I seldom fail to be impressed with folks who take the huge step into the unknown and are prepared to present to the world the music they have created from thoughts or dreams they have held sometimes for many years. I know several who have done this to a great reception and widespread acclaim.
Obviously everyone would like that, which is why reviews can matter through helping to raise awareness and, hopefully, allow an artist to gain traction and, in their profile being raised, generate both interest and push sales forward. I certainly hope this is the case for this Orion album, ‘The End Of Suffering’, as it is most definitely worthy of attention.
A little background might help here, Orion is the name chosen for Ben Jones’s concept album that came about after he read Eckhart Tolle’s book The Power OfNow, which deals with how we address our own internal dialogue between the past and the present. It talks about a personal awakening and enlightenment which incorporates the Buddhist concept that enlightenment is the beginning of the end of suffering. Quite a lofty concept but one rooted in the aspect of how time controls us and makes us slaves to its demands as we struggle to get done what we need to in the time allotted to us. It’s a never ending game of cat and mouse and one that drains, frustrates and depresses on a daily basis. As we are forever chasing our own tails, all for the Mammon at the end of the day/month/year, it’s soul destroying really and this album addresses that cycle in its lyrics.
This album was 20 years in the making, with the book being a pivotal moment towards personal enlightenment and acceptance. Furthermore, the album was entirely self financed, performed and recorded by Ben Jones, with no intent other than to get the album completed and out to a world and see what happened as a result. Ben also made the CD available on bandcamp at a most reasonable price to encourage folks to listen for themselves. All of which is very laudable but is it any good?
Well this reviewer finds it is a really good listen and, once you understand it’s concepts and ideas, it’s both satisfying and musically very rewarding indeed.
The album begins with a gentle piano motif that is recurrent at times throughout the whole record before a huge riff commences that really opens the sound vista wide. It’s a very impressive riff that really works well and fades to some frenzied fretwork before resuming and then quietening down a little, more power chords then play the track out. As an instrumental opener Now is a very strong and gripping track, this fades to fast strummed acoustic guitar that opens the second track, In The Beginning. This is a pretty epic song with that great recurring acoustic guitar and a great bass part to it. There is a blistering middle section with lots of frantic bass and crunchy riffing guitar parts and a tidy but brief solo, it sounds double tracked and all the better for that too,
Tomorrow is about how what we do leaves its mark in time and that we should do all we can to make that impression a good one. Again, this has a lot going on throughout and also has a fine solo. It’s a very strong track taken at a pace that doesn’t let up and, with great vocals, it’s one of my favourites thus far. The Hurricane is about the the battles of middle life and keeping control during it. There is another monstrous riff running through it all, making it quite a hard number but a powerful one that leads into Yesterday and its melancholy for the middle years and the opportunities that now seem squandered, again this is a rather epic song of regrets and missed chances.
Out Of Time is about the realisation that it’s too late and time has gone for you, a rather sobering song really as it faces that difficult reality. Myself and I is about the enlightenment and that time is an illusion of the mind and Out Of Time pt. 2 is the reality that time is a concept and how he is not constrained or beholden to it any longer. The End Of Suffering is the last track of the album and brings us back full circle as it has a similar opening as the beginning of the album and is an excellent closer to a most unusual and somewhat different album. This track has a wall of sound effect at times, similar to Devin Townsend’s dense sound. This track has everything happening at once it is manic and urgent despite being a mid tempo piece. It really is most impressive I really like it.
There is great musicianship and intelligence to this album, okay, it might help to have read the book to fully understand the concept, something I will do for myself in the coming weeks. All in all ‘The End of Suffering’ is a most wonderful release, I highly commend it to all, especially those who like their prog harder and less symphonic.
In their nearly 30-year career as a band, The Flower Kings return with their 16th studio album Look At You Now. With its vintage vibes, and the warm and inviting sounds that are reminiscent of legendary and classic 70’s albums – Look At You Now is all about the invention of grandiose soundscapes and that analog feel that will transport you to a bygone era of rock with swirling synths & guitars and thematic long-form pieces.
Their first anthem “Beginner’s Eyes” can be listened to here:
The Flower Kings comments on the new single: “Here’s news from veterans THE FLOWER KINGS – Album Nr. 16! Like a ghost ship sailing in from faraway places – a set of new songs leave their mark on 2023 – A year most of us will remember for the wars, the migration & refugees, the wildfires, the lost youth, the melting ice, the economic crisis, too many dead heroes, the political unrest. But also, a year that opens to possibilities, re-birth – new ways of thinking – We think this new album from The Kings of the North gives a bit of both.”
Look At You NowTracklist:
1. Beginner’s Eyes
2. The Dream
3. Hollow Man
4. Dr. Ribedeaux
5. Mother Earth
6. The Queen
7. The Light in Your Eyes
8. Seasons End
9. Scars
10. Stronghold
11. Father Sky
12. Day For Peace
13. Look At You Now
The album will be available in the following versions:
· Ltd. CD 6-Panel Digipak
· Ltd. Gatefold Black 2LP 180g Vinyl
· Ltd. Gatefold Transp. Orange/Black Marbled 2LP 180g Vinyl – Limited to only 500 copies
· Ltd. Gatefold Transp. Blue 2LP 180g Vinyl – Limited to only 300 copies
· Ltd. Gatefold Transp. Sunflower Yellow 2LP 180g Vinyl – Limited to only 300 copies
· Digital Album
Roine Stolt adds on the album release: “The first track out – and likewise the opening track – is “Beginner’s Eyes”. A song that has its origin in the very early 90’s – a time before The Flower Kings were gathering – but now finally and finely developed and recorded properly. A happy tune with plenty of flowery sunny themes Roine & Hasse vocals united – and a good groove, cool Hammond and Moog blipping’ and bloppin’ sounds, over a solid beat from Mirko & Michael. There’s no doubt that The Flower Kings plays no ‘style’ – or in no league – other that their own – a style they created and crafted carefully for more than 25 years strong. The album is a celebration of the imagination and craft of those who lead rather than follow. Artwork came in like magic from Joey Tessier – a world of magic and flowery creatures.”
