The coastprogers will not be traveling to Hong Kong next month to promote the brilliant 'Year Zero' available from their website.

Stu Galahad told Silhobbit.com "We're not taking no risks. Sars is nothing but bad news"

Ambient Prog rockers Art of Infinity have had to delay the release of their second album, Dimension Universe. The band's management tell us that the new release should be available in late summer 2003.

For more information check out their website

Those of you brave enough to see Arena at their recent Bradford Rio's gig can hardly have failed to be impressed by support act Anthony Clayton & Siemy Di. Well the boys have just added another date to their current tour. They'll play at The Telegraph, Brixton Hill in Brixton, London Sunday 11th May.

The Genesis Tribute band formerly known as Invisible Touch have finally found a replacement keyboardsman in Matt McKeon, to go with their newish drummer Paul Bringloe. They are currently rehearsing like mad little slippermen in a dark and dingy cellar somewhere. Check out their website at www.invisibletouch.freeuk.com where you can help them choose a new monkier for themselves.

Mood Swings, the first CD from The Addison Project is currently being mixed at Illusion Studio and will soon be released on Unicorn Records. Richard Addison who played bass on Mystery Theatre of the Mind CD and many other releases. With the help of 10 other musicians, Richard Addison has produced his first "Addison Project".

Mood Swings could be described as Progressive Fusion or Progressive Jazz. The album containing 9 instrumental songs will please anyone looking for a different musical experience.

MP3 available at: http://www.unicornrecords.com/mp3.html#addison
The Addison Project http://www.unicornrecords.com/addison.html
The Addison Project release date will be announced very soon.

Welsh-Proggers Karnataka are also doing well on their current tour, with an autumn tour being booked as they go. They have also been snaffled as support on the upcoming Blue Oyster Cult gigs at the Nottingham Rock City on June 4th and Manchester's Life Cafe on June 11th where they'll be playing their unplugged set.

Karnataka Official website www.karnataka.org.uk

Magenta are playing at Ynysddu in South Wales on Saturday 3rd May.

There is a also competition on their website where you can win a signed T-shirt which will be presented to the winner at the gig if they are there, or posted.

Magenta recently went down a progging storm at the Baja Prog Fest in Mexicali recently

Due to a prior engagement, Fish has announced that there will be no Haddingtion Convention this year, though there will be a Scottish Tour later on. Current dates are...

April 26th - Harlekyn Festival: Netherlands
May 3rd - Magnum Centre: Irvine, Scotland
May 9th - Cotton Club: Dundee, Scotland
May 10th - Town Hall: Jedburgh, Scotland
May 15th - SAS Band Charity Gig (with Roger Taylor), venue to be announced.
May 16th - City Hall, Perth, Scotland
May 24th  - The Feast of Hope: Geneva, Switzerland 
May 25th - Muhlehunzigen: Bern, Switzerland
May 26th - Albani Club: Winterthur, Switzerland
May 30th - The Venue (near Waverley Station), Edinburgh, Scotland
May 31st - Loch Centre: Tranent, Scotland
June 8th - Martell Club, Falkirk, Scotland [TBC]
June 13th - George Square: Glasgow, Scotland.
June 14th - Hampden Park Stadium: Glasgow, Scotland.
June 21st - Harbour: Genoa, Italy
June 27th - Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Fish has decided to 'give away' one of his songs to help the war effort. From today, any one can download 'Pilgrims Progress', and anyone who has it has his authority to share it via Kazaa or WinMX etc. It is unsure whose side he is on though.

Lazy Coastproggers Jadis will be touring Europe during May to promote their new CD 'Fanatic' which is now available for pre-order from their website. They also have sound-bites there to tempt you into parting with your hard-earned cash, on April 20th. The first few copies will also be signed.

07 May 2003 The Brook, Southampton
08 May 2003 Colosaal, Aschaffensburg, Germany
09 May 2003 Parkhaus, Duisburg, Germany
10 May 2003 Cafe Scheune, Wredenhagen, near Berlin, Germany
11 May 2003 Becks Hafenrock, Hamburg, Germany
12 May 2003 Capitol Musiktheater, Paderborn, Germany
13 May 2003 De Kade, Zandaam, Holland
14 May 2003 De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Holland
15 May 2003 Hedon, Zwolle, Holland
16 May 2003 Plato, Helmond, Holland

News just in from the front line. Reuters are reporting that Iraqi looters have ransacked Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz's Palace in Baghdad. The miscreants plundered his extensive Progressive Rock CD collection and took everything they could get their hands on, leaving only Genesis' Invisible Touch' and Tracey Hitchings 'From Ignorance To Ecstasy' CD's behind.

