Ed’s Letter

H ello, and welcome to the new issue

Bloddy Well Write

Send your letters to us at: Prog, Future Publishing, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London, W2 6JR, or email prog@futurenet.com . Letters may be edited for length. We regret that we cannot reply to phone calls. For more comment and prog news and views, find us on facebook.com under Prog

NORDIC GIANTS (FINALLY) SPEAK

In the first full interview of their 10-year career, the reclusive post–rockers give Prog the scoop on new album Symbiosis, and discuss the plan for their upcoming UK tour

ANIMALS GET HEAVY ON ALBUM FIVE

Instrumental pioneers Animals As Leaders found ‘more is more’ on new LP Parrhesia.

STEVE HACKETT TO TOUR AS FOXTROT TURNS 50

The star will play the Genesis classic in full at UK shows

FLOWER KINGS BACK BYROYALDECREE

Their new, 15th album opens a year that will include live shows and a reissue campaign

INTRO extras

WILDERUN GET ‘META’ ON NEW ALBUM

MITTEN ON STRINGS FOR LATEST SUITE

Clive Mitten revisits and reorchestrates the music that made him, on Suite Sixteen.

ROSALIE CUNNINGHAM BACK WITH ALBUM TWO AND TOUR

European and UK dates mark release of Two Piece Puzzle.

VON HERTZENS ARE ON ‘RED ALERT’

The Finns bring nuance and meaning to eighth album, Red Alert In The Blue Forest.

INTRO extras

D’VIRGILIO, MORSE AND JENNINGS FORM THEIR TROIKA Nick

VOIVOD GET THAT SYNCHING FEELING

Canadian proggers adapted to remote working on new release, Synchro Anarchy.

LOOP RETURN WITH FIRST NEW ALBUM IN 32 YEARS!

Robert Hampson’s influential band are back with Sonancy

FAD GADGETS

Rhodri Marsden on three of the latest must-have gizmos currently putting the prog in progress

RICKY PHILLIPS

The Styx bassist reflects on the ‘unparalleled perfection’ of one of his idols, Chris Squire, and shares fond memories of the Yes legend too

PROG IN BRIEF

PRESS/SHLOMI PINTO Alan Parsons OBE will release his

ELECTRIC EYE

Meet the Norwegian stargazers tapping into oceanic energy

NO SONGS? NO PROBLEM!

One reader’s guide to keeping your band going for a decade with no new music…

DUSK MATTER

The exciting new, Derek Sherinian-approved prog metal duo coming out of Rio de Janeiro

PROG IN BRIEF

PRESS/ DERYA VERRA Omega Point is the new

DYNATRON

The Danish composer with a proggy slant on the synthwave phenomenon

SOUP

Norwegian instrumentalists evolve on their visionary sixth album

RED KITE

Norwegian four-piece find meaningful connections via jazz and heavy rock

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME

On 2007 album Colors North Carolina’s progressive metal luminaries put prog and metal on a collision course, and now they’re revisiting those early years with a spiritual sequel. Two members of the band talk to Prog about the new record, which has echoes of the past while staring boldly into the future

INTERVIEW FISH

Every month we get inside the mind of one of the biggest names in music. This issue it’s Derek Dick, who, as Fish, rose to fame in the early 80s as frontman for prog game-changers Marillion. Four UK Top 10 albums, three Top 10 singles and one spectacularly acrimonious split later, he began his own eventful solo career, and in 2020 released his swansong album, Weltschmerz, to great acclaim. We sent one of our tallest writers to look the former lumberjack right in the eye (more or less) and ask him the questions you always wanted to…

JETHRO TULL

Praise be! A biblically-inspired Ian Anderson draws from the good book on the prog icons’ first album in almost 20 years

Take a bow

Let there be light: h leads the band

MY PROG

The great and good of progressive music give us a glimpse into their prog worlds. As told to Grant Moon

IN MEMORY OF DAVID LONGDON

The progressive music world was thrown into shock in November when news broke that David Longdon, lead singer with Big Big Train, had died after a tragic accident at his home in Nottingham. Prog pays tribute to a wonderful man who touched so many lives, through his music and his warm and engaging personality

The PROG READERS’ POLL 2021

2021’s been pretty much a pig of a

In The Biblical Sense

The new Jethro Tull alb`um comes nearly 20 years after the last, and draws on the Bible, the modern world and many of the band’s classic-era qualities too. Ian Anderson talks Covid, Christianity and the creation of The Zealot Gene.

VERY TASTY BREAD

Premiata Forneria Marconi, aka PFM, have been one of Italy’s leading lights since 1970. Inspired by sci-fi movies and social media culture, they recently returned to the studio to create the dynamic I Dreamed Of Electric Sheep. Prog catches up with Franz Di Cioccio and Patrick Djivas to discuss their past, present and future

In Bloom

Following the release of her third solo album, composer and instrumentalist Rachel Flowers talks to Prog about staying positive in the face of adversity, the freedom of being a solo artist, and paying homage to her heroes in prog and beyond with Bigger On The Inside.

Shooting For The Moon

Twenty years ago, music fan Leonardo Pavkovic founded MoonJune as a label on which Canterbury scene musicians could release their music. Some 200 records later, it’s stretched beyond the English city to cross boundaries, as well as borders. As Pavkovic celebrates MoonJune’s 20th anniversary, Prog catches up with the label founder to learn about his passion for unusual and exciting collaborations around the globe

JAZZ ODYSSEY

Liberation is a word that’s been on a lot of people’s minds over the last two years, and jazz fusion pioneer John McLaughlin has turned that idea into the topic of his latest solo album. The 4th Dimension leader discusses Miles Davis, the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s legendary debut album, and Liberation Time

FEELINGS ARE GOOD

Five years ago, Maybeshewill hung up their instruments for what they thought would be the last time. Now, after half a decade away, the post-rock masters are back for their victory lap, armed with the cinematic new album, No Feeling Is Final. Co-founding guitarist John Helps tells Prog the story behind their unexpected return

Blooming Misery

They may have started ‘by accident’, but Finnish doom-proggers Swallow The Sun have made a major impact over the past two decades. Vocalist Mikko Kotamäki reflects on the highs and lows that led them here, and sowed the seeds for Moonflowers, their powerful eighth album

The Perfect 10

It’s been 10 years since actor-comedian and prog polymath Matt Berry signed with Acid Jazz, bringing his lauded acid-folk record Witchazel to an eager audience. So, with the release of box set Gather Up, it’s time to reflect on a decade of soulful progression, surreal experimentation and TV theme celebration – as Berry marvels that it all even happened at all

THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT, AT LAST!

Progressive music old and new come together once more in Holland in April for the Prognosis festival 2022. Our forecast is: the event will have been worth the wait… Your guide: Phil Weller