Remember to catch The Flower Kings on their upcoming EU Autumn Tour:
13.07.2023 NO-Brönnöysund – Rootsfestival
16.09.2023 SWE-Uppsala – TFK Fan Day & Release Party
17.09.2023 SWE-Uppsala – TFK Fan Day & Release Party
Spirit of Unicorn Music are proud to announce the release of Keith Emerson ~ Variations, a 20 CD box set covering the entire career of one of the greatest musicians of all time, which will launch on October 13th, 2023.
Watch the trailer here:
“Keith Emerson invented progressive rock. I know because I was there at the time.” LeeJackson (The Nice, Jackson Heights, Refugee), Emerson’s long-time friend and one-time bandmate in The Nice, once told Prog Magazine. Keith Emerson (Emerson Lake &Palmer, The Nice, 3) is revered as a genius by both fans and fellow musicians alike.
Considered one of the greatest keyboard players of all time, this deep dive into the creative life of Emerson is divided into five parts, beginning with his early years in The Nice and Emerson Lake & Palmer. The collection then movies onto Keith’s solo albums, his soundtracks and collaborations and finally ends with a set of stunning liver performances which present his breath-taking keyboard skills to full effect.
The collection has been curated with the full involvement and blessing of the Emerson family. Aaron Emerson, Keith’s son, said “It is with great excitement that we can share all of Dad’s great work, expanding throughout his long career. I hope it gives you as much joy as it has done for all of us”.
Presented in a special 10 x 10 inch box, the 20 CDs are accompanied by sleeve notes written by Jerry Ewing, Editor of PROG Magazine. Ewing casts a magnifying glass over the immense Emerson catalogue and speaks with many of his collaborators to deliver a fascinating history of the man behind the keyboard.
Also included is a 48-page book containing many never-before-seen photos taken directly from the Emerson family archive.
All 20 CDs have been mastered by renowned engineer Andy Pearce. The collection also contains a previously unreleased show from BB Kings in 2004.
Whether you are a seasoned fan or just starting out on your Keith Emerson journey, there is no finer, deeper or more definitive collection available on the market. A tribute, in the truest sense, to one of the greatest musicians of all time.
Keith Emerson – Variations 20CD box set can be pre-ordered now from here:
Well, this is very different! this set details the first, post-covid, expedition for The Neal Morse Band and was recorded in Hamburg in 2022. Unusually for InsideOut, the set has no accompanying live DVD, which is a pity as the band are on fire for this show. Maybe it was because of them being lockdown totally because of covid but they definitely rose to the occasion here in Hamburg. The show was in the latter stages of the tour so the band were very comfortable with playing these two sets, one of the ‘Innocence and Danger’ album and the second set of longer pieces, The GreatSimilitude Medley, which features highlights of the band’s previous two albums, ‘The Similitude Of A Dream’ and ‘The Great Adventure’ in an extended sequence. This allowed space for extra parts and for some great improvisation to happen, no doubt all pre-rehearsed and ordered, a band like TheNeal Morse Band cannot afford to make errors of judgement and so would have sorted things for such an event.
The album kicks off with a brief overture of about 2 minutes before leading into the opening track Do It All Again, which faithfully reproduces the album version, adding nothing new except the excitement of the live arena, which is itself very good, as is the reception it receives. Obviously the end of lockdown and the return of live shows was important for the band and for the German crowd, who are solidly behind the band. The album continues with excellent recitals of Bird On A Wire, Your Place In The Sun and Another Story To Tell before we are treated to a superb version of The Way It Had To Be with a brilliant, extended guitar section from EricGillette, who can sure plank the plank, combining elements and touches of DavidGilmour, amongst others. His playing is graceful, melodic and utterly engrossing and captivating. He is a rare talent amongst an outstanding ensemble, also noticeable are the fabulous keyboards of both Neal Morse and Bill Hubauer, whose performance throughout is equally solid and exciting.
Next up is an epic version of Bridge Over Troubled Water (yes, the Simon andGarfunkel classic) which is skilfully delivered, staying true to the original but with prog flourishes like the wah-wah guitar that plays in the opening part. This really is a fabulous version of a really great song, delivered beautifully and with conviction. We are then treated to a rare outing for Waterfall, from ‘The Grand Experiment’ album, this delicate acoustic number also closes the first set.
The second set is spread across discs 2 and 3 and covers Not Afraid Pt. 2 and Beyond The Years from ‘Innocence and Danger’ and also the The GreatSimilitudeMedley. These three track last for over eighty-five minutes so you may need to dig deep for these epic tracks! Expect odd time signatures, excessive soloing and many impressive moments as these pieces are modern day prog at its finest from a group of seasoned professionals. There is a lot going on here including the growling bass of Randy George and the metronomic precision of Mike Portnoy (the man never misses a beat!). This is all highly accomplished and delivered with sincerity and style, the vocals are strong and also clear, the sound is exceptionally defined and focused. Unusually for Neal Morse, these songs are not overtly Christian in their lyrics, which may or not be a good thing depending on your own viewpoint. Rather these songs are possibly more spiritually attuned but open to interpretation by the listener, if so, that is a decision I approve of, no one wants to be preached at, especially at a celebration of music like this.
