be a one-off, but he ended up asking her to join him on…

(COLUMBIA, 1979) There always was an other-worldly feel to The Only Ones. To some extent it emanated from vocalist Peter Perrett, a poet who sounded like he was from the same planet as Peter Hammill. That quality was also emphasised by John Perry’s jarringly melodic, psychedelically dank guitar work. The band will always be known for the influential power pop single Another Girl, Another Planet, and for that reason, their self-titled debut album from the previous year gets a lot of attention. But this follow-up is a lot more demanding, experimental and compulsive. Imagine, if you can, XTC produced by Joe Meek while swimming in a swirl of Van der Graaf Generator’s ideas and you’re in the right dimension. This is so apparent on the downbeat haze of Inbetweens, which…

TesseracT (right) have announced a European headline tour this November with support from Between The Buried And Me. UK dates are still to come. Meanwhile, they release new album Sonder on April 20 via Kscope. Wire’s reissues campaign via Pink Flag begins on Record Store Day (April 21) with the 7-inch box set Nine Sevens. Special editions of Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, and 154 will be out May 18, with vinyl and standard editions following on June 22. Pendragon celebrate their 40th anniversary with three special extended shows in Europe this November. They’ll perform at London’s 229 (9), De Boerderij in the Netherlands (10) and at Z7 in Switzerland (11). Surprise guests are to be announced. Valis Ablaze’s debut Boundless is out via Long Branch on April 6. It follows…

Chris Squire is checking the time and he’s smiling. It’s long gone midnight, deep within St Paul’s Cathedral, where he’s watching recording engineer Gregg Jackman and a couple of assistants placing microphones and checking levels. Advising them as to the best spots within the vast, resonant building is Barry Rose, the newly appointed sub-organist who is about to play the third largest pipe organ in Europe. Joining Rose at the keyboard, Andrew Pryce Jackman, Gregg’s brother, goes over the details of the score he’s written as Rose adjusts his headphones. Looking upon this nocturnal activity, Squire recalls when he and the Jackman brothers were choristers at St Andrew’s Church in Kingsbury. They had been under the direction of Barry Rose, then their energetic choirmaster, and had even performed in this…

Yes were formed in the cauldron of London’s Soho, at a period when, musically, the pace of change seemed hourly. It was through the relationships with Jack Barrie – the owner of the Marquee and La Chasse drinking club at the heart of the rock milieu – that the group formed. Bassist Chris Squire and guitarist Peter Banks had been in The Syn, which they left to join Mabel Greer’s Toyshop. Accrington-born Jon Anderson had been in The Warriors. In early 1968, through the association with Jack Barrie, Anderson was recommended for the group. By May of that year, thanks to Banks, they had become Yes. Drummer Bill Bruford – who’d placed an ad in Melody Maker – had arrived, as had Leicester-born keyboard player Tony Kaye. They played their…

Purple Toupee, Fun Assassin, Hypnotist Of Ladies, Let Me Tell You About My Operation. All bands that played Bognor Psych Fest last year, yes? No! You’re reading the teensiest sample of 35 years of songtitles written by two men in one magic, manic act. The men are both Johns – Linnell on vocals, keyboards, accordion and woodwinds; and ‘Flans’ Flansburgh on vocals, guitars and ‘etcetera’ – and the act is They Might Be Giants. Unless you lived under a rock in 1990 (or weren’t alive at all), you’ll need just the merest hint of their effervescent smash Birdhouse In Your Soul to be floored by its art pop stomp earworm. Ten years later they’d deliver another stuck-song anthem thanks to a popular TV sitcom, but let’s address why they’re appearing…

Saison 8 L’ABEILLE RÔDE A fertile season for the French masters. Back in the Middle Ages, lazuli stone provided artists with the rarest and most precious pigment. Its ultramarine blue was reserved for only the most exalted and beautiful cloth. If modern-day French proggers Lazuli have cut a slightly different sartorial look to their medieval forebears – one that’s more dreadlocky, at the very least – over the past 20 years, you could say that they’ve consistently produced rare and precious tones. “Lazuli display all the chops we’ve come to expect from them.” The title of their eighth album, Saison 8, might equally refer to a parallel marking of seasons of the year or the latest series of a long-running TV show. This complexity is borne out in the music.…

