Time for an update!

Spring is on the way to Sweden (at last). the snow is finally melting! Happy days!

Well, what's going on?

It's fun to be a Marillion fan at the moment - the countdown to conventions has begun. Can't wait to book our tickets for the Dutch convention.

Details at www.marillionweekend.com

Also, Discs 2 and 3 of last years convention are available to order from www.marillion.com

What else? Maze of Time are busy mixing their 3rd CD at present. I'm hoping to meet up with the guys in the band soon for a few beers...

www.mazeoftime.com

RPWL have a new album out at present - it's called Beyond Man and Time and I think it's excellent - www.rpwl.de

Gazpacho have a new album out too. It's call "March of Ghosts" Check out their homepage

On a sad note, the Reasoning's guitarist Owain Roberts went missing on Saturday morning - no one has seen or heard from him since - If you see him anywhere contact the police - Here are the details.

A New Purpose

It's very eventful in the life of this prog music lover at present. Firstly, I want to wish Marillion keyboard player Mark Kelly a speedy recovery from his sudden hearing loss. I speak for many fans and friends when I say that Mark has helped to provide a soundtrack to our lives with his work with Marillion - You mean an awful lot to us and to music itself Mark - Get well soon!

Marillion are now well into planning their world tour and there are 5 dates in Scandinavia. I've got my tickets for Oslo already. Bergen and Stockholm are also on my attend list. Can't wait.

Me and Mrs L are off to Dublin in a couple of weeks time to see The Aussie Pink Floyd in concert. Can't wait for this - Pink Floyd music and Dublin - two of my favourite things! I could live in Ireland in a heartbeat, you wouldn't have to ask me twice! The place and the people are just awesome!

Also, while we are in Ireland a friend and legend among Marillion fans is coming down from Northern Ireland to meet up with us for a evening. James is his name, known in Marillion circles as the guy would jumped on stage at a Marillion gig in Northern Ireland and sung Easter arm and arm with H - Legend! - Looking forward to meeting him and his lovely wife!

I've been helping Swedish Proggers Maze Of Time to raise their profile since the new year. It's been very successful! They are getting airplay at last on various internet radio stations and their FB page was increased from 16 likes on 29/12/11 to 141 likes today :) I must have done something right because the band have asked me to manage them, a task I will not take lightly - failure is not an option! I'm presently sniffing around to get them a support spot with a better known band to give them a better fan exposure! Two possibles are in the mix, if either one could be pulled off, it would be beyond my wildest dreams!

I'll soon be off to meet up with Maze of Time and film them in rehearsal, might even get them to spill some info about their forthcoming album Masquerade Show due out this autumn.

All this has kept me busy, so I have avoided my yearly winter depression, despite the fact that it's bitterly cold and got down to an awful -28.2C last weekend. Still, it's getting lighter every night. I comfort myself by remembering that winter isn't as hard as it thinks it is. It beaten away by something as fragile as spring!

Visit the Maze of Time Page on FB and press like.. if you have the time :)

Cheers!

Marillion to tour Scandinavia after an 8 year gap

Here are details of the first leg of Marillion's European tour 2012

Date	City	Venue	Tickets
23 July Mon	Amsterdam Holland	Paradiso	TBC
24 July Tues	Amsterdam Holland	Paradiso	TBC
25 July Weds	Hamburg Germany	Markthalle	TBC
27 July Fri	Copenhagen Denmark	Amager Bio	TBC
28 July Sat	Gothenburg Sweden	Tragarn	TBC
29 July Sun	Stockholm Sweden	Debaser	TBC
31 July Tues	Oslo Norway	Rockefeller	TBC
1 Aug Weds	Bergen Norway	Ricks	TBC

Groups well worth checking out

I have certain bands I champion. Everybody knows I am a huge Marillion fan, but I like other stuff too. Here is a list of bands that you should really check out

Sylvan - www.sylvan.de

Brilliant German neo prog band - new album Sceneries out now

RPWL - www.RPWL.de

Another German band - new album out in March

Marllion - www.marillion.com

Find a better way of life - lots of solo stuff out at present, plus new Marillion album and world tour this year!

Also Eden - www.alsoeden.com

UK prog outfit, excellent stuff - New album Think Of the Children is superb!

Maze Of Time - www.mazeoftime.com

Sweden Neo prog band - just discovered them, Their new album is out this autumn

DeeExpus - http://www.deeexpus.com

Mark Kelly on Keyboards on their new album. Both their albums are stunning!

The Reasoning - www.thereasoning.com

New EP coming soon!

Interesting times in Prog!

The past couple of weeks have been more than interesting! I've been taken back to a time when I used to work in the music industry (before the Internet came along and killed it!). Three years ago I move up here to Järbo from a little village called Grillby. My then neighbour and good friend informed me that a guitarist had moved in next door from a prog band a few months back. He posted this video on my FB wall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DUSfkdVRdk

The rest is history - I was well impressed (and I little sorry I moved away!) - The guitarist is Robert Edman, the band Maze of Time. They are a 5 piece Neo Prog outfit with a style not unlike that of Also Eden, with a touch of a Genesis / early Marillion edge to them.

My ex-neighbour arranged a meet at his place along with drummer Thomas Nordh. We got involved in conversation about upping the bands status. I told them I'd happily do what I could via Facebook and friends to help. Well it paid off - 16 likes on their FB page is currently 79 and rising daily!

Some of my friends have already bought MOT CD's, but I spotted a huge "black hole" in their European distribution, Amazon were selling their first CD at £22 labelled as an import and the other as download only. So I can now offer MOT fans their first 2 CD's "Tales From The Maze" and "Lullaby For Heroes" directly from me - Prices are 10 Euros each plus 2 euros P&P. I should have stock from their record label next week :)

For those who don't know the band - Check out their page on FB here. Don't forget to "Like" it! their 3rd album is now recorded - awaiting mixing at present - release date to follow around April or May with any luck! :)

The album "Tales From The Maze" is on Spotify for those who would like to listen first - you won't be disappointed!

Give me a shout if you want to order, payment by paypal :) - they are simply progtastic! :)

Review - Sylvan "Sceneries"

I have been waiting all year for this one. Sylvan are a 5 piece German band in the Neo progressive genre who have been making music since the release of Deliverance in 1991. Sceneries is their 8th studio album.

Image this if you can - a double album with only 5 tracks, the shortest of which is 14 minutes long. The other 4 tracks are all around 20 minute mark. Each track is split into 3 or 4 chapters or movements. This is an album of "epics." The 5 tracks are all stunning and lyrically brilliant, Marco's vocals delivers emotion and in combination of Volker's melodic paino playing is spine tingling! Jan's guitar playing on this album in the same vein as Steve Rothery or David Glimour. Wonderful soaring melodic guitar solos throughout. This album is truly stunning, a prog music lovers dream! Although I only received my copy of Christmas eve and can without doubt say this is the best prog release of 2011! It's a must for every music lovers collection. - Stand out track for me is "Share the world with me"

You can buy this and Sylvan's other releases here www.sylvan.de