Not Afraid Pt. 2 is an interesting track with lots of moods in the music and some great sections that together make for a really strong song, it is really an epic performance and there is even more to come, how good is that? The song ends with notes of triumph and resolution, it’s an earnest track that is very well developed and delivered with style. Beyond The Years is another epic, multi-part suite that together make sone song. As you would expect, this is no shrinking violet of a track it, it has seven parts, one of which is an instrumental section, and lots of words. The song is somewhat oblique in its meaning, although there is religious imagery mentioned in the track. The whole song is complex and takes some listening and attention really. Whilst that’s not a bad thing, it does require effort on the listeners part as it’s not background music, it warrants and requests your full attention to get the most out of it really. This effort is rewarded though with some really inspired playing and sentiments expressed that are within the song.
The final track, The Great Similitude Medley, is a skilful amalgam of songs from ‘The Similitude Of A Dream’ and ‘The Great Adventure’. This encore is just shy of thirty minutes in duration and is a concise distillation of what the NMB are all about. Epic music, usually with a Christian message at the heart, all played with panache and seldom boring or understated. For those who follow the NMB there is so very much to enjoy in the epic concert and 3CD set.
‘An Evening Of Innocence & Danger – Live In Hamburg’ is rather stirring stuff all told and is an unqualified success for the group who have played flawlessly and with real passion on this track making it a remarkable feat. Now, either you like Neal Morse and his band or you don’t and, if you do, you are in for a feast with this album. If NMB aren’t your thing then you will miss out on a great performance of some quality musical statements.
Downes Braide Association (DBA) announce the release of their long-awaited new album Celestial Songs on 8thSeptember. Following their previous critically acclaimed studio albums, Celestial Songs will be the fifth DBA studio collaboration for Geoff Downes (keyboards) and multi award-winning songwriter Chris Braide (vocals). The album will be released in 3 formats: CD, 2LP and Box Set.
DBA also launch the first single from the albumClear Light – listen to the song and watch the video here:
Celestial Songs marks another musical leap forward for DBA. “As we were writing the songs for the album, they started to become thematic in emotion and feeling,” says Chris Braide, “more classic rock than the predecessor ‘Halcyon Hymns’. The songs were about life and death, time, love, nostalgia, spirituality. Very DBA in fact.”
“I know that Chris really likes the depth of chord sequences that I put together,” Geoff Downes explains. “This particular collection just really grabbed him and he got it up and running very, very quickly, so I was really pleased about that.
“There’s a lot of variety on the album, too. We were aiming to get quite a bit more dynamics into this album because there were some very quiet pastoral moments. I think it makes it a more interesting listen for people to get their heads around and enjoy. I hope people will appreciate it and get behind it, not just the songwriting and vocals but the overall instrumentation and musicianship is very high on this album.”
The high quality of musicianship is because of the exceptional core of musicians with which DBA have surrounded themselves including Andy Hodge (bass), Dave Bainbridge (former Iona guitarist and keyboardist), and Marc Almond who adds a brief vocal appearance.
“It’s very useful having this core of musicians that are ready to enhance our music,” agrees Geoff Downes. “Andy Hodge is very much an integral part of this unit. When we send him stuff to play, he has incredible feeling and creates a more interesting bass part than we could have thought of ourselves.
“Having Dave Bainbridge with us has added another dimension to the DBA-sound and I’m very happy with that. Dave’s got his own stamp and that’s something that we appreciate having on board.
“Marc Almond makes a cameo appearance on ‘The Darker Side Of Fame’ and Marc and Chris’s voices blend really well. It tells a story, a theme that a lot of people, and a lot of musicians, can relate to – certainly musicians that have had any kind of success. The lyric is very poignant, whilst you have all the glory, the accolades and the adulation, it can go away and you’re left with nothing. It reflects life in general, I think, as people go through all kinds of ups and downs throughout their careers and throughout their lives.”
The closing track cements DBA’s prog credentials as Chris Braide explains. “What happens to love when we die? ‘Beyond The Stars’ was a tune that began in 2015 and really shaped the way the artwork was to develop. Something bigger than us, something astral and heavenly, it grew from a 3-minute ditty to an 11-minute epic.
“That’s what the song Beyond The Stars is really asking. Celestial Songs was a title we came up with in 2020 and Roger (Dean) made it manifest in his wonderful sleeve painting. A beautiful, heavenly, rainbow sky full of stars.
“DBA’s music has always been about the big questions, the beauty of love and the tragedy of loss, but always with hope, I suppose. ‘Celestial Songs’ is the latest chapter in that series. I hope people enjoy listening to the album as much as we enjoyed writing it and making it.”
You can pre-order all formats of Celestial Songs here:
CD version: Downes Braide Association: Celestial Songs, CD Edition – Cherry Red Records
2LP version: Downes Braide Association: Celestial Songs, Vinyl Edition – Cherry Red Records
Box set version: Downes Braide Association: Celestial Songs, Deluxe 12″ Box Set Edition – Cherry Red Records
Celestial Songs Track Listing:
1. Look What You Do (6.17)
2. Clear Light (5.00)
3. Keep On Moving (6.36)
4. Darker Side Of Fame (3.56)
5. Hey Kid (3.28)
6. Will To Power (6.23)
7. Heart Shaped Hole (9.06)
8. Dear Petra (3.56)
9. On The Run (5.09)
10. Goodbye To You (Sister Shame) (7.30)
11. Beyond The Stars (10.19)
(Total running time: 67.40)
All tracks written by Chris Braide and Geoff Downes except Keep On Moving (Chris Braide/Francis Dunnery/ Geoff Downes) and Goodbye To You (Sister Shame) (Chris Braide/Andy Partridge/Geoff Downes)
Produced by Chris Braide and Geoff Downes
About Downes Braide Association
Downes Braide Association was formed as a studio-based project by Geoff Downes and Chris Braide and has previously produced four studio albums: Pictures Of You (2012), Suburban Ghosts (2015), Skyscraper Souls (2017) and Halcyon Hymns (2021) and a live album Live In England (2019). The project draws on Downes’ and Braide’s rich musical heritage to create a delightfully accessible brand of progressive rock.
