Spock's Beard drummer Nick D'Virgilio has contacted Silhobbit to express his disappointment over the lack of alien activity this week.
Nick told Silhobbit that "It was widely publicised that there would be an official alien landing, in the USA, on Tuesday 14th October, 2008", he said. "Yet, despite scanning the available news sources al day long, I found no reports of little green men or nothing!".
We did our own digging and it seems Nick is correct. No aliens landed on Earth at all yesterday. Which makes it pretty similar to the preceeding 4 million years.
Nick has just released Rewiring Genesis - A Tribute To The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - an album in which he has taken Genesis's classic The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and re-recorded it with a raft of Nashville's finest musicians and producer Mark Hornsby, in order to give the songs a new and vibrant twist.
The album is out on www.progrockrecords.com now, for $19.95. Whatever that is in English money.
Danny Rhodes, the drummer with proggers Manning is set to become the former drummer with proggers Manning after handing in his notice at the weekend, saying that he needed to "concentrate on work matters".
The band are on the lookoutr for "a versatile, creative soul who likes the music".
With gigs lined up next year, and a new album on the horizon, the band want someone sooner rather than later, so auditions will start in early November. If you're interested, email Guy on
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Fish has been forced to cancel Monday night's concert at the A38 in Budapest, Hungary after his tour bus suffered from a "Mechanical unpredicatablility". This means that the band will not be able to reach the venue in time.
The tour will recommence at the Vamos in Luneburg, Hamburg on Wednesday 15th October.
As a Sunday extra, we've got the final final photo's from the John Beck Hotel Guide what he has written during the recent It Bites Tall Ships tour.
These EXCLUSIVE!!! photo's were taken on Tuesday nights stopover in Newcastle.
They clearly show the "Taurus" shaped stain on drummer Bob Dalton's floor. This remarkable effigy is due to be immortalised in a forthcoming It Bites song, currently going under the working name of A Load Of Bull
John's notes for the evening reveal that "The curtain looks like a bloody, flowering guillotine and that the bathroon had "nice taps" (which is probably some gay euthemism) and "Titanic" - possibly a reference to London football team Tottenham Hotspur's worst start to a football season since the Titanic had her maiden voyage in 1912.
German progressive rock band Arilyn are landing at The Eagle in Buxton on Thursday 23rd October for their third appearance in the town in successive years.
As part of their OK UK 08 tour, the 4 guys, Jurgen Mossgraber (keyboards), Jurgen Kalletta (bass), Christain Kuelbs (vocals) and Kristof Dohl (drums) will be joined on stage by brazilian guitarist Eduardo Capella and it promises to be their best tour yet.
Arilyn's music is best described as powerful, melodic, dynamic and atmospheric with a great sense of fun and enjoyment in what they do.
As an added bonus to the evening Arilyn will be supported by local award winning band Fula, their first performance in almost 5 years.
Not only are Fula making a return to the stage, original vocalist Nadeen Plumtree is back in the band after a 11 year absence. Fula will also have former Ashtar legend Eduardo Capella on guitar (a very busy night for him!), John Patterson of Myoho fame on drums and ever presents in Fula, Nigel Moss (bass) and Rob Gould (keyboards), making it a night to remember for fans of quality atmospheric rock music. Doors open at 8.30pm til 12.30am. £4 admission price on door.
For more information on the Arilyn OKUK08 tour, visit their website at www.arilyn.de
Coastpeoggers Galahad have re-released a new and improved CD version of their Other Crimes & Misdemeanours 1 and a re-mastered version of In A Moment of Complete Madness on the Polish Oskar Productions.
Other Crimes 1 has the same track listing as the cassette tape that the band released back in the early 90’s but has been given a "tit job" for the CD release. But, the band would like to point out that it is still effectively an official bootleg release, so it will sell for a paltry £6.
Compelete Madness has been remastered and is now an expanded version including three tracks taken from the Whitchurch Christmas Lecture tape that was released originally back in 1993 from a recording made their Christmas gig at Whitchurch Parish Hall on December 12th 1992. The extra tracks are The Ghost of Durtal, Richelieu's Prayer and The Knife / One For the Record. This will sell for £10.
To order either of the above CD's, send your order to
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Finally, they are hoping to rearrange their Mr Kyp’s date with Threshold, which waspostponed due to structural damage to the venue, not, as some local papers reported, due to a dispute over hair gel within the band.
Jonathan King discovered Genesis and for this alone we owe him an hour of our time to watch his film.
He has given us music so we must show him some respect. We’ve heard the tabloid’s side of the story. Someone who owes JK bigtime even penned a song called Both Sides of the same story. Now it is time to listen to Jonathan King’s side of the story if you want some balance.
