OFF: ProgDay report

[Keith Henderson]

Hi Folks...

Yesterday, I returned from a whirlwind 1000 mile trip to Chapel Hill, NC for
the fourth annual ProgDay festival.  Nine bands played over two days, hot
miserable days, but at least that was (slightly) better than the other
possible scenario, i.e., Hurricane Earl, who chose to head out into the
Atlantic just in time.

Well, I had a great time, heard some great music, and (as always) spent more
money than I could afford.  Here's a brief rundown of the bands, in order of
relative 'enjoyment'

1.  Par Lindh Project (Sweden) - the intended Saturday eve. headliner, who
was rescheduled for Sunday aft. when Air France lost their instruments
(temporarily).  For those who don't know, they combine the classical (church
organ-style) with powerful intricate rock music, with blazing guitars and
thundering drums.  Singer/violinist Magdalena Hagberg provides the
'coloratura' vocals...beautiful.

2.  A Piedi Nudi (Italy) - Bands name means 'Naked Feet' (or barefoot), I
presume. I didn't know these guys, but they were very impressive.  Very
diverse group.  They never got too 'cute' with their music (i.e., they mixed
the complex passages with countering 'smooth' melodies), and they've got
wonderfully atmospheric keyboards (a la Richard Barbieri) that other prog
bands don't use.

3.  The Flower Kings (Sweden) - One of the better 'neo-prog' type
bands...nice guitar work from leader Roine Stolt, dual vocalists, nice
compositions that tend to wind around for 10 or 12 minutes each.

4.  Alaska (Pennsylvania) - Very pleasant duo (!) that creates a full sound
that you would expect to need 4-5 people to produce.  Keyboardist was busy
playing bass parts, texture and solos.  Must've been some
sequencing/sampling going on as well. Drummer/singer also played some guitar.

5.  Crucible (Connecticut) - Another neo-prog band.  Nicely done, but then
nothing you haven't heard from Marillion/iQ/Pendragon before.

6. (tie) Discipline (Michigan) - Mix two parts Crimson and one part
Marillion and this is what you get.  Mediocre first 45-min. followed by very
impressive last three songs. Still, I think an overrated group (their latest
seemed to be No. 1 in everybody's Top Ten list for 1997 in prog circles).

6. (tie) Cast (Mexico) - Neo-proggish, but a little different.  Ended up
being the headliner for Saturday by default.  Sounded better than the one
album I have, but nothing really special.  There's nothing about their sound
that would lead anyone to guess that they're from Mexico.

7. Soundscape (Connecticut) - Dream Theatre-style prog metal.  Not very
original, but credibly done.  Singer was ok most of the time, but got a
little screechy at times, as they're oft to do.  (My brother is *really*
into this stuff, so I bought their CD.)

8. Brett Kull (Maryland/Pennsylvania?) - Ex-Echolyn guy playing a short set
of acoustic numbers.  He's got a nice singing voice and has some good songs,
but there's only so much you can do with just yourself and a guitar.

9. Boud Deun (Virginia) - An agressive, instrumental fusion band pretending
to be a prog band.  They started out with a few mellower, simpler numbers
that I liked ok, but the rest of their set left me cold.  Great musicians
(drummer and bassist especially), but they don't seem to know why they're
making music, other than the fact that they can play it *really* well.
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Well, there's my impressions...not really very much on-topic, though I'm
sure a few of you are prog-heads.  The band that would've been the
'space-rock' representative, Hungary's Korai Orom, was forced to cancel
because KLM airlines rescinded their offer of free airfare at the last
minute.  They are a very cool band with a different flavour.  I now have all
three of their CD's, which they don't title (nor do they title the
songs)...I haven't listened to '1995', but '1997' is really very interesting
(and somewhat different from '1996').  Very rhythmic, tribal music with
multiple layers (hell, they've got something like 12 people in the band) of
percussion instruments, spacey guitar and electronics, some trumpet and
other wind instruments, and a bit of chanting vocals here and there.  It's
kinda like techno music ('1996' less so), but with more 'organic'
instrumentation.  So if you like danceable music, but hate the stale
over-sequenced techno/rave music (as I do), this is the band for you.
Hopefully, they'll be offered a spot at ProgDay '99 as they would help break
up the neo-prog onslaught and add colour accordingly (they'll need a bigger
stage though).

So I managed to pull this trip off pretty cheaply in one sense...
$50 for the ticket
$30 for gas
$7.50 for tolls
$16 camping fees
and some money for food that I would've spent anyway.

That was it, except for the $296 I spent on CDs, T-shirts, and a program.
But I got all of the following (mix of new and used discs)...

A Piedi Nudi - Eclissi (their newest...third release)
Akasha - Akasha
|| or 90° - Aftlerlifecycle
Korai Orom - 1995
Korai Orom - 1997
Pulsar - The Strands of the Future
Caravan  - In the Land of Grey and Pink
Message - From Books and Dreams
Soundscape - Discovery
The Enid - Aerie Faerie Nonsense
Circle - Fraten
Gila - Gila
Escapade - Searching for the Elusive Rainbow
New Sun - Affects
Poisoned Electrick Head - The Big Am? Head (can't read my own writing)
Projeckt Two - Space Groove
Alien Planetscapes - Life on Earth (spare copy for trade)
Kingston Wall - Tri-Logy remaster (2CD)  (had to have 'The Real Thing' on disc)

plus
Official ProgDay '98 T-shirt and program
Par Lindh Project T-shirt
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The most interesting and relevant news to folks on boc-l is the upcoming
inaugural NEARFest (NorthEast Art Rock Festival) on June 26-27, 1999 in
Bethlehem, PA (a city I once lived in).  Most of the artists planned
(probably none confirmed at this early stage) for this event are the typical
fare you come to expect from these things (i.e., Mastermind, Finneus Gauge,
Spock's Beard, Alaska).  But when talking to organizer Rob LaDuca (a fellow
chemist), he mentioned that he was talking to Frank Bornemann about bringing
Eloy over for this show!!  Ocean II (their first release in a while) is due
out soon, so perhaps this might become a reality.  Who's in the band these
days...is K-P Matziol still around??

Well, that's about all I have to say about my trip to Carolina.  The trip
home was long and boring (eight and a half straight hours of driving in the
middle of the night), only interrupted by the pack of deer I very nearly
blasted at 50 mph, and the time I nearly fell asleep at the wheel twenty
miles from home.

Keith H.  (FAA)