Keyboard wizard Geoff Downes was thrust into the limelight with the worldwide success of Video Killed The Radio Star in 1979. The single topped the charts chart in 16 countries for The Buggles duo of Geoff and Trevor Horn (vocals, bass guitar). They briefly joined prog legends YES before Downes became a founder member of the supergroup Asia with YES guitarist Steve Howe, ELP drummer Carl Palmer and the late John Wetton (vocals, bass guitar).
The Wetton-Downes composition Heat Of The Moment became a world-wide hit in 1982 heralding many years of success for Asia with their FM radio-friendly brand of rock. Downes later rejoined YES in 2011 and remains with the band alongside Steve Howe.
British singer-songwriter-pianist Chris Braide has recently returned to UK shores after many years based in California. He enjoys enormous success writing and producing music for film scores, advertising campaigns and working closely with artists including Sia, Lana Del Rey, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Paloma Faith, Britney Spears and Marc Almond.
An Ivor Novello award-winner and Grammy-nominated, Braide has recently won a BMI Pop Award in Los Angeles for co-writing Sia’s Unstoppable, her eighth US Top 40 hit after making a surprise, and long, rise to the top having been released in 2016, becoming the biggest selling single in the USA.
This highly impressive album will land in September and is already hotly anticipated and I’m sure will be well received as, over the past few years, this Cornish symphonic prog outfit have been wowing crowds from Penzance to North of the border. Quite rightly so too as they have a unique sound, excellent musicianship and offer music of class and quality. Everything is self-produced and they even do their own artwork, although they have a formidable and talented artist in Tree Stewart who has the ability to create artworks that really draw you into the musical adventure.
This album is their fifth and, once again, you are taken on a magical musical journey. This journey is about the passage of time and how it goes past so quickly that we should make the most of the time allotted to each of us. The album has just three tracks of eight, fourteen and twenty three minutes in duration. Within these tracks lie much skill and invention, take the track Out Of Time, which combines a haunting graceful piano motif with wah wah guitar lines and elements of world (Arabian music) and jazz rock into a unique melting pot but a pot that cooks up a hearty meal. I could go on and on about how exciting and captivating the middle section is with its complex rhythmic sections showing the depth of talent, imagination and skill the group have and exhibit on this track but I think you are best hearing this for yourself when the album is released in September. You will enjoy the recurring melody that carries the song along so very gracefully. It is simply exceptional. Around all this are floating layers of sumptuous keyboards, a jarring Sax and the fluid guitar runs of Ally Carter. Add the breathy vocals of Tree Stewart, the subtle and solidly inventive bass work of David Greenaway and the sturdy and effective drums of Tom Jackson and you can see that this ensemble really know how to create an atmosphere for sure.
I really love this track and the sentiments that it addresses, making memories that matter and that can sustain you. As one who is personally afflicted with dementia, this music is important and crucial and much needed, although I suspect most of the western world will fail to appreciate and catch the beauty contained in this album but, for those that do, you will find a veritable pot of gold here. Truly impressive and staggeringly wonderful a real joy to behold, I suggest you reserve your copy now and await your time to hear this masterpiece.
Timeless is a slow burner of a song that tells of a day too quickly over and a day that never ends, our state of mind exudes the pulse on which our time depends! Which are pretty sobering and honest words really. This is a shorter track, well if you call fourteen minutes short! The final track The March Of Time is about how time waits for no man, it merely marches on, nothing lasts forever except the memories you have saved. Running for just over eight minutes, this is a fabulous conclusion to the journey you have undertaken and this album truly is a journey into enlightenment. I feel it calls us all to be responsible stewards of our own time, to seize the day and also to make the most of our time whilst we can. These are welcome sentiments in a busy modern world where we are always hurrying against the clock and yet never winning, somehow this album is a message to us all. The song works to a strident marching track and has an epic guitar solo at the where Alan channels his inner Gilmour whilst Tree sings behind his playing reciting the line, “As time goes marching on.”
This is all delivered in style and alongside some really great music which, when you take the album as a whole experience, offers a very profound and moving musical journey. Tome, it’s totally different to their previous albums but with enough in common to let you know who they are. This is a really, really good album with great songs and performances. It is all beautifully produced with glorious artwork and I’m sure the vinyl version will look exquisite but, for us shiny disc lovers, this will do just fine.
Released 23rd September, 2023.
Pre-orders provisionally open on 4th August, 2023 here:
Progradar: So here we are with Matt and Kev from The Fierce And The Dead ahead of the release of (new album) ‘News From The Invisible World’ in July, so guys, first question, why vocals?
Kev (Feazey): Funnily enough, we get asked this quite a lot recently! I think that anybody who has followed us knew that the thing about not having vocals was never an idealogical stance, we never sat in a room and said that. We just got together and we played a lot of the stuff that was around when we were kids, a lot of rock music, from the kind of underground ‘Don Caballero’ kind of world, it wasn’t a huge leap to NOT have vocals, it just suited.
Then it was never like, literally, “We need to do something different with this album…”, we got these ideas and we mucked around for quite a few years after (previous album) ‘The Euphoric’ with vocal samples but it just never felt quite right. With this one it was literally like, “Shall we stick some vocals on that…”, and that was it, we thought, “Yeah, we’ll give it a go…” and we did and it worked!
Matt (Stevens): I think that, with the ‘The Euphoric’ album, we had done the best instrumental album that we could, we took that as far as we wanted to take it and then it was just a question of trying new things. It’s just not repeating yourself, doing things that are exciting to you and, hopefully, other people will be interested and, if they’re not, at least you’re doing what YOU want to do and you’re enjoying doing it, that’s the main thing.
Progradar: The only lyrics we’ve had on a TFATD release before were “Palm Trees!”
Matt: I remember our good friend Spike (Worsley), who is sadly no longer with us, coming up with those lyrics at a gig, Spike was a diamond. It was just a question of developing it really and this was the way to do it.