Silhobbit.com were first to question as to how a man can be put into jail for doing something which is today legal. We would also like to know how it even got to court with zero evidence other than one word against another. It should never have got to court, but then a lot of people make money from scandal and gossip don’t they?
Being a professional victim is good business and the financial rewards are life-changing with plenty of help from those who want to climb aboard the gravytrain.
If you're lucky enough to be in the Netherlands on Friday, you can catch sexy Anneke van Giersbergen covering Alanis Morissette's Ironic with The Classic Album Allstar Band in the world famous Café Bolle, Tilburg. This is to celebrate 90s request week of 3FM radio. You can listen to this live at giel.vara.nl
On Sunday 12th October, she will be appearing on the radio show Atlas on Radio 1 between 18.15 and 20.00 to sing two acoustic numbers off her Air album.
Karnataka's tour starts next week, and the band are in a crazy mood! They're running a competiton where you can win a pair of tickets, a pair of post show backstage passes, tee shirt, and a bag full of Karnataka related goodies every night of the tour!
To enter the competition, send the answer to the following question: Karnataka is a southern state of which country? along with your name and preferred venue to
The dates are:
14 October - The Robin2, Bilston
16 October - Club Riga, Southend
18 October - Montgomery Hall, Wath
19 October - The Brook, Southampton
21 October - The Komedia, Brighton
23 October - The Astoria 2, London
26 October - The Limelight Club, Crewe
27 October - The Point, Cardiff
Coastproggers Big Big Train are re-releasing their English Boy Wonders album on the 1st December. The album will come in a digipack with a 12 page booklet featuring new artwork by Jim Trainer and also includes a bonus track featuring Martin Orford
Greg Spawton says: English Boy Wonders was previously released in a semi-complete state on the GEP label in 1997 and has been unavailable for many years. For the 2008 re-release, we have returned to the original master tapes and have re-recorded much of the album. Additional sections of music have also been recorded to complete the album as it was originally intended. The album has been entirely remixed and remastered by Rob Aubrey(IQ, Spock's Beard, Transatlantic, Pendragon etc.)
You can pre-order the CD at www.bigbigtrain.com for £8.00 (including all p&p)
The band are currently working on a new album, The Underfall Yard to be released in 2009, while in 2010 they will be releasing a retrospective, When Everything Was Made Of Wood, featuring previously unreleased songs, and re-recordings of some of the best songs from their early demos.
Author and big prog fan Justin Peter Beaney has a new book, Fatal Sister about to be published. Here's what he has to say:
Just a quick note to say that my latest book, FATAL SISTERS, is now complete!
There are two excerpts available for you to read on the website; just click on the FATAL SISTERS tab to read the Prologue or click here to read the full opening chapter of the book. As you will see, the excerpts reflect two very different styles of writing, and it will be interesting to here your thoughts on how successful (or not!) these styles are.
I'm currently trying to get a publisher for the book but, as with Painted Gold, I am considering doing a small print run myself just to get it "out there" and to share the story with those that are interested. It's been a couple of years since Painted Gold was produced however and I'm not sure if anyone remembers me or is still interested in my books. So, to help me consider whether this is a viable proposition, could I ask you to please take the time to read the excerpts and give me any feedback you have, either direct or preferably through the Guestbook on the website.
In addition, if you think that the excerpts are intriguing or, indeed, have any sort of merit whatsoever, why not forward this e-mail to everyone in your address book and ask them to take a look, too?
The Roundhouse Tapes set contains the critically acclaimed Opeth performance from the Camden Roundhouse, London, in 2006 and sees the band in scintillating form playing a selection of classics from their illustrious career.
Packaged in a deluxe rigid digibook inside a hard slipcase, the set also includes postcards of each band member, an exclusive art booklet featuring the work of Travis Smith (reknowned Opeth Sleeve designer) plus the ‘Roundhouse Tapes’ booklet.
The DVD extras include soundtrack footage from the show, a backstage interview with the band plus fan footage all captured at the Roundhouse.
Canadian proggers Saga have announced the first dates in their 2009 The Return tour.
The dates so far are:
16 April - Musichall, Worpswede, Germany
17 April - Musichall, Worpswede, Germany
18 April - De Nieuwe Pul, Uden, Netherlands
19 April - P3, Purmerend, Netherlands
22 April - Fabrik, Hamburg, Germany
23 April - Turbinenhalle, Oberhausen, Germany
24 April - Stadthalle, Geseke, Germany
25 April - Hildesheim, Germany
26 April - Stadthalle, Aalen, Germany
28 April - Komma, Wörgl, Austria
29 April - Kulturhalle, Remchingen, Germany
30 April - Stadthalle, Metzingen, Germany
01 May - Halle 101, Speyer, Germany
02 May - Stadthalle, St. Wendel, Germany
03 May - Z7, Pratteln, Switzerland
05 May - Spectrum, Augsburg, Germany
06 May - Hirsch, Nürnberg, Germany
07 May - Hessenhalle, Giessen, Germany
08 May - Stadthalle, Eich, Germany
Magenta have lined up a series of acoustic gigs at the end of October and start of November.
