In a shock announcement on their website, Canadian progress Saga have welcomed former singer Michael Sadler back onto the fold.
Official Announcement!
To put all the rumours to rest
We are happy to officially announce that
Michael Sadler is once again the Singer and Frontman in Saga!!
The new studio CD and tour news with Michael will be up very soon!
Former new singer Rob Moratti will be working on his solo album.
Saga are now working on the follow up to 2009's The Human Condition.
Sadler has also released a statement, which can be read at www.sagaontour.ca
The band have also announced their first shows of 2011: Sunday 19 June - Spirit of Rock Festival, Winterthur, Switzerland Wednesday 22 June - Hedon, Zwolle, Netherlands Thursday 23 June - de Pul, Uden, Netherlands Friday 24 June - Rock the Nation Festival, Loreley, Germany Saturday 25 June - Rock the Nation Festival, Dessau, Germany Sunday 26 June - Kieler Woche, Kiel, Germany Wednesday 29 June - Amager Bio, Copenhagen, Denmark Friday 1 July - Ritterhude, Germany Saturday 2 July - Pyras, Germany
Everybody knows that Blackfield are bloody brilliant, and their albums "I" and "II" are up there with the best albums in the world, let alone prog rock. Their third album "Welcome to my DNA" is released on the 28th March, and this is a snippet from "Glass House", the opening track.
You can pre-order the album from Burning Shed here
Paul Menel finally "comes back" with a new band, tour and album
Former IQ vocalist and frontman Paul Menl is back! The vocalist, who sung with the band on their two most commercial albums, Nomzamo and Are You Sitting Comfortably, has been hard at work on a new album, Three Sides To Every Story.
Now Paul is ready to take to the road. He's assembled a band with basser John Jowitt, guitarist Steve Harris, Ian Diment (keyboards), Bill Devey (drums) and Mat Taylor (saxophone / flute) and has announced a five date mini tour of Europe.
You can catch Three Sides... live at the following venues: Saturday 29 January - The Peel, Kingston Upon Thames, London Thursday 10 February - Das Rind, Ruesselsheim, Germany Friday 11 February - B-hof, Wurzburg, Germany Saturday 12 February - De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands Sunday 13 February - Spirit of 66, Verviers, Belgium
Paul says the set lists for this tour will be made up of about 75% material from his time in IQ, and some new tracks.
Progmeister Festival brings Prog to the people of Hartlepool
The Progmeister Festival is a new one day festival, which is being held at The Studio in Hartlepool, on Saturday 26th March. The event, which is being headlined by the magnificent Guy Manning, features a further six bands and only costs £17.50
Also on the bill are Retrogenesis / So Gabriel, Dec Burke, John Hackett & Nick Magnus, Glacier, Mog and openers Manir Donaghue.
I know absolutely nothing about this band, but Silhobbit reader Gerard Schiltz pointed me in the direction of this clip yesterday, and I loved it. This is Luxembourgish proggers Angelus Novus and their video for "Seasons", from 1979. This is reportedly the first video from a Luxembourg band ever, in the world.
Pallas release bonus track "Atlantean" ahead of XXV release
Scottish proggers Pallas are certainly gearing up for the release of their new XXV album, due on January 24th. The band, who have already made a radio edit of Monster and a Calendar downloadable for free, are now offering a demo of the track "Atlanean", also for free. This track was intended as the album opener, as it pulls together musical threads from the The Sentinal album. However, the album actually opens with the rockier Falling Down
To get your own copy of the download, head on over to www.pallasxxv.com mucho pronto!
Swedish metaliproggers Katatonia to play special London show
To celebrate their 20th anniversary, the Swedish masters of melancholy, Katatonia will play five very special European shows this May, including one UK show in London. The band will perform two sets at each show; the first set will see the band play Last Fair Deal Gone Down front to back - the album that put them firmly on the musical map. The second set will consist of a mixed set of carefully picked songs from their extensive catalogue. In its entirety the show will be well over two hours of live music.
The show will be filmed for a future DVD release.
