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 The Flower Kings share new single “The Great Pretender” from upcoming album ‘By Royal Decree’ Photo: Lillian ForsbergProg icons The Flower Kings recently announced the release of their 15th studio album ‘By Royal Decree’, set for March 4th, 2022. Now, the band are pleased to share the first single from the album “The Great Pretender.” The album is now available for pre-order.Check out the new track here: https://youtu.be/3IyGvwYhvTY‘By Royal Decree’ Tracklisting 1.The Great Pretender (6:55) 2.World Gone Crazy (5:04) 3.Blinded (7:45) 4.A Million Stars (7:11) 5.The Soldier (5:23) 6.The Darkness In You (5:13) 7.We Can Make It Work (2:48) 8.Peacock On Parade (5:15) 9.Revolution (5:59) 10.Time The Great Healer (6:12) 11.Letter (2:25) 12.Evolution (4:47) 13.Silent Ways (5:01) 14.Moth (4:31) 15.The Big Funk (4:39) 16.Open Your Heart (5:17) 17.Shrine (1:08) 18.Funeral Pyres (7:14) ‘By Royal Decree’ will be available as Ltd. 2CD Digipak, as Ltd. 180g 3LP+2CD Box Set as well as Digital Album. You can pre-order the album now here: https://theflowerkings.lnk.to/ByRoyalDecree  The band are back at their most creative, flowery and playful – mirroring the 70’s melting pot of folk, symphonic, electronic, jazz, blues, funk & prog. On the new album they have looked for more organic and vintage sounds, still centered around the foundation of drums, bass, guitars and the iconic Hammond, grand piano, mellotron & Moog synthesizers.The album also sees the return of founding member Michael Stolt, who takes up bass guitar and vocals, alongside the line-up of Mirko DeMaio on drums, Zach Kamins on keyboards, Hasse Fröberg on vocal & guitar and Roine Stolt on vocal & guitars and Jonas Reingold on bass. The band convened in the middle of 2021 at Fenix Studios in Sweden to record through the fully analogue Rupert Neve mixing desk. The album also features beautiful cover art, once again created by Denver-based artist Kevin Sloan. Next year’s tour will also see the band revisiting their early years, performing tracks from ‘Retropolis’, ‘Stardust We Are’, ‘Flower Power’, ‘Space Revolver’ and ‘Back In The World Of Adventures’. This will coincide with the release of newly remastered editions of The Flower Kings albums on CD & Vinyl later in 2022. The first confirmed live dates are as follows: 30th March 2022 – Katalin, Uppsala, Sweden 31st March 2022 – Musikens Hus, Gothenburg, Sweden 1st April 2022 – Södra Teatern, Stockholm, Sweden 1-7th May 2022 – Cruise To The Edge, USA 11th May 2022 – TBA, Quebec City, Canada 12th May 2022 – TBA, Montreal, Canada 14th July 2022 – Rootsfestival, Notodden, Norway 4th Sept 2022 – HRH Festival , UK THE FLOWER KINGS online: https://www.roinestolt.com/ http://www.facebook.com/TheFlowerKings https://www.instagram.com/roinestolt8112/ https://www.facebook.com/pale.rider.127 INSIDEOUT MUSIC online: www.insideoutmusic.com www.insideoutmusic.store www.youtube.com/InsideOutMusicTV www.facebook.com/InsideOutMusic www.twitter.com/InsideOutUSA http://spotify.com/progrockessentials |
Tag Archives: Roie Avin
Troika’s First Video, JULIA
Nick D’Virgilio, Neal Morse & Ross Jennings share first single and video for “Julia” from debut album  Nick D’Virgilio (Big Big Train, ex-Spock’s Beard), Neal Morse (Transatlantic, NMB, ex-Spock’s Beard), and Ross Jennings (Haken, Novena) are pleased to announce their debut album titled ‘Troika’ will be released on Feb 25th, 2022. The album is now available for pre-order here:https://dvirgiliomorsejennings.lnk.to/Troika Today, the band is also sharing the album’s first single “Julia”. You can watch the video by Christian Rios here: https://youtu.be/Y31eVTnMIxIRoss had this to say about the track: “With my original demo clocking in at around the 8-minute mark and possibly leaning too close to ‘prog epic’ than the singer/songwriter vibe we were attempting to present on this record, Neal arranged my lengthy ballad into something more concise, in-keeping with the album’s essence and writing in a powerful new chorus in the process! “This one was all about the 3-part vocal harmony interplay and ‘pull-at-the-heartstring’ lyrics which deals with themes of regret and forgiveness in the context of a broken father-daughter relationship.” – Ross Jennings  Tracklisting:1.Everything I Am (5:43) 2. Julia (6:07) 3. You Set My Soul On Fire (3:22) 4. One Time Less (4:53) 5. Another Trip Around The Sun (4:39) 6. A Change Is Gonna Come (4:24) 7. If I Could (4:02) 8. King For A Day (5:47) 9. Second Hand Sons (4:43) 10. My Guardian (3:43) 