almostly autumn news

Get yer conkers out for the ladies!

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Touchstone

Tri-County proggers Touchstone will be playing a gig at the Horn (formerly The Horn Reborn and The Horn Of Plenty) in St Albans (formerly Verulanium) on Friday 23rd November. Other bands on the bill are irrelevant, though possibly good in their own musical sphere.

It costs less than a fiver to get in. Not much less than a fiver, mind, so bring some extra progdosh if you want to get a round of beers in as well.

John Dexter Jones says...

"This week I have mostly been listening to the sound of flu ridden poultry flying over Bucks because I'm so sick of listening to our acoustic mixes. Anyway they're all finished now and are frankly marvellouser than a marvellous meal for two at a Beefeater. Out in JANUARY will our acoustic album be and we'll be doing a clutch (like eggs) of gigs to launch it into whatever sphere it needs to enter.

By the way... nice to see Clive performing his magnum opus... did you know that Caamora first took the stage supporting JUMP... we always encourage up and coming youngsters... and Clive....

Happy New November to you all and at this special time of year remember...don't speed in Penrhyndeudraeth or you'll end up with 3 points and a sixty quidder.

Bollocks."

A lesson for us all there! Jump are playing at the Rocking Horse in Northampton this Saturday, supporting coming from Spin

Magic Pie

Vocalist Allan Olsen has decided to leave Norwegian proggers Magic Pie, though their planned gig in Skövde went ahead as planned.

The band are looking for a new vocalist to replace Allan, and any potentional and interested singers are invited to contact Kim Stenberg  or Manager Erling Midtstue for further information.

Rob Gould

Rob Gould's latest recording, Dome, is a part live, part studio work recorded in the incredible Devonshire Dome in Buxton, which is now part of the Derby University campus. Rob was given access into the building, prior to the change-over from empty, former hospital to the house of learning it is today.

The live part, recorded in the dome itself, evokes the awesome setting and unusual acoustics of the structure, but at 20 minutes it was decided to expand it in the studio to an album-length piece of work.

Rob explains the ideas and evolution of his magnum opus on his website, here. The Dome CD is currently available to pre-order from his website.

Nick May and his Whimwise boys and girls have added another date to their Focus supporting tour. They'll be supporting the Dutch Masters at the well regarded Boom Boom Club at Sutton Football Club in Sutton, London, on Wednesday 28th November.

Other dates are

Tuesday November 20th - Cox`s Yard, Stratford-Upon-Avon (supporting Focus)
Friday November 23rd - The Boom Boom Club, Sutton, London (supporting Focus)
Wednesday November 28th - The Robin 2, Bilston (supporting Focus)
Sunday March 9th 2008 - Johnstock charity fundraiser, The Crown, Littlehampton
Friday 4th April 2008 - The Fawcett Club, Portsmouth

Reviews

Well, ok, Review!

We've got an excellent review of Saga's Michael Sadler farewell gig in their native Canada in October. The review was sent in by massive Saga fan Sal Nocitra, and the photo's were taken by Annette.

Check out the review here!

Crimson Sky

Crimson Sky have their latest CD, Revisionism, available as a free download from their website at www.mleamon.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. The album is a compilation of tracks from their Only Love single as well as new versions of Here Comes The Rain and Season's End.

The CD proper will be available from Crimson Sky gigs for just £3.00, but will be withdrawn when the bands proper album gets released.

They will be playing at the Hatchet in Bristol on December 6th and at the Peel in Kingston on January 26th, where they will be supporting Solstice

Porcupine Tree

Hemel Proggers Porcupine Tree hit the UK this week on their mammoth Wet Blanket tour, playing at the Oxford Academy on Thursday 8th and at the Forum in London on the 9th, with Anathema supporting.

A Silhobbit insider reports that after the tour finishes in December, the band will be taking a year long sabbatical. But to keep the fans going, the band will record a special album before Christmas. Steve has allegedly told someone that he feels that Porcupine Tree's recent albums have been a touch melancholic, and wants the next release to redress the balance slightly.

The working title for the album is Hotel Bed Invites and tracks include Here We Go, One Up The Wrong Way, Alcohol For All, Rock and Roll Saved The World, Lick My Mellotron and Get Down Bitch

Tinyfish

The worlds smallest prog band, Tinyfish, have joined the ever increasing ranks of Prog Bands Looking For A New Drummer. The previous occupant of the Stool of Terror, Leon Camfield called it a day before any uphill gardening mishap could occur.

