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Showing posts with label Pink Floyd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pink Floyd. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Alice Sweet Alice : A Sound That's Familiar Yet Unlike Anything You've Ever Heard Before
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Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Mostly Autumn Says Goodbye To A Family Member
Mostly Autumn has been making a name for themselves since their debut album was released in 1998. The progressive rock band, influenced by the likes of Pink Floyd and Genesis, was blessed with the unmistakable voice of Heather Findlay who sang lead on many of their songs. Her voice, to many around the world, was Mostly Autumn. It came as somewhat of a surprise when she announced that she would be leaving the band to focus on a solo career. The band decided that a proper final show was in order for Heather and for her fans.
This brings us to the release of the live, double CD That Night in Leamington, Heather’s final performance with the band. It captures the April 2, 2010 show at the Leamington Spa; her final farewell. The CD spans their catalog with all studio albums being represented at this performance. One could say that it is almost a greatest hits show. The show opens with “Fading Colours” from their Passengers release. This may seem familiar to fans of the group as they used it to open most shows over the last few years.
Newer selections such as “Flowers for Guns” and standout track “Unoriginal Sin” follow. “The Spirit of Autumn Past” really allows the band to soar. There are quite a few songs that the band is playing for the last time. “Shrinking Violet” is one of those examples. She mentions that it is a very special song that has reached out and touched s many people. The connection between the artist and song is just too intense to let another singer take over the mic and start performing. It’s understandable, yet at the same time it is a shame because “Shrinking Violet” is one of the best songs that the band has ever recorded.
Disc two starts off with “Carpe Diem” from the Storms over Still Water release. It begins with a haunting, yet beautiful piano intro that continues until midway through the song. I think the second disc contains songs of a different nature as they tap into the emotional quality that Heather brought to the songs that will be sorely missed. It also features many of the older staples from the bands repertoire such as the epic 17:36 song “Mother Nature”, “Half the Mountain” and “Nowhere to Hide”.
The final three tracks close the set with, in my opinion, the best of the best. “Above the Blue” is a beautiful song and a very personal one for Heather about losing some of the people in her life that she was close to. This one, along with “Shrinking Violet” will not be played live again. It’s a song simple in arrangement, yet deep and complex in emotion. Two older songs, “Heroes Never Die” and “Evergreen”, finish us out and bring to a close a journey that started well over ten years ago.
Olivia Sparnenn, former backing vocalist for the band, has stepped up to fill the big shoes left empty by Heather’s departure. She is a very talented lady, but time will tell how well she is at filling such a big void being created by Heather’s solo venture.
This album is such a great farewell for her and for the fans. It creates a scrapbook of songs that hold great memories for all of the fans. The recording aspect of this album is top notch. The harmonies really reach out to the listener and help to breach that gap created sometimes between the band and the listener at home on a live recording. This is a great souvenir to all of the fans to capture a truly talented woman’s footprints in the world of music.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Tesseract Brings Progressive Metal To The Forefront
Labeling music has always been a tricky thing to do. There have been some many new genres created that the choices can be as mind blowing as the infinite number of boxes on the cereal aisle in the grocery store. A new band has definitely stood out from the pack of wannabes and is making a name for themselves. Tesseract, hailing from the UK, is winning over fans and critics alike and for all the right reasons.
Formed in 2007 by brainchild and guitarist Acle Kahney, the band started to put together a sound that was very uncommon at the time. Aided by Jay Postones on drums, James Monteith on guitar and Amos Williams on bass, the band was slowly finding their sound. The addition of Dan Tompkins on vocals was the icing on the cake. His diverse range was a perfect fit to the multi layered sound being created. The band are at the forefront of a new era of progressive metal that is blowing away everyone who is experiencing it.
The band just recently released their full length debut CD entitled One to high praise from music critics worldwide as well as fans. They hit the road in support of the CD along with Maylene and The Sons of Disaster and Protest the Hero. I was fortunate to catch up with drummer Jay Postones and guitarist James Monteith before a recent show in North Carolina.
Music is my drug of choice: Well guys, you have been out on the road for a month or so now promoting the new CD, how has that been going for you? Any shows stand out?