Tickets for the show at Koko, on the 8th May, are available from www.seetickets.com
The full dates are: Wednesday May 4, 2011 - Kulturfabrik, Luxembourg, Luxembourg Thursday May 5, 2011 - Stollwerck, Cologne, Germany Friday May 6, 2011 - Koko, London Saturday May 7, 2011 - De Kade, Zaandam, Netherlands Sunday May 8, 2011 - Alhambra, Paris, France
Peter Gabriel returns to London for two intimate gigs
Prog God and Legend, Sir Peter Gabriel has announced a couple of gigs at the intimate (for him) Hammersmith Apollo. The dates, which coincidentially are the 23rd and 24th March 2011, will feature Gabriel, backed only by an orchestra, performing tracks from his own back catalog.
The dates have been arranged to allow the concerts to be filmed for what could possibly be a 3D "New Blood" film.
Top Pink Floyd tribute act, Think Floyd have announced their sping 2011 dates. The band will be playing at: Saturday January 29 - Pacific Road Arts Centre, Birkenhead Friday February 4 - Corn Exchange, Bourne Friday February 11 -Robin 2, Bilston Saturday February 19 - Arts Centre, Pontardawe Friday March 4 - Harlequin Theatre, Redhill Saturday 12 March - The Stables, Milton Keynes Thursday 17 March - Komedia, Bath Friday 18 March - Town Hall, Seaton Wednesday 23 March - Orchard Theatre, Dartford
The band will also be playing at this years Rhodes Rock 2011 in June. Details of this tribute act heaven can be found at www.classicrocktours.com
Galahad basser Neil Pepper to undergo cancer surgery
Silhobbit would like to join everyone else in wishing Galahad's bass player Neil Pepper a big old "Good Luck" for Monday, when he goes into hospital in Bristol to undergo cancer removal surgery.
Neil expects to be in hospital for two to three weeks.
Italian proggers Syndone return after 18 years in the wilderness
PRESS RELEASE:
Melapesante is the new record by the historic prog band Syndone who, with a renovated line-up, dedicate their third album to apples. Led by the eclectic composer Nik Comoglio, who in 2009 received many positive feedbacks from audience and critics alike with Acqueforti, Syndone list in 10 chapters all the appearances of apples in history and literature: from Adam and Eve to Wilhelm Tell, from Magritte to Newton, they all come back to life in the best prog rock atmospheres.
For their third album the band – in Nik Comoglio’s words – has focused on “creating the most original music we could, because I think that being original in music comes from the band, from a synergy of minds with as much cultural baggage as possible, each of them giving according to how much they have been assimilating in their past careers”. With Melapesante we can hear a mature and artistically complete work: the attention for how it sounds, the vintage instruments and the mastering made in the famous Abbey Road studios in London contribute to make this record full of surprises.
Crimson Sky celebrate Xmas at The Peel with some Twelfth Night
Bristol proggers Crimson Sky will be playing a special gig at The Peel on Sunday 19th December. The gig, which will start at 6pm and finish at 9:30, will be London proggers first chance to see the band with new singer Janey Summer (although South-Westians will be able to catch them at the 12 Bar in Swindon, on December 8th).
The band will be supported by Clive Mitten and Andy Sears of prog heroes Twelfth Night and is the last action of what surely has been the The House Of Progression's best year so far!
You can keep up with all things Crimson Sky at their "under reconstruction" website, MySpace, Facebook, while their first album is now available on BandCamp as well as other outlets.
