Month: February 2021

NEW ALBUM ‘THE FAINTEST IDEA’ OUT NOW ON KSCOPE 

Jon Gomm, the UK based acoustic guitar virtuoso, has shared the video for latest single ‘The Ghost Inside You’ taken from his recent album on Kscope, The Faintest Idea.

As with the previous videos in the series, Jon has collaborated with The Samsara Collective to film in the stunning setting of Niamos Radical Arts Theatre, Manchester, to showcase the immersive and expressive emotional quality of his music.

The instrumental video features the new JGM10 guitar Gomm has developed with Ibanez Guitars: A company he grew up admiring as the designers of electric guitars for his teen guitar idols. 

“To have been on this adventure with my childhood dream guitar company, to design a guitar perfect for modern fingerstyle guitar playing… I do not deserve it.”

Gomm becomes the first ever acoustic guitarist to develop a signature model with them.

When most people look at an acoustic guitar, they see exactly that – a wooden box with strings. As one of the pioneers of the modern fingerstyle sound, however, Jon Gomm has a rare gift for turning one instrument into what feels like an entire orchestra…

The Blackpool-born singer-songwriter’s 2003 home-recorded debut, Hypertension, was nothing short of a musical revelation: drumming beats, tapping chords and striking harmonics on his acoustic underneath that warm, soulful voice. 

Perhaps one of the greatest surprises with The Faintest Idea is how it contrasts the incredible human warmth of Gomm’s acoustic articulation with more icy affairs, thanks to the synth parts and production work from Australian musician Andy Sorenson. Instead of a war between man and machine, the collaboration delicately cross-pollinates simple honesty with more forward-thinking atmospheres. It is a contemporary masterpiece – rich in its sense of paths travelled and roads taken, while also daring to gaze into the unexpected future.

The album is complimented by the delicate hand drawn pen and ink cover art created by Lee Zimmerman. 

The Faintest Idea is out now on CD, double LP, digital and as a stunning limited edition deluxe 3 disc hardback book edition which will feature – CD1 – The Faintest Idea album, CD 2 – The Naked Artist Mix – a stripped back version of the album; a DVD containing 6 exclusive performances filmed in a medieval church, guitar technique presentations,  a 35 minute Jon Gomm interview, song description videos  and The Faintest Idea in high resolution stereo audio. The beautiful book features Lee Zimmerman illustrations, song descriptions, hand written lyrics and full track tablature for the song “Check You’re Still Breathing”. Jon’s reaction to the deluxe edition can be see in this latest unboxing video here.

All formats are available to order now https://jongomm.lnk.to/TheFaintestIdea

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR PREVIOUS SINGLES: COCOON / DEEP SEA FISHES / DREAM FACTORIES

Faintest Idea UK/Eire Tour

Oct 2021 

1 – Dublin, Academy 2 

8 – Haverhill, Arts Centre 

9 – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds 

10 – York, Crescent 

15 – Trowbridge, Emmanuel’s Yard 

16 – Swansea, Sin City 

17 – Cardiff, The Globe 

21 – Bristol, Thekla 

22 – Milton Keynes, Craufurd Arms 

23 – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms 

29 – Huddersfield, The Parish pub    

30 – Glasgow, Oran Mor 

31 – Newcastle, Cluny 

Nov 2021 

4 – Liverpool, The Leaf Café 

5 – Blackpool, Bootleg Social 

6 – Preston, The Ferret 

13 – Guildford, Boileroom 

14 – Southampton, Joiners 

15 – Brighton, Komedia 

27 – London, Bush Hall

Dec 2021 

4 – Manchester, The Bread Shed 

5 – Leeds, Brudenell Social 

16 – Runcorn, Brindley Theatre

Oliver Wakeman reunites with Clive Nolan after 20 years to issue a 3CD Box Set – Tales By Gaslight featuring remastered versions oftheir ‘future prog classics’ Jabberwocky and The Hound Of The Baskervilles along with a new disc Dark Fables. 

