To quote Matt Stevens himself
This is the longest song on my new album and features Charlie Cawood on bass, Stuart Marshall on Drums and Chrissie Caulfield on the violin. They’re all amazing musicians. It’s a bit It’s A Wonderful Life themed. Spoken word by Nick Wyatt Duke from my so called friends Trojan Horse.
The album is released on Esoteric Records on March 31st.
IQ have released a trailer for their forthcoming album “The Road of Bones”, due in May. They’re taking pre-orders now, on Giant Electric Pea. If you like their brand of dark swirling neo-prog, IQ are a band who never disappoint.
On March 10th it will be two years since Owain Roberts, lead guitarist from The Reasoning, disappeared near his home on the Camarthenshire coast.
To mark the second anniversary, the band are to release a new version of the song “Pale Criminal” as a single, with all proceeeds going to the charity Missing People
As they say in Prog Magazine.
The Reasoning say: “Pale Criminal originally appeared on our EP And Another Thing. It’s the last time Owain wrote, recorded and played with the band. The song has taken on a huge personal meaning for all of us who share the great memories of having worked so closely together with him.
“It’s been rearranged and recorded with just piano and vocals – it’s beautiful, haunting and very poignant. We hope that when you hear it you’ll be reminded of the wonderful soul and spirit Owain possesses. We also hope it will help to remind Owain that he is still greatly missed, and raise awareness for missing persons in general.â€
The single will be available from The Reasoning’s Bandcamp Page.
Jamie Field has given us an update on Zero She Flies, the band formerly known as Mermaid Kiss. The most exciting news is that the new album, ‘Strange Heaven’ is now recorded and is currently being mixed.
The recording band is:
Maria Milewska: Lead and Backing Vocals, Piano, Keyboards, Flute, Sequencing.
Wendy Marks: Cor Anglais, Oboe, Recorders, Double Bass
Shane Webb: Bass, Backing Vocals
Jamie Field: 6 & 12 String Acoustic Guitars, Cuatro de Puerto Rica
With:
Jonathan Edwards: Piano on ‘Riverboat’ & Rhodes and Organ on ‘Delta’
Hannah Simons: Violin on ‘Friend Of A Friend’, ‘Riverboat’ and ‘River Girl’
Robert Kelly: Electric and Acoustic Guitar on ‘River Girl’
The final running order isn’t quite settled pending the final mixes, but it’s likely to be something like this:
One Star (Field/Milewska) 4.51
Sometimes Things Just Happen (Field) 3.36
Friend Of A Friend (Field/Milewska) 4.09
Shimmers (Field/Milewska) 3.41
Small Mercy (Field) 2.52
The River 20.27
(i) Riverboat (Field) (3.22),
(ii) Strange Heaven (Milewska) (4.45),
(iii) River Girl (Field/Milewska)( 5.46)
(iv) Watertight (Field) (2.13)
(v) Delta (Field) (4.21).
Due to Jamie’s ongoing hearing problems, sadly he won’t be able to play live with the band. So for live gigs, they’ll have the following lineup:
Maria Milewska: Lead Vocals, Flute,
Wendy Marks: Cor Anglais, Oboe, Flute, Recorders, Double Bass, Backing Vocals
Shane Webb: Bass, Backing Vocals
Jeremy Robberechts: Piano, Guitars, Backing vocals
Ed: Percussion
No annoucement yet of a release date or when the live gigs might be, but there will be a brand new Zero She Flies website launched in the near future. Until then, watch this space.
Cloud Atlas’ launch gig for their much-awaited début album “Beyond the Vale” will be at Fibbers in York on Saturday 28th June.
Everyone who’s pre-ordered the album already has an invite for this gig. For those who haven’t pre-ordered, ticket are now on sale.
From the venue’s announcement:
Misused that phrase, ‘progressive rock’, isn’t it? To the uninformed or out-of-touch it conjures images of Rick Wakeman in a cape or Peter Gabriel with a flower round his head.
But it’s so much more than that, has moved with the times and is in good hands with the likes of Heidi Widdop and her new band CLOUD ATLAS.
From early days with Mostly Autumn and progression with ill-fated projects Breathing Space and Stolen Earth, our heroine has shown a steely determination to settle for nothing but the best. Not just the musicians surrounding her but also songwriting, arrangement and putting on a great show!
Inspired by a photograph of the sky one morning, the name Cloud Atlas seemed to be perfect, summing up the mystery and unpredictable nature of Heidi’s musical journey.
Sweeping soundscapes, sometimes dark but always intriguing and full to bursting with melody and atmosphere, this is ‘prog rock’ at its finest, it’s most up-to-date and, quite frankly, bloody fantastic.
Support will be the talented Plumhall, who supported Stolen Earth on a number of oocasions.
Mostly Autumn have announced their 2014 Tour dates.
We’re pleased to announce the 2014 tour dates…so far!!! Tickets are not on sale yet at all venues but it shouldn’t be long. We would LOVE to see you at one (or more!) of the venues.
The tour covers much on the country with dates from late May and early June, across July, and a lot more UK dates in October and December. It includes Scotland and Wales as well as visiting many favourite venues such as Bury Met, The Wharf in Tavistock and The Picturedrome in Holmfirth. There is also a date in Crewe for the first time in many years, at The Box.
No mention (yet) of the annual Christmas show at The Grand Opera House in York, which seems a surprising omission.
Announced on the Touchstone Facebook page:
Touchstone have great pleasure in announcing exclusive launch shows for the upcoming live DVD release “Live Inside Outsideâ€.
It is the first official DVD release by Touchstone and features a full concert from the Oceans Of Time launch tour – recorded, edited and mixed by Rob Reed (Magenta) – and the full set from the High Voltage Festival performed in Victoria Park in July 2010, plus extras to be advised.
These exclusive DVD launch shows will take place this year as follows:
Friday, 20th June: London – The Borderline
Saturday, 21st June: Classic Rock Society – Chesterfield – Real Time Live
Sunday, 22nd June: Bilston – The RobinThese will be full headline shows with support band to be confirmed, and will be the first opportunity for general purchase this exciting new DVD release, details of a limited edition pre-order and DVD details will be released soon.
Please get it in your planner and ticket links will be circulated shortly.
As a teaser, here’s the encore from that 2010 High Voltage performance, which has been online for a while, featuring It Bites’ John Mitchell as a guest.
A promo for Matt Stevens’ forthcoming album “Lucid”, released on 31st March on Esoteric Antenna.
Cloud Atlas have announced the date of their album launch gig in York, to which everyone who has pre-ordered the album is invited. The show will be on Saturday 28th June.
The venue will be announced shortly.
Halo Blind, Chris Johnson’s interestingly quirky prog/indie crossover project, have emerged from an extended hiatus with the announcement of a new album entitled Occupying Forces, a follow-up to their début album “The Fabric”.
In their own words:
With Occupying Forces Halo Blind build layer upon layer of textured guitar-driven soundworlds to forge condensed epics that are truly mesmerising. The songs are imbued with a true emotional depth and range, from introspection and angst, to excitement, anger and venting socio-political frustration. Whether through the direct, fearless songwriting, or the nuanced, inventive musicianship, Halo Blind explore creeping paranoia, soul-searching spirituality and everything in between.
With tripwire lead guitars, twisting bass lines and innovative beat work, there’s a lot going on both above and below the surface in their music. Powerful and complex, yet completely accessible, Halo Blind make cerebral music that rocks.
The band have another new lineup, and now consists of Chris Johnson, Gavin Griffiths, Stu Fletcher, Andy Knights and Chris Farrell.