Metal Mondays: Tyr — “Cemetery Gates” (check out this awesome Pantera cover!)

Not bad. Makes me think of Fleetwood Mac… combined with what sounds a like a visit from Phil Collins at 3:52…

Buy it at http://mantravega.bandcamp.com

Fiona Grey has a new song coming out July 22. Here’s a taste of her talent, a great song from back in 2013:

Like that? Then I think you’re gonna like this too.

Where’s the red Prog circle in the new Apple Music?

Perhaps Prog is not a genre but transcends all genres…

Download the three-song EP or watch the new video for Dave Kerzner’s “The Lie” (from the modern prog masterpiece New World) right over here.

I would embed the video here, but it is currently unlisted, so please use the link above.

This is one of the best songs on an entirely brilliant album.

Shakira should pay tribute to Chris Squire too. I wonder what her favorite Yes song is?

Neal Morse over at The Prog Report:

“A lot of songs changed my life.  I’ve been shaped by music all along.  I guess if I had to pick one, I’d pick Heart of the Sunrise, in reverence to our dear departed Chris Squire.  Heart of the Sunrise was a big, big life changer for me.”

Neal goes on to explain the first time he saw Yes in concert.  “I saw them open for Black Sabbath when Fragile had just come out and that was my moment.  That was my big ‘Woah!’  I didnt know this was possible.  I didn’t know you could have classical music side by side like that with pop and rock music and everything else.  Then the next year I saw them on the Close to the Edge tour.  That was right after Bruford, so I got to see them with Bruford the very first time.”

Please support this awesome band by buying the EP!

Their name is Scandinavian (rhymes with “bacon”) but the band is actually English and based in London.

This is some of the best prog ever.

I can’t wait to hear the next studio album from this band, which has been performing at their peak ever since The Mountain.

Steven Wilson posts on Facebook:

My buddy from no-man, Tim Bowness, releases his fantastic new album Stupid Things That Mean the World on 17th July, a follow up to last year’s Abandoned Dancehall Dreams. I mixed and played a little on that one, but although I’m not directly involved in the new album, Tim has recorded a song for it that we wrote and demoed for No-Man 20 years ago! At that time the song was called Best Boy Electric, but the final finished album track has been retitled Sing to Me. … You can hear our original demo fragment from 1994 on the bonus CD that comes with initial copies of the album.

Pre-order for the July 17 release from Burning Shed:

CD 1 – Stupid Things That Mean The World

1. The Great Electric Teenage Dream 3.58
2. Sing To Me 5.46
3. Where You’ve Always Been 4.07
4. Stupid Things That Mean The World 3.05
5. Know That You Were Loved 6.44
6. Press Reset 3.54
7. All These Escapes 3.06
8. Everything You’re Not 3.40
9. Everything But You 1.12
10. Soft William 1.40
11. At The End Of The Holiday 4.58

CD 2 – Stupid Things That Meant The World

1. Stupid Things That Mean The World (alternate) (Nick Magnus mix) 3.09
2. Best Boy Electric (Sing To Me) (1994 No-Man demo) (Steven Wilson mix) 1.58
3. Know That You Were Loved (alternate, David Rhodes ‘electric version’) (Stephen Bennett mix) 6.29
4. I Still Miss You (Stupid Things That Mean The World, UXB ‘Ambient’ Mix) 6.13

Dave Kerzner tells the story on Facebook:

I have a fun story to tell you, especially if you’re a Rush fan. On June 19th, for the first time ever, Rush performed the song “Losing It” live in Toronto (with special guest, the brilliant Ben Mink on violin). Here it is:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXq2KbiW7sc Now, let me tell you some cool events leading up to it that may possibly have had something to do with this happening. I can’t say for certain, but, it seems to have started with a feature Prog Magazine did where they asked various artists what their favorite Rush song is and why. They asked me and I chose the song “Losing It” from Signals because it’s a lesser known track (almost forgotten) yet one of their most beautiful songs lyrically and musically. Here’s the feature Prog did with me on that: https://www.teamrock.com/…/2…/rush-song-of-the-day-losing-it

Then, I sent Ben Mink an email about it just showing my appreciation for him and the song… and apparently so did others including a fellow named Darren who alerted me to this recent live event where somehow both Ben and Rush decided to perform this early 80s song for the first time (they didn’t even perform this song for the Signals tour!) This is a song most Rush fans probably thought would never be played live ever. I certainly didn’t.

