Category: General News

Rikard Sjöblom’s Gungfly launch video for ‘Happy Somewhere In Between’ / first single from ‘Alone Together’

Swedish multi-instrumentalist Rikard Sjöblom recently announced his new album under the Gungfly moniker, ‘Alone Together’. Set for release on the 4th September 2020, it followsan  extremely productive past few years, whether it be working with English progressive rockers Big Big Train, or taking the lead with Gungfly. 

Today sees the launch of the first single ‘Happy Somewhere In Between’ and you can watch the video here:

Rikard comments: “I wanted to write an upbeat prog-rocker about a subject I was reading about, and got intrigued by: the dynamics in a relationship – how one person can be needy and the other one avoidant. These personality traits sometimes attract each other but then things get problematic when one needs a lot of attention and the other one tends to feel trapped by it. It’s also about mixing things up in general and pretty much a fun song about serious stuff.”

‘Alone Together’ will be available as a Limited CD Digipak (with 2 bonus tracks), Gatefold LP + CD & as Digital Album. Pre-order now here: https://RikardSjoeblomsGungfly.lnk.to/AloneTogether

Rikard comments: “I started writing these songs about a year ago but then it took some time to get started with the production because I had two tours lined up, one with Big Big Train in November and then opening solo for The Flower Kings on their European tour in December. After that my focus shifted back to Gungfly and it felt really nice so it all came together pretty fast!”

‘Alone Together’ saw Gungfly recording as a trio, with brothers and previous collaborators Petter and Rasmus Diamant on drums and bass respectively. “It was a lot of fun playing both keyboards and guitar because I had come up with a lot of nice parts but I knew early on that I wanted to make the album with the brothers on drums and bass – luckily they were very up for it!” This ‘power-trio’ have focussed on the rock this time, and you can hear that loud and clear: “I didn’t want to smother the production with layers upon layers of keyboards and bells and whistles but instead tried to keep it prog rock with the focus on ROCK. I wanted every instrument to mean something in the mix.” This is evident on tracks like ‘Happy Somewhere In Between’ and the 13-minute epic ‘Traveler’, where Gungfly have never hit harder.

The album cover features a painting by American artist Kevin Sloan (The Flower Kings). Rikard comments of the piece: “I had just written lyrics for the song ‘From Afar’ and was looking at Kevin’s paintings when I came across this one and I couldn’t believe the connection, particularly the lyric “A million eyes watching glimpses of each other’s lives””.

The full track-listing for the album is as follows:

1.     Traveler

2.     Happy Somewhere In Between

3.     Clean as a Whistle

4.     Alone Together

5.     From Afar

6.     On The Shoulders Of Giants

7.     Grove Thoughts (Bonus Track)

8.     Shoulder Variations (Bonus Track)

The bandwill come to the UK for 3 select live dates in October 2021. The band will play London & Manchester, co-headlining alongside the Robin Armstrong-led Cosmograf, before continuing on to Summer’s End Festival.

The dates are as follows and are on sale now:

Friday 1st October – Dingwalls, London

Saturday 2nd October – Academy 3, Manchester

Sunday 3rd October – Summer’s End Festival, Chepstow

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 recent studio albums.

Tim Bowness releases video and single, ‘I’m Better Now’ from forthcoming album “Late Night Laments”

On August 28th, 2020, Tim Bowness will release his sixth solo album, “Late Night Laments”, on InsideOutMusic. The album offers a collection of lush, atmospheric songs with a wide lyrical scope marking the most intimate yet universal of Bowness’s solo releases. As a first track, Tim Bowness decided to release the unsettling yet accessible ‘I’m Better Now’ (which presents an intriguing stylistic departure for Bowness). 

Bowness comments:

 ‘In some ways ‘I’m Better Now’ represents the flipside of the title song from my previous album, “Flowers At The Scene”.

‘Flowers At The Scene’ focused on the repercussions of a violent crime (the impact on the victim’s family and friends), while ‘I’m Better Now’ is written from the perspective of a perpetrator of a hate crime.