Kev: We were very keen because it was an experimentation to see how they would fit and we had a lot of discussion about how they’d present. We trusted each other implicitly, that’s one good reason why this band works, we can work on stuff and bring it back. There are no egos in this band, people play different instruments on recordings, it doesn’t matter.
The one thing that we all agreed on was that the vocals needed to sit in somehow, they needed to be part of the whole thing. The way we write music is still relatively similar, it was just really important that they (the vocals) sat inside of that and didn’t disrupt it.
Progradar: You guys know my opinion, it’s seems natural to me, the way the band should go forward. I think it’s a fantastic album, the vocal side of it is brilliant. It’s not majorly out there yet but you’ve had some feedback from the three singles you’ve released, what’s the feedback from your, shall we say, regular fanbase, has it been, on the whole, positive?
Kev: Yeah, I’d say, overall, it’s been really positive. Matt made a point the other day, you can see at what point people ‘got on the bus’ with us. If you’ve followed us all the way through, whilst it always sounds like us, ‘Morecambe’ and ‘The Euphoric’, if you listened to them both out of context then they wouldn’t sound like they came from the same band. It’s a case of this is where we are right now, this is what we’re writing and this is what we are going to do.
I think some people got on at certain points and might have a perception of us as a certain thing and have tied their flag to that mast, so to speak, they might not get it. Overall, though, we are over the moon really, we put it out there and most people have loved it. Matt said the other day that we seem to attract a lot of very broad-minded people.
Matt: It’s self-selecting, it’s a sort of filter. If you look into our Facebook group, the people who are there are open-minded about stuff. There are always going to be people for who the vocal sound doesn’t work and that’s totally cool. Certain vocalists just don’t connect with people and that’s not them being close-minded, it’s just that it doesn’t do it for them. The most commercial thing we could have done would have been to have made Truck ten times because that was our most popular song.
We could have gone around and played stoner rock festivals for the rest of eternity and had a lovely time doing that but, in the end, the reason we didn’t do that was because we wanted to do new things with it. What the music industry tends to be, and what the algorithms on Spotify want you to do, is make one song and then make that same song over and over again so you build a massive audience. At the end of the day, some people just aren’t into that and that’s fine. So far, in terms of our audience, they seem to be enjoying the tracks and the reviews that have come out so far have been positive. Ask me in two months time, it might be a different story. So far so good is probably the best answer I can give, to be honest.
Progradar: Do you think the new album will attract new fans to the band?
Matt: What tends to happen with The Fierce And The Dead records is that people get on and get off. There are people who loved ‘Spooky Action’ and didn’t like ‘The Euphoric’, there’s people who liked ‘The Euphoric’ and won’t like the new one. There’s people who liked the first E.P, the really long song we did, that haven’t liked anything we’ve done since because it’s not proper ‘post-rock’!
We’ve always lost and gained people, there’s people who came in when we played ArctTangent and from us supporting Hawkwind. There’s people who came in from Cardiacs and my solo stuff. They come and go all the time and I think that’s healthy. If you look at all the bands that changed radically sound-wise, it’s happened to all of them, hasn’t it? I still think there’s an attitude and a spirit that’s come from where we were to where we are now and we’re having a lovely time doing it.
It’s about building a community over making money and things, we are rubbish at making money for the band but we’re good at building a community around the band! The priority for me is to build the audience and to try and treat people really well, make it a nice thing to be part of and show how much we appreciate that audience. Hopefully we can continue to grow it, that’s always been my concern, it’s never been about making money. Just trying to make it better, nicer, make the shows bigger, just to keep it going really.
Kev: I’ll just add to that that, when we get together in a room to rehearse or play, that feels just like it did ten years ago. That, realistically, has been our aim through all of this, we really enjoy each other’s company, we like being around each other. It really sparks us creatively and that’s the thing that we want to keep going. We don’t TRY to be authentic because we just are, we do what we want to do.
We’ve never had any decisions to make when starting an album, Matt just walks into the room and goes, “I’ve got a riff!” and off we go! I think the audience picks up on that. If we were constantly chasing some rabbit down a hole because, as Matt said, it was really successful or making another Truck, then we’d be doomed.
Progradar: Because you guys are professional musicians but it is not your main source of income, does that give you the freedom to do what you want?
Matt: The Fierce And The Dead couldn’t work if we were trying to make it our main income stream because we wouldn’t be free to do what we want. That’s why you see a lot of artists doing the same thing, release the same album every eighteen months and go round the same gigs doing the same things. We are free to do EXACTLY what we want. If we wanted to release an ambient album or an acoustic album, we could do that, the main reason is because we have a small audience that support us.
We couldn’t afford to do this without making the money back, we are in a very lucky position that we have a core audience that buys enough of our music to keep it going. It’s the best of both worlds really, we’re musically free, our gigs sell out, we can put out the records that we want to put out and all the costs are covered. As long as that core fanbase continues to support us then we’re great.
Kev: Whenever we’ve had outside influence within the band, we have been very lucky that it’s always been positive. For example, working with David (Elliott) and yourself at Bad Elephant Music was a great experience. You can imagine, we have a lot of friends from the very bottom to the very top of the industry, you hear all these stories about expectations and all this kind of stuff and it’s weird. I have often spoken to Matt and we’ve mentioned about wanting play at certain places and to so many people but, when you look at what we’ve actually got, we’re fantastically lucky. We have enough self-awareness to understand that.
Progradar: How do you think the music industry has changed since you released the ‘Part 1’ E.P. back in 2010? Streaming and digital music were both in their infancy then, is that the major difference, do you think?
