The Night of the Prog festival is showcased at The Loreley Amphitheater is a UNESCO World Heritage and holds legendary ROCKPALAST shows in the 70s and 80s. On the hill of the River Rhine, it is located between Frankfurt and Cologne in Germany. Since 2006 the Night of the Prog Festival is happening at the legendary rock.
Featured bands and artists over the last years were: Dream Theater, Eloy, IQ, Riverside, Jethro Tull, Asia, Anathema, Steven Wilson, Spock’s Beard, Arena, Pendragon, Tangerine Dream, Fish, Steve Hackett, Marillion and many more.
VOYAGER IV will perform Sunday, 19th July at Night of the Prog 2020 promoting their current release Pictures at an Exhibition
The classic piano-cycle “Pictures At An Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky from 1874 was only the start of an exciting musical journey. VOYAGER IV then just stop along the way at 70ies supergroup ELP (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), who reworked three of Mussorgsky’s “pictures” for their album “Pictures At An Exhibition” back in 1971.
Arriving in the 21st century, those three and further five of the “pictures” can be found on VOYAGER IV’s most recent album and live shows, reworked with vocals and virtuous instrumentation. London based producer Jon Caffrey is responsible for the fresh sound design.
They have a stunning light show, special and rarely seen instruments and they create a mix of cosmic space rock sounds and vocal arrangements plus instrumental passages. VOYAGER IV is one of the most exciting cross-over projects within the prog genre. Singer and songwriter Johannes Kuchta also has a stunning voice, that reminds fans of Peter Gabriel, Greg Lake, Phil Collins or Fish.
“Really enjoyed the new album! Some very bold and adventurous avenues taken with Modest Mussorgsky. I always enjoy listening to someone’s interpretations of otherwise well-known themes. I like that fact that you incorporated those ideas in your own way and varied them enough to make it your own. Well done!”
Marc Bonilla (recorded 4 albums with Keith Emerson)
Other shows include Voyager IV – Pictures At An Exhibition Tour
Friday, February 21, 2020, at 8 PM
Kesselhaus & Maschinenhaus (Kulturbrauerei) Schönhauser Allee 36, 10435 Berlin, Germany
Voyager IV – Pictures At An Exhibition Tour
Friday, April 17, 2020, at 8 PM
Unna Lindenbrauerei 59174 Kamen
We got such a great reaction to the recent Inner Circle release of Spock’s Beard recording sessions and live video. We are delighted that everyone enjoyed seeing the early days of the band. While clearing out the vaults, we also found some of the original demos which were recorded for those early Spock’s albums which have never had an official release … until now!
We are delighted to release Spock’s Beard: The Demos 1995 – 2000, which includes 9 demos, mostly recorded by Neal, with tracks from the albums spanning from Beware of Darkness through to V. Hearing these tracks is hearing the songs as Al, Nick, Dave and Ryo first heard them when Neal shared them, and before they added their magic touch to the tracks. The discerning ear will hear variations and unfinished lyrics and will also notice some nuances that made the final versions that are absent in the demos.
The live footage also got us thinking about the Spock’s live albums which were some of the very first Radiant Records releases and that are largely out of print in physical form. We thought it would be cool to make those available to purchase as downloads for those who weren’t around in those early days. So we are officially releasing via our website: “The Official Live Bootleg (Progfest 1995)”, “Live At The Whisky And Nearfest” (a compilation of two live shows from 1999) and “Don’t Try This At Home – Complete!” (a 1999 show from the Day For Night tour recorded at the 013 in Tilburg, presented for the first time in the full running order).
But wait, there’s more …. the demos, plus the 3 live albums, will also be available in a discounted price download bundle that includes an exclusive additional demo of “The Healing Colors of Sound”, the epic track from the “Day For Night” album!
Ulterium Records is proud to announce the release of “And the Rest Is Mystery,” another all-star charity track for sale under the Project Aegis name, with 100% of the income going to Legacy Music, a nonprofit organization that provides music lessons and instruments to children and teens from difficult backgrounds. These include depression, anxiety, and trauma; physical, emotional, and sexual abuse; psychological disorders; and substance and alcohol abuse. Some of their students are foster youth, and others have been rescued from human trafficking.