 For a variety of reasons, society has seemingly become increasingly polarised over the last half-decade and along with an rise in intolerance, there’s been a real sense of more and more people becoming disaffected and feeling ‘left behind’ or invisible. Sometimes, the consequences of that can be ugly.’

Peter Chilvers – who’s previously created visuals for Brian Eno – is responsible for the abstract video that superbly evokes the ominous and chilly mood of the lyric. The clip can be viewed here:

Musically, the track includes contributions from Knifeworld’s Kavus Torabi and Melanie Woods. Bowness says, ‘Kavus’s biting and twisting solo is a particular highlight of the song for me.’

Mixed by his longtime partner in no-man, Steven Wilson, and mastered by Calum Malcolm (The Blue Nile, Prefab Sprout), the album – co-produced by Bowness and Brian Hulse – combines electronic soundscapes, acoustic instrumentation and unexpected rhythms in a tightly focused and emotionally charged opus. The artwork is once again by Jarrod Gosling. 

“Late Night Laments” will be released as Limited Edition 2CD digipak including five additional studio recordings, as Gatefold LP plus CD, and digital album. 

Pre-orders are available now:

https://timbowness.lnk.to/LateNightLamentsID

An exclusive transparent blue edition (600 copies) plus signed art print is available only at BurningShed.com.

https://burningshed.com/store/timbowness

About Tim Bowness:

Tim Bowness is primarily known as vocalist/co-writer with the band no-man, a long-running collaboration with Steven Wilson.  

In addition to releasing seven studio albums and a documentary DVD with no-man, Tim has worked with popular Italian artist Alice (on her Italian Top 20 album “Viaggio In Italia”), Mercury Prize nominated Banco De Gaia, Robert Fripp, Peter Hammill, Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera and many others. 

Tim recorded the album “Flame” (1994) with Richard Barbieri (Porcupine Tree/ex-Japan), co-produced/co-wrote the acclaimed “Talking With Strangers” (2009) for Judy Dyble (ex-Fairport Convention), and has had a long-term collaborative partnership with Peter Chilvers (Brian Eno/Karl Hyde). 

Tim’s recent quartet of solo releases on InsideOutMusic/Sony have entered the official UK Top 5 Rock, Progressive, and Vinyl charts, as well as the official Scottish charts. Along with Steven Wilson, he is also the co-host of “The Album Years”, which has reached the Top 5 Music Podcast charts in over 25 countries (#1 in 10).

GAZPACHO, THE KINGS OF ATMOSPHERIC AND AFFECTIVE ROCK RETURN WITH NEW ALBUM FIREWORKER – DUE FOR RELEASE ON KSCOPE ON 18TH SEPTEMBER

For nearly twenty years, Gazpacho have reigned as the kings of atmospheric and affective art rock. That’s certainly no small feat, as the subgenre is full of wonderfully moody, ornate, and emotional artists; yet, none of them manage to achieve the same level of exquisite baroque resonance and hypnotically introspective weight as the Norwegian sextet. As a result, they never fail to provide awe-inspiring examinations of the human condition, and their latest observation, Fireworker, is no exception. It is undoubtedly among their greatest achievements, as well as one of the most profound pieces of music you’ll hear in 2020.

LISTEN TO THE TITLE  TRACK “FIREWORKER” HERE

Conceptually, the album follows the band’s tradition of blending grand philosophical quandaries, stimulating literary leanings, and haunting personal turmoil. In a way, it acts as the culmination of the themes and techniques that’ve decorated earlier collections, combining the fatalistic isolation of Night and Missa Atropos; the ill-fated narrative drama of Tick Tock and Soyuz; and the hefty theological/scientific contemplations of Demon and Molok. Beyond that, its central premise (that humanity has always been controlled by an infallible and omniscient creature determined to propagate at any cost) means that Fireworker comes across like the overarching umbrella under which all of its predecessors occur.

