The Days Between Stations music video collaboration with Durga McBroom is called “Being.”
The group’s manager and video producer Erik Nielsen created the video from concept to final editing. “He’s produced all of our music videos,” guitarist Sepand Samzadeh says. “This is our third video shoot with Erik, he has a minimalist approach to matching visuals to the music. He has a great sense of style, creativity, strong leadership qualities, and extensive knowledge of technology.” Erik and his Supposable Productions have worked with the classic rock and prog community for a variety of video productions—such as streaming the ProgStock Festival, video production for Las Vegas’ hit show “Raiding the Rock Vault,” and music videos for many artists—notably Dave Kerzner, Asia Featuring John Payne and hard rock band “Last in Line” on Frontiers Records.
Through the years prog greats including Yes’s Billy Sherwood, Peter Banks, and Rick Wakeman, plus XTC’s Colin Moulding have collaborated with Days Between Stations. Then there’s Durga McBroom, known for her phenomenal musical and theatrical background, including singing for Pink Floyd from 1987-1994, acting and dancing as the character “Heels” in the movie “Flashdance,” and hitting number 1 on the Billboard dance charts and on Top of the Pops with the song “(Can You) Feel the Passion.” Now along with her sister Lorelei, she’s in the Australian Pink Floyd Show and recent starring role in the satire movie, “Sammy-Gate.”
Billy Sherwood produced Durga with keyboardist Oscar Fuentes Bills and Sepand for a song and music video “Witness the End of the World” on the album “Giants,” released in 2020 and voted track of the week by Prog magazine readers.
When it came time to find a singer for “Being,” the only song with lyrics on “Perpetual Motion Machines,” the band knew Durga was a perfect fit. The “Being” music video
makes use of colors, light, and people!
Erik wanted to first showcase Durga’s amazing stage presence and present the band in a stylized performance setting, “and use some simple visual effects to suggest different aspects of the concept of ‘Being.’” Oscar based the song’s lyrics around the general concept of existence and trying to interject what artist Jean-Paul Bourdier’s art “inspired us to do, and we let the music speak for itself.” (“Perpetual Motion Machines” initially was intended to be a film soundtrack for a documentary on the artist.)
“Seeds,” the first video ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kmLDoapIkg ) in “Perpetual Motion Machines” won track of the week by Prog UK readers. ProgRock.com cites “Being” as one of the best epic songs of 2024. MusikReviews.de praises everyone’s work, citing Durga closing “the all-round emotionally cinematic and moving album with a quiet song that gives the entire album an unusual (vocal) twist.” Echoes and Dust praises Durga for her “angelic, soulful voice” and makes comparisons throughout the review to a range of classic treats including music by Alan Parsons and David Bowie!
The band sees Durga as a force like a Jedi! Sepand says, “She has so much experience and talent and her confidence just glides in with her energy. She is a true professional.” One of Sepand’s fondest memories is playing, and when she started singing, “It feels like thunder struck my back. I looked over to Oscar and we telepathically spoke with each other… the message was if we died that day, we were grateful for this moment, we experienced brilliance at its best.”
Likewise, Durga loves collaborating, which allows her to “add my brand of art to that of others, thereby creating something totally new and different. I would urge people to find other artists to collaborate with. You learn a lot, and it can push you out of your comfort zone.” Durga feels much respect for Oscar’s lyric writing, “I learned how to make his vision come alive by making it personal.”
Sepand relates, “When you are surrounded by so much love, talent and creativity everyone elevates you to your new best.
Formed 20 years ago in Los Angeles, Sepand and Oscar named the band after Steve Erickson’s novel “Days Between Stations.” The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord inspired the band to work on their music after he used some of Sepand and Oscar’s musical experiments as the basis for “Saturday” on The Pineapple Thief’s “12 Stories Down” album. The duo continued to work with a range of musicians on what became their first release, “Days Between Stations,” in 2007. Their 2012 recording “In Extremis” was produced by Yes’ Billy Sherwood. In 2020 they released “Giants.”