“And the Rest Is Mystery,” which is over nine minutes in length, was composed by Theocracy songwriter and vocalist Matt Smith, and features vocals by Neal Morse (Neal Morse band, Transatlantic, Flying Colors, ex-Spock’s Beard), Daniel Heiman (Dimhav, ex-Lost Horizon, Heed, Harmony, Crystal Eyes), Leah McHenry (LEAH) and Smith, as well as instrumental support from Smith’s Theocracy bandmates Ernie Topran and Val Allen Wood. The artwork was created by Markus Sigfridsson (Darkwater, Harmony, All Things Fallen).
Project Aegis previously released the charity singles “Collide and Spark” (2013), proceeds from which went to feed the homeless in the Nashville, Tenn., area of the U.S., and “Angel In the Ashes” (2016), proceeds from which went to feed and clothe homeless and refugee families in Greece.
You can watch the studio video for “And the Rest Is Mystery” here:
We are delighted to announce that US band, Pattern-Seeking Animals, will be entertaining us at RoSfest 2020, as the third band out on Saturday, May 9th in the slot just prior to Big Big Train. Those who are aware of Pattern-Seeking Animals will understand why they have been given this slot, while those unaware may be in for a bit of a surprise.
Pattern-Seeking Animals is a part of the extended Spock’s Beard family of bands. This one instigated by composer and keyboard player, John Boegehold, a regular song-smith for Spock’s Beard but never an actual member of the band himself. He had some material that didn’t really fit the scope of Spock’s Beard and when he asked for some assistance in recording this material this developed into the formation of a new band with Spock’s Beard musicians; Ted Leonard, Dave Meros and Jimmy Keegan joining to form a formidable quartet.
The foursome have deliberately developed the material on their self-titled debut album, which dropped just a couple of weeks ago on Inside Out Music to be different from the type of music that Spock’s Beard tends to explore. Reviews have noted that the band strikes them as being more accessible, but without missing out on any of the typical features expected from a band described as progressive rock.
Pattern-Seeking Animals are doing many things perfectly right from the start. The strength of the material on their debut album saw them signing to major progressive rock label Inside Out Music, and this album is already picking up glowing reviews worldwide. Their second is just about finished as well, this means that this is a band that has paved the ground for a quick succession into the upper ranks of the progressive rock universe. At RoSfest, we are honored to have the privilege to be the first festival to book this fine, new band, and we are certain that their set at RoSfest will be a historic one from a band that appears to be destined to become a household name in progressive rock sooner rather than later.
PATTERN-SEEKING ANIMALS is the brand new group featuring the talents of current & former Spock’s Beard members Ted Leonard, Jimmy Keegan & Dave Meros as well as long-time contributing songwriter-producer John Boegehold. The band will release their self-titled debut album on July 5th, 2019.
Today they launch the second track taken from the album. Watch the video for “No One Ever Died and Made Me King” here:
ohn Boegehold comments: “Dave and I wrote this a while back from the viewpoint of a guy feeling sorry for his lot in life. I love the bass tone he came up with and Ted’s guitar tone is classic 70s. Is voodoo-swamp prog a genre?”
Of the musical direction, Boegehold comments: “My goal was to produce music that’s progressive and intricate while keeping things immediate and melodic. Whether a song is four minutes or ten minutes long, I didn’t want more than a few bars go by without some kind of instrumental or vocal hook.”Originally a vehicle for a few tracks John had been working on in early 2018, he quickly came up with enough music to work towards producing an album. With that in mind, he enlisted the talents of Jimmy Keegan (drums & vocals), Ted Leonard (vocals & guitar) & Dave Meros (bass), with Boegehold handling all the synths. He adds: “Besides live strings on a few songs and a female backing vocalist on another, it was all done between the four of us with Dave and Ted ending up as co-writers on some of the material.”
With the band obviously being closely associated with Spock’s Beard, John was conscious of exploring different avenues with Pattern-Seeking Animals, whether it was song structures, vocal arrangements, synth sounds or emotional textures. “Pattern-Seeking Animals was a clean slate so I found myself drawing on a few different musical influences and using some contemporary production ideas and sounds that I probably wouldn’t use with SB for various reasons.”
The album will be released on limited CD digipak, gatefold 2LP + CD & as digital album. Pre-order now here: www.insideoutmusicshop.com
As John notes, as the project came together it quickly became apparent that they would want to take this material out live: “Originally it was intended to be a recording project but as it was coming together we started talking seriously about doing it as a live band. Because of the complexity of a lot of the material, it’ll require an additional musician or two to pull it off live. The plan is to tour as much as possible and to come out with a new album at least once a year. In fact, work on the second album is already well under way.”
Stay tuned for a first taste of music from Pattern-Seeking Animals in the coming weeks!
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