Keyboardist Thomas Andersen elucidates: “There’s an instinctual part of you that lives inside your mind, separate from your consciousness. I call it the ‘Fireworker’ or the ‘Lizard’ or the ‘Space Cowboy.’ It’s an eternal and unbroken lifeforce that’s survived every generation, with a new version in each of us. It’s evolved alongside our consciousness, and it can override us and control all of our actions.”

In order to get us to do what it wants, he clarifies, the “Fireworker” will silence the parts of our mind that feel disgust or remorse so that we’re unable to stop it. The conscious part of our mind, Andersen notes, will actually “rationalize and legitimize” those thoughts and actions so that we never discover the beast behind-the-scenes. No matter how we feel about ourselves in terms of identity, accomplishments, and value, we’re all just vessels—or “Sapiens”—that the creature uses until it no longer needs us.“If you play along,” Andersen explains, “It’ll reward you like a puppy and let you feel fantastic; if you don’t, it’ll punish you severely.”

Like Night, Fireworker is a single “trip” broken into five chapters but meant to be appreciated all at once. This time, however, Gazpacho’s recurring protagonist is investigating the labyrinthian hive of his own psyche to engage in a Bergman-esque confrontation with the “Fireworker.” This journey is even represented by the Wimmelbilder cover, which, as usual, was designed by collaborator Antonio Seijas and depicts “the billions of neurons that create the cave of the mind”.

Fireworker declares its mesmeric dominance right away via “Space Cowboy,” a side-long suite whose ominous lyricism (“The parasite / That lives in me / Murders words / From where I stop / And it breathes in / We’re biting our tail / The cycle begins”) is but one of many reasons why it’s among Gazpacho’s greatest compositions. From its heartbreakingly delicate first movement and chaotic centerpiece, to its mournfully symphonic penultimate phase and thunderous outro, it is a masterpiece onto itself, cementing how vivacious, evocative, and imaginative Gazpacho remain after all these years. 

From there, the sequence remains just as seductively eccentric and beautiful. In particular, “Hourglass” is a gorgeous piano ballad that evokes March of Ghosts in its fusion of welcoming melodies and gentle orchestral flourishes. That then make way for the feisty layers and catchy hooks of the band’s first single and title track “Fireworker.” Fittingly, “Antique” takes over with angelic mystery and the album closer “Sapien,” echoes the dynamic range and epic scope of “Space Cowboy,” resulting in an awe-inspiring finale that envelops you in luscious arrangements and poignant existential realizations.  

Naturally, Gazpacho’s career has been full of great performances and glowing praise. Outside of issuing three superb live LPs (2010’s A Night at the Loreley, 2011’s London, and 2015’s Night of the Demon), they’ve played festivals such as Be Prog! My Friend, Night of the Prog, Midsummer Prog Festival, and Cruise to the Edge, where they delighted audiences alongside exceptional brethren like iamthemorning, Anathema, Pain of Salvation, Caligula’s Horse, Riverside, The Neal Morse Band, and Steve Hackett.

Unsurprisingly, their records have been met with similarly enthusiastic reception; for instance, their previous statement, 2018’s Soyuz,earned superlative accolades from publications such as PROG, Echoes and Dust and Louder than War.

Fireworker is truly life-changing experience, so you would be wise to turn off all of the lights, clear your mind as best you can, and prepare to meet the Fireworker.

 FIREWORKER tracklisting

1. Space Cowboy [19:43] 

2. Hourglass [04:15] 

3. Fireworker [04:41] 

4. Antique [06:24] 

5. Sapien [15:22]

Fireworker will be released on Kscope on 18th September, on CD, a gatefold 2LP on 180g black vinyl  (3 sides audio, 1 side art etching) and digitally (digital pre-orders receive the title track “Fireworker” as an instant download) and is available to pre-order HERE

GAZPACHO LIVE

Sadly, due to the current covid-19 situation the band’s European and UK dates scheduled for October 2020 have been postponed to October 2021, but as the band didn’t want to disappoint their fans Gazpacho are planning to play Fireworker in its entirety via a livestream, alongside a Q&A about the concept plus will play a few favourites from their repertoire. Details of the streaming event and the rescheduled tour will follow soon.

