If you don’t know about Al Joseph, it is time to get acquainted because this new guitarist and singer is one of prog’s rising guitar shredders. With a new band, Hyvmine, and a debut album out this past Jan 19th called earthquake, everything is now in place to make Joseph a household name. In this interview we talk about his influences, the new band, the new album, and more, including his love of guitar gods like Satriani and Petrucci.
Steve Hackett has announced a brief run of 6 shows in the UK for his Genesis Revisited tour that will take place in October. The guitarist will be joined on the road by a 41-piece orchestra, led by conductor Bradley Thachuk.
Hackett says: “I always hoped that the Genesis music would one day involve an orchestra and I’m proud to say I’ll now be able to make that dream a reality on my next British tour – involving my own extraordinary rock band alongside a full-sized orchestra.”
The live dates will see Hackett perform some of Genesis’ best-loved songs, including Supper’’s Ready, Dancing With The Moonlit Knight and Firth Of Fifth, along with a selection of his solo tracks.
Tickets will go on sale via MyTicket from 10am on Friday, January 26. Find a list of dates below.
The words Rush fans have hoped not to hear came from guitarist Alex Lifeson in a recent interview with The Globe And Mail: “It’s been a little over two years since Rush last toured. We have no plans to tour or record any more. We’re basically done. After 41 years, we felt it was enough.
This comes as no surprise really, as the band seemed to be heading in that direction on the documentary Time Stand Still from 2016. Other than releasing a few reissues, most recently A Farewell to Kings 40th Anniversary set, the band has been out of the limelight.
Lifeson however has kept himself busy as he explains, “But I’ve actually been busier lately than I have been in a while. I’m writing a lot. I’m writing on four or five different little projects. I get these requests to do guitar work with other people. It’s really a lot of fun for me. It’s low pressure: I get to be as creative as I want to be and I can work a little outside of the box, which is really attractive to me.”
Kino have announced the release of their new album ‘Radio Voltaire’, arriving 13 years after the band’s much-loved debut ‘Picture’ back in 2005. Out on March 23rd, 2018, it sees John Mitchell (It Bites, Lonely Robot) & Pete Trewavas (Marillion) teaming up once more, with Craig Blundell (Steven Wilson) on drums & John Beck (It Bites) guesting on keyboards.
Recorded at the end of 2017, writing began at the end of that Summer. “We actually began the writing process in late August” says John Mitchell. “Pete had a few tunes and so did I, and we went from there.” Mitchell and Trewavas were both a crucial part of the original band more than a decade ago, with the former providing lead vocals and guitar parts, while the latter played his trademark bass lines and also contributed backing vocals.
Keyboard player John Beck, who is also a bandmate of Mitchell’s in It Bites, has been brought back. But while he was fully involved on the debut album, this time his role is that of a guest musician. “Yes, I am delighted to say we’ve gone John on board. His keyboard playing is splattered throughout the album, and I’ve also done the odd keyboard part myself.” The task of drummer this time fell to Craig Blundell, as Mitchell explains: “This time around Craig was the obvious choice to be the drummer, as far as I was concerned. I have worked with him so much that there was nobody else in the frame.”
Of the albums direction, Mitchell illustrates: “The title sounds very cool and obviously there’s a connection with the band Cabaret Voltaire. But Voltaire himself (the 18th century French philosopher) had a fascination with death, which appealed to me. He also stood for freedom of speech and freedom of religion. On top of that, I love the idea of a radio station that would reflect his views on life and cut through the bullshit which seems to be all over politics. Now, that is the type of radio station I think would reflect what a lot of us want to hear.”
The album cover has been designed by Paul Tippett, who is one of the most in demand artists of the modern era. “I like what he’s done with this sleeve. It reminds me of Moulin Rouge meets ‘Live And Let Die’. It is very striking, and I am sure everyone will have their own interpretation of what it reminds them of.”
The album will be available on Limited CD Digipak (including bonus tracks), Jewel Case CD, Gatefold 180g Double Vinyl (incl. CD) & Digital Download.
The tracklisting can be found below:
1.Radio Voltaire 2.The Dead Club 3.Idlewild 4.I Don’t Know Why 5.I Won’t Break So Easily Any More 6.Temple Tudor 7.Out of Time 8.Warmth of the Sun 9.Grey Shapes on Concrete Fields 10.Keep The Faith 11.The Silent Fighter Pilot Bonus Tracks 12.Temple Tudor (Piano Mix) 13.The Dead Club (Berlin Headquarter Mix) 14.Keep The Faith (Orchestral Mix) 15.The Kino Funfair
The landmark album, Brave, released in 1994 by Marillion, will be released on 4CD/Blu-ray, 5LP and through digital platforms on March 9 via Rhino Records. The set includes the original studio album which has been newly remastered by Steven Wilson, and will include a complete recording of the band’s April 29, 1994 performance from La Cigale in Paris, which has been expanded with nine previously unreleased tracks.
