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iq's lighting guy, lolly van dyer, was the stranglers's lighting
Engineer for many years. He also did the lights at the peel.
So there is a link there.
I've always had a love hate thing going on with prog.
It could be amazing. So much neo prog draws on the same
influences (early Genesis) and miss bands like Gong,
Gentle Giant, Can, Robert Wyatt who really did push the
envelope.

Hello Frosties...

Thanks for all the good will and messages of good luck you lot have sent me. I'm sat here in the end of year no man's land feeling all warm and cozy in part to all the calories I have ingested and because of all the Frostie love.

ANYWAY...

having a little browse round here and I felt inspired to put down my opinions of prog, and it's up on my blog.

Here is a big chunk so you don't have to leave the safe confines of this forum...

'Progressive rock is of course much maligned. This Friday on BBC4 there is a programme called 'Prog Britannia'.
I don't know what it will be like. The programme is presented by Nigel Planer from 'The Young Ones'. The last major documentary on prog was presented by Bill Bailey. It seems that the media think comedians are the best to discuss this genre.

If only Andrew Marr could have presented, then we may get more than the usual 'ELP lorries or YES farms in studios' stuff.

Prog rock was important.

In the 60's acts like Dylan, The Beatles and Frank Zappa showed you could do more with Rock than write three minute songs about driving around in yer car with yer girl.
Musicians who had learnt their craft in the 50's (learning I assume either blues, jazz or classical) suddenly found themselves drawn to rock and roll. In England in the 60's the incredible climate of inclusiveness and individualism meant these musicians could form bands together and create new music forms.
Taking their lead from Dylan and the Beatles they felt they could do what they liked. You get bands like Cream (two jazzers and and blueser) and King Crimson (classical and jazz musicians)

As it was basically an British phenomenon we also see the influence of folk music in bands like Pentangle and Fairport Convention and also in prog bands like Jethro Tull and Yes.

What an incredible mix and what music! The spirit of innovation and improvisation!

This mixing made rock grow up and become one of the dominant artforms in the 20th century and ensured that for a number of years all the great rock bands came from Britain.
The British also showed the world how to do Punk properly and not look like a bunch of art students. Punk to me is not just the antithesis of prog but the natural extension of it.

Punk carries on the British tradition of individualism. It is not so surprising that in the wake of punk we saw the rise of Neo prog, an accelerated new wave version designed to be seen in the same sweaty clubs that had seen the rise of the punk bands a few years earlier.

The question in my mind is how much today's prog bands still champion these virtues. With the collapse of the music business (and the collapse of the distributors Pinnacle will be a big nail in this coffin) we need the spirit of progression and individualism and inclusiveness in music making.

How much do the bands that still work under this banner still hold true to these virtues?
And how many will be wiped out in the next few years as we go through this cultural shift into an age of post post modernism?

Only time will tell....'

Be interesting to hear your thoughts.

TBE

The Mahavishnu Orchestra might give them a run for their money....

Been listeneing to Freehand a lot. It is what the world needs, medieval funk....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pYOkIbycjvQ

I grew up listening to Yes and Crimson and all things prog but missed out about on GG.
Recently I got all their stuff and I have been listening to them a lot.

Aren't they just the best progressive band of all the time?

Of the musicians I grew up with the ones who made money made it through writing hit records and getting royalties. Or they write music for the media. Or they are DJs

These don't however include my friends who have 'big' gigs.

Some of the guys I know who are older have made a lot of money from gigging but not the ones my age or younger.

I have always (except when I played with Robert Plant) made most of my income from teaching in some way or another. With the change in economic and cultural climate I have decided it is best as much as I can to take myself out of the 'old' way of doing music and try and align myself with the way I think things will go.

I think creative music is about to go underground. Rock n Roll happened in part due to the sudden increase in affluence that occoured in the fifties.
We are all in debt now, I can only predict a deflation in all things including the creative arts.

The musicians who will change music in the next twenty years (I predict) won't be known in their own lifetimes. We won't see the next Elvis Presley emerging. We will however not be aware of the next Robert Johnson rewriting how things are done in a bedroom next door.

I think the very idea of a music 'business' will slowly be eroded.

Musicians will make a small living in entertaiment (vaudeville?) and will be creative on the side. Rock n Roll will become a museum piece. Eventually all the legends will die and the door on that era will finally close.