The Tales By Gaslight box set, comprising 3CDs each with a 16-page booklet and 3 individual Art prints of the three covers, will be released by Burning Shed on 23rd April.

Clive Nolan (Pendragon, Arena) and Oliver Wakeman (YES, Strawbs) first combined their considerable keyboard and compositional talents to create two rock opera/concept albums.

Jabberwocky, released in 1999, was based on the famous Lewis Carroll poem. It was followed by The Hound of The Baskervilles (2002), inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novel penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The project was always intended to be a trilogy of musical interpretations of literary classics, but an album inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was shelved because of a lack of record company funding.

This box set package also includes a third disc, featuring previously unreleased pieces that were intended to complete the trilogy. This third disc, Dark Fables, contains over 30 minutes of music conceived for the abandoned Frankenstein album.

Nolan and Wakeman also found pieces which were unused from The Hound of The Baskervilles. These include The Man Called Sherlock which was the original version of the Overture and 221B, inspired by Sherlock Holmes’ famous address.

Unusually for the time, the first two albums featured a host of guest performances, including narration by Wakeman’s father Rick and actor Robert Powell. Former YES guitarist, the late Peter Banks, Magnum vocalist Bob Catley and singer Tracy Hitchings appeared on both albums. Ayreon mastermind Arjen Lucassen lent his talent to The Hound of the Baskervilles along with members from the bands IQ and Threshold. The unique artwork was created by Rodney Matthews for the original Jabberwocky release. Peter Pracownik was the creativity behind The Hound of The Baskervilles artwork 20 years ago and has returned to this trilogy by lending his talents to the new Dark Fables artwork. 

In keeping with the spirit of the two previous albums, the new recordings feature the talents of, amongst others, Gordon Giltrap, Paul Manzi (Arena, Oliver Wakeman Band, Sweet) Andy Sears (Twelfth Night) and David Mark Pearce (Oliver Wakeman Band). Also included is an original reading of the Jabberwocky poem by Rick Wakeman.

The Tales By Gaslight box set contains 3 CDs each with 16-page booklets including lyrics, previously unseen art work and many stories behind the creativity from both Wakeman and Nolan. The first 250 box sets will also include a 4th limited edition numbered art print of the box set cover signed by Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman. Tales By Gaslight will be released by Burning Shed on 23rd April. Pre-order this here: https://burningshed.com/store/oliverwakeman

About Oliver Wakeman
Eldest son of prog legend Rick, Wakeman filled the keyboard role, once held by his father, with YES from 2008 to 2011. His work with YES includes the triple live album in In The Present – Live From Lyon, Fly From Here and the From A Page box set featuring recordings from his time in the band released in 2019. During his tenure with YES, Wakeman also toured and recorded as a member of The Strawbs.

Wakeman’s debut album (1997) Heaven’s Isle was inspired by the island of Lundy, and he has since released a number of solo and Oliver Wakeman Band albums. He has also released several collaborations with renowned musicians, including Steve Howe, band mate to both Oliver and his father in YES for The Three Ages of Magick album, as well as uniting with another guitar legend Gordon Giltrap for the award-winning Ravens & Lullabies album. Both of which are set to be part of an upcoming boxset.

About Clive Nolan
Aged just sixteen, multi-instrumentalist Nolan became the youngest musician (at that time) to gain an A.L.C.M. composition diploma from the London College of Music. At university he studied composition, orchestration, musical arrangement and conducting, gaining a B Mus and M Mus. He has played a prominent role in the development of progressive music, as a member of Pendragon since 1986 and as a member of Shadowland (1992 – present), Strangers on A Train (1993 – 1994) and by forming his own band Arena in 1995.

Nolan’s interest in rock opera extends beyond his collaborations with Wakeman. In 2008 he wrote She, based upon the novel by Sir H Rider Haggard, and two musicals Alchemy and King’s Ransom. This year will also see the release of a new ‘Viking Inspired’ album Song of the Wildlands, as well as the new Arena album The Theory of Molecular Inheritance.