This means that the band will, and indeed are, on the lookout for some new skin bashing gorilla, either full time, or just for live appointments.

Meanwhile, band leader Simes has been up in his loft and got his old "My First Drumkit" down and will be doing the drums during the recording of Tinyfish's new album, which is being done this month. Unless the neighbours complain.

They will be playing at The Peel in Kingston on Saturday 2nd February 2008 along with Touchstone, and at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday 29th February 2011, supporting Peter Gabriel's Genesis

The Revel-ution at the Robin

Following hot on the heels of the wonderful Feast At The Fest, comes the equally filling Revel-ution At The Robin. This hunger-busting smogasbord takes place on Sunday 11th November before the awe-inspiring Magenta take to the stage at The Robin to play a special set.

Yes indeed. Not only a chance to see a special performance of “Revolutions”, as well as other Magenta classics, but a meet-up beforehand in the luxury surroundings of the executive Green Room and Rhythm Restaurant at the Robin as well. Champagne reception and a superlative FOC buffet, complete with cheese and pineapple stick things.

The E-ticket hotline is feast-at-the-festival@hotmail.co.uk

"The trusted name and absolute last word in pre-prog’-show-party-entertainment!"

Get your free tickets for the meet-up now and don't leave it until last minute because they'll be all gone. This is big and may even get on Silhobbit!

For other forthcoming Magenta gigs at the Borderline and the Point, see www.magenta-web.co.uk

Crimson Sky - Correction

Crimson Sky's gig at The Hatchet in Bristol is on Thursday 6th of December, rather than the 3rd. Support still comes from the wonderful Fabric (Parry:Matthews)

Dial

Dial, the Dutch / Swedish alternative proggers, who have released one of the best albums of the year in Synchronized, have made a video for their song Beautiful, taken from the album.

The video will be shown on the official Dial websites: www.myspace.com/thebanddial and www.youtube.com/thebanddial with it's premier on Friday 26th October. Teasers and behind-the-scenes clips will be available before then. The Video has been created by Dutch media company D’iMages who have done productions for Ayreon,
Star One, Shadow Gallery, After Forever, Stream Of Passion, La-Ventura and more.

Dial are supporting Riverside at de Boerderij, Zoetermeer on Thursday 13th December, Plato, Helmond on Friday 14th December and de Lantaarn, Hellendoorn on Saturday 15th December.

Reviews

In case you haven't noticed, we've uploaded a veritable raft of reviews to the site recently. The ever reliable John Morley has sent in a live reviews of Rush at Wembley Arena and a Summer's End Festival review as well as reviews of The Reasoning - Awakening and Touchstone - Discordant Dreams CD's.

These join live reviews of H Natural at the Boerderij, Blind Ego at The Peel, Pallas, Blind Ego, and Kramer live in Wath and the whole weekend reviewed, by Charlie O', Kim Bolton and Jo'n'Marie respectively

Jump trio Jonesy and the Steven Twins have almost finished recording their forthcoming acoustic album. The album was prompted by rather a large demand following various support slots with luminaries like Midge Ure, John Young, Sam Brown, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and even Wishbone Ash.

"Honestly people have been getting on my bleedin' nerves demanding this album... phoning us up in the middle of the night... knocking on our mansion doors... so we said ah go on then and recorded the damn songs" said a spokesman for the trio who recently appeared at The Roadhouse in Covent Garden opening for the legendary Zoot Money.

Jump themselves (the full monty version) will be giggin at:- Riffs Swindon Friday October 26, Rockin Horse Northampton November 17th, Limelight Aylesbury Home of Prog November 24th and the Limelight in Crewe with old muckers Strangefish on November 28th.

Jump are also set to enter the studio in January to record their twelfth Studio album... more news of that pant-wetting variety to follow...

Bristolians Crimson Sky have added another date to their "hectic" "one-a-month" Autumn / Winter schedule. Martin and the boys and girl will be playing at the The Hatchet in Bristol on Monday 3rd December.