Johnny Rotten will end up doing adverts for butter.

3/4 of a gig refers the gig IQ did without Pete last Saturday.

Yes, I have got a proper job. My mind is full of ideas of what I want to do there. I can't wait to get stuck in.

No, I haven't got some big gig. I've done that and that box is ticked.

Of course I can't speak for Jem and the boys but I really do hope that I will keep some creative input into Frost. As I have siad before, I'm stopping gigging because I think there are many other things a band can do with a band. Frost* is perhaps most widely known for it's youtube videos. Who would have thought this would be the case 5 years ago? With each video reaching 1000s of peeps I would think this is as important as gigging for spreading the word of Frost.

I think we are not to far away from a band being a collection of musicians that are linked by a concept, not by a record deal, that work outside of the album/tour framework, that produce and distribute their music themselves. Their fanbase will be worldwide, despite the size of following. They will perform to their fans not only by gig but through cable TV shows and internet concerts, thus reaching their total fanbase. Their success will be defined by how different they are, not by conformity. (sound familiar?)

It is this type of stuff I want to be involved in.

Hello O people of the Frostiverse.
 
 It is with mixed emotions that I must tell you that I'm to take an
 indefinite break from playing the drums with the band that is known to you
 as Frost*
 I have recently become a full-time teacher of music at the College of
 Kidderminster and  my duties with the talented youth of it's environs will
 place a great strain on my ability to travel in various planes, boats and
 white vans about the place doing gigs.
 After a big big big chat with Jem we decided it would be best for me to
 stop gigging with the band known as Frost*  although I hope my total
 involvement with the said band won't stop (as there are so many things a
 band can do as well as gig!)
 
 'What' I hear you ask!
 
 and also you may ask
 
 'why stop gigging?'
 
 My reason for doing music is coz I like to do music. Write it, record it
 and think of different ways of doing it. Of all the bits involved in
 making it the bit I like the least is gigging.
 If my time is going to be restricted then it is that bit which I would
 like to curtail.
 
 I also feel that the music business is about to change dramatically. I
 think Frost could play a vital part in that change and I want to be free
 to be involved in that if I can, not spend the little spare time I have
 rehearsing and travelling to gigs.
 
 I love Frost*. I love the guys so much too. I have laughed so much and had
 a great time. I thank everyone who has supported the band and allowed us
 to make and break the rules.

 I hope this change of affairs will allow us to make and break the rules
 even more.
 
 Here's to the future and all who sail in her.
 
 Andy xxx

My two penneth...

EIMA is totally a prog album. The arrangements are non pop arrangements in many cases, There are lots of odd times amd weird harmonies and rhythms, The lyrics (in some cases) are about time travellling etc. There are lots of solos. Most of the tracks break the 3 1/2 min barrier and I think the stuff is harder to play than anything off Milliontown...

I also think we have all contributed far more to this one as a band too. I know Jem has really considered what his objectives were for this album and I think he has entirely achieved them. This time you really are hearing a band that has gigged together and is now a unit.

But Jem has not made a prog, or neo prog or indie prog album. He has used all the techiques and approaches used in prog to create something new. (let's call this 'non-regressive rock')

What this album doesn't have is the surface cliches that denote prog.
Those who want to hear those should check out bands early genesis or yes. (or even better, the mighty Gentle Giant)

Also reading some of these posts I can't help but think that Jem is the artist, and he has made a statement which means something. He doesn't need to explain why the booklet has no lyrics. It may not be what some expected but there is a reason for it and it would be great to read a discussion as to why people think he has done so, or for that matter why the album contains the themes and ideas it does...

I love art I do, it makes you think and sometimes it can make us re-evaluate what with consider 'good' to be and THAT can only be a good thing............

Yeah so I'm probably the slowest person in the world... just realized there was a 'New album sampler' up on the myspace. And I just heard it for the very first time.

Let me just say I don't think I will ever be able to listen to music again.

...No but seriously, those 6 minutes of music made me want to get up off my chair, walk out the door into the cold, walk into the street, pull down my pants, take a shit, lie face down in the shit, and then wait for a truck to run me over, so I can lie dead in my own shit because that was

 :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen: FUCKING AMAZING! :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:

I am about 200% more pumped for this album than I was 6 minutes ago. I just wanted to share that with you guys.

You will like it then I reckon

or an expensive one