Swedish multi-instrumentalist Rikard Sjöblom has released his new album under the Gungfly moniker, ‘Alone Together’, today. It follows an extremely productive past few years, whether it be working with English progressive rockers Big Big Train, or taking the lead with Gungfly.
Rikard has also announced that on September 11th, he will perform a live-streamed release concert from his home town of Gävle. He will be joined by Petter Diamant on drums, Robert Hansen on bass and Martin Borgh on keyboards. Find all the details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/319588349115139/
Rikard comments: ”I’m really happy that we were asked by Gävle Konserthus to do a streamed concert in front of a studio audience to celebrate the release of Alone Together. We’re gonna play some songs from the album mixed with a couple of Gungfly classics and also do an interview about the release!”
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.
The Flower Kings – announce; Iamthemorning & Rikard Sjöblom to replace Kayak on EU tour
Progressive rock legends THE FLOWER KINGS are due to hit the road in December in support of their latest album ‘Waiting For Miracles’ (out 8th November 2019), and unfortunately touring partners Kayak have been forced to drop out of the tour due to unexpected health issues. Joining the tour as replacements will be Russian chamber prog band Iamthemorning who recently released their new studio album, as well as Rikard Sjöblom – known for his work in Beardfish, Gungfly & Big Big Train.
Roine Stolt of The Flower Kings comments: “We bring news regarding the upcoming Flower Kings tour of December – the Dutch classic band Kayak, who was initially to be our touring partner has had to pull out, due to serious and unexpected medical conditions of main guy Ton Scherpenzeel. We are all sad about this but wish for a speedy recovery and perhaps another chance to share the stage later on. The brighter news is that we’ve managed to get the brilliant band Iamthemorning, singer Marjana Semkina and pianist Gleb Kolyadin & band, to join us in a package show that will also include a set from genius Rikard Sjöblom (Big Big Train, Beardfish). We will all play our separate sets – but there will likely be guesting and as usual the grand finale is not to be missed! We’re really looking forward to a great evening of expanding, young, vibrant ‘prog’ music. New songs from The Flower Kings brand new double album ‘Waiting For Miracles’ and bundles of classic Flower Kings and beautiful and groovy music from our new guests.” The three acts will perform 12 dates across 6 countries, and you can find the full list of shows below, tickets on sale now:
1st December – Bahnhof Pauli, Hamburg, Germany 2nd December – Musik Zentrum, Hannover, Germany 3rd December – OK Andaluzia, Piekary Slaskie, Poland 4th December – Klub U Bazyla, Poznan, Poland 6th December – Burgerweeshuis, Deventer, Netherlands 7th December – De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands 8th December – Scala, London, UK 9th December – Piano, Dortmund, Germany 10th December – Columbia Theater, Berlin, Germany 11th December – Amager Bio, Copenhagen, Denmark 12th December – Brewhouse, Gothenburg, Sweden 14th December – Kraken, Stockholm, Sweden
As mentioned previously, ‘Waiting For Miracles’ is due out on the 8th of November 2019.
Rikard Sjöblom’s Gungfly recently released ‘Friendship’, their brand new studio album, following the release of 2017’s ‘On Her Journey To The Sun’, as well as 2018’s retrospective 5CD collection ‘Rumbling Box’.
Now Rikard is pleased to reveal a brand new animated video for the track ‘They Fade’ which you can watch now here:
Rikard comments: “I’m so glad that Love Fagerstedt went out on a mission to make such a fantastic animated video for ‘They Fade’. This song means a lot to me because I’m singing to several of my childhood friends and because of that it’s a very personal song. Love had his own vision for it and by portraying my words with his imagery of these two friends it made it an amazing combo I think!”
You can watch a clip of Gungfly’s previous single ‘Ghost of Vanity’, 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 thinking about what it was I didn’t want to 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 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.
Order now here: www.insideoutmusicshop.com
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: “The idea for ‘Friendship’ came to me because of an old photo of me as a child. I found this old photo at my parents’ house, depicting me standing on top of this really tall treehouse in a glade near our house. Although I of course remembered it as being really high up in the tree tops as a child, this picture proved that it really was! As I reminisced about the treehouse I started thinking about my childhood friends with whom I built it. We were the best of friends and we spent so much time together in this little village where I used to live. This of course made me think about all the friends I used to have, these relationships where you hung out all the time, went through childhood together, grew up and knew everything about each other and then all of a sudden, for some reason, disappeared from each other’s lives. This phenomenon of falling out with someone is still a mystery to me, but I’ve learned to accept it, much like the separation of death it’s just a part of life and the nature of our course of life, I guess. So this is a collection of songs about and for all of my friends, dead or alive, past and present. I chose to base the stories around the treehouse in the glade, not because all of my memories are from there, but rather that it’s the place that made me think back on all of this.”