Special guest will be another of our favourite bands, Fabric - the band formally known as Parry:Matthews

Crimson Sky are also playing at The Peel in Kingston on Saturday 3 November supporting Band of Rain, and again on the 28th January

Francis Dunnery

Former It Bites frontsman Francis Dunnery kicks off his shoes and his Welcome To The Wild Country tour this Saturday with a special charity gig in aid of CKDCF at the Market Hall in Egremont, Cumbria. Then he takes his band, consisting of Tony Beard, Peter-John Vetesse, Nathan King, Flamman and Dorie Jackson on a short jaunt around the Wild Country, stopping at King Tut's in Glasgow on Sunday, October 21, the Robin 2 in Bilston on Monday 22nd, Sheffield's Boardwalk on the 24th then the Carling Academy in London on the 24th and the Fleece n Firkin in Bristol on the 25th before finally finishing up at the Academy 3 in Manchester on Friday the 26th.

The man also has a new MySpace page at www.myspace.com/francisdunnerymusic where you can download a version of the It Bites Classic Feels Like Summertime, recorded with his new band.

Whimwise

Ex-Enid eccentrics Whimwise, fronted by the one and only Nick May, have only gone and blimmin' lined up an "Autumn Tour", mainly of Germany, but a couple of dates here in Blighty. The tour looks like this:

Friday 12 October - Kubana Live, Bonn, Germany
Saturday 13 October - Mausefalle, Bonn, Germany
Monday 15 October - Session Club, Bonn, Germany
Saturday 27 October - Progsol Festival, Rockpalast, Switzerland
Friday 9 November - The Fawcett Club, Southsea, Portsmouth
Tuesday 20 November - Cox`s Yard, Stratford-Upon-Avon (supporting Focus)
Wednesday 28 November - The Robin 2, Bilston (supporting Focus)

Panic Room

Panic Room, one of the bands formed after the messy breakup of Karnataka, have posted clips from four tracks from their forthcoming album, Visionary Position, up on their MySpace page. They hope that their finished album will be released soon.

Check out the clippings at www.myspace.com/panicroomuk

Nicky B and Petey G from top surferproggers Pendragon will be playing an evening of acoustic Pendragon music at the Manor Barn in Kimberworth, Rotherham on Wednesday the 21st of November.

The pair of them will also be playing at the Kerryman Pub, Digbeth, Birmingham as part of the annual Gigbeth Festival on Thursday November 2nd.

Brit-Stockbroker-Thrash-Proggers Threshold will support Holland's top metallers Within Temptation, featuring the sexy Sharon Den Adel, at a one off show at Beursgebouw in Eindhoven, Netherlands, to a sold out crowd of around 8000 people on 24 November 2007.

Earlier this year Within Temptation's current album The Heart Of Everything topped the Dutch charts and the band toured Europe with 38 sold out shows. Within Temptation invited Threshold for the November show after seeing them at this year’s Earthshaker festival in Germany.

Within Temptation will also be playing in the UK in November, so check out our Gig Guide now!

Sylvan

Guitarist Kay Sohl has left German proggers Sylvan to pursue other projects. The band will continue to play with guest guitarists until a worthy successor is found. Kay left just after the bands recent concert in Hamburg, where they played their majestic Posthumous Silence album in its entirety. The concert was filmed and will be released on DVD, hopefully in the first few months of 2008.

The band have a couple of concerts left, at pROCKfest on November 9th and at the Rumplekammer, in Kreutzal, Germany on the 1st December. This is the Sylvan Fan Club Christmas bash, but everyone is welcome.

RPWL

German proggers RPWL's recently released album 9 has nearly sold out of its limited run of 999 copies, so this is your chance to pick up one of the last few copies by heading over to their Farmlands Online Shop

Now, for just 999 hours, the album is available to download from most online retailiers.

InsideOut and RPWL have said that the forthcoming official RPWL album will be released on 29th February 2008.

Meanwhile, RPWL and Blind Ego are both on the line-up for nest years ROSFest. The festival, which takes place at the Keswick Theater, Glenside, PA on May 2nd, 3rd and 4th also features Credo, Wishbone Ash and Ritual. See www.rosfest.com for further details.

The UK's top alt-rock-proggers, Porcupine Tree, have added an extra date to their extensive European tour. The band will be playing at the Annexet, in Stockholm on Saturday 24th November.

Meanwhile, if anyone out there wants to catch the band playing at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam on Wednesday December 5th, tickets may be easier than usual to get hold of. Turns out that the 5th of December is Sinterklaas, when the crazy Dutch celebrate Christmas!!