11. What You Leave Behind (4:16) ‘Troika’ will be available as Ltd. CD Edition / Gatefold 2LP+CD / Digital Album. Each format includes a bonus alternative version of the track ‘Julia’ and is available for pre-order here: https://dvirgiliomorsejennings.lnk.to/TroikaRecorded during lockdown, the process began with Neal Morse writing some acoustic songs that he thought would be enhanced by strong vocal harmonies. He already knew how well his voice blended with former Spock’s Beard band-mate and Big Big Train drummer/ vocalist, Nick D’Virgilio who came on board and, considering a third man, the Americans sought out Haken’s Ross Jennings from the UK to complete the trio. All three found they had songs that would benefit from the three part harmonic blend, and so they pooled their resources, inputting creatively into each others compositions. Neal comments: “What a great pleasure it’s been to work on this album with these amazing artists! It was kind of funny… We had been working on the songs remotely for several months before I finally heard all of us singing together at the same time. The first time I brought the faders up, I knew we had the magic!“ Nick adds: “I’ve known and worked with Neal for over 30 years and I’ve been a big fan of Ross and the music he makes for a long time. I felt confident right away that this would be a fun project to be a part of. I was so right.” Ross comments: “Receiving ‘The Call’ from Neal to participate in this project was somewhat of a prayer answered… As a long time fan of their work, I’ve been singing along to Neal’s & Nick’s records for years, so it felt really natural for my voice to slot right in.” The tracks took shape with the musicians recording all of the music and vocals separately, yet the eclectic performances burst with the energy and excitement of the collaboration. Acoustic anthems, charged rockers and sensitive ballads are all part of the mix, and the unique blend of Ross, Neal and Nick’s voices and styles have created an album in which you will encounter these musicians in a way you’ve never heard before.D’Virgilio, Morse & Jennings ONLINE: https://www.facebook.com/ndvofficial/ https://www.nickdvirgilio.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ndvirgilio/ https://twitter.com/NDVmusic https://www.facebook.com/nealmorse/ https://twitter.com/nealmorse https://www.instagram.com/neal_morse_official/ www.rossjennings.co.uk https://www.instagram.com/rossjenningsofficial/ https://www.facebook.com/rossjenningsofficial https://twitter.com/RossWJennings INSIDEOUT MUSIC online: www.insideoutmusic.com www.youtube.com/InsideOutMusicTV www.facebook.com/InsideOutMusic www.twitter.com/InsideOutUSA www.insideoutmusic.store Spotify Prog Rock Playlist |
NMB: “Bird on a Wire” Video
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NMB (Neal Morse Band)– release video for “Bird On A Wire” the second single from ‘Innocence & Danger’  NMB are set to release their much-anticipated fourth studio album ‘Innocence & Danger’, on August 27th, 2021. Today, the band are pleased to share the video for “Bird On A Wire”, the second single taken from the upcoming album.Watch the video for “Bird On A Wire,” created by Christian Rios, here https://youtu.be/Bse9D2yhkwAMike Portnoy says this about the track, “This was the 2nd song we wrote for the new album’s sessions. The main riff & groove stemmed from an idea Randy George brought in and the chorus was something Bill had…and the intro and middle shred riffs were Eric’s…another truly collaborative effort!” Watch the video for the album’s first single “Do It All Again” here: https://youtu.be/PiNt_kQvoag Watch a clip from “The Making of Innocence & Danger” here: https://youtu.be/piRaLvCPbQI ‘Innocence & Danger’, featuring artwork by Thomas Ewerhard (Transatlantic), will be available as: • Limited 2CD+DVD Digipak (featuring a Making Of documentary) • 3LP+2CD Boxset • Standard 2CD Jewelcase • Digital Album Pre-order now here: https://thenealmorseband.lnk.to/InnocenceAndDanger  Tour dates for NMB – ‘An Evening of Innocence & Danger’ are on sale nowacross US and Europe here: https://www.nealmorse.com/2021/06/18/nmbtourdates/ USA 2021 Oct 8th & 9th – Cross Plains, TN – Morsefest 2021 Oct 12th – Seattle, WA – The Triple Door Oct 14th – St Charles, IL – The Arcada Oct 15th – Pontiac, MI – The Crofoot Ballroom Oct 16th – Ft Wayne, IN – Pieres Oct 17th – Cleveland, OH – The Beachland Ballroom Oct 19th – Glenside, PA – The Keswick Theater Oct 20th – Baltimore, MD – Soundstage Oct 21st – Boston, MA – The Sinclair Oct 22nd – New York