Anneke van Giersbergen from Dutch pop-proggers Agua de Annique will be appearing on Dutch radio on Tuesday morning. She will be covering Alanis Morisette's Ironic on Giel's show on Radio 3 between 8:00 and 8:30.
After that, she will be playing with C-mon and Kypski on the television show 50 Years Dutch Popmusic quiz (catchy title!) on Nederland 3 on Thursday 9th October at 20:25.
Bristol proggers Crimson Sky have been invited to play a live WebCast on Saturday November 15th at 6pm.
The event will be held at www.artiststudiosbristol.com who are an excellent recording studio based in Bristol, UK.
The band with new members Holly Thody (Vocals) and Chris Cadey (Keyboards), will be playing songs from their forthcoming album Misunderstood, as well as a few older “favourites”.
There is also a chance that the band might be playing a “Real” gig also sometime in November in Bristol, more news when we have it…
Silhobbit is honoured and proud to present the fourth and final part in our four part serialisation of John Beck's Book of Progressive Hotels.
Today's instalment comes from Saturday nights stop over after their Manchester Academy 3 gig.
Yet again, the hotel's name has been changed to save us from a possibly bankrupting lawsuit, but the RAC Inspected Hotel Guide 1998 MIGHT have said "Warm, friendly and welcoming, an 80 bedroom hotel privately owned and managed by Alexander Ferguson. The hotel has an internationally recognised restaurant offering the finest cuisine. Ideally situated to visit the attractions of Cheshire and Manchester". But it didn't.
Highlights of Beck's comments are:
1/2 painted door
Only one pillow
Obsticle course near the window
Smoke alarm in room
No radio on the TV
Smallest room ever
Alleyway to nowhere
No lampshade
Water drip outside my window
No handle on window to stop drip
Plus side - Panty in Richards room
- Mitchell has a bag of drinks
- At least no animal shapes on the floof this time
The book, to be published by someone important, will be out in time for the lucretive Christmas Market. John hopes to rival the only other recognised Progressive Travel guide, Steve Hogarth's Guide to Prog Toilets Through the Ages which was printed in 1997, and sold 356 copies.
Original Black Proggers Black Widow's reunion album sessions are going on fine. Paolo "Apollo" Negri's keyboard (Hammond, Moog and an occasional piano) sounds are bringing new dimensions to future Black Widow music.
The album is mostly composed by old Black Widow members Clive Jones and Geoff Griffith.
The band will be touring as much as possible, most notably in Italy where the band is now more popular than ever.
The band has also promised to play their anthem Come To The Sabbat during each concert.
Fula are back, playing their first gig in almost 5 years.
The band now features original vocalist Nadeen Plumtree, Brazilian and former Ashtar guitarist, Eduardo Capella, ex-Myoho multi-intrumentalist and drummer, John Patterson, along with ever-presents, keyboardist Rob Gould and bass player Nigel Moss
The event is taking place at Mood Basement in Buxton on Thursday 23rd October 2008, where they'll be supporting the phenomenal German band Arilyn as part of their "OK UK 08" tour. Entry is £5 on the door.
The band will then be playing only their second gig in five years when they support Ritual and Credo at the Montgomery Hall in Wath-Upon-Dearne, Up North, on Saturday 8th November.
Stoke proggers Final Conflict have stepped up to the plate and will be headlining at The Peel in Kingston on November 1st, after original headliner John Young was forced to pull out due to other commitments.
A spokesperson for the band said that "Final Conflict are delighted to announce that they will actually be headlining this gig now and are very proud to be doing so! We would therefore be delighted to see as many of our fans there as possible... so come on down!!"
Galahad's gig with Threshold at Mt Kyps in Poole on November 9th, has been postponed due to structural problems with the venue. Extensive work needs to be carried out on the roof of the building and it is going to take some time to fix.
Both bands are still committed to playing with each other at the venue, and will confirm a new date once the building has been made safe.