Vortex INSIDEOUT Spanish instrumental quartet’s fifth tells a good tale without words. Not every band wants to join a party that would have them as a member. Vocal-free Madrid fourpiece Toundra evidently see themselves ploughing a similarly impressionistic furrow to Mogwai’s quiet-loud noisescapes and Explosions In The Sky’s post-rock ethereal sounds, but their sprawling, free-form song structures, juddering rhythms and taste for epic sonic vistas and meandering musical journeys suggest there’s a sizeable dollop of prog on their artistic palette. They may still be determined to Let Their Music Speak For Itself, clad in black jeans and T-shirts and with no vocals or visual focal point, but after four albums (eponymous debut, II, III and IV), this time they have at least waxed lyrical by their own standards and given…

During his five-year tenure with The Enid, Joe Payne helped breathe fresh life into their illustrious career. He’s solo now, and his first single I Need A Change (www.thatjoepayne.com) is dramatic, symphonic and almost classical-crossover in parts. Set to reverberating choirs and strings, his clear, powerful voice soars through the keys with ease as he articulates his recent battle with depression and anxiety. It’s not the most immediate piece, but it becomes all the more engrossing with the required repeat listens. This bodes very well for the album that’s currently in the works. Payne is just one of the talents on the debut album from multi-instrumentalist John Holden. Capture Light (www.johnholdenmusic.com) also features Tiger Moth Tales’ Pete Jones and Mystery’s Jean Pageau, plus Billy Sherwood and Oliver Wakeman. With a…

Forever Changes: 50th Anniversary Edition RHINO The eighth wonder of the world is among us once again. To mark its half century, Forever Changes, the most mysterious but dazzling jewel in prog’s early history, manifests in its most expansive incarnation yet. Over multiple formats, it now has five versions, including original producer Bruce Botnick’s latest remastering, largely familiar out takes and attendant singles; all in hardcover book. As shown by the original mono version (on CD for the first time), Love’s third album was already a work of untouchable beauty when released in 1967. A week later, the Moody Blues’ Days Of Future Passed arrived as a more obvious example of psych pop and classical orchestration. Even that landmark often sounds like lavishly presented amateur dramatics next to the luminous…

“The North Sea in March? Are you mad?” is what everyone said to your correspondent whenever they discovered this writer is attending the UK’s inaugural floating progfest. Throw The Beast From The East and Storm Emma into the mix, and one has to express surprise that The Spirit Of Rotterdam (“It’s a ship, not a boat,” we’re stiffly corrected on embarkation) even managed to set sail. Yet there are blue skies in Hull (surely a first) when we arrive, and things remain relatively pleasant, if cold, for the duration of the weekend. There are some casualties, though. Comedy Of Errors can’t get down from Scotland, and a mix of the bad weather and the UK’s dire transport network curtails a few fans too. True, not everything goes to plan. We…

Few progressive rock pioneers endure like Steve Hackett, whose newer works often match both his outstanding first solo recordings and his stunning work in the 1970s with Genesis. Naturally, his recent concerts serve as great testaments to this longevity, and his recent stint at the regal yet hospitable Scottish Rite Auditorium is no exception. Offering selections from last year’s The Night Siren, as well as plenty of remarkably reproduced older classics, Hackett and his band delight devotees with nostalgic gems that further cement his place as one of the genre’s true masters. The first hour of the show consists almost entirely of solo material, including three tracks from The Night Siren – Behind The Smoke, El Niño and In The Skeleton Gallery – all of which literally shake the room…

It isn’t often a supergroup perform at a bar in the middle of nowhere, but that’s precisely what happens on a cold, snowy night in Michigan when the newly formed prog metal band Sons Of Apollo take to the stage in Battle Creek, delivering songs from their debut album Psychotic Symphony. The band are as talented as they come, with a seriously impressive line-up consisting of drum legend Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), guitarist Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal (Guns N’ Roses), keyboardist Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Black Country Communion), bassist Billy Sheehan (David Lee Roth, Winery Dogs) and singer Jeff Scott Soto (Yngwie Malmsteen, Journey). The show begins with God Of The Sun, where the chops of all the members are immediately on display. Bumblefoot utilises a double-neck guitar and his style…

Pressure? What pressure? This might be the show that sees the re-emergence of the one-time Enid vocalist, but the man himself is showing none of the edginess and concern you might have expected. Still, it does help that Payne has chosen his home town in which to stage this landmark occasion. It’s clear he has a lot of old friends in the crowd, keen to encourage him. However, Payne never displays any signs of being in a comfort zone. After more than a year away from the spotlight, he’s determined to prove he can make an impact in his own right, without relying on past connections. There has always been a theatrical nuance to Payne’s stage presence. But whereas previously he had to sublimate this to the needs of The…