Kev: Me and Matt have very long, philosophical conversations about this, not just in context of the band but because it’s really interesting, like a cultural phenomenon. We seem to now be entering the era of ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’, to copy a phrase. Where things used to move in kind of like in waves, you’d have Nirvana wiping out hair metal and then you’d have britpop wiping out grunge, you’d have like a lens, people were having to look at what was available to them.
That was through what was curated by record labels or magazines, what was on TV, all that sort of stuff. Where as now, people can curate for themselves, I can introduce someone who’s never heard Neil Young and, by the next day, they can have heard everything that he has ever done. They can find a fairly brief but in-depth Wikipedia entry, they can know just about anything about this person. I don’t know whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, it’s massively beneficial to us while also being a massive pain in the arse!
Matt: We’ve managed to go along doing what we want without anyone trying to interfere or cause us any problems. Look at the Cardiacs in the 80’s and 90’s, they had that core audience but they struggled to go any further than that. If you look at people like Faith No More, they got in there, with the metal scene and built an audience like that but, after they got to a certain point, it was almost like they weren’t the flavour of the month any more. Now, it’s just a case of building that audience one person at a time and hoping that, eventually, it will continue and become sustainable.
To answer your question about downloads and streaming, when I first started releasing my solo records, you sold a lot of CD’s and a lot of digital downloads. Streaming killed the digital download market, in terms of posting physical products out from the UK, that’s a bit of an issue now, with Brexit changes and postage costs going up massively. That makes it quite difficult to sell CD’s and vinyl mail order. It has radically changed and physical product has become quite difficult but, live wise, people are very keen to go to gigs, we’re not struggling to sell tickets. Certainly, people are still interested, if you look at the story of music over the last 40 or 50 years, it’s just a story of constant change.
The 90’s where bands on indie labels could sell ten thousand CDs, that world has gone and isn’t coming back, there’s more competition now, people have to accept the cards they’re dealt with and just get on with it. Count your blessings and realise that to have an audience is a massive privilege as most musicians haven’t got an audience, they’re making records in their bedroom to no one. We’re very lucky and I’ve got nothing to complain about, I can only see positives really.
Kev: Because we’re not looking at things through the lens of commerce, when we get a message from a fan in Brazil, that blows my mind, this is something that we laboured over in various studios and houses and it’s got that breadth without major distribution and all that kind of stuff. In that way, that’s amazing and, for a musician, that’s the payoff.
Progradar: Talking of the new album, what goes into writing an album for TFATD? How does it begin? Is it a collection of ideas from all four of you or does one of you come with more ideas than the others?
Kev: Because of Covid, the way we work radically changed. The way we normally work was that somebody would come in, 95% of the time that would be Matt, with a riff or something they’d put together and that would be then filtered through all the members of the band. It would be very rare that Matt would come in and say he had a bass line or I’ve got a drum beat to go with it.
Matt: Yeah, I probably do bring in the majority of the riffs but, by the time we finished it, very little would sound similar, most people wouldn’t recognise it as the same part. Whilst that’s kind of the spark, I wouldn’t say in any way that it’s me dominating the writing process.
Kev: That’s right, Matt would have brought something in and eventually it just sounded like us because everybody developed it. We all grew up together, we have this language that we can talk together in . That’s how we kind of put all the songs together in the past. On ‘The Euphoric’ we started demoing stuff, which we’d never really done before. Me and Stuart (Marshall) went into a studio and we demoed stuff but, on this one, because we obviously weren’t actually able to go into a room together, we had to think about it differently.
We all got ourselves little set-ups, Stuart had like a MIDI drum kit, Matt, Steve (Cleaton) and I all had little recording things then Matt would send me riffs, Steve would send me riffs, I’d send them ideas and there was a lot of file sharing. The beauty of being able to have MIDI parts, on a track like Photogenic Love, Matt sent me a piano piece, because it was MIDI, I could change the sound. He doesn’t give it to me with context, I might hear something different and I can then filter it and send it back, it’s a constant back and forth, almost like evolving the song.
Doing it this way actually allowed us to spend time individually, especially Stuart. I could send him tracks with rough drum machines on and he could then spend time at home on them. As any drummer knows, in a rehearsal room, trying to work your parts out is not that easy. He was able to sit back and come up with ideas, like flipping the beat on the choruses of Golden Thread, which is something I would never have thought of.
It’s really exciting when you get something that you’ve been working on, you send it off and it comes back different, it’s almost like you’re not in the band anymore and you’re hearing it again. It was all built up like that and then we went back over it with the real instruments, some of the parts on the album are literally demos. Again, on Photogenic Love, the guitar melody over the chorus is the original part that Matt sent me with all the effects on it and everything.
Matt: We couldn’t quite get the same sound again, could we?
Kev: Exactly, we’re not purists in that sense at all, if it sounds good then it’s good! What I’m trying to say is that filtering system has just become a bit bigger, where as before it used to be us in the room. It was a bit quicker but with less time to stand back from it and reflect on it, now it’s a lot slower but we have a lot longer to reflect on stuff.
Progradar: The album is going to be released later in July and you’re already working on album five, is it strange to be promoting ‘News From The Invisible World’ while you’re also writing new music?
Matt: When we were doing the fourth album, because Covid happened, we had a lot of time to write and we ended up with lots of stuff. For the first time ever, we had more music than we actually needed so we just carried on. Obviously we’re doing all the production of the physical stuff at the moment and all the PR, which has slowed it down a little bit but we’re still just carrying on writing. Each track we do is a progression of the last one, rather than each album, if you listen to ‘Invisible World’, although it sounds like us, there’s no dominant thing going on.
It’s lots of different ideas, you’ve got stuff that sounds like Radiohead and Pink Floyd, you’ve got stuff that sounds like Queens of the Stone Age, The Flaming Lips, there’s loads of different influences in there. I think as we develop the material we’re currently working on, that’s kind of an extension of what we were doing. I think that, now we know the vocals are going on, it’s a different thing because we didn’t really know where we were going with them.