Pendragon, who release their new album Passion next Spring, have announced the dates on the Passion Tour 2011. The tour dates, which span a massive FOUR MONTHS, are:
Friday 25 March - Riffs Bar, Swindon Saturday 26 March - Riffs Bar, Swindon Saturday 2nd April - De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands Sunday 3rd April - De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands Sunday 10 April - Zentrum Altenberg, Oberhausen, Germany Monday 11 April - Bergkeller, Reichenbach, Germany Tuesday 12 April - Blue Note, Poznan, Poland Wednesday 13 April - Parliament, Gdansk, Poland Thursday 14 April - Filharmonia Pomorska, Bydogoscz, Poland Friday 15 April - Progresja, Warsaw, Poland Saturday 16 April - Loch Ness, Krakow, Poland Sunday 17 April - BCK, Bielsko Biala, Poland Monday 18 April - Firlej, Wroklaw, Poland Wednesday 20 April - Teatr Slaski, Katowice, Poland Friday 22 April - Z7, Pratteln, Switzerland Sunday 24 April - Colos-Saal, Aschaffenburg, Germany Monday 25 April - Ninkasi Kao, Lyon, France Tuesday 26 April - Club Il Giardino, Verona, Italy Wednesday 27 April - Stazione Birra, Rome, Italy Thursday 28 April - Live Music Club, Trezzo sull'adda, Milan, Italy Friday 29 April - Bikini, Barcelona, Spain Saturday 30 April - tbc, Madrid, Spain Sunday 1 May - Santiago Alquimista, Lisbon, Portugal Monday 2 May - Colon Theatre( tbc), A Coruna, Spain Tuesday 3 May - Ampli, Billere, Pau, France Wednesday 4 May - BT 59, Bordeaux, France Thursday 5 May - Divan Du Monde, Paris, France Friday 6 May - Spirit of '66, Verviers, Belgium Friday 27 May - The Globe (tbc), Cardiff Saturday 28 May - The Peel, Kingston-Upon-Thames Sunday 29 May - The Peel, Kingston-Upon-Thames Monday 30 May - The Robin 2, Bilston Thursday 2 June - Pacific Road, Birkenhead Friday 3 June - The Ferry, Glasgow Saturday 4 June - The Boardwalk, Sheffield
More details and ticket information can be found at www.pendragon.mu
Twelfth Night to release double live DVD and CD MMX in November
Press Release:
We are delighted to announce that MMX, our first newly recorded album since 1986, will be released very soon, on both CD and DVD format, and that we are now ready to accept pre-orders for it!
MMX comprises our complete live show from Wath-upon-Dearne recorded in May 2010. It has been mixed and produced by Clive with assistance from Mark. For those of you who didn’t experience the power and majesty of the six-piece band (and for those of you who did and want a reminder of the shows) then MMX comprises over two-hours of classic Twelfth Night.
Both the CD and DVD contain the following tracks:
Disc One
The Ceiling Speaks / Kings & Queens (11.44)
We Are Sane (10.50)
Last Song (4.00)
Fur Helene I (4.30)
First New Day (9.14)
The Craft (5.10)
Take a Look (10.46)
Disc Two
Creepshow (12.10)
This City / World Without End (5.26)
Blondon Fair (4.42)
Fact and Fiction (3.41)
CRAB / The Poet Sniffs a Flower (5.57)
The Collector (18.23)
Love Song (6.30)
Theatre (3.41)
Both the DVD and CD feature new sleevenotes by our biographer, Andy Wild, with the DVD also including an essay from Clive and Angela explaining the how the visuals for our live shows came to be chosen, and what the icons actually mean…
The double DVD has the tracks in high-definition video, plus loads of great ‘extras’, including:
An alternative view of We Are Sane, Take a Look, Creepshow and The Collector, featuring the visual presentation used during the live shows
Three slideshows of images from the 2010 live dates
New music by Andy Sears to accompany photo galleries
A complete unreleased instrumental demo of Take a Look from 1986
A new “avant-garde” remix of one of the band’s best known songs
New music from Mark and Dean for the DVD menus
Over 90 minutes of new audio interviews with members of the band
Rehearsal and other behind the scenes footage and some ‘Vox Pops’.
MMX is the definitive statement from this version of the band. We’re very proud of it..!
MMX is only available direct from us. The double CD is £12, the double DVD is £18, or you can buy them both together for £25 (plus postage). The easiest way to pay is using paypal. To make a payment please send it to Brian's e-mail address:
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or, alternatively, send a cheque or postal order payable to Brian Devoil to "The Brambles", 1c Doggetts Farm Road, Higher Denham, Bucks. UB9 5EH, UK. (Please note if you pay by cheque/PO you can deduct £1 from the total cost).
We anticipate that shipping will commence in the first week of November.
Postage and packing:
UK - £ 1 for the DVD or the CD, £ 2 for both DVD and CD.
Europe - £ 2 for the DVD or the CD, or £ 3 for both DVD and CD.