In the meantime, they suggest, you should internalize the record as much as possible to eventually “research your own ‘Space Cowboy.’” Anderson adds: “It’s an attempt at a safe way of looking at something highly dangerous because the animal does not understand music or poetry. We’re trying to outsmart it by writing around it, as music can go places words can’t and there’s a magic to it all.”. 
Gazpacho are:

Thomas Andersen – keyboards, programming

Jan-Henrik Ohme – vocals

Jon-Arne Vibo – guitars

Mikael Krømer – violin, additional guitars

Kristian “Fido” Torp – bass

Robert R Johansen – drums

The Tangent launch ‘Life On Hold’; first single from new album ‘Auto Reconnaissance’

The Tangent, the progressive rock group led by Andy Tillison, recently announced the release of their 11th studio album ‘Auto Reconnaissance’ on the 21st August 2020. The follow-up to 2018’s ‘Proxy’, sees them continuing the band philosophy of celebrating the golden age of prog, whilst bringing it to the present and exploring new paths for the music to take in the future. On ‘Auto Reconnaissance’, they bend that philosophy to their will, taking in prog rock foot stomping, sublime Jazz, humour, narrative, a modern R&B love song, funk/soul and a 28 minute long emotional epic about the band’s home country of England.

Today they launch the first track, titled ‘Life On Hold’, and you can listen now here:

Andy comments: “‘Life On Hold is  the cheerful up-tempo Prog Rock foot-stomper we chose to kick off our album. It sits alongside pieces we’ve done in the past like ‘GPS Culture’ and ‘Spark In The Aether’, ‘Crisis In Midlife’ etc and it’s a flavour we do like to return to now and then. This one is influenced by things like that first Asia album, stuff like Kansas and Boston, and the kind of thing that Transatlantic might bang out at you. It’s part of our genetic makeup, but of course only one part. Although there’s a fair amount of accessible tunes on the new album, there’s some seriously deep water around too.  And no, ‘Life On Hold’ has nothing to do with Lockdowns. It mentions Jean Paul Sartre, which is not normal in foot-stompers. Get it ON!! Bang, and the dirt is gone!”

‘Auto Reconnaissance’ will be available as a limited CD Digipak, Gatefold 2LP + CD + LP-Booklet and as a digital album. Pre-order now here: https://The-Tangent.lnk.to/AutoReconnaissance

 Andy comments: “I utterly refuse to accept that Progressive Rock Music is some kind of museum piece. It is actually a living and breathing movement that has a past, a present and above all, a future. It once had an album-chart-topping golden age, but the genre was never about that. It has subtly and virally kept itself alive for decades where many new musical genres have risen to glory and faded away.”

For this release, Andy is once again joined by long-time collaborators Jonas Reingold, Luke Machin (who  co-produced the album with Andy),  Theo Travis, and Steve Roberts. Together they bring to life an album that has been influenced by the likes of ELP, The Isley Brothers, Steely Dan, Aphex Twin, National Health, Rose Royce, Squarepusher and Return To Forever amongst others. 

Andy comments of the current line-up: “In the past 6 years the line-up of The Tangent has become more stable than at the beginning. I think that the identity of the Tangent as a “Group” rather than a “Project” started to come together on the album ‘A Spark In The Aether’ in 2014. Essentially Luke, Jonas, Theo and myself have appeared on the last four albums, and we added Steve Roberts for the tour that supported ‘Slow Rust’ in 2017 and we’ve settled on this line-up. I hope for a while because I find this unit to be productive, in tune with the band’s purpose and manifesto and a lot of fun to boot. The new album ‘Auto Reconnaissance’ is the first time that the core band has been identical in structure to its predecessor.  For the first time I feel that everyone is totally onboard with the fusion of Jazz, Prog, Punkishness and electronica that The Tangent likes to cook up. We are a good group of friends and although we don’t meet up often, it’s a real blast when we do. I’ve always considered Ed Unitsky the cover artist to have been a recurring member of the cast – his artwork has been a huge part of our story and although we move away, we always return.”