This is also apparently their last big tour! Through doing Neil Peart Drums, I’ve become friends with the A&R man at their label, Anthem, and I even shared the Prog article with him (he may have shared it with the band too for all I know). The interesting thing to me is that all of those things ended up being a bit of petitioning that actually worked!!!! The responses to the idea of “wouldn’t it be great if they played ‘Losing It’ live?” were really positive on the net when it was brought up. What’s even better is that these shows in Toronto were apparently filmed for a DVD! This song wasn’t a single. It wasn’t from their biggest album. But, it’s a gem! So, at the last minute on their last tour somehow through either sheer chance or a bit of strong intention and will from myself and others who wanted this to happen… it did! Thanks Jerry Ewing and Prog Mag for your awesome publication that ignites such things as this! I was honored to be asked to participate in the article and now I’m even happier at just the thought that it *might* have contributed to them actually playing it!

By the way, I’m covering this song with David Longdon of Big Big Train for my special Rush tribute album that I’ve been producing. I did ask Ben if he wanted to play on it, but, as we can see he had another idea which is even bigger! You can hear some of the snippets of the Rush covers we’ve done so far with guys like Rik Emmett of Triumph and more on my Sonic Elements Sound Cloud if you’re a modern day warrior…http://www.soundcloud.com/sonicelements

I am pleased to report that the Steven Wilson concert in Vancouver, BC, Canada, on Saturday, June 20, 2015, was nothing short of AMAZING. The integration of video images and musical showmanship was pure artistry at its finest.

The venue was the sweet Vogue Theatre, which has beer and wine and other drinks available at a bar downstairs as well as at a bar upstairs in the balcony area. You can take drinks to your seat. The seating was a bit tight, but once you settled in to the concert and got lost in the music, you forgot all about it. Except for my wife, who had a hardcore Wilson fan sitting next to her on her left doing annoying air drumming (I was on her right). Hey buddy, I know every fill too, but I keep it at home! Oh well, everybody stood up for the encore songs at Steven’s invitation, so that was great. Earlier, security had shut down anyone trying to stand up and dance. We did get to stand up and give standing ovations after instrumental extravaganzas like “Home Invasion / Regret #9” and “Ancestral”. As we should! They were amazing. So great to see live. I love watching top-flight musicians do their thing live.

Locally owned and operated, The Vogue is one of the last remaining theatres from the famed Theatre Row. Take state of the art sound and projection, mix it with phenomenal natural acoustics and a 1940’s art deco interior, and you have the Vogue, utterly romantic and completely unique. With a commitment to good old- fashioned hospitality.

Here’s the set list. I recommend turning it into a playlist, because it works really well, and I myself have been listening to it since the concert as a playlist, as I have been reliving that magic night in my mind and heart. I highlight in boldface the songs not on Hand. Cannot. Erase.:

First Regret
3 Years Older
Hand Cannot Erase
Perfect Life
Routine
Index
Home Invasion
Regret #9
Lazarus
Harmony Korine
Ancestral
Happy Returns
Ascendant Here On…

The Watchmaker
Sleep Together

Sectarian
The Raven That Refused to Sing

This show was Steven Wilson, with Nick “Blonde Bombshell” Beggs on bass guitar and stick, Adam Holzman on keyboards, Dave Kilminster on guitar, and Craig Blundell on drums/percussion. Steven paid tribute to them all after “Regret #9” and said they were all better musicians than himself.

