It's been a fairly quiet transfer window in the Prog world this summer, with no major comings or goings, until this evening, when RPWL's German bass player Chris Postl became their ex-bass player.
Chris, who released his solo Parzivals Eye album last year, posted the following blog on his MySpace page:
Dear RPWL Fans
Due to artistic and big human differences I want to let you know that I am no longer part of the RPWL machinery.
I would like the chance to say good bye to you.
I never expected that the relationship to the members of the band reach such a low bottom and smiles can be so double-faced.
This was not an easy step. But after all those personal and musical disappointments over the last year(s) there is only a pale feeling of contempt left for how people in this band are acting.
I like to thank all friends of this music that I met over the years and hope to see you again somewhere somehow.
Mick Pointer's Script in "So here they tour once more" shocker!
Arena's drummer Mick Pointer will be taking his Script mates back out on the road again this year. The band, which also features Nick Barrett (Pendragon), Mike Varty (Credo), Ian Salmon (Arena) and Brian Cummings (Carpet Crawlers), will be playing the Script album as well as other Marillion tunes from the era at the Bergkeller in Reichenbach, Germany on Friday 24th September and at the Musictheater Rex, Lorsch, Germany on Saturday 25th.
Then, in October, they'll be up in Norway at the John Dee in Oslo on 15th October, while in December they'll be Christmassing it up at De Pul in Uden and at De Boerderij in Zoetermeer on the 17th & 18th December, on what is already being called "A Weekend In Holland"!
Arena are back with three dates and some new material
Stockbroker proggers Arena are back with a whistle and a bang. And a short too. The band, featuring the talents of Clive Nolan and Mick Pointer will be playing their only UK date this year at The Peel, London on Friday, 12th November. After that, they'll be hopping over to Europe to play at De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands on Saturday 13th and at pROCKclub in Spenge, Germany on Sunday 14th.
Rumours have it that Clive has been writing new material recently, and the band will be peppering these dates with some of this new stuff!
Steve Wilson documentary to get "special screenings"
Insurgentes, Lasse Hoile's film about Steven Wilson, is released on DVD by Kscope on 27th September and is now available to pre-order from the Kscope store. The first 2000 come with an exclusive free gift if you order it online via Kscope/Burning Shed.
The DVD can be ordered from the Burning Shed store.
Prior to the DVD release there will be a special screenings of the film in the Prince Charles Cinema at London’s Leicester Square on September 2nd and at the IFC Center in New York on September 21st. Steven will be at both screenings and will be available to answer questions from the audience about the film during a Q&A session which will follow the film. He will be joined by Lasse at the New York screening.
A limited number of tickets for these special evenings are available to purchase from www.princecharlescinema.com (London) and Burning Shed (New York). Tickets for London cost £10 (+75p booking fee) and tickets for New York cost $15.
The 2 disc set comes packaged in a digibook with a 65 page booklet featuring photography by Lasse and Carl Glover, Steven’s long-time art collaborator, in a hard slip case. The second disc features a host of extras including a 31 minute film of Bass Communion and Pig live in Mexico City, the promo video for Harmony Korine, two trailers, 6 audio out-takes from the album recording sessions and more. The film is subtitled in Spanish, French, German, and English and the sound mixed is in stereo and 5.1 surround sound.
Progs smallest band, Tinyfish will be launching their new album, The Big Red Spark, with a special gig in London next month.
The gig will be at The Luminaire in Kilburn High Road on Saturday September 10th, and tickets are on sale now for £10 (+ 50p booking) from www.theluminaire.co.uk. Classic Rock Society members can get their advance tickets for £8 (see www.classicrocksociety.co.uk) while mere mortals can gain entry for just £12 on the door.
Support comes from former Frost and Darwin's Radio front man Declan Burke's new band Destroy All Monsters.
More info on the Tinyfish boys on their website at www.tinyfish.org
Polish prog legends, SBB have returned to the studio to work on their new album, tentatively titled Blue Trans. The band, consisting of composer Józef Skrzek, guitarist Apostolis Anthimos and drummer Gabor Nemeth, plan to release the new album this autumn via Metal Mind Productions.
The band, who formed in 1971 as Silesian Blues Band, are currently working in the ResRublica Studios in Lubrza, with producer Sebastian Witkowski, who produced their previous album Iron Curtain in 2007.
Panic Room (vocalist Anne-Marie Helder, right) follow up their splendid appearance at this years Cambridge Rock Festival by announcing a short UK tour in September. The five-piece will be playing the following dates:
Thursday 9th September - O2 ABC 2, Glasgow Friday 10th September - O2 Academy 2, Sheffield Saturday 11th September - The Met, Bury Sunday 12th September - The Wharf, Tavistock Wednesday 15th September - The Stables, Milton Keynes Thursday 16th September - Mr Kyps, Poole Friday 17th September - O2 Academy 2, Islington Saturday 18th September - The Duchess, York Sunday 19th September - Robin 2, Bilston, Wolverhampton
Panic Rooms Cambridge gig saw the debut of Yatim Halimi on bass, standing in after former basser Alun Vaughn decided to leave the band.