Believe, the band created by guitarist Mirek Gil of Collage and Satellite fame, recently changed their line-up by recruiting new vocalist Karol Wróblewski.
At the moment the band are rehearsing in this new, improved line-up. Their Polish fans will have a chance to see them in their new incarnation during the Polish leg of Pendragon’s tour:
As the band announce: “We don’t stop searching for new musical experiences… We want to thank all the faithful people around us for their patience. Remember: the time is on our side. New music to follow soon.”
Believe’s most recent album Yesterday Is A Friend was released by Metal Mind productions in May 2008. We played their track Seven Days from their first album Hope to see Another Day on Proggy Style 045 this week.
Well, above this very text you can see, if you look, the third instalment in our much loved and critically discussed feature, where we look at Britain's hotels through the twinkling eyes of It Bites boy John Beck, the man who has been called the "progressive Egon Ronay" by some.
Well on Wednesday night the band stayed in an unnamed hotel (surely a warning sign!) in Newcastle after their gig at the Newcastle Academy.
It's safe to say that Mr Beck wasn't too impressed with it.
Highlights include a "pissed up guest" who invaded peoples rooms, a "toffee" stain on the floor, and, most shockingly of all, "no window instructions".
Leap Day are a new Dutch band, consisting of members of Flamborough Head / Trion / Nice Beaver / King Eider.
The band, formed by Flamborough Head drummer Koen Roozen features Derk Evert Waalkens (King Eider) on keyboards, Jos Harteveld (Pink Floyd Project) on vocals and second guitar, Peter Stel (Nice Beaver) on bass, Gert van Engelenburg and Eddie Mulder (ex-Flamborough Head, Trion and Pink Floyd Project) on keyboards and guitar respectively.
So here we have, as promised, part two of John Beck's Progressive Hotel Guide.
Today's entry comes from last nights stop-over in Liverpool, where after playing a storming set at the Pacific Road Arts Centre in Birkenhead, the band headed back to the Beech Mount "Executive" Accommodation.
John wasn't too impressed with the state of the room though. As you can see from him comments, he says:
"Squeaky Floors"
"The mini-bar was not only empty, but switched off"
"Door keeps swinging open"
"Scared of poltergeists"
"Fred West decor!"
He also mentioned that there were excess cushions all over the place "Why do we need cushions when there are already pillows on the bed?"
Meanwhile in another room, the concierge had to be called to fix a broken blind.
We're hoping for more reviews as the tour goes on.
Remember, Silhobbit is the ONLY place you can read news such as this!
On the 10th November, prog opera duo Caamora, featuring Clive Nolan and Agnieszka Swita, will release Journey’s End… an acoustic anthology. The double album will feature over 2 hours of acoustic live performances from around the world, as well as a selection of never before heard demos, bonus tracks and interview footage.
In the build up to the release of She, Clive and Agnieszka performed around 30 concerts in countries such as England, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Canada. Journey’s End... features a collection of moments from these performances. These live tracks also feature some great guest appearances: familiar She faces such as Mark Wetwood and Xtina Magenta, as well as new friends like Claudio Momberg from SETI in Chile and Sebastian Medina in Argentina.
Beyond the live material, there is also a collection of demos that were made over the past few years – interesting to see how the songs developed for their final versions on She. The bonus songs include a track that was never used in the end (In Aeternum), the specially written title song Journey’s End and a Polish song Grunwald, featuring cello from Hugh McDowell.
Haze will be playing at the Polish Club, Blackburn Lane, Barnsley, S75 2BA on Saturday 4th October. Admission should be around £3, doors 8pm on by 9pm.
Treebeard are also playing at the Sheffield beer festival this Friday 3rd October. This is held in Cemetery Park, Cemetery Road, Sheffield. Admission £3, on stage by 9pm.
They'll have the Haze 30th anniversary & Treebeard T-shirts on sale at both gigs, as well as the new 30th anniversary Haze double CD.