The Porcupine Tree frontman can feel proud of his brother who is part of the peacekeeping force in Iraq.

George Wilson may only be a cook, but the hazards are real and he is doing his bit, which is more than can be said for others. Our Boys in the Gulf need to eat and we at Silhobbit.com wish George a safe return as a fellow Hemel Hempstead boy!

Silhobbit.com caught up with the band before they went on tour. Click here to see our pix and report.

Rising from the ashes of Grey Lady Down, like the bloated bodies of Russian semen, comes a brand new progressive rock force called Darwin's Radio. The band, who also feature members of The Spirit Of Rush, have been writing material since last summer and are planning to record a CD later this year. They have a gig at the Racehorse in Northampton on May 16. 

The band are Declan Burke (Guitars / Vocals), Mark Westworth (Keyboards), Sean Spear (Bass), Dave Pankhurst (Drums)

Coastproggers BBT are hoping to release their new album in September. Meanwhile, they have a four track demo available from their website. The tracks are 'High Tide, Last Stand', 'Fighter Commando', 'Pell Mell' and 'Powder Monkey'. Greg reckons the sound takes them back to Genesis, Floyd and Crimson, whilst still sounding smack up to date.

The dates for this year WhitProgFest have been announced as 1st August to 3rd August, along with the headline bands. Headlining on Friday 1st August are seasoned prog veterans IQ (with Sphere3 also on the bill). Saturdays big name is Caravan, and Sundays top billing goes to The Strawbs

Ticket Prices are 
£14 (Friday only or Sunday only)
£16 (Saturday)
£38 (weekend camper van proghosen)

For more details, check out the groovy website

Congratulations to Mick and his wife Kyoko who gave birth to a gorgeous baby boy at the weekend. Metis Karn was born on Saturday 5th April, and all are doing well..

Ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett will release his new CD 'To Watch The Storms' on May 26th. The CD will appear in two formats, the standard jewel case edition with 8 page booklet and a deluxe Special Edition package, initially available in the form of a deluxe hard back book with slipcase. 
This will feature 4 bonus tracks, a 40 page booklet with Hackett's own extended sleeve note on each track and Kim Poor's original artwork for each track.

Anthony Clayton & Siemy Di are a brand new Prog-Rock fusion band, featuring the talents of Anthony Clayton on Guitars and drummer Siemy Di. They have an album 'Liquid Fertility' out for £10 from their website. They are also out on tour and are playing the following dates...

Saturday 19 April - Bradford Rios (supporting Arena)
Thursday 24 April - Taunton, Rockers Live
Tuesday 29 April - Leicester, The Shed
Saturday 24 May - Milton Keynes, Zaks
Wednesday 18 June, Halfmoon, Putney
Friday 20 June - Riga Music BAr, Southend (supported by Chalice)
Sunday 29 June - Bulls Head, Barnes
Friday 18 July - Scallys Bar, Weston-Super-Mare

The Coastprogging veterans new album is now well under way, with plans to make it another concept album with special gigs again. Well, it's a winning formula...

This means that they have put back the rerecording of ancient classic "Tales from the Lush Attic" until next year. The band are still hopping to get the IQ20 DVD out this year, and steadfastly refuse to deny that a Forever Live DVD is also being considered. The Official IQ Bio, writted by Mark Hughes, nears completion. However, the Coast Guard are still out looking for traces of the lost Paul Menel. Mark is so desperate to hear from Paul, that GEP are offering a reward for information on him, dead or alive, head on a plate, or whatever. 30 pieces of gold have been mentioned.

Silhobbit.com have once again pushed all the boundaries to the limit and we are proud to boast that we are the first ever Progressive Rock website to include an incredible nude image in our new column!

Silhobbit welcomes Roger Wilson's "Wrestling with Wilson" , a new monthly column which will explore the highs and lows of this combat sport from the viewpoint of Steven's brother who is also a big wrestling fan.