The CD and Blu-ray will feature the original album mix by Dave Meegan alongside the 96/24 audio of Steven Wilson’s remix in stereo and 5.1. Included are illustrated booklets describing the story behind the sonic experiments that led to the album’s atmospheric as well as promo videos for “The Great Escape,” “The Hollow Man” and “Alone Again In The Lap Of Luxury,” along with the documentary ‘It All Began With The Bright Light – Recollections Of Brave.’
It features live footage and interviews with the band’s Steve Hogarth, Steve Rothery, Mark Kelly, Pete Trewavas, and Ian Mosley. The live performance from Paris originally featured on Marillion’s 1996 album Made Again, but has been newly mixed by Michael Hunter.
More on the making of Brave can be found in the book ‘Essential Modern Progressive Rock Albums,’ available here.
With the full backing of music cruise producer On The Blue (OTB), Cruise To The Edge’s Late Night LIVE Prog Experience may be the largest live Prog pro-am stage project on earth. Organizers are unaware of anything that resembles it, especially since it is hosted on the second-largest indoor stage on a cruise liner.
“Indeed, all music cruises have passenger singalong bars, which is great,” says OTB’s Larry Morand. “We recognized, though, that CTTE’s Late Night LIVE Prog Experience deserved our production company’s resources to give it sea legs. Late Night LIVE’s 11:30 p.m.-3 a.m. stage operates like any other pro stage on the ship, replete with a full backline, engineers and ample space, but it’s up to the passengers to organize, plan and coordinate the eventual five-night showcase. Replicating something like this anywhere else would be daunting. Today, safe to say, Late Night LIVE has earned its onboard motor,” added Morand.
“This year, more than 60 auditioned passengers will gather from far-away places like South Africa, Central America, England, Iceland, Canada and across the United States,” said Rob Rutz, the project’s emcee-coordinator and liaison with Morand’s OTB team. In all, passengers suggested about 120 songs, which was narrowed to 73 final selections. The 2018 song list includes ‘Supper’s Ready’ and an album side of ‘Close To Edge’, but also features deep cuts including Steve Lukather’s ‘Party In Simon’s Pants’ and Tool’s ’46 & 2′. “This is the perfect storm that combines a passionate talent pool, a dedicated Late Night LIVE volunteer production team and the seamless guidance, gear and assistance of OTB’s executive producers, staff and crew. We don’t know how many collective hours everyone contributes, but many volunteers work year-round to ensure we have a solid program,” added Rutz.
Among the volunteer coordinators are Floridians Bill and Devora Goldman, who also host a pre-cruise “Prog On The Ranch” festival at their home prior to CTTE. “We gathered prior to disembarkation from 2017’s CTTE vacation to form 2018’s Late Night LIVE project plan,” said Bill. “Everyone is focused on continuous improvement each year, never taking for granted what everyone contributes along the way. The song list, player profiles and player instructions all come together through a dedicated website www.ctte-grid.com and an active Facebook page (CTTE-Grid),” said Goldman, who also serves as a co-keyboard advisor for Late Night LIVE. “It’s about open collaboration and keeping things as simple as possible.” Communication systems are important. This year, passengers will be able to view a continuously-projected “ribbon board” on the ship to convey song schedules each evening.
Other production team personalities include prog band Circuline’s bassist, Joel Simches, who serves as Late Night LIVE’s volunteer stage manager with assistance from his wife Carolyn. Suzanne Mulhall of Florida, along with UK residents Ken and Kate Slater, work closely with the Goldmans on scheduling and project details. Samy Salib, a Canada resident, provides onboarding guidance for new players. Instrument advisors include veteran keyboardist Bob Harris and South Africa’s ‘Prog Nick’ drummer and music industry attorney Nick Matzukis. Additional instrument and stage advisors include Tim Palsson, Dennis Mahon and Greg Bennett, all of whom are long-time musicians in local bands.
Among the professional headliner talent joining passengers on songs? Dave Kerzner, Durga McBroom and Fernando Perdomo of Dave Kerzner Band, Paul Bielatowicz and Simon Fitzpatrick of Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy, Jonas Reingold of Karmakanic and Steve Hackett’s current touring band, Steve Babb, Fred Schendel and Aaron Raulston of Glass Hammer, Jez King of IO Earth, John Young of Lifesigns, Jorge Tenesini of Bad Dreams, Mike Thorne and Dean Meehan of Saga and, likely, many other headliner musicians. Last year, Jon Davison stepped up to sing The Musical Box, which marked the first time the Yes frontman ever sang a Genesis song in public.
Michael Colter Photography
CTTE will kick off with a Pre-Cruise party at Ferg’s LIVE in Tampa on Friday, February 2, followed by the five-day Yes-Steve Hackett-Marillion-headlined cruise that includes stops in Belize and Costa Maya. Feb 3-8.
Gather in the ProgRock.com chat room and make your requests! Just go to the “requests” page on www.progrock.com to put in your request. 3 out of 4 songs will be requests during this 2-hour period[...]
Featuring My Album Of The Week, The First 3 & so much more. So a 3 hour show with great new progressive rock music, great features and you can join The Friday Family in chat[...]
1.Radio Voltaire
