NJP special offer: 20% Off Romantic Warriors 4 – Krautrock Film (Part 1)
Prog News
IZZ Vocalist Laura Meade to Release Her Debut Full-Length Studio Album Remedium on May 18, 2018
Meade’s background in musical theatre helps define her unique approach as a lyricist and musician. Remedium combines Meade’s love of art rock with the emotion of musical theatre. In addition to being a vocalist for the progressive rock band IZZ, her career includes performances around the world with many different artists and on a multitude of stages.
Remedium features progressive, adventurous extended tracks such as “Sunflowers at Chernobyl” and “Dragons” as well as songs with art-pop sensibilities such as “Conquer the World”. Meade’s incredible range and versatility as a vocalist is evidenced throughout the album and particularly on songs such as “Every Step” and “What I See From Here”.
Meade is joined by her IZZ bandmates on several songs as well as Randy McStine (The Fringe, Lo-Fi Resistance) on “Sunflowers at Chernobyl” and Jason Hart (I and Thou, Renaissance, Camel) on “Irradiation”.
Laura Meade’s Remedium will be available for purchase on iTunes, at Amazon.com and at your favorite online retailer as well as on all streaming music services on May 18, 2018.
Track Listing:
1. Sunflowers at Chernobyl
2. Conquer the World
3. What I See From Here
4. Never Remember
5. The Old Chapel at Dusk
6. Dragons
7. Home Movies
8. Your Way
9. Every Step
10. Irradiation
Twitter and Instagram: @laurameademusic
3RDEGREE RELEASES SIXTH STUDIO ALBUM ONES & ZEROS: VOLUME 0 WITH U.S./CANADA TOUR TO IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW
New album is companion piece to 2015’s ONES & ZEROS: VOLUME 1
Independent American progressive rock band 3RDegree will release the follow-up to Ones & Zeros: Volume 1 on April 30, 2018. Envisioned as a prequel (that’s still a thing right?), it is aptly titled Ones & Zeros: Volume 0. Where Volume 1 imagined a world transformed by a Technological Singularity, Volume 0 supplies the backstory nearer to present-day.
Instead of a landscape dominated by a ubiquitous corporation, the world is seen through the eyes of cybernetic
companions, ambi]ous transhumanist parents, lonely internet trolls, social-media addicts trying to expand their personal brand and elites buying acres in New Zealand to ride out the apocalypse. And in true 3RDegree fashion, this is all delivered with a healthy dose of dark humor using melodic, song-based progressive rock as the vehicle.
3RDegree are coming off a high following 2015’s Ones & Zeros: vol. 1-the final release from 10T Records.
The collection garnered the best reviews of their career including a third-place finish on Progarchives.com’s year-end list just behind Anekdoten and Steven Wilson. It also set them on a tour that included five European countries and several US states, highlighted by performances at the Summer’s End Festival (UK) and 2016’s RoSfest in Gegysburg, Pennsylvania. Their most recent appearance at the budding ProgStock Festival (NJ), featured a stage show replete with ornate video
backdrop and a Ted Talk-ish narrator purpor]ng to be from the fictious Valhalla Biotech Corporation which features large in Ones & Zeros.
The CD will be available via PayPal directly from the band at www.3RDegreeONLINE.com, at the band’s
Bandcamp page 3RDegree.bandcamp.com as well as from many prog rock retailers worldwide such as
Just For Kicks (Germany), Syn-Phonic (US), KinesisCD (US) and others. Download will be available on
iTunes, Amazon and most others although 24bit/44.1khz version will be exclusive to Bandcamp and the
band’s website.
The “Ones & Zeros Show” Tour 2018 (previewed here in the video below) comes to the following cities and
venues on these dates:
May 11 The Delancey New York, NY
May 12 Private Event Bal]more area (email band for invita]on)
May 13 Roxy & Dukes Roadhouse (NJ Proghouse presents) Dunellen, NJ
May 15 Reggie’s Chicago, IL
May 16 Wilbert’s Cleveland, OH
May 18 The Port Theater Cornwall, ON Canada
May 19 Starlite Southbridge, MA
May 20 The Hatbox Theater Concord, NH
Please note that a special “meet & greet” with members of the band will take place in the merch rooms
at RoSfest at the Majestic Theater in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania all day Saturday, May 5th.