To coincide with the October 11th release of Steve Lukather’s new album All’s Well That Ends Well, Steve Lukather is offering fans a chance to buy exclusive V.I.P. tickets to his November UK tour. The dates include London O2 Academy (Nov 18), The Robin 2 in Wolverhampton (Nov 19) and The Brook in Southampton (Nov 20).
There are 25 V.I.P. tickets up for grabs for each concert. The package includes a 30-minute meet and greet, a V.I.P. pass for early entry to the concert, a signed limited edition digibook album, autographed tour poster, exclusive tour T-shirt, and an opportunity to watch the sound check.
Black Country Communion's debut single available as free MP3 download
Black Country Communion, the English-American rock supergroup featuring vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Trapeze), drummer Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin), keyboardist Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater) and blues rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa, have today posted a free MP3 download of their debut single One Last Soul on their official website.
The song will be featured on the bands highly anticipated debut album released in the UK/Europe by Mascot Records on 20th September, followed by 21st September North American release on the J&R Adventures label. Produced and mixed by Kevin Shirley (Black Crowes, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin), the album was mastered by legendary Bob Ludwig, and recorded at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California.
Recently premiered on the UK’s leading classic rock radio station Planet Rock, “One Last Soul” has become one of the station’s most requested songs of 2010.
Sheffield proggers Haze have been around for many a year now, playing their brand of folky-prog to an appreciative audience in wherever place they have found themselves playing in. Earlier this year, that place was Lecco, Italy when they played at Lofficina Della Music. The gig was filmed and has now been edited and mixed and stuff, and is available on DVD. The track Survive has been put up onto YouTube as a sort of a promo thing:
The dvd, which runs for two hours, costs £12 (inc p&p) from 25 Fir Street, Sheffield, S6 3TG, or online from Gabadon Music. Also available is a double CD-R of the gig, with a bonus track, "The Night" taken from the bands Italian tour in 2000 - they had been intending to play this on "the night", but ran out of time! The CD-R is £8 (or £6 if ordered at the same time as the DVD)
Northern proggers DeeExpus are working hard on the follow up to last years Half Way Home release. The bands new album will be called The King Of Number 33, and the artwork (left/right) has been done by Gavin Mayhew, a close personal friend of the band.
Guitarist Andy Ditchfield said: "The band would like to thank Gavin so much for this Painting, which he literally did for a 'song'. If you get a moment, stop by his website, he's an incredibly tallented guy and there really is something there for everyone."
The band are hoping to have something from the album up online soon. Andy and vocalist Tony Wright are working on the title track, whilst another track, Maybe September is "proving to be a stormer"!
Portuguese proggers Factory Of Dreams to appear on "Gothic Visions Vol 2" compilation
Portuguese/Swedish Prog Goth metal act Factory of Dreams has issued the following announcement about contributing a track to the upcoming Gothic Visions Volume II compilation:
Factory of Dreams are proud to announce that they'll be part of Gothic Visions Volume II (CD + DVD) with both a song and video clip. So, grab your hands on this fab compilation this October! After last year's first release of the Gothic Visions CD + DVD Special Edition compilation Echozone will release the second one in October of this year. The Gothic Visions is produced in cooperation with the underground magazine Crawling Tunes and other media partners.
The release will be fully promoted within the campaigns starting from August to November of 2010 and will be featured in advertisements, reviews plus featured on online radio and TV shows. The new edition includes a full packed audio CD, a DVD with more than three hours of music plus more than three hours of video clips, live performances, gothic visuals, etc.
Legendary space rockers Hawkwind will embark on a major UK tour in December 2010 in support of their new studio album Blood of the Earth.
The nationwide tour consists of 13 dates. Tickets are priced at £20, are available from the National Credit Card Hotline 0871 2301101 or can be ordered from www.seetickets.com. The tour kicks off at the Holmfirth Picturedome on Friday December 3rd. Support for all dates comes from UK rockers The Jokers.
In addition to the UK tour, Hawkwind will appear at HAWKFEST 2010 next month, which returns to Afton Farm on the Isle Of White. Curated by the members of Hawkwind, Hawkfest takes place between August 27th and 29th. Hawkfest originally came about after the breakdown of the free festival movement in the mid to late 1980's. The band felt that major festivals had lost what made them great. Gone was the intimate, carnival atmosphere and the colourful characters, only to be replaced with huge-scale commercialism.
