The Pineapple Thief have just returned from the first leg of their Dissolution tour where they enthralled audiences across Europe and the UK. Including many sold out shows and their biggest show to date at London’s prestigious O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire. The band are now ready to announce new dates for 2019.
Frontman Bruce Soordstates “Our first Dissolution tour went so well, and we had such a great time so we’ve decided to do it again. This time visiting some of the cities we couldn’t make the first time around. I know there are a lot of people disappointed we are not coming to their neck of the woods, but we hear you all and are definitely working on it!”
The Pineapple Thief will once again be joined by now full-time member Gavin Harrison on all dates.
Internationally acclaimed composer and virtuoso cellist Jo Quail, who is currently on tour across Europe with Mono and A Storm of Light has shared a new track from her upcoming album ‘Exsolve’. Recorded with Chris Fielding at Skyhammer Studios (Electric Wizard, Primordial, Witchsorrow, Conan), the album will be released on 2nd November. Listen to the radio edit of new track ‘Mandrel Cantus’ here:
Commenting on the track Jo adds, ‘Mandrel Cantus is a track that’s been evolving over a long period of time, and continues to morph each time I perform it live. I started with abstract percussion, in fact I I built a whole new armoury of sounds for this track, and these themselves helped inform the direction of the music as I continue/ed to work on it.
It’s impossible to talk about your own music without sounding pretentious… I wanted to make a pathway through the percussive labyrinth that resolves and opens powerfully in a physical sense, but dissolves to leave just the spiritual essence of the whole music with the modal C cantus at the end. I’m doing things I’ve never done before in terms of how my loop station is set up, and the sound modelling too, and as such I’m really excited every time I play this track, though it’s a potential minefield to navigate!’
Since commencing her solo career in 2010, Jo has released three albums, three EPs and a live DVD. Following her 2015 European tour with post-rock giants Caspian Jo has embedded herself in the world of left-field and heavy music, whilst continuing to perform within the contemporary and avant-garde spheres. Not only did she open for black-metal artist Myrkur but Jo joined her on stage as part of her Folkesange project as well as collaborating with the likes of A-Sun Amissa, Mono’s Takaakira ‘Taka’ Goto, Eraldo Bernocchi and FM Einheit (Einsturzende Neubauten). Jo has performed several concerts of her works arranged for electric cello, orchestral ensembles and choirs both at home in the UK, in Europe and in Australia where she tours on a yearly basis.
Festival performances this year include ArcTanGent, WGT, Dunk! and Tramlines Festival, and two separate concerts at the invitation of Robert Smith for his curation of the Southbank’s Meltdown Festival.
“Exsolve’ is comprised of 3 tracks, with each one being broken down in to sections and movements across 45 minutes. Mastered by James Griffiths, himself a film composer, there is an almost symphonic quality to the album.
‘Exsolve’ is a snapshot in time of these 3 pieces and with every live performance Jo looks to develop them further. As Jo concludes, ‘For me, the final record is usually only the starting point of the journey and over time and with each performance the music will morph and be reshaped – composing and performing is a collaborative process between me, the space and the audience’.
Marillion have announced that they will return to the road in the UK and Europe in 2019 with an extended line up of musicians joining the band.
The shows will feature the In Praise of Folly String Quartet plus Sam Morris on French Horn and Emma Halnan on Flute, featured on select numbers throughout the show as on previous occasions. In December 2017, Marillion played a sold-out show at The Royal Albert Hall which was the fastest selling concert of the bands career and featured this same ensemble of musicians who also featured on the UK tour in the spring of 2018. The concert at the Royal Albert hall was hailed by the fans and critics alike as “one of the best concerts in Marillion’s history”. The recording of the show, ‘All One Tonight’ has since been released on DVD, Blu-Ray, CD and vinyl and topped the charts in 5 countries. Marillion will be playing songs spanning their 14 album-career with Steve Hogarth, as 2019 celebrates 30 years of him joining the band.
Paul Draper’s 14-date Spring ’18 tour celebrated the 21st anniversary of one of the most favoured British albums from the late Britpop era – Attack of the Grey Lantern.
Recorded live at The Ritz, Manchester on Thursday 1st March 2018, this album captures Draper’s energetic stage presence, his incredible band and classic Mansun tracks such as “Wide Open Space“, “Taxloss” and “Disgusting“, performed to a fantastic Manchester audience.
Listen to the live version of “Taxloss” :
This 2LP Limited Edition Vinyl* is available for Black Friday 23rd November in your local indie retailer and all good record stores.
*Includes an mp3 download of the album.
A very limited quantity, signed by Paul will be available on his upcoming acoustic tour starting 14th Nov.