Steven also had kind remarks about Vancouver, after they played “3 Years Older,” since he had never been here before. The audience was pretty restrained during the show, like typical polite Canadians, but then started totally freaking out during the encores which he seemed to like. The evening ended with multiple bows as the audience gave a standing ovation that went on and on with thunderous applause and stomping. I guess we saved the loudest appreciation for last and it was a great feeling between performers and the audience as it went on and on to close the night so that the musicians knew exactly how we felt. We loved it!

Steven gave a little speech before “Routine” on the theme “MISERABLE MUSIC MAKES ME HAPPY” (direct quote). If you’ve read interviews with him, you’ll get the idea and know what he said. Same stuff he usually does about the paradox: in such art, we can discover what we share in common, etc.

It was fun hearing “Index” as a set-up for “Home Invasion”. The crowd really went nuts for it and lapped it up. It’s musical theatre, really; I get why the masses go for it. But it’s a bit one-dimensional, lyrically.

“Lazarus” is a beautiful song and one of my favorites. It was a real treat to hear it live, which just made it all that much more powerful. We didn’t get to hear “Transience,” which is one of the loveliest moments on HCE, but that’s okay, we got “Lazarus.” Man, I love that song.

Steven gave a nice little chat before “Harmony Korine” about how it is his tribute to the “shoegazer” genre. It was amusing as he spent a lot of time listing obscure albums and artists he liked and trading this back and forth with audience members, asking who had heard of what. A nice little nerdy way of bonding with the audience: comparing notes on your favorite music.

As for nerdiness, I thought it was hilarious how Steven would walk around on stage and do all his dorky hand gestures as he got into the music; when I told my my wife later that I found this hilarious and endearing, she reminded me that I make the same stupid hand gestures whenever I listen to loud music and get into it!

As for shoe gazing, I felt like gazing at my shoes because of all the disturbing images (people with bird heads, gas masks, screams of anguish) during “Harmony Korine.” But the audience loved all this oogly-boogly scary-scarey stuff during songs like “Watchmaker” and “Index” and “Raven” and so on; I myself find it kind of boring and limited in scope, but it is true that it is all very artistically done, if you like that sort of thing. I guess my tastes are just more classical than modern — I prefer beauty! Thankfully, the music was beautiful enough. The video pizazz was just icing on the cake for people who like icing. I would prefer smaller doses; hey, did you notice all the dopey video gets shut off during the prog instrumentals? Exactly! Point proved… who needs it, really… just inflates the ticket price by giving us, not just a concert, but an “experience”… I’m not complaining, I’m all for it, and no one does it better than Wilson. This was one of the greatest concerts I’ve ever been to. The Steven Wilson Experience!

“Sectarian” is one of my absolutely favorite Wilson songs, and so I was thrilled to experience it live — in a much more metal version, to boot! Great stuff… it was meant to be metaled up this way. Well played, Steven, well played…

If I had to come up with some extra complaint (since here I am, playing the critic), it would be that the sound mix wasn’t as perfect as I would have liked. Man… they should get Steven Wilson to do the mix… haha, but he’s busy on stage, I guess. On the plus side of the ledger, it was excellent that the sound volume was at an absolutely perfect level, so no earplugs were required. That is the way rock concerts should be! It’s time to end the dumb convention of making the music too loud to bear. Why insist on inflicting hearing damage? Anyway, it is great that Steven is using his influence to be a force for good in this area, as in so many others. Bottom line: all the positives blow away any negatives I can think up. This was a supremely excellent concert!

If you get a chance to see Steven live, don’t miss it. He is not just Mr. Prog, he is a musical talent that transcends all genres. Yes, he’ll give you that dose of perfect prog that will make you very happy, but he is one of those rare breed true artists that only comes along once in a lifetime. He can do anything, and he is even utterly pure magic when it’s just his voice and an acoustic guitar. He’s the real deal.

Don’t miss seeing Steven Wilson in your lifetime. You won’t regret it.

So, what are you waiting for? To grow three years older?