Wanting to get back to the roots of what made festivals so enjoyable, Hawkwind constructed a family friendly event where children could play and explore, whilst parents watched great music, safe in the knowledge that the kids would be safe. Tickets are priced at £70, for further info visit www.hawkfest.com.
Hawkwind Tour Dates:
Friday 3rd December - Holmfirth Picturedrome
Saturday 4th December - Glasgow O2 ABC
Sunday 5th December - Newcastle O2 Academy
Monday 6th December - Lincoln Engine Shed
Wednesday 8th December - Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
Thursday 9th December - Worthing Assembly
Friday 10th December - Liverpool O2 Academy
Saturday 11th December - Manchester Academy
Sunday 12th December - Salisbury City Hall
Tuesday 14th December - Bristol O2 Academy
Wednesday 15th December - Bedford Corn Exchange
Thursday 16th December - Oxford 02 Academy
Friday 17th December - London HMV Forum
Lee Abraham gives away free The Lee Abraham Band track
Big Lee Abraham, the former Galahad basser, has been generous enough to make his song Pictures In The Hall available as a free download from his website
The track is a new 2010 The Lee Abraham Band recording of the title track of his 2004 solo album Pictures In The Hall, and features the talents of Sean Filkins on vocals, Rob Arnold on pianoey things, the posh sounding Christopher James Harrison on guitars and Gerald Mulligan on drums. Bad boy Lee does the rest himself, while Rob Aubrey twiddles knobs. As always.
The Lee Abraham Band will be supporting Brummie proggers IOEarth at The Peel on July 31st, in what will surely be a night to remember!
New download only single by Art Of Infinity released on August 20th
German Art-proggers Art Of Infinity are set to release the single Cosmic Rain (Radio Edit) via various online retailers on August 20th. The bands press release says:
With “Cosmic Rain (Radio Version)“ German music group Art Of Infinity internationally release one of their most successful compositions as an official download single.
With her magical voice guest singer Antje Schulz takes the listener on a musical trip to a cosmic world, wherefrom the beauty of our planet appears.
“Cosmic Rain (Radio Version)“ is timeless Space Pop made in Germany. This is music for people all over the world. (BSC Music, 2010)
The band are also featured on Fireworks Magazine June/July issue cover CD, the chosen track being Utopia (UK Edit). The original 18 minute track was on the bands 2008 release Endless Future. You can hear Utopia (UK Edit) on Art Of Infinity's MySpace page.
The Reasoning release "Acoustically Speaking" via Bandcamp.com
Welsh proggers The Reasoning have released their latest album, Acoustically Speaking on the increasingly popular Bandcamp website.
The 9 track album, which contains acoustic versions (obviously) of tracks from the bands first three albums, is going for a fiver. As with pother Bandcamp releases, you can choose your preferred quality, from the lossless FLAC to the popular 320k, via the obscure OGG and others.
Silhobbit hope to see more bands taking control of their music and royalties by using sites such as Bandcamp, rather than the stiffling iTunes!
Notorious underground journalist/musician Ryan Bartek unleashes his entire discography as a free download
…the following is a statement from Mr. Bartek: “In the spirit of ‘Independence Day,’ I hereby offer my entire discography for free -- no strings, no catch, no shoddy I-Tunes wrangling -- 6 albums, one book and the legendary “Pan-Tribal Socialist Manifesto". This includes…
A.K.A. Mabus – “Lord of the Black Sheep” (LP, 15 Tracks: 2006) Sasquatch Agnostic – “Complete Mammalography" (3 EP’s & 41 Tracks: 2007-2009) Jack Cassady – “The Real Man In Black” (LP, 14 Tracks; 2008)
& PDF files of the classically cult “The Big Shiny Prison” (2010) and “The Pan-Tribal Socialist Manifesto” (2006)
“Before I continue further, let it be known that any missing items will be released later this year, including the cult underground film Dadbot: The Motion Picture (2004) and a reissue of my first book The Silent Burning (2005) on 9/11/2010.
Currently I am in the Northwest (PDX, USA) working on two new records (Jack Cassady & Sasquatch Agnostic) and preparing for the European sequel of “The Big Shiny Prison” which will take place Summer 2011 alongside a guerilla acoustic tour. Any interested parties please contact me in terms of me interviewing you for this book or simply weird avenues for me to explore, odd people to meet, etc.
I’ve never been to Europe and simply cannot wait. Even if it’s a one-way ticket & a passport, I’m showing up next year. To hell with starvation – I want Paris…
Former Pallas singer Alan Reed announces debut solo release
Alan Reed - for 25 years the vocalist with Scots progressive rock band Pallas - is delighted to announce his debut release as a solo artist.
C'est La Vie is a Greg Lake song specially recorded for the forthcoming Emerson, Lake and Palmer tribute CD The Endless Enigma to be given away free with the next issue of Classic Rock presents Prog magazine. It features Alan's unique voice and 12-string guitar alongside the spectacular piano playing of Mike Stobbie, also a former member of Pallas.