All are £10 (inc p&p if ordered by post - cheque to Haze, please)
Top Polish label Metal Mind Productions are releasing a double live album by one of progs great survivors, Gordon Haskell.
The Road To Harry’s Bar – All Hits live contains the audio material taken from the The Road To Harry's Bar DVD which came out in 2005. It includes all of Gordon's biggest hits - How Wonderful You Are, When The Cookie Jar Is Empty & The Lady Wants to Know and more! The ex-King Crimson vocalist delivers a phenomenally smooth performance with a group of Polish musicians he says he wishes he met a long time ago. Haskell said: “They are perfect for what I do and their expertise is extra special as they bring with that expertise a rare passion" "After this concert in Katowice I returned to England inspired again and haven’t stopped writing songs since, something I was beginning to believe that I would or could never do again due to reasons I cannot disclose here”
The release date of The Road To Harry’s Bar – All Hits live is scheduled for 27th October 2008 in Europe and 25th November 2008 in the USA.
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Four years after the release of their international breakthrough album Dimension Universe the unique Frankfurt/Cologne music project Art Of Infinity push their magnificent Space Pop on to a new artistic level.
The two masterminds of Art Of Infinity, Thorsten Sudler-Mainz and Thorsten Rentsch, have given their complex and highly atmospheric compositions a stronger focus on classical song structures (The Flow Of Time, Endless Future). By inviting an illustrious cast of guest artists and a 60-head all-male choir they have added some remarkable new facets to the astonishing wealth of their music.
Thus the fans of Art Of Infinity are once again treated with the sensual Worldmusic chants by Eva Wolf, but for the first time also with the voice of Mexican composer Alquimia, who gives the title track Endless Future a refreshing exotic touch.
Lyrically the album once again deals with ancient topics and archaic dreams of mankind, cosmic journeys into the future and to magical mystic places. So the combination of electronics, progressive elements, Classical Music and Rock, which is Art Of Infinity’s unmistakable trademark, once again integrates beauty of sound and deep thinking to a fascinating and deeply rewarding experience. (BSC Music / Prudence)
Listen to the exclusive Endless Future Medley at Art Of Infinity's MySpace site, and a snip of the new song The Flow Of Time or even watch the Endless Future album trailer on YouTube.
Progressive Rock record label Inside Out have been forced to recall thousands of CD'a due to melamine contagion.
A spokesman for the German label confirmed the recall this afternoon, explaining that although their plant has been certified "Melamine Free" by the International Melamine Board, they felt that this was the appropriate action to take as a precaution.
For a list of the CD's involved, see the website at www.insideout.de
A spokesperson for Brit proggers It Bites said that none of the bands CD;s were affected.
It Bites keyboard player John Beck is writing a new Progressive Hotel Guide whilst on tour.
We here at Silhobbit are proud to bring you a serialisation of the book, starting with his comments about the Britannia Hotel in Leeds, where the band stayed after their gig at Rio's on Saturday night.
It's that time of the week again. "What Time?" I hear you cry... YouTube time!
This week we have a clip of Credo's appearance at ROSFest. They may have been on first at 11am, but as you can see from the vid below, they sure rocked the joint!
Credo will be hitting the road soon and jetting off to Poland to record their first DVD. The gig, on the 13th October see's them support Pendragon with Final Conflict at the Skaski Theatre in Katowice, Poland. The band will be performing the whole of their Rhetoric album as well as a few tracks from Field of Vision.
They'll be playing a warm-up show at Riff's Bar in Swindon on 10th October, supported by Jo McCafferty
Their tour dates are:
October 10th - RIFFS BAR nr SWINDON, with Jo McCafferty
October 13th - SKASKI THEATRE, KATOWICE, POLAND, with Pendragon and Final Conflict
November 1st - PROGFARM FESTIVAL, HOLLAND with Flamborough Head and Nemo
November 7th - THE RIGA BAR, SOUTHEND, with Ritual
November 8th - THE CLASSIC ROCK SOCIETY ROTHERHAM, with Ritual
November 15th - THE PEEL KINGSTON, With Mangrove
Remember the address to nominate clips is or simply "drop" the link into drop.io/silhobbit like these two did! It's a wonderful thing...
