Category Archives: Music News

News about gigs, record releases, band changes from the UK progressive rock scene.

Heather Findlay’s November Tour

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Tim Hall

Announcement today from Heather Findlay

The Heather Findlay Band are excited to announce our debut headline tour will take place this November!!!

At just 5 carefully selected UK shows with an elite band formed from the upper echelon of the rock world; Dave Kilminster (Roger Waters, Keith Emerson, John Wetton), Chris Johnson (Halo Blind, Fish, Mostly Autumn ), Steve Vantsis (Fish, KT Tunstall, Horse) and Alex Cromarty (who has worked with the likes of Steely Dan, Groove Armada and Dodgy) will be hitting the road to perform a specially crafted set featuring songs both old and new!

The material we have chosen to perform will span my work with both Mostly Autumn and Odin Dragonfly, presenting revitalised versions of near forgotten gems and will of course feature my debut record The Phoenix Suite!!!

We are also delighted to tell you that awesome band Shadow of The Sun will be joining us each night as very our special guests!!!

17th Nov - The Brook, Southampton;
18th Nov - Fibbers, York;
19th Nov - The Classic grand, Glasgow;
26th Nov - The Borderline, London;
27th Nov - The Robin, Bilston, Wolverhampton.

For tickets and all information please visit: www.heatherfindlay.net

Tickets for the tour have been on sale for a while, and I’d recommend you order tickets early for the York and London shows - both are in smallish venues and could well sell out.

Shadow of The Sun is an unexpected but very appropriate choice as support. Formed by Dylan Thompson, formerly of The Reasoning, their hard-edged guitar-based sound isn’t a million miles removed from the musical direction of Heather’s The Phoenix Suite.

If The Heather Findlay band are anything like as good live as they were at The Cambridge Rock Festival, this should be a great little tour.

See you there!

Posted in Music, Music News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Shadow of the Sun

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Tim Hall

Shadow of the Sun now have an official website.

Shadow of the Sun is the new project formed by Dylan Thompson, formerly guitarist and vocalist from Reasoning. and singer/guitarist Matthew Alexander Powell. The rhythm section of Rhys Jones and Lee Woodmass complete the four-piece lineup.

They’ve put a few demos on their website. Although there are a few echoes of Dylan Thompson’s songwriting for The Reasoning in places, the overall sound is a lot different, far rawer and almost punky in places. Follow the link and listen for yourself!

Posted in Music, Music News | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Globe in Cardiff

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Tim Hall

The Globe in Cardiff is back in business under new management. Their new official website is at www.globecardiffmusic.com. It’s true that the venue was closed for a few weeks for refurbishment, and many people feared the worst and assumed “refurbishment” was a euphemism for “conversion into a trendy wine bar”.

But the work is now complete, and the venue is open for live music again.

However, in a letter quoted on Matt Cohen’s blog, there are still one or two problems.

The previous owner of the Globe is refusing to give me access to the previously established website, we’ve tried everything and it’s become obvious that he has no interest in helping us, even though the website domain is of no use to him anymore.

This previous website is very cleverly worded, hinting towards us being closed and damaging the work I’m putting into promoting the venue. My management are chasing it up through their solicitors but I can’t afford to waste any more time on arguing with someone who wants to make my life difficult. As you can imagine this site is causing me and other promoters major problems with agents requesting their shows to be moved in fear of cancelation, something which I cannot by any means afford to keep happening.

So, if you stumble upon The Globe’s old website and see a message implying the venue has shut down, don’t believe it. It’s alive and well, and bands like Panic Room and The Reasoning will be playing there.

Posted in Music, Music News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Sound of the World

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Tim Hall

It may be that social networking has killed the webforum, but HippyDave, who already runs the official Panic Room and Stolen Earth forums has started a new forum The Sound of the World, dedicated to Mostly Autumn and the extended family of side projects and related bands. It has sections for Mostly Autumn, Halo Blind, Morpheus Rising and for Heather Findlay’s solo career, as well as past projects such as Odin Dragonfly, Josh and Co, and Breathing Space.

It’s a matter of debate as to whether or not the world really needs yet another Mostly Autumn forum. As HippyDave himself explains, a great many people, including a lot of dedicated fans, have issues with the way the official forum is over-moderated. There is already an unofficial forum, but that suffers from the opposite problem in that it’s under-moderated and tends to get overrun by trolls. There isn’t a place online where you can have a serious discussion about their music without the constant feeling that you’re walking on eggshells.

Time will tell if the forum gets a critical mass of regular posters and hosts meaningful discussions about the bands’ music.

Posted in Music, Music News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Alun Vaughan - If

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Tim Hall

Alun Vaughan, former bassist for Panic Room has a new album out. If is live set of 100% improvised solo bass music, recorded during a streamed gig for the ImprovFriday network.

If solo bass is your thing, or you perhaps want to listen to something a bit different, you can download it in mp3, FLAC, or a variety of other audiophile formats from Alun’s bandcamp page.

Posted in Music, Music News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Upcoming Gigs at The Borderline

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Tim Hall

I have ordered tickets for three forthcoming shows at The Borderline. This is a small, cozy venue right in the centre of London, just round the corner from where the late lamented Astoria used to be.