Website www.3RDegreeONLINE.com
To Whoever You Are Now: Pinnacle is funding the final production of their fourth album.
Longtime NJProghouse Staph members “Karl, Bill, & Greg” collectively known as Pinnacle are funding the final production of their fourth album “To: Whoever You Are Now”
To: Whoever You Are Now
We’re an independent progressive rock band from Pennsylvania/New Jersey. We’ve been working together continuously since 2003 and have released three albums in that time. We’re making this music simply because we love it, and we have no illusions of rock super-stardom. We simply want to share our creation with like-minded music fans.
We’re all genuinely of the opinion that this is the best work we’ve done so far. It’s the first album we’ve written and arranged as a four-piece band since we were a trio through most of the creation of the previous album and only brought Matt Francisco into the fold toward the end of the process. We decided to stay away from the epic-length pieces that have been on the previous two albums and focus on shorter, more focused songs that still hold onto the best progressive rock traditions. (Note that the term “shorter” is relative. 4 of the 10 songs are in the eight-minute range.)
On offer, in exchange for your contribution, are a variety of perks ranging from digital downloads of the new album to in-person and internet-based lessons on how to play a Pinnacle song of your choosing to private performances and even a nearly one-of-a-kind guitar. Your contribution to this project will make it possible for us to give the album the release, support, and promotion that we feel it deserves. Soon we will have the live show polished and ready to take on the road and hope to meet our contributors and thank you all in person.
Head on over here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/to-whoever-you-are-now and support this fantastic project
This week: Don’t miss Renaissance and King Crimson!
Renaissance returns to Town Hall in New York City October 28. These performances will be the first time in 40 years that Renaissance will perform on stage with a ‘live’ orchestra and, in addition, 2017 marks the 48th year since the band’s formation and its ninth consecutive year of touring since their reactivation in 2009.
Buy Tickets: http://www.
Progressive rock icons King Crimson are taking their 2017 North American ‘Radical Action’ Tour to NJPAC in Newark, NJ for one night only on Halloween, October 31, 2017 at 7:30pm.
NJ based The Tea Club launch Patreon campaign, offer unreleased rarities ..
from Joe Dorsey, Keyboardist for The Tea Club
We’re launching a Patreon campaign that gives all of you access to tons of unreleased Tea Club stuff. Listen to an unreleased song called “Planet Moon” (public) and watch a multi-camera angle performance of “I Shall Consume Everything” at Boot and Saddle (for Patrons). This is only scratching the surface of all the content we have prepared. Click the link below for a full description what we want to do for our supporters.
https://www.patreon.com/theteaclub/posts
The Tea Club is a band that has been cultivating unique ideas in the form of music and visual art for more than a decade. As we continue to release new material, a vast collection of unreleased work lies beneath the surface of the public eye. We want to share this repository with our supporters while also providing an exclusive look into what the band is currently creating. By supporting our Patreon campaign, you allow us to continue our pilgrimage.
The way it works is this: If you make a monthly donation of any amount to this Patreon account, you will gain access to a private page where we will release two tracks or videos from “The Archive” each month. You’ll also get some written background for each release, a monthly video clip providing an inside look into what the band is working on, early news on upcoming tours, records, videos, graphic novels and other press, discounts on merch, and access to new releases before anyone else, as well as a few surprises.
Some of the material we’ll be making available to our Patrons includes rare demos, live recordings, unreleased studio tracks, b-sides, live videos, unreleased music videos, and lots of concept art.
Goals:
Our main goal for 2017 is to record a new album with a release date in 2018. A major goal for 2018 is to professionally film and record a live in-studio concert highlighting music from the band’s entire discography. We’ve set a financial goal of $1,000 a month which would dramatically help make these plans become a reality! Your support makes these kinds of ideas possible!