The band play:
The Point Cardiff, supporting Francis Dunnery on October 29th
Montgomery Hall, Wath, supporting Pendragon on November 1st
The Robin, Bilston, supporting Pendragon on November 2nd
The Peel, Kingston, supporting Pendragon on November 8th
Tne bands The Live at the Point 2007 double CD is now in stock and getting a great reaction from those that have heard it. Pick up yours now from the Magenta shop for £12.
They have also posted a couple of sets of photos from their set at the Summers End Festival on their Gallery page.
Tune into BBC Radio Wiltshire this evening between 16:30 and 18:30 and you'll be able to head what is possibly the first BBC Radio airplay of a Pendragon track for a long while, when they play The Freak Show from their new Pure album.
There will also be an interview with Pendragon's glamourous office monkey Wilcey about the effects of downloading, and how the band have tried to get around this.
A Church of England clergyman has been ordered to remove comments about progressive rock fans from his blog, remarks described by his diocese as "highly offensive".
The Rev Pete Mullet, who ministers in the City of London, said he had Genesis albums and the words were "satirical".
He suggested in his internet blog that proggers, like you and I, should have their backsides tattooed with the slogan: "Melotron can seriously damage your health".
The Classic Rock Society described the comments as "Neanderthal".
Croydon Mick has gotten in touch with us to say that Norfolk proggers Mother Black Cap will be supporting Final Conflict when they play at The Peel on 1st November.
Final Conflict themselves have moved up the roster after original headliner The John Young Band had to withdraw last week.
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…
Hot News
Spock's Beard drummer Nick D'Virgilio has contacted Silhobbit to express his disappointment over the lack of alien activity this week.
Danny Rhodes, the drummer with proggers Manning is set to become the former drummer with proggers Manning after handing in his notice at the weekend, saying that he needed to "concentrate on work matters".
Fish has been forced to cancel Monday night's concert at the A38 in Budapest, Hungary after his tour bus suffered from a "Mechanical unpredicatablility". This means that the band will not be able to reach the venue in time.
German progressive rock band Arilyn are landing at The Eagle in Buxton on Thursday 23rd October for their third appearance in the town in successive years.
Not only are Fula making a return to the stage, original vocalist Nadeen Plumtree is back in the band after a 11 year absence. Fula will also have former Ashtar legend Eduardo Capella on guitar (a very busy night for him!), John Patterson of Myoho fame on drums and ever presents in Fula, Nigel Moss (bass) and Rob Gould (keyboards), making it a night to remember for fans of quality atmospheric rock music. Doors open at 8.30pm til 12.30am. £4 admission price on door.
Coastpeoggers Galahad have re-released a new and improved CD version of their Other Crimes & Misdemeanours 1 and a re-mastered version of In A Moment of Complete Madness on the Polish Oskar Productions.
Free film – watch before you buy at 
If you're lucky enough to be in the Netherlands on Friday, you can catch sexy Anneke van Giersbergen covering Alanis Morissette's Ironic with The Classic Album Allstar Band in the world famous Café Bolle, Tilburg. This is to celebrate 90s request week of 3FM radio. You can listen to this live at 
Karnataka's tour starts next week, and the band are in a crazy mood! They're running a competiton where you can win a pair of tickets, a pair of post show backstage passes, tee shirt, and a bag full of Karnataka related goodies every night of the tour!
Coastproggers Big Big Train are re-releasing their English Boy Wonders album on the 1st December. The album will come in a digipack with a 12 page booklet featuring new artwork by Jim Trainer and also includes a bonus track featuring Martin Orford
Author and big prog fan Justin Peter Beaney has a new book, Fatal Sister about to be published. Here's what he has to say:
The Roundhouse Tapes set contains the critically acclaimed Opeth performance from the Camden Roundhouse, London, in 2006 and sees the band in scintillating form playing a selection of classics from their illustrious career.
Canadian proggers Saga have announced the first dates in their 2009 The Return tour.
Magenta have lined up a series of acoustic gigs at the end of October and start of November.
Tune into 
A Church of England clergyman has been ordered to remove comments about progressive rock fans from his blog, remarks described by his diocese as "highly offensive".
Whimwise will be doing a co-headlining show with Thieves Kitchen in Chipping Warden Hall on Friday October 24th.
Croydon Mick has gotten in touch with us to say that Norfolk proggers Mother Black Cap will be supporting Final Conflict when they play at The Peel on 1st November.
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.