Progs answer to Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Batchain, is organising another pre-prog-gig feast. This time he's focused on the It Bites / Touchstone show at the Robin2 in Bilston on Sunday 5th October.
It starts at 5pm, Upstairs at the Robin. The £5.00 entrance fee goes towards funding the buffet, and there will also be a raffle and auction for charity with prizes donated by the band.
Strictly limited to 50 places on a first-come first-served basis (the tickets, not the food). Email
for more information.
Hot News
Anneke van Giersbergen from Dutch pop-proggers Agua de Annique will be appearing on Dutch radio on Tuesday morning. She will be covering Alanis Morisette's Ironic on Giel's show on Radio 3 between 8:00 and 8:30.
Bristol proggers Crimson Sky have been invited to play a live WebCast on Saturday November 15th at 6pm.
Yet again, the hotel's name has been changed to save us from a possibly bankrupting lawsuit, but the RAC Inspected Hotel Guide 1998 MIGHT have said "Warm, friendly and welcoming, an 80 bedroom hotel privately owned and managed by Alexander Ferguson. The hotel has an internationally recognised restaurant offering the finest cuisine. Ideally situated to visit the attractions of Cheshire and Manchester". But it didn't.
The book, to be published by someone important, will be out in time for the lucretive Christmas Market. John hopes to rival the only other recognised Progressive Travel guide, Steve Hogarth's Guide to Prog Toilets Through the Ages which was printed in 1997, and sold 356 copies.
Original Black Proggers Black Widow's reunion album sessions are going on fine. Paolo "Apollo" Negri's keyboard (Hammond, Moog and an occasional piano) sounds are bringing new dimensions to future Black Widow music.
Fula are back, playing their first gig in almost 5 years.
Stoke proggers Final Conflict have stepped up to the plate and will be headlining at The Peel in Kingston on November 1st, after original headliner John Young was forced to pull out due to other commitments.
Galahad's gig with Threshold at Mt Kyps in Poole on November 9th, has been postponed due to structural problems with the venue. Extensive work needs to be carried out on the roof of the building and it is going to take some time to fix.
Believe, the band created by guitarist Mirek Gil of Collage and Satellite fame, recently changed their line-up by recruiting new vocalist Karol Wróblewski.
Leap Day are a new Dutch band, consisting of members of Flamborough Head / Trion / Nice Beaver / King Eider.
So here we have, as promised, part two of John Beck's Progressive Hotel Guide.
On the 10th November, prog opera duo Caamora, featuring Clive Nolan and Agnieszka Swita, will release Journey’s End… an acoustic anthology. The double album will feature over 2 hours of acoustic live performances from around the world, as well as a selection of never before heard demos, bonus tracks and interview footage.
Haze will be playing at the Polish Club, Blackburn Lane, Barnsley, S75 2BA on Saturday 4th October. Admission should be around £3, doors 8pm on by 9pm.
Top Polish label Metal Mind Productions are releasing a double live album by one of progs great survivors, Gordon Haskell.
Four years after the release of their international breakthrough album Dimension Universe the unique Frankfurt/Cologne music project Art Of Infinity push their magnificent Space Pop on to a new artistic level.
Lyrically the album once again deals with ancient topics and archaic dreams of mankind, cosmic journeys into the future and to magical mystic places. So the combination of electronics, progressive elements, Classical Music and Rock, which is Art Of Infinity’s unmistakable trademark, once again integrates beauty of sound and deep thinking to a fascinating and deeply rewarding experience. (BSC Music / Prudence)
It Bites keyboard player John Beck is writing a new Progressive Hotel Guide whilst on tour.
Italian proggers Soul Secret have been confirmed as the support act on a couple of Pendragon's tour dates.
Dr Batchain is at it again!