Alan said: "When I heard about 'Prog' magazine's ELP project I immediately thought of this song, as it's one I've always loved playing. I persuaded Mike that we should take time out from working on my forthcoming solo album to see what we could make of it. I'm very pleased with the results."
Alan and Mike continue to work on the album - tentatively entitled HomeGrown - which encompasses a range of styles from Celtic-folk to progressive rock.
You can keep up to date with the latest developments, including studio video reports, at Alan's 'official' Facebook page.
YouTube of the Week - The Pineapple Thief "Nothing at Best"
Yeovil based proggers The Pineapple Thief have been around for a decade or so and have just released their latest album Someone Here Is Missing through KScope Records. This is the bands third release on the post-progressive label following 2008's Tightly Unwound and last years retrospective 3000 Days double album and to help promote it, they have released the track Nothing Is Best as a single. The film noir-esque video, as can be seen below, was directed by Arnfinn Moseng and Negar Bagheri and combines 2D animation techniques with live action special effects.
Summer's End announce full line-up and ticket sales
The team behind the hugely successful Summer's End Festival have announced the full line up of this years festival, to be held once again at the Town Hall in Lydney, Gloucestershire over the weekend of 8th - 10th October.
Friday 8th October
The Defence of the Realm with 3Js and a P (featuring Jem Godfrey, John Mitchell and Pete Trewavas)
Tinyfish
Unto Us
Saturday 9th October
An evening with Karmakanic and Agents of Mercy
Unitopia
Ark
Dead Heroes Club
Sunday 10th October
The Watch
Sylvan
Phideaux
TBC
Multifuse
Hot News
It's been a fairly quiet transfer window in the Prog world this summer, with no major comings or goings, until this evening, when RPWL's German bass player Chris Postl became their ex-bass player.
Arena's drummer Mick Pointer will be taking his Script mates back out on the road again this year. The band, which also features Nick Barrett (Pendragon), Mike Varty (Credo), Ian Salmon (Arena) and Brian Cummings (Carpet Crawlers), will be playing the Script album as well as other Marillion tunes from the era at the Bergkeller in Reichenbach, Germany on Friday 24th September and at the Musictheater Rex, Lorsch, Germany on Saturday 25th.
Stockbroker proggers Arena are back with a whistle and a bang. And a short too. The band, featuring the talents of Clive Nolan and Mick Pointer will be playing their only UK date this year at The Peel, London on Friday, 12th November. After that, they'll be hopping over to Europe to play at De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands on Saturday 13th and at pROCKclub in Spenge, Germany on Sunday 14th.
Progs smallest band, Tinyfish will be launching their new album, The Big Red Spark, with a special gig in London next month.
Polish prog legends, SBB have returned to the studio to work on their new album, tentatively titled Blue Trans. The band, consisting of composer Józef Skrzek, guitarist Apostolis Anthimos and drummer Gabor Nemeth, plan to release the new album this autumn via Metal Mind Productions.
Panic Room (vocalist Anne-Marie Helder, right) follow up their splendid appearance at this years Cambridge Rock Festival by announcing a short UK tour in September. The five-piece will be playing the following dates:
To coincide with the October 11th release of Steve Lukather’s new album All’s Well That Ends Well, Steve Lukather is offering fans a chance to buy exclusive V.I.P. tickets to his November UK tour. The dates include London O2 Academy (Nov 18), The Robin 2 in Wolverhampton (Nov 19) and The Brook in Southampton (Nov 20).
Black Country Communion, the English-American rock supergroup featuring vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Trapeze), drummer Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin), keyboardist Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater) and blues rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa, have today posted a free MP3 download of their debut single One Last Soul on their official 
Northern proggers DeeExpus are working hard on the follow up to last years Half Way Home release. The bands new album will be called The King Of Number 33, and the artwork (left/right) has been done by 
Portuguese/Swedish Prog Goth metal act Factory of Dreams has issued the following announcement about contributing a track to the upcoming Gothic Visions Volume II compilation:
Legendary space rockers Hawkwind will embark on a major UK tour in December 2010 in support of their new studio album Blood of the Earth.
Big Lee Abraham, the former Galahad basser, has been generous enough to make his song Pictures In The Hall available as a free download from his 
German Art-proggers Art Of Infinity are set to release the single Cosmic Rain (Radio Edit) via various online retailers on August 20th. The bands press release says:
Welsh proggers The Reasoning have released their latest album, Acoustically Speaking on the increasingly popular 
Notorious underground journalist/musician Ryan Bartek unleashes his entire discography as a free download
Alan Reed - for 25 years the vocalist with Scots progressive rock band Pallas - is delighted to announce his debut release as a solo artist.