Special Note, June 27th, 2017:
We are making our first post of July available to anyone who visits this page. This is the type of content we’ll be generating on a monthly basis for our Patrons! We hope you enjoy it!
Spain’s Progressive Rock Legends Kotebel To Release Highly Anticipated New CD “Cosmology”
Spanish prog legends Kotebel have released their 7th studio album titled “Cosmology.” It is their first studio album since the release in 2012 of their acclaimed “Concerto for Piano and Electric Ensemble” (in the list of 100 All-time best symphonic albums in Progarchives and “Best Instrumental Album” in the 12th edition of the Independent Music Awards).
The band’s new album features, among other tracks, the “Cosmology Suite”; An ambitious work comprised of four pieces that represent different conceptions of the Cosmos.
“Cosmology” marks the return of the flute into their soundscape, by the masterful hands of virtuoso Omar Acosta. It also presents the debut of Adriana Plaza as a composer for Kotebel.
To watch a visual taste of “Cosmology”:
Here’s what the press has said about Kotebel:
“This is simply a stunning tour-de-force of impeccable musicianship, clever arrangements, and well-composed instrumental progressive rock” (Piano Concerto – ProgArchives)
“This is an instant classic cd for me that already enjoy instrumental music, this band don’t stop to amaze me with the quality of their music.” (Piano Concerto – ProgArchives)
“Crossing genres so seamlessly, effortlessly is what makes this album, IMO, a sure fire masterpiece of progressive rock music. Well done Kotebel! This will be a tough album to beat for 2012 Album of the Year!” (Piano Concerto – ProgArchives)
“This is one stellar disc of symphonic progressive rock!” – Jerry Lucky – The Progressive Rock Files
“This is a masterwork!” – Vitaly Menshikov – Progressor
“Outstanding symphonic prog!” – César Inca – Progarchives
“One of the great contemporary prog rock bands!” – Nuno – Prognosis
“Kotebel appear to be content on exploring and extending the boundaries of their chosen genre, and are definitely a band to watch out for.” – Dave Sissons – DPRP.net
“The musicianship is top-notch!” – Yves Dube – Sea of Tranquility
Watch Kotebel’s interpretation of the “A Bao a Qu” story, as narrated by Jorge Luis Borges in his “Book of Imaginary Beings”:
Kotebel’s line-up for “Cosmology”:
Carlos Franco Vivas – drums and percussion
César Garcia Forero – guitars
Jaime Pascual Summers – bass
Adriana Nathalie Plaza Engelke – piano, keyboards
Carlos G. Plaza Vegas – keyboards
Very special guest: Omar Acosta – flute
To order Kotebel’s Cosmology, and listen to selected fragments, visit:
http://www.kotebel.com/e-store/cosmology.php
For more information: www.kotebel.com
RIP: Jon Flook 1956-2017
Our condolences go out to the family and friends of Jon Flook, who frequented the NJProghouse and was a huge supporter of the scene in general.
Jonathan E. Flook, 60 years, of Coplay, formerly of Fullerton, died unexpectedly Wednesday, June 14, 2017 in Allentown. He was the husband of Debra Klingler of Coplay. Born in Allentown, he was the son of the late Gerald and Nancy Flook. Jonathan loved music and was a DJ for 91.3 WLVR Lehigh University in Bethlehem for many years. He worked in the parts department for Haldeman Ford in Kutztown and was a graduate of Whitehall High School. Survivors: Surviving along with his wife Debra are his sisters Rebecca Bowman and Ellen Hyland and her husband Peter; brother David Flook and wife Gail; 1 nephew and 3 nieces. Services: Memorial services will be held at 11am Wednesday, June 21, 2017 at Brubaker Funeral Home, Inc. 327 CHESTNUT STREET, COPLAY, 18037. His calling period will be from 10-11am Wednesday at the funeral home. Interment at Coplay Cemetery. Contributions: Memorial contributions may be made in his name to an animal charity of your choice. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.brubakerfuneralhome.com.
