Renowned Electric Violinist & His Band Joining Innovative Prog & Art Rock Label, New Album Due Out October 11th.
7D Media is pleased to announce the signing of Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius to its progressive and art rock, instrumental roster. Kansas violinist/guitarist Joe Deninzon is also the frontman and lead singer of Stratospheerius, which features bandmates; guitarist Michelangelo Quirinale (Thrilldriver), keyboardist Bill Hubauer (Neal Morse Band, Crack the Sky), bassist Paul Ranieri (Mark Wood, Riot Act), and drummer Jason Gianni (The Ultimate Queen Celebration, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Rock of Ages, Neal Morse Band).
7D Media will be releasing the band’s 6th album, “Impostor!” on October 11. The album features favorite prog rock musicians including Michael Sadler (Saga), Randy McStine (Porcupine Tree), Fernando Perdomo (Jacob Dylan), Chloe Lowry (Trans Siberian Orchestra), Val Vigoda (Groovelilly), and multi-instrumentalist Rachel Flowers. Produced by Joe Deninzon, “Impostor!” was mixed and mastered by Rich Mouser (Neal Morse, Dream Theater, Tears for Fears).
Progressive Rock Central’s Angel Romero has described Joe as “Perhaps the finest electric violinist of his generation.”
Label head Trey Gunn says, “I am super excited to have Joe joining our field of innovating artists here at 7D. He is a perfect fit.”
7D Media is an independent record label founded by musician Trey Gunn, known for his work with the progressive rock band King Crimson. Established to provide a platform for innovative and boundary-pushing artists, 7D Media focuses on producing and distributing high-quality music that defies genre limitations. The label supports a diverse range of musicians and composers, emphasizing creativity and artistic freedom. With Gunn’s extensive experience in the music industry, 7D Media has cultivated a reputation for excellence and a commitment to fostering unique musical voices.
Along with the release of the new prog rock album, “Intourist,” on Saturday, May 4 at 12 PM noon CT / 1:00 PM ET / 10 AM PT / 7 PM Amsterdam time, Refestramus’ new music video will be played on YouTube at
Directed by Anna Fokin, “Smiling” features Romanian actress/actor Monica Pop (https://www.facebook.com/MonicaPopArt) as Agent M. Refestramus’ drummer/songwriter/Wizard Derek Ferguson discovered Ms. Fokin’s work on YouTube, where she has “the absolute best video series for learning Russian”: (https://www.youtube.com/@yourrussian6200).
Derek loves “recurring characters, like ‘Aqualung’ and ‘Cross-Eyed Mary,’ which appear in multiple Jethro Tull songs. Combined with my belief that Prog needs to be more photogenic, I created the character Agent Mikrovolnovka, which is a joke. ‘Mikrovolnovka’ sounds mysterious and alluring, but it is actually the Russian word for ‘microwave oven.’”
Both the song and video for “Smiling” are about maintaining other people’s happiness by not expressing your own displeasure. There’s a bit in the middle of the video and song where the music stops, the aquarium breaks, and all the water breaks loose, and that’s a metaphor for bottling things up and then having them all spill out.
Art rock group Refestramus, pronounced re-fes-TRA-mus, is named after a word that Derek’s mother made up to mean “rearrange.” Colouratura’s Ian Beabout produced the new album, “Intourist” (Melodic Revolution Records)!
Much of the group was found on Fiverr.com: Induction lead singer Craig Cairns, Brazilian keyboardist maestro Rogelio Desouza, and rock vocalists NIDA, Denisse Ferrara, and Vedrana Lina. The rest of the group came from work connections Ian and Derek have, including Colouratura bandmates Derek Pavlic and Nathan James, saxophonist Mitch Lawrence, plus multi-instrumentalists Jerry King (bass) and Dave Newhouse (accordion).
Derek sums up his band’s mission, “Our music seeks to embrace the full spectrum of human emotions, weaving narratives that reflect both the peaks and valleys of life, in line with Prog Magazine’s praise of our ‘high-brow concepts and bizarre comedic turns.'”
Joe says, the song always spoke to him with its simple lyrics and dramatic theme. Co-written by Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford, Tony Levin, and Adrian Belew, whose voice, Joe says, “is right in my range and we’ve been playing this live a lot. I also thought I’d inject it with a lot of staccato violins to give it more of an edge and put my own spin on it.”
A studio version will appear on Joe’s upcoming album, “Imposter,” slated for late spring 2024 on Melodic Revolution Records.
“Frame by Frame” appears on the boxset (2 CDs/DVD/Blu-Ray) “Behind the Curtain (Live at ProgStock)” on Melodic Revolution Records/Amplified Distribution. The box set is three years in the making; the collection is made up of Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius’ 2019 and 2021 live performances at the ultimate Northeast progressive rock festival, ProgStock.