Prog collective Unitopia have announced they will release a new live Blue-ray/CD and USB, Alive And Kicking, through Progrock.com’s Essentials label on March 7.
The new release was recorded on the band’s tour in support of 2023’s Seven Chambers album at a gig at Zoetermeer’s famous Boerderij venue in the Netherlands on September 14, 2023.
A 15th-anniversary edition of Unitopia’s 2010 album Artificial is also to be released in 2025 along with Truack’s own Save US EP.
The USB version of Alive And Kicking includes a high-quality mp4 of the concert video, 48kHz 24-bit stereo audio tracks, and lyric videos. The Blu-ray, in addition to the stereo mix, includes a selectable DTS surround mix by band violinist Steve Unruh.
Tracklisting CD1 and Blu-ray Set 1: 1. Broken Heart [8:32] 2. Introduction of Seven Chambers [0:46] 3. Something Invisible [6:46] 4. The Stroke of Midnight [9:49] 5. Mania [12:35] 6. The Uncertain [20:23] CD2 and Blu-ray Set 2: 1. Tesla [16:08] 2. The Garden [23:41] 3. The Great Reward [6:15] Total time: 1:44:59
Lineup Mark Trueack – Vocals Sean Timms – Keyboards, Vocals John Greenwood – Guitars, Vocals Steve Unruh – Violin, Flute, Guitar, Percussion, Vocals Don Schiff – Stickbass Chester Thompson – Drumkit
Credits Video Editing: John Vis Video production: John Vis, Geert Jan Schoonbeek Video operators: Meriam Verkleij, John Vis, Geert Jan Schoonbeek, Rob Ditmar Lighting operator: Pim Besseler Front of house sound engineer: Sam Walker Monitoring engineer: Aaron Kroos Techs: Boris Stipdonk, Lucas Kos Stage Managers: Bert Broere, Roel de Ruiter Concert promoter: Arie Verstegen Production manager: Tessa Kampman Production: Martin Duimel Projection video production: Aaron Nassau (Artworks in this package are images from the projected video) Photos credits: Bert Treep (BT) (including front and back covers), Arie van Hemert (AvH), Ron Kraaijkamp(RK), Christian Arnaud (CA), Giovanni Cionci (GC)
Founded in 1996 by vocalist/songwriter Mark “Truey” Trueack (United Progressive Fraternity) andmulti-instrumentalist/songwriter Sean Timms (Southern Empire, Damanek, UPF), Australia-based sextet Unitopia have always been at the forefront of adventurous and altruistic modern progressive music.
Be it 2005’s More Than a Dream, 2023’s Seven Chambers, or any release in-between, the troupe—now completed by UPF maestro SteveUnruh, guitarist Dr. John Greenwood, drummer Chester Thompson, and bassist (Chapm Chapman Stick® and NS/Stick™) Don Schiff—never fail to infuse their work with thought-provoking contemplations of universal topics (politics, relationships, environmentalism, etc.) and captivatingly diverse and sophisticated compositions (that incorporate jazz, classical, heavy rock, World music, symphonic rock, and traditional prog rock). Now, they’ve once again teamed up with boutique label Progrock.com’s Essentials to announce three more fantastic upcoming releases: Alive and Kicking (which represents the 2023 Seven Chambers tour); an expanded and remixed 15th anniversary edition of Artificial; and Trueack’s first-ever solo project, the charity-based Save US EP.
Big Big Train will release a six track digital download only E.P. titled Scop on 21st March 2025. Scop is a companion release to accompany the re-issue of the band’s third studio album Bard on the same date.
Scop – the old English word for ‘bard’ – consists of five demos from the Bard recording sessions plus The Sundial. This song was written and demoed in 2001 but has been newly recorded by three members of the band’s current line-up – Alberto Bravin (lead vocals), Gregory Spawton (guitars, keyboards, bass) and Nick D’Virgilio (drums) – and mixed by Rob Aubrey, the band’s longstanding engineer, who has also completely re-mixed Bard.
