If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ve probably noticed that I love to profile different prog-related festivals and events. Why? I truly believe that progressive rock festivals are some of the best events for prog fans to learn about new music, feel solidarity with other prog fans, and recognize the strength of …
This article is the second in a two part series comparing the two versions of the band Yes in current existence. In part one, we started by providing some background about how the two versions of Yes came to be. We then used numerical analysis to see which band has more claim to the iconic …
Proglodytes is thrilled to premiere The Dirty Diamond’s new single, “Love and Light”. The Dirty Diamond is a Los Angeles based rock band that features 4 members with impressive rock and roll credentials: Sam Babayan (Slow Motion Reign) on guitar/lead vocals, Fernando Perdomo (Dave Kerzner, Todd Rundgren, Linda Perhacs) on guitars/vocals, Derek Frank (Shania Twain, …
When Christopher Squire passed away two years ago, I thought I’d missed my chance to see Yes live. While never fanatical, I’ve been a fan of the band for a long time. But without Chris Squire or Jon Anderson in the band, I thought I should leave well enough alone and move on. My mentality …
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 …
One of my favorite things about progressive music festivals is the opportunity to meet new people who love progressive music. I met Mike Visaggio at ProgStock 2018, and we chatted about his life and music and perspective. Mike is the keyboardist and primary composer for symphonic prog band Kinetic Element. From their website: Kinetic … Continue reading
Lung came highly recommended to me by several of my trusted musician friends- the description alone of a cello-drums duo that played raw, visceral rock and roll with a punk energy- piqued my interest enough to check out their first album, and I was hooked from the first few measures. Singer and cellist Kate Wakefield … Continue reading
Three dozen bands on two stages over three days is a LOT to take in. But that’s what #Progtoberfest is all about, and that is how I spent the weekend of October 19-21 at Reggie’s Nightclub in Chicago. Progtoberfest IV — marvelously organized by Kevin Pollack — featured bands from all over the world, playing music from nearly every … Continue reading
Some may think a three-day Prog Rock festival is a day or so too long. Those people need to attend Chicago’s Progtoberfest. Having (nearly) recovered from Day Two, it was time to dive headlong into the final day. The first band of the day, Sonus Umbra started off with a really cool set. Their mix … Continue reading
On to Day 2 of our daily Proglodytes festival review! Both Cedric and myself had some personal trip stuff to take care of in the morning, so we weren’t able to catch the first couple acts, which is unfortunate. We heard great things about The Gabriel Construct and the School of Rock (which apparently played … Continue reading
After a 4.5 hour drive up from Cincinnati, I arrived just as the first band was starting their set and met up with good friend and colleague Cedric Hendrix, who has written for Proglodytes for the last year or so and has been a valuable member of our team since day one. These events are … Continue reading
As they say, “all good things must come to an end”, even amazing progressive rock festivals. But, Day 3 was undoubtedly a hell of a way to close out the festival, with amazing sets from IZZ, Evership, Mystery, and Eddie Jobson! New Yorkers IZZ took the stage on Sunday to kickoff what was called “The … Continue reading