Performing tracks from his debut solo album Spooky Action, as well as Mansun Official classics and deep cuts. PLUS as yet unheard songs from Paul’s second solo album, due 2019.
Caligula’s Horse, a band at the forefront of Australia’s progressive rock scene, are set to begin their European ‘Aussie-Invasion’ tour imminently, and to celebrate they have launched a video for “The Hands are the Hardest.”
Jim Grey (vocalist) comments: “’The Hands are the Hardest’ is one of my favourite tunes from In Contact – it was the first we completed for that album and for that reason it holds a special place in my heart. The story of struggle within this song resonates with me personally, so it only felt right to make this tune a focus for our first headline tour in Europe, the biggest tour we’ve ever embarked upon.
We’re taking a 27-show journey across Europe, and night after night we’ll be sharing this song’s story with all of our people – it’s going to be something truly special.”
Joining them on their EU tour will be fellow countrymen & progressive metal powerhouse Circles on their momentous return to Europe as main support, and instrumental guitar prodigy I Built The Sky (for their first European appearances). The run will also see Caligula’s Horse make appearances at several festivals including Euroblast, ProgPower, Very Prog Festival, Damnation Festival and AMFest.
You can find the full list of dates below:
Friday October 5 – Euroblast Festival, Cologne, Germany
Sunday October 7 – ProgPower Festival, Baarlo, Netherlands*
Monday October 8 – Backstage, Paris, France
Tuesday October 9 – Ferrailleur, Nantes, France
Thursday October 11 – Mungirock Aretoa, Mungia (Bilbao), Spain
Friday October 12 – Very Prog Festival, Toulouse, France**
Saturday October 13 – AMFest, Barcelona, Spain**
Sunday October 14 – Nazca, Madrid, Spain
Monday October 15 – RCA Club, Lisbon, Portugal
Wednesday October 17 – KiFF Foyer, Aarau, Switzerland
Thursday October 18 – Legend Club, Milan, Italy
Saturday October 20 – Collosseum, Kosice, Slovakia
Sunday October 21 – Dürer Kert (Room 041), Budapest, Hungary
Monday October 22 – KSET, Zagreb, Croatia
Tuesday October 23 – Strahov 007, Prague, Czech Republic
Wednesday October 24 – Musik & Frieden, Berlin, Germany
Thursday October 25 – Headcrash, Hamburg, Germany
Saturday October 27 – Fangelset, Gothenburg, Sweden
Sunday October 28 – John Dee, Oslo, Norway
Monday October 29 – BETA, Copenhagen, Denmark
Tuesday October 30 – The Tube, Dusseldorf, Germany
Thursday November 1 – Boston Music Room, London, UK
Friday November 2 – Audio, Glasgow, UK
Saturday November 3 – Damnation Festival, Leeds, UK**
Sunday November 4 – Mama Roux, Birmingham, UK
Monday November 5 – Star And Garter, Manchester, UK
Tuesday November 6 – The Lanes, Bristol, UK *I Built The Sky Not Appearing **Circles & I Built The Sky Not Appearing
Watch the video for the track ‘Songs For No One’, taken from the latest album ‘In Contact’, here:
The irrepressible former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett announces his 2019European Tour. Setting off on 2nd November 2019, Steve and his band will perform 20 shows around the UK.
For the first time ever, Steve will perform the seminal Genesis album Selling England By The Pound in its entirety. Released in 1973, the album went to No. 3 in the UK charts and has been described as “the definitive Genesis album.” It includes firm favourites such as Dancing with the Moonlit Knight, Firth of Fifth, Cinema Show and, of course, I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe). Other favourite classic Genesis tracks will also feature in the show.
2019 also marks the 40th anniversary of one of Steve’s most popular solo albums Spectral Morningsand Steve will rightly celebrate this milestone by performing masterpieces from the album.
Fans will also be treated to highlights from Steves new album, to be released in 2019.
Steve explains, “I’m thrilled to be performing the whole of my favourite Genesis album, SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND, which caught the attention of John Lennon in 1973. I felt that I was now playing guitar in the world’s best band, and everything was opening up for us…
Also I look forward to playing all the favourite songs from SPECTRAL MORNINGS, marking its anniversary, plus new album tasters, as well as additional Genesis gems in a terrific grand slam!”
Joining Steve on the tour are his regular musicians Roger King (keyboards), Jonas Reingold (bass), Gary O’Toole (drums/percussion), Rob Townsend (saxes/flutes) with Nad Sylvan on vocals.