We’re also using more strings and stuff, I really liked that, and the pianos. I think the ‘Invisible World’ has made us feel quite confident and we’re trying different things and just trying to be braver really. The last song on the album, Nostalgia Now, has got lots of strings and piano and on it and it just makes me think that I want to keep trying new things.
I think people can hear when you’re excited about things yourself and I think that comes across on the record, that enthusiasm and joy comes across to the audience. We don’t really know where we’re going with it yet but it will be a continuation of what we’ve done, we’ve probably got all the bits ready for album five, haven’t we?
Kev: Across the years we’ve never stopped writing, we’ve always got instruments around us and we’ve got WhatsApp groups and voice memos of Steve at two o’clock in the morning quietly trying to play us his ideas. It could be literally two years and then one of us will go, “I’ve just found this…”, an email I sent you and it’s really good and just been sitting there waiting to be discovered!
Matt: I think the writing process for the last record was so broad, Non-Player was Steve’s idea initially, I think it’s given Steve a chance to be more of a song writer which is really good for me. The Start was mainly Kev’s, there’s all of us putting parts in and, like I said, it’s Stuart having a chance to work at home on stuff. It’s been really interesting, we’ve put a lot more thought into this one.
Kev: Being able to demo properly, it’s like you can actually go and listen to it and realise it’s fine where as, in the rehearsal room, it sounds great because it’s loud. You’re going to play it seventy-five times and think it sounds great but, when you take away the volume and put it in a different context, is it still fun?
Progradar: I think I know the answer to this but, how much are you looking forward to getting out there and playing these songs live?
Matt: Yeah, can’t wait, really looking forward to it. We’ve got a friend of ours who’s come down to help us with backing vocals and a bit of percussion and keyboards. We could play to click or play to a backing track but I’d rather not, if we can help it. I’m not averse to it but, if we can play it live, I’d rather play it live, it’s more exciting. We just can’t wait to play live again, the gigs we do are not necessarily about us, they’re more about the community of people that come to the gigs.
All those people in the Facebook group and all those people we’ve met over the years coming together, that’s why I love it. There’s no egos, it’s more important than trying to be a show off, it’s more about developing that sense of community. Treating people with decency and respect and being grateful for the support we get so, yes, can’t wait to play it live. We love playing and I love a Premier Inn breakfast, it will be fantastic!
Kev: For us, it’s just given us a new twist, new challenges and things we’ve got to work out how to do, how we present it and that makes it interesting for us. We always want everything to be joyous and a celebration, the last few rehearsals we’ve had have been really good fun, it’s really exciting.
Progradar: It’s time for the last question, to both of you, please recommend one band that you’ve been listening to a lot recently…
Matt: A metal band called Svalbard, they go really heavy and then really melodic and then really screamy. They’re great and have som excellent tunes, for the last few years I’ve gone back into a metal phase again. It was the music I grew up with when I was a kid and, for the last few years, a lot more experimental metal bands have come through and Svalbard would be the one I recommend.
Kev: Literally, what I’ve been listening to this week, there’s band called BadBadNotGood. I’m not sure how you’d describe them, jazz/funk? I’m not sure what you’d call it? They’ve got an album called ‘IV’ that I’d highly recommend to everybody. There’s a lot of sound design in it, it’s all very simple instrumentation but it’s how the instruments are presented, it’s very similar to a lot of what we do. We think about how we make the instruments sound, there’s a lot of bands that have influenced us that people may think are a long way from us, like TheFlaming Lips.
Progradar: Thank you guys, it’s been a pleasure as ever to chat to you and I wish you the best of luck with the new album and will hopefully catch you live somewhere soon!
Matt & Kev: Cheers and thanks for everything!
‘News From The Invisible World’ will be released on 28th July, 2023 and you can pre-order the album from bandcamp here:
One of the best things for me in this strange world of progressive rock is the emergence over the past few years of folks who have revisited their musical dreams and have released their music to the world. Often with collaboration with established musicians, they create some often remarkable, confident and satisfying music. I’m thinking of the likes of Stewart Clark and John Holden who have both offered some truly fabulous music.
Well, to that list add the name Michael Dunn who, using the ‘project’ moniker, has delivered a prog associated album with lots of AOR influences clearly showing in its blood, think REO Speedwagon, Boston etc. and you’re in the right ball park. Michael, who is 64, is a late bloomer who, after retiring from many years in sales and marketing, has devised a system that allows independent musicians to make a good living from their craft. To test this system, he finally stepped up to make the music he had always wanted to make with assistance from the likes of Andy Tillison, Amanda Lehmann and Joe Deninzon, all of who lend their talents towards making this such a strong, interesting and varied album.
I came across the album via friends on Facebook who were raving about this great release and also saying what a gracious and splendid fellow Michael Dunn is. Being the person I am, I just had to hear this for myself and I can concur that Michael is a really great guy, friendly, open and passionate abut the music he has made and deserving of a wider audience that he would possibly receive elsewhere. As such, I consider it my duty to do what little bit I can to help this album receive the recognition that it is most worthy of.
In a year that has seen some great releases from bands like Yes, The Dave Foster Band and Ruby Dawn, to name but a few, this album can proudly stand with its head held high for its six tracks offer varied moods and styles but are all anchored in top notch songwriting and assured delivery with excellent musical support from Michael and his friends in the Project.
What shines through on this album is the commitment to creating a musical statement that is well conceived, crafted and ultimately delivered convincingly. For a first album to be that assured and confident is to be applauded and recognised. This album may have been 40 years in the making but the results are definitely spectacular and rewarding to hear, especially on the album’s centrepiece BridgeAcross The Years, which has three parts to it, how proggy is that?