‘Auto Reconnaissance’ will be available as Limited CD Digipak (incl. bonus track), Gatefold 2LP + CD + LP booklet & as Digital Album, all featuring the artwork of Ed Untisky, whose visuals have not been seen on a Tangent album since 2014’s ‘A Spark In The Aether’. The full track-listing can be found below:

1.     Life On Hold

2.     Jinxed In Jersey

3.     Under Your Spell

4.     The Tower Of Babel

5.     Lie Back & Think Of England

6.     The Midas Touch

7.     Proxima (Bonus Track)

The Tangent are the following players:

Andy Tillison – Vocals, Lyrics, Keyboards, Composer

Jonas Reingold (The Sea Within, Steve Hackett Band) – Bass Guitar

Theo Travis (Soft Machine, David Gilmour, Travis-Fripp) – Sax & Flute

Luke Machin (Maschine, Francis Dunnery Band) – Guitar

Steve Roberts (David Cross Band, ex Magenta, Godsticks) – Drums

Pain of Salvation – Announce details for new studio album “PANTHER”!

Firmly at the forefront of the progressive rock and metal scenes for nearly three decades now and one of modern rock’s most acclaimed live acts, Sweden’s Pain of Salvation return with a new studio album entitled “PANTHER”, due out August 28th, 2020 worldwide via InsideOutMusic. 

“PANTHER”, the follow-up release to 2017’s “In The Passing Light Of Day” album, was recorded, mixed and produced by Daniel Gildenlöw with Daniel Bergstrand (In Flames, Meshuggah, Devin Townsend) and comes with a comprehensive artwork-theme with illustrations made by André Meister (Frontcover to be seen above!). 

Here is the track-listing for the standard edition of the album: 

Pain of Salvation – “PANTHER”:

1. ACCELERATOR

2. UNFUTURE

3. RESTLESS BOY

4. WAIT

5. KEEN TO A FAULT

6. FUR

7. PANTHER

8. SPECIES

9. ICON 

Pain of Salvation’s Daniel Gildenlöw checked in with the following comment about “PANTHER”:

“The making of ‘PANTHER’ has taken over 2 years. I have felt the need to push boundaries, both musically and sonically. Approaching the music from more diverse angles, yet without losing the core identity of the band. Lyrically it coincidently fits more than ever into current times. When I look at the great artwork drawings that went into the concept, I can only say that I am extremely happy how everything turned out. I can’t wait to share this album with everybody.” 

More details about the various formats for “PANTHER”, its pre-order start as well as the launch of a first single/video will be shared on July 3rd, 2020. Mark your calendars! 

A first sneak preview with one of the songs off “PANTHER” is in the album trailer clip here: 

Pain of Salvation’s previous album “In the Passing Light of Day” entered the official sales charts of various countries upon release as follows: Germany: # 28, France: # 70, The Netherlands: # 86, Italy: # 56, Switzerland: # 28, Austria # 39, Belgium (Flemish charts): # 82, Belgium (Wallonian charts): 
# 79, Finland: # 32, Italy: # 56, Spain: # 88, Sweden: # 94, Sweden (Physical album charts): # 15, Sweden (Vinyl  charts): # 8 and USA (Billboard Heatseekers Chart): # 9.

The album’s main singles / videos can still be checked out here:
“Meaningless”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MreXYqelGPM
“Reasons”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_qZpLgvdOI

“In the Passing Light of Day” as well as previous Pain of Salvation catalogue releases can still be purchased in various formats in the IOM webshop here:
https://www.insideoutshop.de/Artist/Pain_Of_Salvation/20854

Look out for more news about Pain of Salvation’s upcoming album “PANTHER” soon…  Pain of Salvation line-up:
Daniel Gildenlöw – lead vocals and lots of stuffJohan Hallgren – guitar and vocalsLéo Margarit – drums and vocalsDaniel Karlsson – keyboards, guitars and vocalsGustaf Hielm – bass and vocals

Marillion – Release Video of Lockdown Version of Made Again

“We had the idea to do a ‘lockdown’ version of Made Again for you all.

