Derek Sherinian hardly requires an introduction. Derek has played with KISS, Alice Cooper, Zakk Wylde, Dream Theater, Billy Idol, Slash, and scores of other incredible musicians. I first heard about Derek from his work with Dream Theater on the Falling into Infinity album, and he has since become one of my favorite keyboardists. Following his departure from …
We are honored here at Proglodytes to chat with the delightful Ché Aimee Dorval. You may have heard her collaborative work with Devin Townsend, first as a guest vocalist on his Ki album (on “Gato”, “Heaven Send”, and “Trainfire”) and then later as a co-writer on Casualties of Cool, which was released through a highly successful …
The anticipation was killing me. It was the first weekend in May, and that could only mean one thing: time for the road trip. Destination: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Objective: a serious dose of live progressive rock. It was finally time for the internationally renowned Rites of Spring Festival. For the past five years, my longtime best …
Sometimes, the worst thing that can happen to a talented underground band is they get noticed, particularly by a major record label. Still, where avant-pop geniuses Bent Knee were concerned, it was only a matter of time before they got noticed and a major label got involved. The Boston quintet has been hard at work, …
I knew I had to see Devin Townsend at Bogarts. I couldn’t really avoid it. Mastodon, Eagles of Death Metal. and Russian Circles were playing at the Taft, which would have been a given if any other band or group was playing, but Devin and I go way back. I remember first hearing Devin Townsend’s …
After much anticipation, progressive metal band Tool has finally released the name and tracklist for their new album, Pleistocene, which will be released in late 2018. Lead singer Mayneard James Keenan has said of the album, “We tried to do a conceptual album with Lateralus a few years ago, but this time we decided to really commit. …
This post has a distinct purpose: to help folks like me open their mind up to good music. Up until about 5 or 6 years ago, I refused to listen to anything that Genesis released after Peter Gabriel left. I was a Genesis purist, and as far as I wanted to see, Genesis were prog’s …
I am writing this post with a grateful heart for the last few days of my life. I have walked the decks of this massive engineering marvel, listening to amazing music and meeting incredible people, but carrying with me the names of those I love and those who made it possible for me to come. …
My day 3 officially started at midnight last night. I went to sleep at 3 am, because I didn’t want to miss anything. The problem was that we were supposed to have breakfast at 7:30 AM with Steve and Jo Hackett. My brain, understanding the gravity of the appointment, managed to wake up at 6:45 …
This day has been wild. I’ll just start it by saying that by some fluke of the universe, I just got to jam to Beatles tunes with Neal Morse and Brook Hansen at a piano in a small bar. So I’m still sort of in shock… An example of the magic that can happen on …
I’m writing this review at 1 am and a group of musicians from the various bands we’ve seen today are playing the entire Court of the Crimson King album in a Greg Lake tribute. They just finished a ridiculously awesome version of “21st Century Schizoid Man” by King Crimson, with the lead singer of District …
To all of our lovely readers: Thanks to an incredibly thoughtful surprise gift from my beloved friends and family, I was given the amazing opportunity to represent Proglodytes on Cruise to the Edge 2017. I will be reviewing each show I see and I will try to help you, our lovely readers, share with me …
2016 has been an intense year here in the United States and in the rest of the world. We’ve lost Prince, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and our collective minds. And to make matters worse, we have a presidential election coming up next Tuesday. Election anxiety has been a very real phenomenon this year, and many Americans …
After 18 years of recording, the supergroup trio known as The Jelly Jam finally toured this summer for the first time ever in support of their new album, Profit. The tour was very small—only 8 shows confined to the northeast United States—and it wasn’t well publicized. The tour culminated with the final show on August …
Each year, Prog Magazine gives out awards for the movers and music makers in the progressive rock world. A number of categories are open for fan voting, while others are determined by the writers and editors of the magazine. What follows is a discussion by the Proglodytes team on the awards and who should win …
When I first heard that Peter Gabriel and Sting were touring together, I’ll admit that I was a bit skeptical of the billing. In my mind, I viewed Peter Gabriel as more thoughtful and ponderous and Sting as a little more poppy and “mainstream”. I then was made aware that the structure of the shows would …
Big Big Train has been enjoying some well deserved success lately. Starting with their acclaimed release The Underfall Yard in 2009, Big Big Train has only enjoyed more and more positive reception. I first heard them after reading an article on modern progressive epics (meaning longer songs). ‘The Underfall Yard’ is a 20-minute progressive epic, fitted …
To preface this review, I was a really big fan of Dream Theater as a teenager. As a musician, their technical ability inspired me. I used to sit out in the garage and play along on the drums, carefully counting out time signatures and working on copying fills. I started to fall out of love …
I’ve been following Lexington-based band Jandergan since I first saw them open for Dream the Electric Sleep (another fantastic Lexington band). They have a unique sound that is melodic without being saccharine, and technical without being overbearing. They recently released their sophomore EP, Tilted Heads. This album seems to represent a coalescing of their sound … Continue reading
A good deal of ink has already been spilt over Steven Wilson’s new album, To The Bone. In blogs, online magazines and social media forums, a fair amount of alternating hand-wringing and canonization has been going on. Some have voiced despair that Wilson has, in some manner, jumped the shark, and abandoned the trajectory of … Continue reading
Welcome to the latest installment of the Album Reclamation Project at Proglodytes! Again, we will revisit a maligned Album of the Past and discuss whether it’s really as bad as all that. As a reminder, we will be utilizing the soon to be copyrighted Official Proglodyte Dumpster Fire Scale. Many of the previous albums we … Continue reading
This episode of Proglodytes is brought to you by The Bow Tie Guy. If you’re ready to up your style game and join a worldwide community of fashionable bow tie wearers, check out bethebowtieguy.com. They have a wide variety of bow ties, as well as a blog and a podcast all dedicated to helping you stand out … Continue reading
This episode of Proglodytes is brought to you by The Bow Tie Guy. If you’re ready to up your style game and join a worldwide community of fashionable bow tie wearers, check out bethebowtieguy.com. They have a wide variety of bow ties, as well as a blog and a podcast all dedicated to helping you stand out … Continue reading
Avandra is the brainchild of Christian Ayala, a progressive metal musician from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Tymora was the product of several years of work and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. In the end, Ayala (who goes by the moniker Volteau) created an instantly impressive album that is abundant in melody and potential. I … Continue reading
I first heard Bent Knee around this time last year. They had been nominated for a Progressive Music Award, and I wanted familiarize myself with the artists who had been selected. I started poking around on Youtube, and I clicked on the track “Being Human”. It was love at first listen. They were progressive in … Continue reading