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’.
Explore Rikard’s back catalogue with the recently released ‘Rumbling Box’ which contains 5 discs covering the years 2006-2016. Get your copy here: https://gungfly.lnk.to/RumblingBox
Earthlings! My new album ‘Friendship’ has been officially announced today. Below is the press-release.
Rikard Sjöblom’s Gungfly are pleased to announce ‘Friendship’, their brand new studio album, due out on 9th November 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, are happy to reveal their fourth full-length release.
Rikard comments: “The idea for ‘Friendship’ came to me because of an old photo of me as a child. I found this old photo at my parents’ house, depicting me standing on top of this really tall treehouse in a glade near our house. Although I of course remembered it as being really high up in the tree tops as a child, this picture proved that it really was! As I reminisced about the treehouse I started thinking about my childhood friends with whom I built it. We were the best of friends and we spent so much time together in this little village where I used to live. This of course made me think about all the friends I used to have, these relationships where you hung out all the time, went through childhood together, grew up and knew everything about each other and then all of a sudden, for some reason, disappeared from each other’s lives. This phenomenon of falling out with someone is still a mystery to me, but I’ve learned to accept it, much like the separation of death it’s just a part of life and the nature of our course of life, I guess. So this is a collection of songs about and for all of my friends, dead or alive, past and present. I chose to base the stories around the treehouse in the glade, not because all of my memories are from there, but rather that it’s the place that made me think back on all of this.”
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 from my own online store (Courtesy of my dear friend and webmaster extraordinarie Joel Barrios) and get an exclusive 100-copies clear red vinyl, only available through this website.
The full track-listing is as follows:
Ghost of Vanity
Friendship
They Fade
A Treehouse in a Glade
Stone Cold
If You Fall, Pt. 2
Crown of Leaves
Slow Dancer (Bonus Track)
Past Generation (Bonus Track)
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 front-man 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’.
The Second Brightest Star is a companion album to the Folklore (2016) and Grimspound (2017) releases and features over 40 minutes of new songs and instrumentals alongside music from the Folklore and Grimspound albums presented in extended formats. With the exception of Brooklands and London Plane which were recorded at 24/48 and have therefore been up-sampled for this release to 24/96, all audio is at studio master 24/96 hi-resolution. The Bandcamp download includes a complimentary PDF of the album booklet including lyrics and the stories behind the songs.
The Second Brightest Star Track Listing
1. The Second Brightest Star 07:17
2. Haymaking 03:23
3. Skylon 06:44
4. London Stone 02:01
5. The Passing Widow 05:33
6. The Leaden Stour 07:19
7. Terra Australis Incognita 04:16
8. Brooklands sequence 17:33
9. London Plane sequence 13:14 10. The Gentlemen’s Reprise 03:03
About Big Big Train
Big Big Train are an English progressive rock band formed in Bournemouth in 1990. The current line-up consists of Nick D’Virgilio (drums), Dave Gregory (guitars), Rachel Hall (violin), David Longdon (vocals, flute, keyboards and guitars), Danny Manners (keyboards and bass), Andy Poole (guitars, bass and keyboards), Rikard Sjöblom (keyboards and guitars) and Gregory Spawton (bass, guitars and keyboards). Until 2009, the band were mostly as a studio project band headed by Spawton and Poole with changing line-ups and guest musicians. They have released eleven studio albums and three EPs.
After starting out as an independent band, Big Big Train were signed to Giant Electric Pea from 1993 to 1998 and distributed their releases through their own website. Since their sixth album The Underfall Yard, which received critical acclaim from the progressive rock community, a more stable lineup has been established, and the band performed their first live concerts in 17 years at Kings Place, London, in August 2015. The gigs were voted Event Of The Year by the readers of Prog magazine. Stone & Steel, a Blu-ray featuring the 2014 rehearsals at Real World Studios and four of the songs performed at Kings Place, was released on 21 March 2016. Big Big Train were the winners of the Breakthrough Award at the Progressive Music Awards held at Kew Gardens, London on 3 September 2013, and have been nominated in several other categories in recent years. The band’s latest studio albums, Grimspound and The Second Brightest Star, were released April and June 2017 respectively.
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