Unbeknownst to us, our manager Lucy made a call (via social media) to ask fans to send in videos of themselves, in the hope of replicating the ‘Made Again Stage Invasion’ (at our Marillion Weekend in 2013) to surprise us!

Lucy and Tim Sidwell (from Toward Infinity), then came clean to us of their plan and added our ‘at home’ videos and recordings into the mix.

So here is a beautiful video of hope from around the world.

A better way of life? For sure.
We hope you all enjoy it.“

We will be making announcements about our Marillion Weekends that are due in 2021 at some point next week.

In the meantime, stay safe and healthy.

“Like a bright new morning, Like a bright new day, I woke up from a deep sleep,

I woke up from a bad dream, To a brand new morning,

To a brand new day, Like the whole world has been made again”

h, Ian, Mark, Pete and Steve
Made Again will be released as a Charity Single over the next few weeks.

FROST* – announce release of “Others – EP” on June 5, 2020

With FROST*’s latest album, “Falling Satellites”, dating back to 2016, it was about time, mastermind Jem Godfrey teamed up with Nathan King and John Mitchell to continue forging daring and dynamic progressive music.

Completed already back in 2019, FROST* now announce the release of the stunning 32 minutes long “Others – EP”. Jem Godfrey states:

“Others” is a 6 track EP containing 6 songs that were written at the time of the “Falling Satellites” album. Initially the idea was that “Falling Satellites” would be a double album, but it felt more focused and concise as a single album by the time we’d finished making it, so these half completed songs were put to one side. Now finished and mixed, they are ready to see the light of day!”

The EP will be released digitally on June 5, 2020 and will be released as part of the limited “13 Winters” anthology-artbook physically later this year. 

A first track from the “Others – EP” will be released on May 22! 

The track-list is below:

1. Fathers

2. Clouda

3. Exhibit A

4. Fathom

5. Eat

6. Drown

Furthermore, FROST* are putting finishing touches to their highly anticipated new studio album which is tentatively scheduled for a September release through InsideOutMusic.

YES Announces Re-scheduled UK dates for The Album Series 2021 Tour

YES announce re-scheduled UK dates, due to the coronavirus pandemic, for The Album Series 2021 Tour. The tour was originally scheduled to kick off this month in Liverpool – it will now begin on 16th May 2021 in Manchester. The show will feature their 1974 Relayer album in its entirety together with a selection of other classic YES favourites. YES recently announced re-scheduled European dates and are looking forward to returning to live shows.

“Many things have changed in the world these past few months. My appreciation for the freedoms we’ve enjoyed in the past has grown along with my gratitude for all the people caring for humanity throughout the world.”

“I can’t wait to be on stage again in front of real audiences playing ‘YES’ music. I’m hoping we can bring some joy and positivity back into our lives.

“Please take care and stay safe, we want to see our many fans and friends again in 2021!” Sincerely, Alan White.

The tour line-up features Steve Howe (guitars), Alan White (drums), Geoff Downes (keyboards), Jon Davison (vocals), Billy Sherwood (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Jay Schellen (additional drums and percussion).

The show will comprise two sets by the band with full production and a high definition video wall. The first will feature favourite classic tracks from YES’extensive catalogue. The second will feature Relayer, the seventh studio album by YES, and one of the band’s most distinctive. 

Relayer marked a slight change in direction as Patrick Moraz replaced Rick Wakeman on keyboards bringing an edgier, avant-garde feel to the album. This was perfect for the opening track Gates Of Delirium, almost 22 minutes in length, with its battle scene featuring the keyboard of Moraz and Steve Howe’s guitar. The battle gives way to the beautiful closing ballad Soon, a prayer for peace and hope.