My source says "On the eve of December 5th, the families often celebrate Sinterklaas with each other. Usually, the grandparents have the whole family over and then Sinterklaas comes to their house. While everybody sits in the living room and sings songs, you hear a knock on the door. When the children rush to the door to open it, they see a basket full of presents! And then the fun starts! Traditional Dutch Sinterklaas candy includes speculaas, marsepein and pepernoten.

Christmas is also celebrated on the 25th and 26th of December. On Christmas Eve people have dinner together and afterwards go to evening church services. Christmas Day is a family day with quality time spent both at church and at home. The day after Christmas is sometimes spent visiting and celebrating with other family members.

Although they are beginning to celebrate 25th Dec more, they really put their energy into Dec 5th. This is when SinterKlaas and Zwart Piet leave Holland to go back to Spain."

As the traditional Dutch rhyme goes:

Remember, Remember
The Fifth of December
Sint Nikolaas en Zwarte Piet
I see no reason
why Sinterklaasavond
Should ever be forgot

Veteran Cumbrian / Readinger proggers It Bites suffered a set back in their quest to record their new album this week, when top notch keyboard player John Beck broke his left clavicle in a bizarre gardening accident outside his home, this week.

Luckily, this won't affect the recording, as it should all be healed by the time he has to do his bits. He will have to wear a protective mask whilst in the studio though.

Top British Cod-Proggers Arena will be playing at the CC de Mortel in Ittervoort, Netherlands (near the Dutch / German / Belgium border around Munchengladbach) on the 4th April 2008. This will apparently be their only concert in Holland, and "that part of Europe"

See www.fanfareconcordia.nl for more information. In Dutch.

Anthony Phillips

Sir Anthony Phillips, co-founding member of Genesis, will be present at Italian proggers The Watch's gig at The Peel in Kingston on Saturday October 27th. Hopefully he can be persuaded to join The Watch on stage for a couple of (Genesis) numbers.

Support on the night comes from the wonderfully talented and incredibly hairy Tim Burness.

See www.myspace.com/houseofprogression for more.

The Watch websites at : www.myspace.com/thewatchmusic and www.thewatch.it.

Timmy Burness is at www.myspace.com/timburness and www.timburness.com for sure.

Blackfield

The debut DVD from Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen's Blackfield will be released on the 22nd October on Snapper Records.

Over the past few years Steven Wilson’s Porcupine Tree have made the transition from a solo project to genuine international stars with their latest album Fear Of A Blank Planet selling over 125,000 worldwide. Aviv Geffen is Israel’s leading counter culture rock musician. A huge star in his native country, while his outspoken political views have caused huge controversy, his records have been greeted with equal amounts of adulation, earning him a string of gold albums. In recent years Aviv has worked with various other artists including Belle And Sebastian but it has been his partnership with Steven that has proved the most fertile.

Formed after a meeting 2001 the partnership blossomed into a cross-cultural collaboration called Blackfield and released their self-titled debut in 2004 to widespread critical acclaim. The follow up, Blackfield II, was released in February this year and critics across the world instantly hailed it as being equal to, if not better than, the first album with Classic Rock (UK) describing it as ‘an utterly compelling and enthralling listen', Aardshock (Holland) proclaiming 'Ladies & Gentlemen, I've already chosen my CD of the Year!' while Aquarian (USA) summed it up, ‘in a word: stunning’.

Blackfield NYC captures the band live at the Bowery Ballroom New York on March 16th 2007. A captivating live experience (‘Blackfield deal in shimmering soundscapes and towering choruses, their pop sensibility underpinned by dramatic edginess’, Classic Rock) the concert features tracks from both albums along with an inspired re-working of Alanis Morrisette’s Thank You. In addition to the concert, the DVD also features the promo videos for the singles Pain, Hello and Blackfield.

Tracklisting:  Once, Miss You, Blackfield, Christenings, The Hole in Me, 1000 People, Pain, Glow, Thank You, Epidemic, Someday, Open Mind, My Gift Of Silence, Where is My Love, End of the World, Hello, Once - encore, Cloudy Now – encore

Order the DVD from www.snappermusic.com

After many months of research and planning, not to mention restoration in certain cases, the Rick Wakeman Video Vault is ready to go. Fans of Rick Wakeman have long wanted a visual document from some of Rick's classic solo shows from the seventies and the eighties and the Wakeman Video Vault aims to provide just what the fans want. This beautifully packaged box set is limited to just 1,000 copies.

The boxed set includes some of his greatest performances including King Arthur on Ice, Live at Wembley Empire Pool 1975, and 1984 filmed at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1981.