Roger's column includes comments from IQ's John Jowit and Shadowland's Karl Groom.

Silhobbit.com are trying to organise a "Concert for the Iraqi People". We are hoping to persuade Arena, Landmarq and Ricocher to play three concerts in Basra, Karbala, and another at the al-Salam Palace in Baghdad.. 

We recommend that these bands play there early next week.

As you may have noticed, we have now resumed full transmission. We are sorry that the website was unavailable last week, but our It Bites download has proved so popular that we have had over 100 people downloading simultaneously it. This took us over our transference threshold and the server reached melt-down as 1704 MB were downloaded in 24 hours! However, we have now invested your money in a brand new server capable of many more mips. 

Concert Review Coming Soon

The Porcupine Tree genius is thankful that his dog 'Rags' was found alive after running away last weekend. The dog escaped at about 11pm Sat and was finally found by Police the following Sunday morning several miles away 

James Harold Wilson happened to be prime minister leading a left wing party at a time when the mores of post-war political and economic change in Britain (and elsewhere) were just beginning to be perceived. Arguably it was the period of the greatest social and industrial change this century, even if the people - let alone the Wilson governments - were never fully aware of the nature of that change. Social relationships across the entire class spectrum were being transformed. What with the Pill, television, fashion, life style, pleasure and leisure, there was a deepening uncertainty in the 1960s about what it all meant and where it was all leading. Harold Wilson's "burning with the white heat of technology," and other famous phrases, sought to grapple with the era while never quite understanding what was happening to him or his government in a changing Britain and a dramatically changing world. He was blamed for things he never properly understood were happening. 

Glad to hear that Neal Morse is teaming up with Bissionette / Portnoy / Tabor for a Beatles tribute show. Maybe it'll be the spark that will send him back into music. Silhobbit.com won't be making the trek to the US to see them play in May because of the war.

Progressive Peter Gabriel spoke to Silhobbit last week. He praised Silhobbit (and Fat Daves Download page) and praised "John Mitchell's version of my classic song, Red Rain". He also said "I've been a fan of Mr Mitchell, and his brilliant band, Arena, for a few years now"

Thanks to all the PT fans in Germany, Greece and Israel for helping In Absentia chart in those countries. In Germany the album entered the chart at 64 (having been 32 midweek), in Greece the album is currently in the Top 10 and in Israel the album was Warner Brothers' best selling album for January, over the likes of Madonna and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. 

In Absentia is already by far the band's best selling album to date, as well as their most critically acclaimed.

www.porcupinetree.com

We found this fantastic fan's site which covers the band in the early 80's

Click here for details

Good Prince Harry - the flamboyant flutist, has contacted Silhobbit.com to ask if any of our readers can help him get past the sixth level of 'Manic Miner'. 

"I find it really hard to jump over the pacmen on this level." He sighed

If anyone can help please sign the Silhobbit.com guest-book. 

Some shock news eminating from the Bob Dalton camp this week. A source close to the great man has revealed to Silhobbit.com that Bob has had an unfortunate accident with his mobile phone. The source told out incredulous newsroom staff that Bob actually dropped his cell phone yesterday. Not only that, but it fell straight into a bowl of KiteKat cat food. Tuna flavoured, we are led to believe. But it's not all bad news, as the phone is now working properly. 

We asked an expert for his opinion of this. Graham Sharp, at Ladbrokes told us that he reckons dropping a mobile phone into a bowl of cat food is a 5000/1 chance. In actual fact, one lucky punter in Inverness did gamble on this and stands to win a cool £4,000,000 if Trevor Horn gets his phone stuck to his ear this year (only 80/1 as he did it last year).

Manning's new CD The Ragged Curtain is now available from his website at www.guymanning.com, and the progaholic is currently working on it's follow-up The View From My Window which will hopefully be released later this very year.

The band will be supporting Dutch OAP's Focus at the Oakwood Centre, Rotherham on May 3 2003

Fat Dave Download has  just put up a few new downloads.

"It Bites are one of my best bands so I've decided to share a 'live at the BBC studio' recording that the band did fuckin ten years ago."  tells Dave

Also a track each from John Mitchell, Moria Falls , Galahad, and chart-topping Arena.