Four of the five Scop demos – The Last English King, Her Words, This Isn’t Rocket Science and Blacksmithing – are being released for the first time, while the demo of British Racing Green was made available to members of the band’s Passengers Club in 2021.
All four demos on Scop feature the band’s first singer Martin Read on lead vocals, while the Bard studio versions of The Last English King and Blacksmithing were sung by keyboardist Tony Müller. Her Words does not feature on Bard, while This Isn’t Rocket Science went on to become a section of the song For Winter on the album. Finally, British Racing Green did not emerge until the band’s 2010 Far Skies Deep Time E.P. and was sung by the late David Longdon.
“Re-visiting the Bard era after so many years has been fascinating,” comments Andy Poole, the band’s former bassist and Bard’s producer. “With the release of Scop, the picture of that period is now complete. While the demos of The Last English King, Blacksmithing and This Isn’t Rocket Science show some of the technical limitations we were working under at the time, it’s interesting to hear the songs at an earlier stage before they evolved into the final studio versions. Many years later, The Last English King has really come into its own as a live song and has therefore been included on the re-issue of Bard.
“When we were finalising Bard back in 2002, Her Words didn’t make the cut for reasons lost to the mists of time,” Andy continues. “British Racing Green had been written for the band’s previous album, English Boy Wonders, but was demoed for Bard. Back then I found it just too depressing. Subsequently of course David completely transformed the song with his brilliant arrangement and production ideas.”
“With Big Big Train my outlook is to celebrate the past, live in the present and look to the future,” says lead vocalist Alberto Bravin. “On this occasion and as a break from working on our next studio album, it was fun to help to dig back into the ancient past and create a new recording of The Sundial.”
Bard will be released via the band’s own label English Electric Recordings on CD and 2LP and via Bandcamp high resolution download. The CD and vinyl versions will be strictly limited editions and Bard will not be made available on streaming or other download platforms. The 2LP version of the album will be available as 180 gram “shark” blue vinyl (exclusive to Burning Shed and The Bandwagon USA) and 180 gram black vinyl.
The CD/2LP versions of Bard will include extensive 4,000 word liner notes by Andy Stuart (author of the book A View From The Embankment, A View From The Line, which documented the band’s 2023 tour) using material from a new interview with Gregory Spawton.
SCOP 1.The Last English King (Demo) 2.Her Words (Demo) 3.Blacksmithing (Demo) 4.This Isn’t Rocket Science (Demo) 5.British Racing Green (Demo) 6.The Sundial
BARD 1.The Last English King 2.Broken English 3.This is Where We Came In 4.Harold Rex Interfectus Est 5.Blacksmithing 6.Malfosse 7.Love Is Her Thing 8.How The Earth From This Place Has Power Over Fire 9.A Short Visit to Earth 10.For Winter 11.A Long Finish 12.Headlands 13.The Last English King (Live 2024 version)
SCOP AND BARD WILL BE RELEASED on 21ST MARCH 2025 See www.bigbigtrain.com for more information
Cosmic Cathedral – the union of Neal Morse (Transatlantic), Chester Thompson (Genesis), Phil Keaggy (Glass Harp) & Byron House (session player with Robert Plant, Dolly Parton etc) – are pleased to announce the release of their debut album ‘Deep Water’ on April 25th, 2025 via InsideOutMusic.
With the album’s centerpiece being the 38-minute-long Deep Water Suite, the band are pleased to launch the video for the first part of that epic track. Watch the band perform the Introduction & “Launch Out Part One” here:
How do you make an album that is different to what is usually expected of you? One answer is to work with musicians who also have decades of experience and worldwide recognition, plant a few seeds, then stand back and see what happens. For the Cosmic Cathedral project and their debut album ‘Deep Water’, this is exactly what Neal Morse did, joining up with Chester Thompson, Phil Keaggy & Byron House. As Keaggy comments: “It was an honor to be invited and included in the making of the Deep Water project with Neal, Chester and Byron.”