“Behind the Curtain (Live at ProgStock)” final song titles Disc 1 (2019) 01-Behind the Curtain-Live at ProgStock 02-Release-Live at ProgStock 03-Impostor!-Live at ProgStock 04-Frame by Frame-Live at ProgStock 05-Climbing-Live at ProgStock 06-The Missing Link-Live at ProgStock 07-Gods-Live at ProgStock 08-Game of Chicken-Live at ProgStock 09-The Prism-Live at ProgStock
Disc 2 (2021) 01-Take Your Medicine-Live at ProgStock 02-Cognitive Dissonance-Live at ProgStock 03-Storm Surge-Live at ProgStock (feat. Rachel Flowers) 04-Spain-Live at ProgStock (feat. Rachel Flowers and Alex Skolnick) 05-Hysteria-Live at ProgStock 06-Heavy Shtettle-Live at ProgStock (feat. Alex Skolnick) 07-One Foot in the Next World Live at ProgStock
Joe is the new violinist with legendary rockers Kansas, now on tour celebrating their 50th anniversary. He has played violin for the Who, Bruce Springsteen, 50Cent, Sheryl Crow, and as the concertmaster for Renaissance. The other Stratospheerius bandmembers have a great heritage, as well: Jason Gianni-drums (The Ultimate Queen Celebration, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Rock of Ages, Neal Morse Band), Michelangelo Quirinale-guitar (Thrilldriver), and Paul Ranieri-bass (Mark Wood, Riot Act).
Dave Kerzner, with a new album, full band, and audiovisual experience
Matt Dorsey, with a full band
Mystery
Rachel Flowers
The Mahavishnu Project
Unitopia
Exhibitors:
Bob Moog Foundation featuring Robeone (Robert Schindler)
The Bandwagon USA
ProgRock.com
More to come!
A New Home!
After 6 years, ProgStock has a new home in 2023!
The Williams Center in Rutherford, NJ, a 101-year-old performing arts center in the heart of Rutherford, located at 1 Williams Plaza, Rutherford, NJ 07070, will be the home of the ProgStock Festival in 2023 and (we hope) for many years to come!
We bid a fond farewell to our former home, the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway, NJ. We will especially miss her crew, but the time has come to make a fresh start!
Ticket sales will start on Saturday, June 3rd at 12:00PM US Eastern time with our ProgDucer passes.
Our 5-year Patron passes are already available with your choice of the best available seat this year and for future years at ProgStock, plus many other incredibly awesome perks! Contact us now for details before tickets start selling to the general public.
Access to artist meet-and-greets that day (after Prog-Ducers)
Available starting in mid-September:
Live-Streaming: $10-$15 USD (for each performance)
Can’t make it to the festival this year, but want to join in the fun from the comfort of your own home? Each main stage performance of this year’s festival will be broadcast as a separately ticketed event on the StageIt livestreaming platform. Prices for these livestreamed shows are very affordable, so feel free to throw us onto the big screen at home and join us for as many of our stellar performances as you wish!
Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius are celebrating the release of their long awaited new Double Live CD / DVD and Blu-ray Box set, “Behind the Curtain (Live at ProgStock)” with their first headline show at the Iridium.
Wednesday, May 31, 2023. Tickets are $30. Iridium is located at 1650 Broadway, New York, NY. Iridium phone number 212-582-2121 Website is https://www.theiridium.com/
Bill Hubauer, who has is playing keyboards for the group’s next studio album, will be sitting in with the band.
Guitarist/singer/songwiter Randy McStine is opening the show with a solo set.
Composers Now are co-sponsoring this concert and celebration of the release of Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius’ upcoming Double CD / DVD &Blu-ray box-set, “Behind the Curtain (Live at ProgStock)” due out May 19 on Melodic Revolution Records. “(Live at ProgStock)” features live performances of Stratospheerius at ProgStock’s 2019 and 2021 music festival, which is the top progrock event of the year in the NorthEast. The band performs songs that will be on their 2024 release, “Impostor” as well as songs from his previous 5 albums. The new live record includes covers of King Crimson’s “Frame by Frame, muse’s “Hysteria,” and Chick Corea’s “Spain” with guests: pianist/flutist Rachel Flowers and guitarist Alex Skolnick (Testament) who was a member of Stratospheerius in their earlier incarnations.
Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius
Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius’ most recent album, “Guilty of Innocence” reached #4 on the Jamband/Relix charts in North America, and broke the European Top 200 Indy releases at 72. The group, which has 5 albums out, are signed to Melodic Revolution Records. Joe and his bandmembers (Jason Gianni-drums (The Ultimate Queen Celebration, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Rock of Ages, Neal Morse Band), Michaelangelo Quirinale-guitar (Thrilldriver), and Paul Ranieri-bass (Mark Wood, Riot Act), have streamed over 3 million times on Spotify and other streaming services.
Bill Hubauer
A multi-instrumentalist hailing from Western Pennsylvania, Bill is most well known for his work with The Neal Morse Band (NMB) and in particular, for his keyboard, writing, and vocal contributions for their two landmark albums “The Similitude of a Dream,” and “The Great Adventure.” More recently Bill’s Prog/Pop band We Came From Space is starting to get a lot of attention with their release “Overlords.” https://www.facebook.com/billhubauer/
Randy McStine
Randy McStine is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter and producer whose diverse career as a solo artist and side-man has led to collaborations with members of King Crimson, Joe Satriani, UFO, Tears For Fears, Miles Davis, King’s X and many more. Randy’s solo work embraces genres such as Rock, Progressive, Blues, Singer-Songwriter, Folk, Pop, and Ambient music. In 2020, he formed McStine & Minnemann with acclaimed drummer and composer, Marco Minnemann. The duo has recorded and released two albums, and made their live debut in 2022. Randy is currently working on new solo music, while serving as a touring member of Porcupine Tree, who returned in 2022 with a new album and world tour after a 12-year hiatus. https://www.randymcstine.com
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