For a short video preview, full details of the contents and ordering details of the box please go to: www.wakemanvideovault.com

You can see full details of each DVD by clicking on the button at the top of each spine.

Finally, after months of fierce and quite frankly, pointless speculation, coast progging veterans IQ have announced that their new keyboard player will be none other than Darwin's Radio's Mark Westworth. They have also released this rather dodgy photo to prove the fact.

Peter "Pete" Nicholls is said to be "over the moon, innit" about the bands newest acquisition and has bought everyone a pint in celebration!

The band are now rehearsing for November / December's tour and Mark has promised to learn all of Widgy's squidgy bits before the first night at the Stazione Birra in Rome on the 23rd November.

Darwin's Radio, who are said to be furious and are looking to get £5,000,000 compensation from GEP records, and have asked the Prog Police to look into their claims that Mark was "tapped up" after photo's of Mark meeting with Mike and John in a London Hotel in September were leaked out onto the internet yesterday, sent out a big "Congratulations to Sparky" message on their website, and say work is continuing on the second Frost* album, which is due in 2008.

Their own album is also on the way.

As previously mentioned, Polish Proggers Satellite release their new album Into The Night on Metal Mind Records on 19th November 2007 - and on 8th January 2008 in the USA. The album will be available in two versions - a standard single CD version and a special digipack version with bonus tracks. They have now revealed the album artwork and the tracklist, which is: Into The Night, Dreams, Downtown Skyline, Lights, Don't Go Away In Silence, Heaven Can Wait and Forgiven And Forgotten. On the bonus disc you also get Around The World and Time Stands Still

Into The Night is the final chapter of the trilogy started in 2003 by A Street Between Sunrise And Sunset and followed by 2005's Evening Games. See www.myspace.com/satellitepoland for more info.

Sphere

London based Jazz mag proggers Sphere³ are out on day release this month, and will be doing their community service around London at The Living Bar, Brixton on the 4th October, then again at the world renowned The Peel, in Kingston on the 20th, where they'll be supporting US proggers Glass. Finally on the 21st, they'll play at the Bull & Gate in Kentish Town, with such jazz luminaries as Thumpermonkey, Earth to Mars and Action and Action.

After that, they will be escorted back to their rather comfortably padded cells.

Knight Area

Knight Area leave their homeland of the Netherlands this month to play at the Life Rocks festival in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA on Friday 5th October. As you may know, Life Rocks is a charity concert raising money to help kids suffering from all forms of cancer, so if you are nearby, please go along and support the show.

Following that, Knight Area will be playing at De Wielepet in Monster, Netherlands on 12th October and then at Het Kasteel in Alphen a/d Rijn on November 2nd.

Dial, the Dutch / Swedish alternative proggers, who have released one of the best albums of the year in Synchronized, will be supporting the mighty Riverside, who have also just released one of the albums of the year in Rapid Eye Movements, on the Dutch leg of their European tour.

For those of you too lazy to check the gig guide, they play de Boerderij, Zoetermeer on Thursday 13th December, Plato, Helmond on Friday 14th December and de Lantaarn, Hellendoorn on Saturday 15th December.

I'm starting a fund to enable me to take the 13th & 14th off work so I can jet over to de Boerderij to catch these bands in what will surely be a classic gig. All donations should be made to the usual paypal address. Thanks!

Swindon's Richard Wileman is busy working on two new pieces entitled Island Universes and The Atom Age Sense Of Impermanence. It is hoped that these will be completed by the end of the year and available for free download as part of Karda Estra's tenth anniversary releases for 2008.

The new album The Last Of The Libertine had a coverted Featured CD spot on Progressive Ears in September and a new review.

The album has recently been stocked by two more US distributors - Lasers Edge and Synphonic. 

Whimwise, featuring ex members of The Enid, will be supporting Focus at their gig at the Robin 2, Bilston on Wednesday 28th November.

Issue 45 of the Frog Prog mag Acid Dragon is out now, featuring articles on Brian Auger, Saga, Joy Unlimited, Far Corner, Jonesy and Trettioariga Kriget as well as over 49 reviews, all crammed into 52 snug little pages!