The album continues with Sound Chaser, a prog-rock-jazz fusion experiment heavily influenced by Moraz’s style and To Be Over, a calm and gentle conclusion to the album, based on a melody by Steve Howe.

Released in late 1974 on Atlantic Records, Relayer continued YES’ success reaching number 4 in the UK album chart and number 5 in the US Billboard chart.

Re-Scheduled UK Dates for 2021 THE ALBUM SERIES RELAYER Tour are:
MAY

Sun 16th May Manchester Bridgewater Hall
Mon 17th May Birmingham Symphony Hall
Wed 19th May York Barbican
Thurs 20th May Gateshead Sage
Sat 22nd May Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Sun 23rd May Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
Mon 24th May London Royal Albert Hall

Fri 28th May Glasgow Royal Concert Hall 

All tickets remain valid for the re-scheduled shows. For full details and to book tickets for all shows Please go to bookingsdirect.com or yesworld.com for all dates. Meet & Greets with the band are also available through yesworld.com

About YES

Steve Howe: guitars, backing vocals (1970 –1981, 1990–1992, 1995–present)
Alan White: drums, percussion (1972 – present)
Geoff Downes: keyboards (1980–1981, 2011–present) 
Jon Davison: lead vocals, acoustic guitar (2012–present) 
Billy Sherwood: guitar, backing vocals ((1994, 1997–2000), bass guitar, backing vocals (2015–present)

Formed in 1968 by Jon Anderson and the late, and much-missed, Chris Squire, YES have been one of the most innovative, influential and best-loved bands in rock music history. Their 1970s albums The Yes Album, Fragile, Close To The Edge, Yessongs (a triple live album set), Tales From Topographic Oceans, Relayer and Going For The One were ground-breaking in musical style and content. Their music also became synonymous with artist Roger Dean whose distinctive YES logo design and artwork adorned the lavish gatefold presentation sleeves of many YES albums.

With sales of over 50 million records, the Grammy-award winning YES were inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2017 where they performed Roundabout from the album Fragile and the FM radio-friendly Owner Of A Lonely Heart from the 1985 album 90125.

The Prog Report to host All-Star ‘Prog From Home’ concert featuring Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess, Steve Hackett, Neal Morse and more.

Prog Rock news outlet The Prog Report is pleased to announce an All-Star event featuring some of the biggest names in the Progressive Rock.  The event titled ‘Prog From Home’ will premiere on The Prog Report YouTube channel on Saturday, May 9th at 11am PST / 2pm EST / 7pm UK / 8pm CET.

Prog Report YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/c/progreportpage

The virtual concert will feature curated at-home performances by 
Mike Portnoy (Sons of Apollo/Neal Morse Band), Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), Steve Hackett, Neal Morse, Michael Sadler (Saga), Ray Wilson (ex-Genesis), Nick Barrett (Pendragon), Oliver Wakeman, Nick D’Virgilio (Big Big Train), Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief), Casey McPherson (Flying Colors), Haken, Enchant, Magenta, The Reign of Kindo, John Wesley (ex-Porcupine Tree), Paul Beilatowicz (Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy), John Mitchell (Lonely Robot), Eric Gillette (Neal Morse Band), Novena, Moron Police, Dave Kerzner & Fernando Perdomo, Randy McStine & Adam Holzman, The Fierce and the Dead, Randy and Pamela George, Dani Rabin (Marbin).  Also included are some guest performers and presenters.

The show is in support and celebration of doctors, nurses, first responders and all health-care workers.
***
The Prog Report is one of the premiere destinations for progressive rock news, interviews, reviews, and more. The Prog Report podcast is ranked as one of the Top Ranked Music Commentary podcasts on Apple, with various programming including Prog Report Top 5, Artist and album profiles, and interviews with the biggest artists in Prog.  Launched in 2013, The Prog Report has a worldwide audience with an extremely passionate social media following.