The album kicks off in strong form and style with the excellent I Draw The Line, which also introduces the excellent vocals of Diego Viramontes, who sounds slightly like Klaus Meine of The Scorpions, his voice being clear and punchy and having great power to it. He is an excellent foil to Michael’s fluid guitar, also important is the rhythm section of Ginger Pimental (bass) and David Anania (drums) who drive the song along firmly. Better still is the second track Turn Of The Cards which has a great bassline to start with and crunchy guitars firing. This song actually is full of great guitars and has a fine solo that reminds me of Ronnie Montrose’sGamma albums, it has much power to it as it plays out, there is really something special here as the song ends on a sustained guitar note.
Then we have the song Let Me Be which features Andy Tillison on Hammond Organ where it sounds truly glorious. The organ swells really are most impressive, they make a song that grows into a slow burning masterful track. When the tune changes tack and the guitar is set free, the organ is there close by adding significant support and style. It really is most impressive, as are the bass of Joe Alvaro and the vocals of George T. Montebruno, whose style is a great fit for the track. Tomorrow Is Today, unsurprisingly, has more than a hint of Kansas (Joe Deninzon is their new violinist), I wonder if this album and track were instrumental in that? One can but wonder, it would be great if it was as his playing here is exceptional and adds gravitas to this impressive track. Another Day In The Modern World follows and this is another slow burn of a song, one with strong lyrics, agreat delivery and more of Michael’s fleet fingered guitar lines!
This really is an album that delivers on so many levels, strong impassioned music and performances, all of which make this album nothing less than interesting and often inspired. The three part epic album closer, Bridge Across The Years, opens with acoustic guitar and the keyboards of Marc Gladstone and the ever impressive vocals of Diego Viramontes with additional harmony from Amanda Lehmann. Part two of this epic is an instrumental featuring gentle guitar and swirling keyboards from Marc before the final section shows us how to rock once more with a touch of Styx and that great Hammond Organ of Andy Tillison again. This section also has superb harmony vocals from Catherine St Germain and Amanda. This is a fabulous closing piece with lots of powerful performances and great music.To me, what it does lack is a final guitar solo to finish things off but, even so, it’s a great ending section to a great album.
Its especially worth reading The Dream Team page on the website (link below) which details more info about the players on the album and you can see why he is viewed as being a great guy from his comments about his fellow musicians. In short this is a highly recommended release and will invariably end up in my best of the year list somewhere, it really is that impressive and special.
Over the past year, Swedish progressive rock legends The Flower Kings & InsideOutMusic have been reissuing the bands extensive back catalogue as newly remastered & partially remixed editions, with some being available on vinyl for the very first time. Today sees that campaign reach its culmination with the launch of ‘The Sum Of No Evil’ on Ltd CD Digipak, Gatefold 180g 2LP+CD & as Digital Album.
Watch Roine Stolt discuss the most recent reissue and more in this new clip:
The band also recently announced a European headline tour for October 2023, in support of their as-yet-unannounced new studio album. This tour will also see the band digging out some old epics, following the recent reissues of the bands entire back catalogue.
Roine Stolt comments: “The Flower Kings are back to the world of touring, with a number of European dates later this year. We will be celebrating the early years as well playing tracks from our new album. For this tour the line-up will be Roine Stolt, Hasse Fröberg, Michael Stolt, Mirko DeMaio and include keyboardists Daniel Lantz (Spring & Summer) and Lalle Larsson (Autumn).”
The full list of upcoming dates is below, including some select dates this Summer.
Look out for more information on the forthcoming new album in the coming months.
SHERINIAN/PHILLIPSis the musical alliance of Derek Sherinian and Simon Phillips, whose parallel reputations in virtuosic sonic inventions combine on the backdrop of instrumental genre fusion. Though the two had written and recorded together in the past, commitments to other projects had kept them busy in their own circles for a time. Upon their reunion for the recording of 2020’s The Phoenix, the duo has been going strong with consistent new releases ever since. Now, they are pleased to announce the release of SHERINIAN/PHILLIPS LIVE, which exhibits the pair uniting once again for a collaborative effort, documenting a special concert recorded at The Grape in Ventura, California on August 29th, 2022. The set is due out on August 25th, 2023 on InsideOutMusic.
Joining Sherinian/Phillips are fellow creatives Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal on guitar and Ric Fierabracci on bass to round out the lineup of the evening. Several tracks from the latest studio album offering, Vortex, made their way into the set, such as the title track “Vortex”, “Seven Seas”, and “Aurora Australis” (the original recording of which featured Bumblefoot), alongside other instrumentals.
You can check out the performance of “Aurora Australis” now here:
SHERINIAN/PHILLIPS LIVE has every note – planned or jammed – captured like lightning in a bottle, taking listeners to the moment these sounds sparked from their instruments. The live performance sits naturally in a rock context, while reminiscent of jazz fusion concert structures, with room for each musician to stand out in a solo space, each carrying and trading unique melodies along the way.
Derek Sherinian: “After 20 years of making albums together, it was a great pleasure bringing this music to life with Simon for the first time.”
The album will be available in the following formats:
Black Vinyl | Ltd. CD Digipak | CD Jewelcase (North America)
Sherinian’s background as a composer and keyboardist extends well beyond his familiar Dream Theater run, with a notable solo career creating a landscape for contributions from an array of acclaimed musicians, alongside performance credits with the likes of Alice Cooper, Black Country Communion, Billy Idol, Whitesnake, Kiss, Black Label Society, and Sons of Apollo (doubling on production credits), among others.
Phillips has equally rooted himself as a well-respected drummer and composer in the rock, metal, and jazz worlds, with credits ranging from Toto, Judas Priest, Jeff Beck, The Who, Whitesnake, and Joe Satriani, to a discography in jazz fusion with Protocol, movie soundtracks, and beyond.
The diverse range of this pair’s individual talents collectively emerges through each work they craft together; Sherinian and Phillips continue to evolve their joint musical endeavors in new directions.