Much of the album was created from jam sessions where Morse’s long-time audio partner Jerry Guidroz put the best parts together, then Morse and the band developed them into songs and epics. “Much of the album, and certainly “Time To Fly”, came directly from the jam sessions, where we were spontaneously creating in the room. Even a lot of the lyrics just came out of our mouths! It was amazing!”
What resulted from all this was a more groove-orientated feel, which Morse calls a “prog meets yacht rock meets The Beatles” kind of album, with an unmistakable jazz fusion influence: “These guys are real groovers: even if they’re playing proggy stuff, it has more of a Steely Dan feel to it, but when Phil and I start singing it sounds like The Beatles! In Deep Water, the ‘New Revelation’ section is based on a jam that turned into something that could have been on a Sting album! So there’s a lot of variety here.” Keaggy adds: “The album is a musical feast- full of creative imagination and heartfelt lyrics. In my opinion, this recording is one of the highlights of my musical career!“
And Chester Thompson says, “I am super excited for people to hear this album. There was great communication between all the players. One of my favorite projects I’ve ever been a part of!”
And coming from someone who’s played with Genesis and Frank Zappa, that’s quite a statement!
The full tracklisting is as follows:
1. The Heart Of Life 13:35
2. Time To Fly 6:53
3. I Won’t Make It 3:55
4. Walking In Daylight 8:56
5. Deep Water Suite I: Introduction 3:03
6. Deep Water Suite II: Launch Out, Pt. One 4:37
7. Deep Water Suite III: Fires Of The Sunrise 4:04
8. Deep Water Suite IV: Storm Surface 2:40
9. Deep Water Suite V: Nightmare In Paradise 6:58
10. Deep Water Suite VI: Launch Out, Pt. Two 1:51
11. Deep Water Suite VII: New Revelation 5:15
12. Deep Water Suite VIII: Launch Out, Pt. Three 1:48
The highly-anticpated album from Jason Bieler and the Baron Von Bielski Orchestra, The Escapologist, is out today!
The Escapologist is a wild, unpredictable ride through Bieler’s ever-expanding sonic playground, where genres are merely suggestions and rules are meant to be laughed at. Each of the 10 tracks takes its own distinct path, yet together they create one of Bieler’s most cohesive and compelling collections to date.
“I was advised that my quote for this press release should be short and at least vaguely related to the album. So here goes…I appreciate that most companies now label pants as a 34-inch waist when they’re really a 36 or 38. We all know the game they’re playing—but I respect it. I consume an alarming amount of full-fat Greek yogurt daily, and to this day, I have never had a cavity. Coincidence? I think not.
“As for the album—music, music, blah blah… Recording this was unlike any other record, except for all the ways it was exactly like every other record. It’s heavier than our previous stuff, yet somehow lighter. Hope you dig it!” – Jason Bieler
Recorded at the illustriously named Baron Von Bielski’s Audio Propulsion Labs, the album features an all-star lineup of musicians, including long time collaborators guitarist Andee Blacksugar (Blondie, KMFDM, Peter Murphy), drummer Edu Cominato (Geoff Tate, Mr. Big, Soto), as well as new friend and bass player extraordinaire Johan Niemann from Evergrey.
To celebrate the album’s release, Bieler has released the haunting new single “Hollow.” You can watch the video here:
With a discography that has already garnered critical acclaim in progressive and alternative music circles, The Escapologist takes Bieler’s artistry to deeper, more introspective levels—lyrically dark and rich, musically adventurous, and brimming with unexpected turns.
“The Escapologist” has a good mix of genres from rock to prog, even synthy dance, sure to make anyone who listens enjoy it.” My Global Mind
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