About Steve Hackett
Since the 1970’s Steve has had a remarkable musical career renowned as both an immensely talented and innovative rock musician and a virtuoso classical guitarist and composer. He has released more than 30 solo albums, seven Genesis albums and worked alongside Steve Howe of YES with supergroup GTR.
Recognised as one of the most innovative rock musicians of our time, in 2010 he was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame.
Hackett was lead guitarist with Genesis as part of their classic line up with Gabriel, Collins, Banks and Rutherford, who produced several of the band’s most acclaimed albums including Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
With Steve’s extraordinary versatility in both his electric guitar playing and his composing, he is influenced by many genres, including Jazz, World Music, Blues and classical.
Steve’s music is as popular as ever, his last two album releases Wolflight in 2015 and last year’s The Night Siren both went straight into the Top 40 of the UK album charts, proving that Steve’s amazing compositions and virtuoso playing continue to delight.
Rikard Sjöblom’s Gungfly recently announced the release of ‘Friendship’, their brand new studio album, due out on November 9th, 2018. Following the release of 2017’s ‘On Her Journey To The Sun’, as well as 2018’s retrospective 5CD collection ‘Rumbling Box’, the band masterminded by former Beardfish frontman & current Big Big Train member Rikard Sjöblom.
Today a video for the track ‘Ghost of Vanity’ has been launched and you can watch that here:
Rikard comments: ”A song that really just came to me all at once while I was strumming away on my guitar one day, lyrics and all. I kept singing ‘I don’t want no part in this’ over and over at first and then started partake in. Well, vanity is something I’ve never been a big fan of but one way or another we’re all slaves to it. I think most people, especially teenagers and young adults strive to live up to unrealistic expectations from TV-commercials or the superficial parts of showbiz. I remember when I was a kid and thought everything they said on TV was true, or at least didn’t reflect too much about whether thinking about what it was I didn’t want to it was real or not. No matter how much we try to not care about how cool or pretty or rich we are, I think it gets to us. The ghost of vanity is always present and I guess it takes a lot of reflecting over your own identity and a lot of courage to try to be yourself. I admire those who truly are.”
The album will be available as a limited CD Digipak & gatefold 2LP + CD (both including 3 bonus tracks) as well as digital download. Pre-order now here: https://Gungfly.lnk.to/Friendship
The full track-listing is as follows:
1.Ghost of Vanity
2.Friendship
3.They Fade
4.A Treehouse in a Glade
5.Stone Cold
6.If You Fall, Pt. 2
7.Crown of Leaves
8.Slow Dancer (Bonus Track)
9.Past Generation (Bonus Track)
10.Friendship (Utopian Radio Edit) (Bonus Track)
Rikard comments of the musical direction: “Musically, what can I say? This is prog rock, but I want to be free to move in whatever direction the music wants to go and I happily go exploring where it wants to take me. Even though there are a few softer songs and sections, most of the album turned out to be a rocker; a collection of hard rock songs with lots of tricky parts, some heavier moments and some downright jazzy elements too!”
Rikard Sjöblom is perhaps best known as the multi-instrumentalist frontman of Beardfish, who established themselves as one of the most consistently brilliant modern-day progressive rock bands over the course of eight studio albums. In recent years, he has also become known for his work with English progressive collective Big Big Train, playing live with them as well as performing on their most recent studio album ‘The Second Brightest Star’ as well as the new live album ‘Merchants of Light’.
Since the release of her previous album ‘Five Incantations’ in 2016, internationally acclaimed composer and virtuoso cellist Jo Quail has been touring extensively across Europe performing alongside the likes of Boris, Amenra, Caspian, Myrkur and Winterfylleth. Festival performances this year include ArcTanGent, WGT, Dunk! and Tramlines Festival, and two separate concerts at the invitation of Robert Smith for his curation of the Southbank’s Meltdown Festival.
Jo’s new album ‘Exsolve’, recorded with Chris Fielding at Skyhammer Studios (Electric Wizard, Primordial, Witchsorrow, Conan), will be released on 2nd November. Watch the trailer with an excerpt of the track ‘Mandrel Cantus’ here:
The initial ideas for ‘Exsolve’ were formed following an invitation to perform at the Arp Museum in Bonn, to celebrate the Barbara Hepworth ‘Sculpture for a Modern World’ exhibition (previously at the Tate Modern). Jo comments, ‘as well as my standard concert repertoire from my previous three albums I wanted to write and perform something specifically to honour these beautiful works. I wrote a piece for solo cello called ‘Single Form’ which explored the cello physically, using the extensive pitch range and then creating a sonic ‘hole’ literally by handshape and position on the neck, mirroring the curves and spaces in Hepworth’s work.’