Rest of the World - £ 3 for the DVD or the CD, or £ 4 for both DVD and CD.
If ordering multiple copies – add extra postage per item - 50p UK, £ 1 Europe and ROW.
YouTube of the Week - Porcupine Tree "Stranger by the Minute" (live)
Ok, look, I'm not even going to pretend that I'm not totally jealous of those of you smug buggers who were at the Royal Albert Hall last Thursday to catch this gig! Cos I am. And you are, with good reason. I've spent the last few days pretending that it didn't even take place, avoiding phone calls and the like. Until this evening when Pendragon's Nick Barrett showed me this clip:
Thanks to joykomakino for recording this so well, and whacking it up on YouTube for the rest of us to cream ourselves over.
As far as I know, the gig was recorded, but there's only talk of a live album. Bastards!
Genesis tributers Carpet Crawlers crawl around Europe soon!
(c) Neil Palfreyman
Top Genesis tribute band, Carpet Crawlers, (featuring Brian Cummins from the Mick Pointer's Script Band) will be taking their show on the road this month. The band will be playing the following gigs:
Thursday 21st October - The Olde Red Lion, Little Sutton, Wirral (warmup gig) Saturday 23rd October - The Mick Jagger Centre, Dartford Sunday 24th October - Spirit of '66, Verviers, Belgium Monday 25th October - Bergkeller, Reichenbach, Germany Wednesday 27th October - Z7, Pratteln, Switzerland Thursday 28th October - Musiktheater Rex, Lorsch, Germany Saturday 30th October - De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
After this, the band'll play a gig in their hometown of Liverpool, at the Stanley Theatre, on Saturday 20th November
New double mini CD set, Two-Pack, by Robin Taylor/Taylor's Free Universe
This autumn, Marvel of Beauty will release a set of mini CDs; one containing brand new music from Robin Taylor; the other containing the very last studio recordings made by Taylor's Free Universe from February 2006.
The Robin Taylor disc features Taylor on electric guitars, bass and keyboards, Jakob Mygind on saxes, and Klaus Thrane on drums. Recorded at Soundscape and Thrane Studios.
The Taylor Free Universe disc features Taylor on electric guitar, Karsten Vogel on saxes, Pierre Tassone on processed violin, Assi Roar on bass, and Rasmus Grosell on drums. Recorded at Oyster Song Recording.
Both CDs will be mastered by Udi Koomran, and the total playing time will reach the limit of a good oldfashioned vinyl LP.
The Watch and The Tangent light up Blackpool's "Golden Mile" in May 2011
The Watch and The Tangent have been confirmed as the Friday and Saturday headliners of the Electric Garden Festival, a new festival taking place in the North West of England in May 2011
The festival will be held at The Beat Club in Blackpool on Friday 20th May and Saturday 21st May.
The current line up is Friday 20th May
The Watch
Nerve Toy Trio
Dropshard
Saturday May 21st
The Tangent
IT
Abel Ganz
Godsticks
SeYes
Earthling Society
Advance tickets are £14 (Friday), £23 (Saturday) and £31 (weekend), and are available via the festival website at www.electricgardenfestival.com/
The Tangent are also playing this Friday, along with Aussies Unitopia, at The Luminaire in Kilburn, London, before both bands head up north to play The Wesley Centre in Maltby. The Tangent will also be headlining at The Peel, in Kingston on Saturday 13th November and at the Spirit of 66, in Verviers, Belgium on Sunday 14th.
Pendragon announce "Mega Daze UK" and "Mega Daze Europe" for 2011
Following the success of their first "Mega Daze" weekender, back in 2008, that coincided with the launch of Pure, Pendragon have just announced Mega Daze UK and Mega Daze Europe next year to coincide with the release of Passion, their ninth studio album.
The UK event will again take place on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th March at Riff's Bar, just outside Swindon, whilst the European one will be held on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd April, at the world famous De Boerderij in Zoetermeer, Netherlands.
All attendees will receive a copy of the Passion Special Edition (which features the CD & documentry DVD), an exclusive "Mega-Daze" T-shirt, "Mega-Daze" laminate + Pendragon Lanyard.
There will also be a Pendragon gig on each evening, along with a "Prog Factor" competition in the afternoon, with the winner taking part in the evening gig.