All this for only £2 / $3 / €3 from acidrago.club.fr

Riverside

The Progster Presents ... (the team behind Summer's End) are delighted to welcome Polish prog giants Riverside to Lydney Town Hall, Gloucestershire for their first UK live date on November 29th 2007. Support will be from Also Eden. Tickets are priced at £15.00 and are available by post from: Box Office, Lydney Town Hall, High Street, Gloucestershire GL15 6DY. Please make cheques payable to Full moon Media Ltd and include an stamped, addressed envelope with your order or your tickets will be held for collection on the door.

Tickets are also available on-line from www.sonicbond.com (booking fee applies)

Doors and Bar open from 7pm and food will be available (food can also be pre-ordered - please call or write for details).

Lydney Town Hall is an excellent venue, situated on the A48 between Gloucester and Chepstow. The spacious hall has great acoustics, a large stage and has an audience capacity of 400. All enquiries to 01594 843595 (please leave a message if there’s no reply and we’ll get back to you ASAP) or email huw@progster.co.uk

Riverside will also be playing at the Camden Underworld on Friday 30th November - support this times comes from Haken

Also Eden

Also Eden's bass player Ralvin Thomas has decided to part ways with the band after being unable to balance the band with his family commitments. The band drafted guitar teacher Steve "Bruiser" Dunn on bass to cover the Summer's End Festival, and he's since convinced them that he's the man for the job. Permanant!

They're all locked in the studio now recording their second album, the follow up to the well received About Time.

The band will be appearing at the ProgFarm Festival in Bakkeveen, Netherlands on November 3rd (along with Flamborough Head, Abarax, Casual Silence and Cast), as well as at pROCKfest in Bunde, Germany on Nov 10th and Lydney Town Hall on Nov 29th, supporting the mighty Riverside.

Polish Proggers Satellite release their new album Into The Night on Metal Mind Records on 19th November 2007 - and on 8th January 2008 in the USA. The album will be available in two versions - a standard single CD version and a special digipack version with bonus tracks.

Into The Night is the final chapter of the trilogy started in 2003 by A Street Between Sunrise And Sunset and followed by 2005's Evening Games.

See www.myspace.com/satellitepoland for more info.

David English has joined Coralspin on drums. The band are very excited about this as David absolutely floored them with his skills on the drumkit.

A spokesperson for the band said "It's going to be awesome playing live with this guy!"

Dial

Last weekend, Scando-Dutch alt-prog-goth-rockers Dial, who recently announced that their new live keyboard player would be Domenik Papaemmanuil from the Greek prog band Wastefall, took part in a radio show on a local Dutch radio station in Brabant. The two hour show featured Kris and Lilo being interviewed and choosing their favourite music. The songs they chose included stuff by Blackfield, Kate Bush, Queen, Rush, Kiss, Jeff Wayne and Anathema. They will be playing at Het Kasteel, in Alphen a/d Rijn this Saturday, the 29th September.

The band have posted all the videos taken at the iO Pages festival at the Boerderij in May onto their YouTube channel. The last one to go up was the popular Childhood Dreams.

Finally, the beautiful Lilo will be guesting on Arjen Lucassen's new Ayreon album on the track The Truth Is In Here

Pendragon

Surfer-proggers Pendragon have joined the "Facebook Revoltion" and have created a "Pendragon Appreciation Society".

So if you've on Facebook, go to www.faceache.com and join their merry book of faces!

Nick Barratt and Pete Gee will be playing at this years Gigbeth Festival, which takes place at the start of November. They'll be part of the Acoustic Legends Night on Friday 2nd November at the Kerryman Pub in Bigbeth, Birmingham alongside Tony McPhee and others.

More info at www.gigbeth.com

Crimson Sky

Bristol proggers Crimson Sky have their first gig with their new line-up this week, on Thursday 27th September, at the Griffin, Milk Street, Frome. The band will be onstage at 9 o'clock.

Work continues on the bands debut album, but you can check out their latest track, After The Rain, on their MySpace page.

The band will also be playing at the Peel in Kingston, supporting Band of Rain an Saturday 3rd November, and then again, supporting old hands Solstice on Saturday 26th January 2008.

Coralspin

Nottinghamshire band Coralspin are on the lookout for a new drummer after their current drummer Symon decided that it was time to step down from the drum stool. Increasing work commitments in North Yorkshire coupled with the complexity of the bands new material left him feeling that he wouldn't be able to put in the work required, especially as he has nowhere to practise his drumming outside of rehearsals.

If you're interested, check out www.coralspin.com/drummer-ad.html

Well, we thought that that was the final line-up, then this weekend, headliners It Bites looked a bit "shaky" but assure us here at Silhobbit that they will be playing.