While ‘Single Form’ doesn’t appear on the new album, the writing process behind it went on to inform and help mould all the pieces on ‘Exsolve’. Jo adds, ‘there are many aspects of Barbara Hepworth’s life and works that inspired the early creative stage of this album. She talked of the left hand ‘seeing’ and the right hand then carving, and I found this analogy greatly inspiring. I wanted to explore what it actually feels like physically to play cello and at the same time I wanted to write something ambitious, brave and proud, something that pushes beyond what I had done before in terms of live looping, yet something that has the weight and certainty of a monolith for want of a better term!’
Since commencing her solo career in 2010, Jo has released three albums, three EPs and a live DVD. Following her 2015 European tour with post-rock giants Caspian Jo has embedded herself in the world of left-field and heavy music, whilst continuing to perform within the contemporary and avant-garde spheres. Not only did she open for black-metal artist Myrkur but Jo joined her on stage as part of her Folkesange project as well as collaborating with the likes of A-Sun Amissa, Mono’s Takaakira ‘Taka’ Goto, Eraldo Bernocchi and FM Einheit (Einsturzende Neubauten). Jo has performed several concerts of her works arranged for electric cello, orchestral ensembles and choirs both at home in the UK, in Europe and in Australia where she tours on a yearly basis.
“Exsolve’ is comprised of 3 tracks, with each one being broken down in to sections and movements across 45 minutes. Mastered by James Griffiths, himself a film composer, there is an almost symphonic quality to the album.
‘Exsolve’ has been an unique process in both writing and recording terms for Jo who states, ‘what made the writing process so different for me was the sense that every single note was being sculpted, created, forged by hand somehow. It was not a ‘struggle’ but it was a clear process with a lot of very detailed attention to individual sounds; in some cases the sounds themselves built the pieces rather than a melodic structure requiring an extra heft of percussion. For example the tribal toms at the end of ‘Causleen’s Wheel’ were created and set down before the front end of the piece was written…but as with my other pieces, the whole work relates back and forwards, and is built from the same motif throughout.’
With recording ‘Exsolve’ Jo decided to try something different and set out working with Chris Fielding, known more for his work with metal bands such as Conan, Electric Wizard and Witchsorrow at Sky Hammer Studio. Jo describes this as, ‘an incredible experience. Chris is really on it as a producer, and had no issue with my method of writing from a loop perspective, and dealing with all the various motifs that appear and withdraw throughout the compositions. Pretty much everything was reamped live, which brings the depth to the sound. Chris is very patient and equally very creative, so we were able to take my existing sounds and make them somehow 3 dimensional for the record. In places where I was less convinced of my sound choices Chris was able to advise and to bring different factors in too, experimenting with different heads and amps for reamping, or suggesting various techniques he employs in other genres of music to help to realise what I had in my head.’
Having had special guests on her albums in the past Jo brought in Dan Capp (Winterfylleth), Nik Sampson guitar (Devilment, Prolapse A.D.) and Lucie Dehli to contribute and collaborate on this record adding, ‘they are all very good friends of mine and all musicians I admire so greatly, so it was a pleasure to give the tracks to them and see where they went. I gave them no direction, just the tracks as they were, and this is the result. I wanted to create a sound world that my guests could come and place their sculptures on, to continue the analogy.’
‘Exsolve’ is a snapshot in time of these 3 pieces and with every live performance Jo looks to develop them further. As Jo concludes ‘For me, the final record is usually only the starting point of the journey and over time and with each performance the music will morph and be reshaped – composing and performing is a collaborative process between me, the space and the audience’.
Tracklisting:
1) Forge – Of Two Forms
2) Mandrel Cantus
3) Causleen’s Wheel
Pre-orders will be announced soon and a vinyl version of the album with an additional track will follow early next year.
Jo Quail will be heading out on two European tours to support the release opening for Mono and A Storm of Light in October followed by Myrkur in December.