The Lazarus Trio: Open Letters
The Lazarus Trio is a new project featuring the talents of multi-instrumentalist Carl Groves (Salem Hill, Glass Hammer) and newcomer Mike Koeniger this is an album 35 years in the making! Open Letters is an eclectic mix of musical styles (rock, progressive metal, progressive rock, acoustic) and ideas wrapped up in a package of heavy drums, driving guitar, wailing Hammond, and intelligent lyrics.
From the opening notes of Road to the end of the album, this is a musical odyssey that started in the mind of a 17-year-old hitchhiking home on a rainy evening. When the concept of this album was presented to Carl Groves, the music started to solidify into the work presented on the final CD. Carl patiently worked with the “former 17-year-old” to get the musical ideas out of his head and into a listenable form. He also contributed many of his own musical ideas improving on the original ideas and adding new compositions. These are the musical musings of two men who see the world through the lenses of family, fatherhood, philosophy, theology, partnership, military service, and mortality. As Open Letters was composed the Lazarus Trio resisted the boxes that society tries to place us in and endeavored to be honest and forthright with ourselves and our audience.
Title: Open Letters
Release Date: 01/31/2017
Track List:
- Prelude
- Road
- Oligarchy
- Role
- Raymond Jess’s Ghost
- Legacy
- Agape
- Meter
- For Free
- Golgotha
- End of the Road?
https://www.facebook.com/LazarusTrio/
The loss of one of our dearest friends…
Today I got the news that my friend Piotr Grudzinski had left this world.
With each time I say this I feel a terrible emptying in my heart and tears well up. For those who do not know, Piotr was more than a member of a band I loved but a great friend of mine and of others in the Proghouse family.
When Piotr and the rest of Riverside landed at JFK my ugly mug, along with the mug of Ray Loboda, was the first to greet him and the boys on their first trip to America. I think that by the time we got onto the Belt Parkway we were friends for life.
Ray and I are fortunate for this to happen as we were asked by the guys of NEARFest to be the transport coordinators and so we went to get them. That was a great weekend. Music, nonsense, liquid refreshment, educating all the boys about Tony Danza and rusty trombones, with A bunch of us from NJP and a certain Englishman name Progzilla all crammed in a room, and what it all meant while laughing until we couldn’t breathe. Piotr and I watching as much World Cup as we could in between everything else we were doing that weekend. We were building a friendship that will last as long as Ray and I have brains that can recall the memories.
About a year later I was in the air with Ray and Keith Loboda as we headed to The Netherlands and Germany to hang with Piotr and all of Riverside for 6 great days and 2 great shows. When Ray and I walked in to the first show’s sound check with Rob Palmen we were moved by the way Piotr stopped playing, put down his guitar, and came over to us and gave us each a hug followed one by one by Mariusz, Michal and Piotr K. Family grew even larger with the entire crew and Sir Harold Jansen and Oliver Wenzel making our trip that much more special.
Riverside came back the next year for an exclusive show at NJ Proghouse and then we were off to Montreal for a long weekend of fun as they played FMPM. Ray, Noreen Loboda and I with the band and manager Rob Palmen and crew.
It was like there was no time between visits. Although saying goodbye always sucked.
Then we (Ray, Kevin and I) brought Riverside in for NEARfest in 2010. Twice more they came back and played at NJProghouse.
We have been very fortunate to have these men as friends and for bringing Piotr in to our lives.
The thing that sticks with me most from the latest visit this past September was how Piotr and I fell right back in the groove. Both In the green room at The Crossroads and at the show in Webster Hall a couple nights later. We sat and talked and sometimes said nothing at all. I will treasure these memories for all my time.
I know that all of us at NJP are feeling some kind of pain and sadness as I imagine many of you are. Remember Piotr Grudzinski in whatever way you can and be happy for that memory of when it came your way.
Keep his wife Monika, his family, Mariusz, Michal and Piotr K and all his other mates in hearts and minds.
I will miss you my brother. Much love.
Peace-
Jim
Photo used by permission from Studio-M