City, NY – The Sony Theater Europe 2022 May 28th – Madrid, Spain – Teatro Kapital May 29th – Barcelona, Spain – Apolo May 30th – Milan, Italy – Live Club May 31st – Pratteln, Switzerland – Z7 June 2nd – Tilburg, Netherlands – 013 June 3rd – London, England – Shepherds Bush Empire June 4th – Paris, France – Trianon June 5th – Esch Sur Alzette, Luxembourg – Rockhal June 7th – Cologne, Germany – Live Music Hall June 9th – Brno, Czech Republic – Sono June 10th – Krakow, Poland – Studio Club June 11th – Warsaw, Poland – Progresja June 13th – Hamburg, Germany – Markthalle June 15th – Copenhagen, Denmark – Amager Bio June 16th – Gothenburg, Sweden – Pustervik June 17th – Oslo, Norway – Cosmopolite June 18th – Stockholm, Sweden – Lilla Cirkus *** With NMB’s previous two releases being concept albums, it’s perhaps remarkable that Innocence & Danger is a series of unrelated songs, but drummer Mike Portnoy says “After two sprawling back to back double concept albums in a row, it was refreshing to get back to writing a collection of unrelated individual songs in the vein of our first album.” Indeed, making this album came easy to the band; while the initial inspiration came particularly from Bill Hubauer (keyboards) and Randy George (bass), the ideas flowed from everybody from there on, as George recalls: “I am excited about the level of collaboration that we achieved on this one. We even went in with a lot of ideas that weren’t necessarily developed, and I think in the end we have something that represents the best of everybody in the band.” In fact – like its two acclaimed predecessors – Innocence & Danger is a double album by inspiration, rather than design, as Portnoy explains: “As much as we wanted to try and keep it to a single album after having just done two double albums, we wrote so much material that we found ourselves with our third double album in a row! That’s pretty prog!” There is also plenty in Innocence & Danger to excite those prog fans who have a thirst for epics, as Neal Morse explains: “There’s one half hour epic and another that’s about 20 minutes long. I really didn’t realize that they were that long when we were recording them, which I guess is great because if a movie is really good, you don’t realize that it’s three hours long! But there are also some shorter songs: some have poppier elements, some are heavier and some have three part acoustic sections. I’m excited about all of it, really.” NMB (Neal Morse Band) is Neal Morse (vocals, keyboards and guitars) Mike Portnoy (drums, vocals) Randy George (bass) Eric Gillette (guitars, vocals) Bill Hubauer (keyboards, vocals)NMB ONLINE:www.facebook.com/The-Neal-Morse-Band www.instagram.com/thenealmorsebandofficial www.twitter.com/nealmorseband1 INSIDEOUT MUSIC online:www.insideoutmusic.com www.youtube.com/InsideOutMusicTV www.facebook.com/InsideOutMusic www.twitter.com/InsideOutUSA InsideOutMusic.Store Spotify: Prog Metal Playlist Spotify: Prog Rock Playlist |
Music Podcast Roundup
If you aren’t subscribed to Anthony Rowsick’s ProgWatch podcast, you should do it right now! He consistently has informative interviews with all kinds of artists in the progrock arena, as well as featuring the best songs from new and classic prog albums.
Tony’s latest episode is Part One of a two-part interview featuring Glass Hammer’s co-founder and bassist Steve Babb. There are lots of great Glass Hammer songs as well as interesting anecdotes from the early days of this seminal group. You can listen to it the entire show by clicking here.
Meanwhile, over at Roie Avin’s excellent Prog Report, the second part of his Neal Morse Band profile is up. It is an in-depth history of Neal Morse’s career, and definitely worth hearing if you are a fan of Spock’s Beard, Neal Morse, Transatlantic, and Flying Colors (Phew, Neal really gets around!). Click here to listen.
Finally, in case you missed it, the boys at Political Beats, Scott Bertram and Jeff Blehar, discuss the entire Electric Light Orchestra discography with guest Jack Butler in exhaustive detail. And when I say exhaustive detail, I mean 2 hours and 46 minutes’ worth. You can download the episode by clicking here.
I’m interested in hearing from our Spirit Of Cecilia readers if any of you listen to any other music-related podcasts, and how you access them. I still use an iPod nano with iTunes for a lot of my podcast listening, but I also use Castbox on my phone. Are there any podcasting apps that you are especially fond of, like Stitcher or Podbean? Let us know in comments. Happy listening!
Spirit of Cecilia 