However, Saturday afternoon headliners Abarax have now decided to stay indoors and watch Ray Davies or something, so Final Conflict will headline, with Tinyfish behind them, and opening will be prog covers band, The Progs.

You couldn't make it up, could you!

www.theprogs.com

The final two pieces of this years Summer's End Festival jigsaw have finally fallen into space. The first slice is singer / songwriter Claire Hamill who has toured with Jethro Tull, King Crimson and Jon Anderson, as well as being part of Wishbone Ash. Claire will be kicking off the Saturday evening session, and will be followed by Also Eden and Pain of Salvation. More info on Claire can be found at her website www.clairehamill.co.uk

Replacing Karnataka on the Saturday afternoon will be Stoke favourites Final Conflict, who have been around for twenty or so years, minus a gap year or two. They released their latest album Simple last year. See their webby at www.fc-music.com.

Abarax will now headline the Saturday afternoon session with Final Conflict preceding them and Tinyfish opening up the day like a can of sardines.

Led Zeppelin

Following on from the immensely popular Fish & Marillion reunion concert a fortnight back, Robert Plant has confirmed that talks are taking place with the surviving band members of Led Zeppelin for a one-off gig later this year.

Percy told a BBC Local reporter that he was holding talks with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones about the possibility of getting back together for a charity gig.

No date has been confirmed at this stage but the venue is rumoured to be the 02 Arena - formally know as The Dome, or That Ugly Piece of Crap - in London.

Some bloke from the Babyshambles was interviewed by the wonderful NME and he reckoned that any reunion "would be shit". And he would know shit when he saw it.
 

Yeovil's own The Pineapple Thief have a new album available to pre-order now. What We Have Sown features a 30 minute title track, and can be pre-ordered from here for £8.00. The track listing is:

All You Need To Know
Well, I Think That's What You Said?
Take Me With You
My Debt To You
What We Have Sown

The band is also working on a love DVD recorded in the USA in 2006, along with an audio CD of their recent Somerset Festival set in Frome.

The Feast at the Festival is an annual "meet 'n' greet 'n' eat" for It Bites forum-members. This year they've hired the room adjacent to the venue at the Summers End Festival in Bilston.

Batchain, one of the forum event organisers told Silhobbit.com "The buffet is going to be the biggest one we've done, but because there will be special guests we've limited the meeting to fifty persons max"

"We thought it would be a bit of fun to have a cake baking competition and the band's soundman / tour manager Tom Oliver has agreed to judge and even offered a signed bottle of his Perry Pear Cider as a prize. The band have expressed an interest in showing up too" he added.

Batchain has denied that there will be a spit-roast in the Green Room on the band's chat forum

You don't have to be a forum member to enjoy this fun event so email your reservation here now. There are limited places, so don't delay.

Three County Proggers Touchstone will be releasing their debut album, Discordant Dreams, on the 10th September, will be having an album release party at The Backroom at The Bully, The Bullington Arms, Cowley Road in Oxford, on Friday 7th September. The fun kicks off at 9pm.

They'll follow this up with a support slot to the majestic It Bites on Saturday 8th September at the Montgomery Halls, Wath-Upon-Dearne, Up North, and at the KidsCo Rock Festival in Aylesbury Home of Prog, on Sunday 9th September.

The following weekend, they'll be the first band on the Sunday afternoon session at the Summer's End Festival.

They'll also be playing at The Palace in Tamworth, with GLOW & Symphony of Pain on the 5th October

The album, Discordant Dreams, is available to pre-order for £12.00 (inc UK p&p), and will turn up with a signed band print. To pre-order, send a polite and well-writted email to info@touchstonemusic.co.uk and they'll send you back payment info.

You can hear tracks from the album at www.myspace.com/touchstonemusicuk

Whimwise

Whimwise, the band featuring ex-The Enid members Nicholas May and Steven Hughes, along with Alquimia, Gonzarlo Carerra, Ami Wilson, Mark Powell and Ruth Edgell have lined up a couple of dates in Germany. The gigs, around the Bonn area, will be the first time ex-Enid members have played in Germany. The dates are

12 October 2007 - Kubana Club, Zeithstraße 100, 53721 Bonn-Siegburg, Germany
15 October 2007 - Session Club, Gerhard-von-Are-Straße, 53111 Bonn, Germany