Tesseract: The tour has been going really well. We’ve had a few fails along the way so far. We have a rubbish van that breaks down a lot and we actually had to miss one show because of it. The Orlando, Florida show was really good. It was sold out and the stage was really tight and the sound was great. There was also a lot of energy in the room that night and that’s great because you feed off of the energy of the crowd. The Dallas, Texas show was especially awesome. It was one of the bigger venues with a capacity of over 1000. As far as bad shows, Las Vegas was probably the worst gig we’ve ever done in our lives. The problem with Vegas is that it’s only good for two things: losing money and partying and we didn’t get to do the latter. Unfortunately, we did lose money. The venues screw you over and you only get half of your fee and then they take more merch money and a cut of your CD sales; which is actually illegal if you don’t own the copywrite to it……so screw Vegas!
How different is it to tour here in the States as opposed to the UK?
It’s about the same except for the distances. In the UK, it takes one day to go from one end to the other whereas here, it takes a day to sometimes go through just one state. Also, the food is a big difference. Our intestines are clogged from all the greasy, fried foods. I don’t think we can eat another McDonald’s again. The first place we stopped in New Jersey had hamburgers that were like $350 and they were massive. You can never truly eat a burger of that size, that was crazy!
The CD has been out for a couple of months now and the reaction has been very positive. How satisfying is that to you as an artist?
We’ve been very pleased and also relieved quite a bit. It’s a nerve racking experience creating something that you are very proud of, but you have no idea what people are going to think of it. One real worry was that people criticized us about having a lot of the material being available on the internet beforehand, but we haven’t heard much more about it. Overall, we couldn’t be happier with the reaction from the press and especially from the fans.
What do you guys do for fun while out on the road? Who is the practical jokester?
We’re fairly calm, but if I (Dan) see an opportunity for danger, I generally jump on it. We released a DVD with our new album and on hat, there is a clip of me dancing along the edge of the Grand Canyon like a little monkey and we also did that on an iceberg on this tour. Overall, we’re pretty layed back and boring people. There is the occasional, spontaneous meat slap! We were touring Russia and the standard food over there is meat, cheese and bread. We found this big slab of dirty, sweaty meat in the leftovers from our gig. We were on a train ride and Acle was asleep in the top bunk. James gets the slab of meat and slaps it right on Acle’s face. He didn’t wake up immediately, it was couple of seconds, but it gave the meat time to mold to his face. It was so funny! There’s also food fights, but we’re all responsible for those.
I have to ask you about the name of the band and its origin. Anyone dare to explain it?
Well, we could lie to you and say that there is this really deep meaning behind the name, but unfortunately there isn’t. When Acle first formed the band in 2003, he was writing all these cool riffs and he watched a film called Hypercube and heard the word tesseract and thought it was a cool name. It’s as simple as that, but it’s actually a very fitting name for us. Our music is quite complex and if you read into the whole fourth dimension thing, it is kind of mathematical and scientific.
You guys really do have a unique sound. Who would you cite as your influences?
Well, everything from Steely Dan, Pink Floyd and Meshuggah to electronica, Slayer and early Metallica. In between shows, we tend not to listen to a great deal of metal. The last thing you want to do when you get in the van after a show is crank even more metal.
I saw that you guys are up for Best New Band at the 2011 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards. How awesome is that?
It was totally out of the blue for us. We received an email telling us that we had been nominated. Metal Hammer has been really kind to us over the last few years. It was really amazing to be even nominated. We hope all of our fans will go over to www. goldengods.metalhammer.co.uk and vote for us.
Can you tell us what we can expect from you guys in the near future?
We are already working on album number two. We have a few songs that are almost finished and Dan is writing the vocals to them. We have another tour that we are going to be doing here in the states later in the year too. Other than that, we will be travelling and busy on the road.
Well guys, thanks for taking the time to talk to us and we can’t wait to see you perform on this amazing bill with Protest the Hero. Keep knocking them dead out there and stealing the show each night.
Formed in 2007 by brainchild and guitarist Acle Kahney, the band started to put together a sound that was very uncommon at the time. Aided by Jay Postones on drums, James Monteith on guitar and Amos Williams on bass, the band was slowly finding their sound. The addition of Dan Tompkins on vocals was the icing on the cake. His diverse range was a perfect fit to the multi layered sound being created. The band are at the forefront of a new era of progressive metal that is blowing away everyone who is experiencing it.