Tickets for the Riffs event will be available from the Pendragon Website on October 13th for £55, while tockets for the Boerderij weekend will be available from their website soon, for 70 euro.
A full tour is expected to be announced in the near future, which will include a concert at the Teatr Śląski in Katowice, Poland, where they'll be supported by Touchstone on the 20th April.
Nolan jetting out to Chile to play Miner Tribute show
Position of Stage
Sir Clive Nolan is preparing to fly his entire Caamora entorage over to Chile, South America, next weekend to play a special "Chilean Miner Tribute Show" version of the bands epic "She" masterpiece, to the soon-to-be-released miners, who have been trapped underground for 66 days, so far.
Sir Clive told Silhobbit that the Caamora show had always had good reations in South America, and was honoured to be asked to play the show to the miners, and their families. "We'll be offering reduced price tickets to the show for the miners, and their families, obviously"
"We may even find a new singer for Arena out there" he joked.
"I had thought that the concert wouldn't be until nearer Christmas, after the Arena tour, so this will be a rather rushed attempt. I have pleaded with some of the rescue committee to delay it, and they have said that they'll look into something involving lining the shaft with metal to prolong the mission. After all, it's all about the anticipation!"
Artists Impression
Plans are afoot to record the concert at the San Jose mine in the Atacama Desert for a future DVD release, with some of the proceeds being donated to the Chillean Mining Corporation, to help them with their legal fees.
Friday 12th November - The Peel, Kingston upon Thames, London Saturday 13th November - De Boerderji, Zoetermeer, Netherlands Sunday 14th November - pROCKclub, Spenge, Germany Write Comment (2 comments)
Hot News
Former IQ vocalist and frontman Paul Menl is back! The vocalist, who sung with the band on their two most commercial albums, Nomzamo and Are You Sitting Comfortably, has been hard at work on a new album, Three Sides To Every Story.
The Progmeister Festival is a new one day festival, which is being held at The Studio in Hartlepool, on Saturday 26th March. The event, which is being headlined by the magnificent Guy Manning, features a further six bands and only costs £17.50
Scottish proggers Pallas are certainly gearing up for the release of their new XXV album, due on January 24th. The band, who have already made a radio edit of Monster and a Calendar downloadable for free, are now offering a demo of the track "Atlanean", also for free. This track was intended as the album opener, as it pulls together musical threads from the The Sentinal album. However, the album actually opens with the rockier Falling Down
To celebrate their 20th anniversary, the Swedish masters of melancholy, Katatonia will play five very special European shows this May, including one UK show in London. The band will perform two sets at each show; the first set will see the band play Last Fair Deal Gone Down front to back - the album that put them firmly on the musical map. The second set will consist of a mixed set of carefully picked songs from their extensive catalogue. In its entirety the show will be well over two hours of live music.
Prog God and Legend, Sir Peter Gabriel has announced a couple of gigs at the intimate (for him) Hammersmith Apollo. The dates, which coincidentially are the 23rd and 24th March 2011, will feature Gabriel, backed only by an orchestra, performing tracks from his own back catalog.
Top Pink Floyd tribute act, Think Floyd have announced their sping 2011 dates. The band will be playing at:
Silhobbit would like to join everyone else in wishing Galahad's bass player Neil Pepper a big old "Good Luck" for Monday, when he goes into hospital in Bristol to undergo cancer removal surgery.
PRESS RELEASE:
Bristol proggers Crimson Sky will be playing a special gig at The Peel on Sunday 19th December. The gig, which will start at 6pm and finish at 9:30, will be London proggers first chance to see the band with new singer Janey Summer (although South-Westians will be able to catch them at the 12 Bar in Swindon, on December 8th).
Pendragon, who release their new album Passion next Spring, have announced the dates on the Passion Tour 2011. The tour dates, which span a massive FOUR MONTHS, are:
Press Release:
The double DVD has the tracks in high-definition video, plus loads of great ‘extras’, including:
This autumn, Marvel of Beauty will release a set of mini CDs; one containing brand new music from Robin Taylor; the other containing the very last studio recordings made by Taylor's Free Universe from February 2006.