European tour w/ Mono & A Storm of Light
01 Oct: Bristol, UK, The Fleece
02 Oct: Norwich, UK, Arts Centre
03 Oct: Glasgow, UK, Classic Grand
04 Oct: Newcastle, UK, The Cluny
05 Oct: Leeds, UK, Left Bank
06 Oct: Ghent, BE, De Central
07 Oct: Utrecht, NL, Tivoli De Helling
08 Oct: Bremen, DE, Tower
09 Oct: Dresden, DE, Beatpol
10 Oct: Wiesbaden, DE, Schlachtof
11 Oct: Aarau, CH, Kiff
12 Oct: Lyon, FR, CCO
13 Oct: Barcelona, ES, Aloud Music Festival
14 Oct: Toulouse, FR, Le Rex
15 Oct: Bordeaux, FR, Krakatoa
16 Oct: Orleans, FR, Astrolabe
17 Oct: Heerlen, NL, Nieuwe Nor
18 Oct: Oberhausen, DE, Drucklufthaus
19 Oct: Leeuwarden, NL, Into The Void
20 Oct: Athens, GR, Fuzz Club
22 Oct: St. Petersburg, RU, Zal
23 Oct: Moscow, RU, Zil
European tour w/ Myrkur
03 Dec: SE Stockholm, Vasateatern04/12 – NO Oslo, John Dee
Roine Stolt, known as the guitarist, singer, writer and at times band leader of the groups The Flower Kings, Transatlantic, Agents of Mercy, Kaipa DC, as well as from his work with prog icon Jon Anderson and the new super-group The Sea Within, is releasing a new album on November 23rd, 2018. Under the moniker ROINE STOLT’S THE FLOWER KING, ’Manifesto Of An Alchemist’ offers 10 songs and almost 70 minutes of playing time celebrating the style Roine is most revered for: progressive rock, richly orchestrated with all the trademark elements from four decades of the genre.
Roine comments: “Unlike many later albums, where recordings have continued over months, this new album has been a fairly quick and effective affair – we started tracking in Holland at the beginning of July and mix was done by mid-August! The songs are written in a very ‘unorthodox’ way – some melodic content and some riffs are ideas that have been circulating for years – some may even be from before the first TFK album – they just hadn’t found a home in any of the bands/albums I did in the last 15 years yet.”
‘Manifesto Of An Alchemist’ is a celebration of all the styles that have been part of the colourful, daring and dynamic songwriting and arrangements that Roine masters like no other, yet also offers a more immediate, more hands on approach. “Like that first TFK album, I’m the main lead vocalist here again – it works as these lyrics are important to me and resonate with my view of the world. A lot of the guitar work is actually my spontaneous ‘demo’ guitars” and that goes for much of the synth work, too. I didn’t want to ‘process’ ideas too much as there is much power in the initial creation – I wanted to keep it that way.”
The album features a host of other musicians, including long-time collaborators Jones Reingold, Hans Froberg & Michael Stolt, as well as fellow The Sea Within member Marco Minnemann, Max Lorentz, Zach Kamins, Rob Townsend & Nad Sylvan.
‘Manifesto Of An Alchemist’ features stunning artwork from Shaun Beyond (https://www.instagram.com/shaunbeyond/), and will arrive as a limited edition CD digipak, Gatefold 180g 2LP + CD & as digital download.
You can find the full track-listing below:
1.Rainsong
2.Lost America
3.Ze Pawns
4.High Road
5.Rio Grande
6.Next To A Hurricane
7.The Alchemist
8.Baby Angels
9.Six Thirty Wake-Up
10.The Spell Of Money
As previously announced, Roine will take The Flower Kings catalogue on tour later this year, as well as playing tracks from this new album. He comments: “I am excited that the album will be released in November this year and at the same time will be in South America playing The Flower Kings music with a band that also includes Hasse Froberg & Jonas Reingold and also introduces two younger friends; Zach Kamins on keyboards and Mirko DiMaio on drums – both fabulous musicians. We will also bring this to Europe where we join forces with legends Spocks Beard.”
South America 2018
16th November – Carioca Club, Sao Paolo, Brazil
18th November – El Teatrito, Buenos Aires, Argentina
19th November – Teatro Nescafe, Santiago, Chile
21st November – Teatro Del Patronato Peruano Chino, Lima, Peru
23rd November – C3 Stage, Guadalajara, Mexico
24th November – Auditoria Blackberry, Mexico City, Mexico
InsideOutMusic 25th Anniversary European Tour feat. Spock’s Beard & Roine Stolt’s The Flower King
30th November – Cosmopolite, Oslo, Norway
1st December – Kulturhuset Studion, Stockholm, Sweden
2nd December – KB, Malmo, Sweden
4th December – Zeche, Bochum, Germany
5th December – Z7, Pratteln, Switzerland
6th December – La Machine, Paris, France
7th December – De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
8th December – Hedon, Zwolle, Netherlands
9th December – Islington Assembly Hall, London, UK
10th December – Academy Club, Manchester, UK
MONO are building towards the January release of their new album as well as next year’s 20th anniversary tour with a run of Europe dates in October. The band has recently finished working on the new record with Steve Albini and new drummer Dahm. The first single “After You Comes The Flood” will be released this September.
MONO also has plans to release a short film in collaboration with director Julien Levy coinciding with the release of the first single. In the meantime they have shared a trailer for the tour here:
