An invitation just appeared on my Facebook wall to “like” Foxbat, a band only recently formed around bassist extraordinaire Matt Cohen (The Reasoning). There’s still a lot of mystery surrounding this, but here’s what’s appeared at the official Foxbat FB page:
A brand new British Rock band bringing the 70’s vibe, screaming and kicking in to the present day. Formed by Matthew Cohen, Keith Hawkins, Ian Harris and Simon Hobson. Full press release in February 2013.
| Founded | 2012 |
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| Genre | Rock |
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| Members | Simon Hobson – Lead Vocals Keith Hawkins – Guitars and BVs Matthew Cohen – Bass and BVs Ian Harris – Drums and BVs ? – Hammond and BVs |
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| Hometown | UK |
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| Record Label | Comet Music |
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| Influences | Deep Purple Rainbow Whitesnake Led Zeppelin Black Country Communion Iron Maiden Bad Company Styx Queen Captain Beyond Black Sabbath Def Leppard Yngwie J Malmsteen The Who Boston The Eagles Journey RUSH TOTO Thin Lizzy Uriah Heep |
Progarchy 
Interesting. I’m assuming this band will exist in parallel with The Reasoning.
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I assume the same, Tim. But, I’m only speculating.
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Tim, yesterday (and I am just seeing this right now), Matt posted the following at The Reasoning FB page:
Welcome To The Future Of The Reasoning!
Wishing you a very Happy New Year… we trust that you all had a wonderful festive holiday. We band members spent our time engaged in a variety of different activities, but all with similar results, that is, plenty of booze, friends and merriment. Perfect!
So: what does 2013 hold for The Reasoning? Let us tell you…….
We’ll begin with some brief reflections on 2012. Given that last year featured two key releases: our independently issued EP (entitled And Another Thing…….) in March, followed by our fourth studio album – Adventures in Neverland – released in September via our new label, Esoteric/Antenna, The Reasoning hit the ground running. We headed straight out on tour throughout Europe and the UK, starting off with a support slot on home turf with the mighty Marillion. What a fantastic way to introduce new music and to start a tour. We then took to the road with our old pals Touchstone which was a truly wonderful experience in every sense and one that solidified our friendship – it really was a huge group of people acting as one and helping each other out every step of the way. The tour also showed us that the support and love for this band and its music is unequivocally steadfast and true. We played to much larger audiences this time around, comprised of many old friends as well as lots of new ones, all of whom sang their hearts out and made each show something really special. We rounded off the tour, of course, by opening for FISH at his convention in Leamington: a mind-blowing experience that will live long in our collective memory as a roof-raising all-time best performance.
Reviews for Adventures in Neverland continue to arrive in their dozens, and the general consensus has been incredibly positive, with many critics and writers identifying this as our best album to date… a perspective with which we couldn’t agree more! Many compliments have been made about the musical development of the band, Rach’s exquisite vocal performance, and the strength of our newest line-up. Plenty of observations too about the album marking our foray into far more adventurous musical territories, and yet retaining those trademark Reasoning irresistible melodies. We’ve been thrilled to witness so many old friends returning to the fold and embracing The Reasoning and its music again: a phenomenon that really has meant the world to us.
Now that 2013 is here, we’re already looking well ahead and into the future, and we have some incredibly exciting plans in the pipeline! Whilst we’re not at liberty to disclose all of the details immediately, we can confirm that we intend to tour in the summer, and that we will be bringing the whole of Adventures in Neverland to the stage for the first time during these shows. You can also expect to hear the usual suspects, of course… as well as some not so usual suspects, perhaps. We plan to play a handful of shows across the UK, with additional dates in Europe and Scandinavia, and will release the dates as soon as they’re confirmed.
What about a new album, then?
Our next album is at the planning and writing stage as you read this newsletter, and is shaping up to be something of a huge – and very unique – project! We are steadfast in our determination to give this project the time and energy that it deserves in order to fulfill its potential, and have therefore decided to dedicate the whole of 2013 (and perhaps the early part of 2014) to finish it in style. We’re already talking to some new studios, producers and engineers, because our plans are very special and very specific. This will be an album with a real difference. No more details on that until we are ready to tour, so sit tight and prepare to be very excited indeed!
In the meantime, we have decided to re-release some of our back catalogue, since demand for some of the older albums remains high, and our current stock has run dry. Interestingly, many of you have also asked us to consider re-releasing these in vinyl format, and your wish is our command! The first of these vinyl releases will be our debut album Awakening: this will be entirely repackaged, and available as a very limited run only. Expect further news about this before summer 2012 and, if you are one of the parties interested in registering for this limited edition pressing, please forward to your enquiry to thereasoning@hotmail.co.uk. The subsequent albums will follow suit at a later date.
And there’s more!
2013 will mostly be organised around writing for album 5 (and our tour dates), and so each and every band member will also be venturing out on their own with some side projects. It’s important to point out that these projects are as well as – and not instead of – The Reasoning… just to make that very clear!
Matt and Keith have formed a new project called Foxbat, that will release and tour a new album this year. This band is a much more traditional, riff based rock band, which will deliver the kind of music that has influenced the boys from an early age, but with somewhat of a contemporary twist. Four of the band’s five final members are already confirmed at this stage, and the line-up is as follows:
Bass: Matt Cohen
Guitars: Keith Hawkins
Drums: Ian Harris (Chris Rea, Tony Hadley, Mica Paris , Karnataka incarnation two of three)
Joining the boys on vocals is Simon Hobson, a London-based singer with a serious set of pipes! A Hammond player will complete the band’s line-up very soon, and a full press release on the project will be issued sometime during February, when a brand new website will also be launched. For now, you can follow progress at http://www.facebook.com/foxbatrocks and http://www.twitter.com/foxbatrocks – check the pages out!
As many of you are already aware, Jake is currently working with a three-piece side project called Echochain. The band have several gigs under their belt already, and have released a 4 track EP and a download single. Later on in 2013, they hope to secure a record deal, and release a full length album, following the appointment of an additional member and front-person. More news soon at http://www.echochain.co.uk
Tony is currently in his final year of music college, but he is also busy in the studio finishing up his new solo album. He can of course also be seen on stage fairly regularly all over the UK with his covers band: the wonderful Purple Rain.
Rach has been invited by a few well-respected artists to guest on their new projects: more details to follow on this once things are finalised. She also has a busy semester about to begin in her extra-musical role as an academic, having designed a brand new module, entitled Popular Music and Identity, that she will be teaching to final year Undergraduates at Cardiff University’s very prestigious School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. The Reasoning may well feature quite a bit. It would be rude not to, after all…
So there we have it, dear friends, there are a(nother) very busy couple of years ahead of us. We can’t wait to bring you all of our new music, and we’re already excited about furnishing you with all the additional details.
See you soon!
Love as always,
Matt, Rach, Tony, Jake and Keith xxxxx
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