First is Panic Room, on Sunday September 18th. As readers of this blog will know, I’ve seen this lot many, many times this year, and they’ve never been less than awesome. On their extensive September tour, for which I hope to be able to get to more than one date, they’re promising to air a lot of brand-new material for their third album, due to be recorded at the end of the year.

Second is Touchstone on Friday, October 14. This is billed as the launch gig for their third album, “The City Sleeps”. It’s a while since I’ve seen them live, and like Panic Room, and with their high-energy prog-rock with the emphasis very much on rock, I feel they’re poised for a major breakthrough. It may not be long before you won’t be able to see them in small, intimate venues like this. Not only that, they’re supported by Heather Findlay and Chris Johnson playing as an acoustic duo, who are well worth seeing; Heather has more than enough talent as a vocalist and songwriter for an acoustic set to work.

And finally, on Saturday, November 26, Heather Findlay returns to play a headline show, with a full band including Dave Kilminster on guitar, and Steve Vantsis on bass. Anyone who saw them at the Cambridge Rock Festival will know just how great they were.

Definitely three gigs to look forward to. Since The Reasoning managed to sell out their show at this venue back in July, it’s probably not worth taking any risks by leaving it too late to get tickets.

Posted in Music, Music News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Stolen Earth - Tuscany Sun

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Tim Hall

A taster from Stolen Earth, whose new website goes live any day now. This is the first new song we’ve heard from them, and I like it a lot. Very strong echoes of Breathing Space, with a hint of recent Marillion for good measure.

Can’t wait to see them live at the Cambridge Rock Festival in August now - they’re playing on Saturday along with Panic Room, Chantel McGregor, Larry Miller and headliners The Quireboys.

Posted in Music, Music News | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Heather on Tour - The Phoenix Rises

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Tim Hall

With the retail release of The Phoenix Suite upon us, Heather Findlay has been busy setting up some tour dates to promote it.

A couple of festival dates with the full band (Heather, Chris Johnson, Dave Kilminster, Steve Vantsis and Alex Cromarty) had been announced earlier, the first being the Cambridge Rock Festival on Friday 5th August, followed by The Galtres Festival in Yorkshire on the 28th of the month. Long before that there’s an acoustic date at the Lincoln beer festival on 28th May, as a duo with Chris Johnson.

In October, Heather will be the special guest for Touchstone on their album launch tour, again performing an acoustic set accompanied by Chris Johnson. This certainly came as something as a surprise. Touchstone, as readers of this blog are aware, are a tremendous live act, very much a prog-rock band, albeit with the emphasis on “rock”. This promises to be a great tour.

Four dates are confirmed.

13 Oct 2011 - Mr Kips, Poole
14 Oct 2011 - The Borderline, London
15 Oct 2011 - Riverside, Newcastle
16 Oct 2011 - The Robin 2, Bilston

Heather then follows this with her own headlining tour with the full band, with three five gigs announced so far.

17 Nov 2011 - The Brook, Southampton
18 Nov 2011 - Fibbers, York
19 Nov 2011 - Classic Grand, Glasgow
26 Nov 2011 - The Borderline, London
27 Nov 2011 - The Robin 2, Bilston

I’m very much looking forward to these; it’s been far too long since we’ve seen Heather on stage, and she’s always an exciting and dynamic performer. I’m sure the five songs from The Phoenix Suite are going to come over very well live. With the EP only 25 minutes in length it will be very interested to see what else she’ll play to make up a headline-length set. More new material which will appear on future EPs? A few reworked Mostly Autumn and Odin Dragonfly favourites? Some interesting and eclectic covers? Extended Dave Kilminster guitar wig-outs? Or perhaps all of the above?

I’m sure it’s going to be well worth the wait.

Updated 14/5/11 with additional tour dates

Posted in Music, Music News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Classic Rock Society Awards

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Tim Hall

Great showing for both Mostly Autumn and Panic Room at the Classic Rock Society awards, where they all but swept the poll.

  • Best Female Vocalist: Olivia Sparnenn
  • Best Drummer: Gavin Griffiths
  • Best Guitarist: Bryan Josh
  • Best Album: Go Well Diamond Heart - Mostly Autumn
  • Best Track: Satellite - Panic Room
  • Best Band: Mostly Autumn
  • Best New Band: Parade
  • Best CRS Live Act: Mostly Autumn
  • CRS Personality: Anne Marie Helder

That’s a whopping five-and-a-half awards for Mostly Autumn!

While the CRS awards are less significant that things like the Classic Rock Presents Prog readers poll (in which MA and PR also did very well indeed, against far broader competition), it’s still a very strong endorsement of the new-era Mostly Autumn from a wider community than the hardcore fans.

This ought to serve as a reminder to the small but vocal minority of disillusioned former fans who don’t care for the new lineup that while they may be honest and sincere in their opinions, they are still in the minority.

Posted in Music, Music News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Stolen Earth Teaser

Posted on February 27, 2011 by Tim Hall

Including some brief sound clips from a song which I believe is called “Mirror Mirror”. Whether there is some association with prog band Spock’s Beard, I have no idea. Adam Dawson’s guitar certainly sounds very Floydy on this one.

Here’s Breathing Space premièring the song “Lips Are Too Dry” at the 2010 Cambridge Rock Festival. It’s a song written by bassist Paul Teasdale, which I hope will become part of the Stolen Earth songbook

Posted in Music, Music News | Tagged | 3 Comments