The band just recently released their full length debut CD entitled One to high praise from music critics worldwide as well as fans. They hit the road in support of the CD along with Maylene and The Sons of Disaster and Protest the Hero. I was fortunate to catch up with drummer Jay Postones and guitarist James Monteith before a recent show in North Carolina.
Music is my drug of choice: Well guys, you have been out on the road for a month or so now promoting the new CD, how has that been going for you? Any shows stand out?
Tesseract: The tour has been going really well. We’ve had a few fails along the way so far. We have a rubbish van that breaks down a lot and we actually had to miss one show because of it. The Orlando, Florida show was really good. It was sold out and the stage was really tight and the sound was great. There was also a lot of energy in the room that night and that’s great because you feed off of the energy of the crowd. The Dallas, Texas show was especially awesome. It was one of the bigger venues with a capacity of over 1000. As far as bad shows, Las Vegas was probably the worst gig we’ve ever done in our lives. The problem with Vegas is that it’s only good for two things: losing money and partying and we didn’t get to do the latter. Unfortunately, we did lose money. The venues screw you over and you only get half of your fee and then they take more merch money and a cut of your CD sales; which is actually illegal if you don’t own the copywrite to it……so screw Vegas!
How different is it to tour here in the States as opposed to the UK?
It’s about the same except for the distances. In the UK, it takes one day to go from one end to the other whereas here, it takes a day to sometimes go through just one state. Also, the food is a big difference. Our intestines are clogged from all the greasy, fried foods. I don’t think we can eat another McDonald’s again. The first place we stopped in New Jersey had hamburgers that were like $350 and they were massive. You can never truly eat a burger of that size, that was crazy!
The CD has been out for a couple of months now and the reaction has been very positive. How satisfying is that to you as an artist?
We’ve been very pleased and also relieved quite a bit. It’s a nerve racking experience creating something that you are very proud of, but you have no idea what people are going to think of it. One real worry was that people criticized us about having a lot of the material being available on the internet beforehand, but we haven’t heard much more about it. Overall, we couldn’t be happier with the reaction from the press and especially from the fans.
What do you guys do for fun while out on the road? Who is the practical jokester?
We’re fairly calm, but if I (Dan) see an opportunity for danger, I generally jump on it. We released a DVD with our new album and on hat, there is a clip of me dancing along the edge of the Grand Canyon like a little monkey and we also did that on an iceberg on this tour. Overall, we’re pretty layed back and boring people. There is the occasional, spontaneous meat slap! We were touring Russia and the standard food over there is meat, cheese and bread. We found this big slab of dirty, sweaty meat in the leftovers from our gig. We were on a train ride and Acle was asleep in the top bunk. James gets the slab of meat and slaps it right on Acle’s face. He didn’t wake up immediately, it was couple of seconds, but it gave the meat time to mold to his face. It was so funny! There’s also food fights, but we’re all responsible for those.
I have to ask you about the name of the band and its origin. Anyone dare to explain it?
Well, we could lie to you and say that there is this really deep meaning behind the name, but unfortunately there isn’t. When Acle first formed the band in 2003, he was writing all these cool riffs and he watched a film called Hypercube and heard the word tesseract and thought it was a cool name. It’s as simple as that, but it’s actually a very fitting name for us. Our music is quite complex and if you read into the whole fourth dimension thing, it is kind of mathematical and scientific.
You guys really do have a unique sound. Who would you cite as your influences?
Well, everything from Steely Dan, Pink Floyd and Meshuggah to electronica, Slayer and early Metallica. In between shows, we tend not to listen to a great deal of metal. The last thing you want to do when you get in the van after a show is crank even more metal.
I saw that you guys are up for Best New Band at the 2011 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards. How awesome is that?
It was totally out of the blue for us. We received an email telling us that we had been nominated. Metal Hammer has been really kind to us over the last few years. It was really amazing to be even nominated. We hope all of our fans will go over to www. goldengods.metalhammer.co.uk and vote for us.
Can you tell us what we can expect from you guys in the near future?
We are already working on album number two. We have a few songs that are almost finished and Dan is writing the vocals to them. We have another tour that we are going to be doing here in the states later in the year too. Other than that, we will be travelling and busy on the road.
Well guys, thanks for taking the time to talk to us and we can’t wait to see you perform on this amazing bill with Protest the Hero. Keep knocking them dead out there and stealing the show each night.
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