Haken launch video for ‘Canary Yellow’ / Second single taken from ‘Virus’

Progressive rockers Haken recently revealed their new studio album ‘Virus’, the follow-up to 2018’s acclaimed album ‘Vector’, will be released 5th June 2020. Now they are pleased to launch the video for the album’s second single ‘Canary Yellow’, a striking animated clip created by Crystal Spotlight. Watch it now here: 

The band comments: “For Canary Yellow, we went in a more alternative direction, since we’re all big fans of bands like Radiohead, Elbow and Peter Gabriel. Those are artists who can portray quite dark subject matter through really beautiful music. Since the ‘Virus’ album is intended to be a metaphor for various negative tropes of society, we wanted to explore this idea in a variety of ways.

Canary Yellow deals with the suppression of physical and mentally abusive relationships; something that can often remain hidden behind a seemingly happy facade. 

We once again returned to long time visual collaborators ‘Crystal Spotlight’ for this ambitious animation and we’re absolutely thrilled with how well the visuals complement and enhance the atmosphere of the song. The video shows a seemingly idyllic family environment, but with a sense of sadness beneath the surface and absolute devastation looming on the horizon. They go about their day oblivious to the fact that they are mannequins living in a 1950s style ‘Doom Town‘ experiment.”

he video for the album’s first single, ‘Prosthetic’, has reached over 200,000 views so far and the song has over 300,000 streams. You can watch the video now here: 

The band recently started broadcasting from their new Twitch channel, and they will be going in-depth on how ‘Canary Yellow’ was written and produced on the 8th May at 6pm UK time. Watch here: 

https://www.twitch.tv/hakenofficial/

By way of introduction, the band recorded a special video message to give some background to the new record: 

Since releasing ‘Vector’ in October 2018, Haken have completed headline tours the world over, played sold-out shows across Europe and North America as support for Devin Townsend and picked up a Prog award for their efforts too! All the while, they have been quietly, secretly working on the follow-up album, entitled ‘Virus’.

Drummer Ray Hearne reveals, “since releasing ‘The Mountain’ in 2013, one question has been asked of us time and time again, ‘who is the Cockroach King?’. This is something we were interested in exploring more deeply too, so we essentially did that through our music; elaborating and expanding upon the intervallic, harmonic, rhythmic and lyrical themes of that song. The end result is in an arc which spans across two albums: ‘Vector’ and ‘Virus’”.

Once again, Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood has mixed what is perhaps the most eclectic Haken album to date, with the 7 tracks revealing hints of influences from multiple genres, all intertwined with Haken’s own recognisable sound. Guitarist Richard Henshall had this to say about the production, “Using Nolly again was a no-brainer, as we wanted the two albums to be sonically connected. But having just spent a day mixing with him in his studio, it’s obvious that this album will be an evolution of the ‘Vector’ sound. These songs seem to allow a lot more freedom of creativity with the production, so we’re excited to see where it leads”.

Longtime Haken collaborators, Blacklake, have designed the visuals and artwork and the album will be available as a Limited 2CD, Standard CD, Gatefold 2LP + CD & as Digital Album. Pre-order now here: https://haken.lnk.to/Virus

The track-listing is as follows:

1.     Prosthetic

2.     Invasion

3.     Carousel

4.     The Strain

5.     Canary Yellow

6.     Messiah Complex i: Ivory Tower

7.     Messiah Complex ii: A Glutton for Punishment

8.     Messiah Complex iii: Marigold

9.     Messiah Complex iv: The Sect

10.  Messiah Complex v: Ectobius Rex

11.  Only Stars

‘Virus’ is the culmination of a musical thought experiment which started with the ‘Vector’ writing sessions in 2017 and holds intriguing potential for the band’s future, as vocalist Ross Jennings explains, “whilst ‘Virus’ can absolutely be enjoyed as a stand-alone work, it is thematically and conceptually linked with ‘Vector’, so our intention is to perform both albums back to back for a special performance someday”. 

HAKEN are:

Ross Jennings

Richard Henshall

Charlie Griffiths

Diego Tejeida

Conner Green

Ray Hearne