Metalmania Festival 2009:

Friday, 6th March 2009, Zlin (CZ), Novesta Hall
Saturday, 7th March 2009, Katowice (PL), Spodek Hall

The 23rd edition of the Metalmania Festival - the biggest metal fest in Central-Eastern Europe – will guest over 20 bands that will perform for thousands of metal freaks!!!!

The Metalmania Festival has a long and great history. Running for over 20 years, it has become the biggest and the most important metal festival in Poland and Czech Republic. In the past, the Festival hosted over 300 artists incl.: Megadeth, Testament, Blaze Bayley, Entombed, Destruction, Benedition, Zyklon, Therion, Nevermore, Anathema, Moonspell, Samael, Apocalyptica, Cradle of Filth, Napalm Death, Death, Soulfly, Michael Schenker Group, Tiamat, Morbid Angel, Opeth, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Lacuna Coil, Judas Priest, The Gathering, Dimmu Borgir, Hammerfall, Running Wild, Vital Remains, Fear Factory, Sepultura, Candlemass, Kreator, Overkill, Helloween, Saxon among many others.
The recent edition of the Festival, which took place on the 7th March (in Czech Republic) and 8th March 2008 (in Poland), gathered on one stage such great bands as Megadeth, Dillinger Escape Plan, Satyricon, Overkill, Vader, Immolation, Artillery, Flotsam And Jetsam, and Marduk, to name a few. Each edition is very well documented, as the show in Katowice is recorded and released as DVD+CD compilations.

Metalmania Festival is also a perfect place to shoot a live DVD. In the past, such bands as Anathema, Pain, Vital Remains, Blaze Bayley, and Decapitated have released DVDs recorded during their shows in Poland. The forthcoming DVDs of Artillery (“One Foot in the Grave, The Other One in the Trash”) and Flotsam And Jetsam (“Once in a Deathtime”) feature their performances on the Metalmania Festival’s stage!

Bay Area Rock Promotions is pleased to announce the 2nd annual Bay Area Rock Festival at the Independent in San Francisco on June 27th and 28th 2008. Liquid Tension Experiment and Jeff Scott Soto will headline the premier west coast festival for progressive and melodic music.

In 1998 and 1999, Liquid Tension Experiment released two instrumental albums that set the prog world on fire. The project featured Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci , virtuoso keyboardist Jordan Rudess and bass legend Tony Levin. After the success of the two albums and the project’s undeniable chemistry, Rudess was asked to join Dream Theater full-time and the project was put on the shelf for an indefinite hiatus until now! The quartet has reunited to revisit the magical music they created 10 years ago and tap back into their chemistry for a whole new musical experiment. They are closing out their limited tour on Saturday night as the headliner of the festival.

Jeff Scott Soto headlines the first night of the festival, bringing his talented mix of rock, metal and funk back to San Francisco after recently fronting Journey. Joining him onstage for a special guest appearance will be Dave Meniketti and Phil Kennemore from Y&T, as well as Eric Martin.

Returning to the festival for a 2nd year are Bay Area bands Enchant and Zero Hour. Zero Hour is debuting their new album “The Dark Deceiver” available on Sensory Records. Making their North American debut Saturday night is Netherlands prog metal sensation Sun Caged. The Rocket Scientists with special guest Lana Lane will be appearing on Friday night. Additional bands will be announced at a later date.

Tickets for the festival will be on sale Sunday May 4th at Tickets.com. 2 day discounted festival passes will be available as well as single day tickets. Only 500 tickets will be made available. For more details visit www.bayarearockfest.com or www.independentsf.com

A reward has been offered for a giant inflatable pig which floated into the Californian desert during a concert by ex-Pink Floyd star Roger Waters.

Organisers of the Coachella Festival have put up a $10,000 (£5,090) bounty, plus tickets for life, for its return.

The pig, which is the width of two buses, has a checked ballot box for US presidential hopeful Barack Obama painted on its underbelly.

Waters said “that’s my pig” as it drifted away during Sunday’s gig.

The animal’s flanks bear the slogans “fear builds walls” and “don’t be led to the slaughter”, with a cartoon of Uncle Sam holding two meat cleavers.

Coachella spokeswoman Marcee Rondan said: “It wasn’t really supposed to happen that way.

“People are putting search teams together to find this pig.

“But it may never be seen again,” she added, saying the inflatable was likely to lose air as its journey continued.

The pig was tethered to the ground with ropes and floated away as Waters was playing one of the versions of Pink Floyd song Pigs.

The group have used inflatable pigs during their concerts in the past, and the lost animal was the same prototype as all the others, according to Ms Rondan.

The festival are asking for anyone with any information about the pig to contact them on lostpig@coachella.com.

The Par Lindh Project Live in Poland DVD will be released worldwide in May of 2008 by Metal Mind Productions. The all-instrumental set was recorded live in Katowice, Poland in November of 2007. The show features both classic as well as new PLP material. Metal Mind will also be issuing a deluxe package of the DVD that comes with an audio-only version of the concert on CD.

The line-up on Live in Poland is:
Par Lindh, keyboards
William Kopecky, basses
Svetlan Raket, drums

Contraphonic is pleased to announce the launch of Little Hell - phase two of our Chicago Sound Series. Little Hell, the companion component to the Sound Series’ “A Lot You Got to Holler” section, brings together Chicago-based musicians and artists to create works that focus on a particular place, event, neighborhood, or moment across Chicago’s broad history. The end result is a portrait of Chicago through the medium of sound.

For the first Little Hell release, Contraphonic presents Apathy of a Cow: Chicago’s Little Hell: a musical meditation on the historic Little Hell neighborhood by Chicago-based drummer and composer Frank Rosaly. A stalwart on the Chicago Free Music and Free Jazz scenes, Rosaly has performed with the likes of Peter Brotzmann, Ken Vandermark, Jeff Parker, Von Freeman, Tobin Summerfield, Mantana Roberts, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, and a multitude of who’s who of the modern avant-music scene.

For Apathy of a Cow, Rosaly presents electroacoustic sounds and manipulated field recordings that evoke the simmering intensity of what was once known as Little Hell - Chicago’s roughest late 19th-early 20th century tenement. Available as a digital-only release, and for sale now in the ContraStore (iTunes coming soon), Apathy of a Cow comes with a free downloadable booklet with an accompanying history of the neighborhood and exclusive photos. Read, listen and learn why this neighborhood was feared as the “the plague spot of North Division.”

News from John Bollenberg regarding the Symforce festival:

It is with great pleasure that I can announce you the final two names which will perform at the 2nd edition of the Symforce festival to be held at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland

First of all the rumoured “mystery act” which will play it’s world premiere at the festival is the band PBII. This new band consists of three ex-members of the Dutch band Plackband augmented with a new bassplayer. After no less than thirty years Plackband has played it’s final concert on4th april as support to Arena. Although still using Genesis and Yes influences, also tendencies towards Frost and Mahavishnu Orchestra will be added to the new approach. For the very first time ever PBII will take to the stage, an opportunity not to be missed

With their debut album “Building an empire” pencilled in for a 19th may release, French band Demians sets out to become one of the major new discoveries of the last ten years. Spotted by an enthusiastic Steve Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield), interest in this band has risen tremendously. And rightfully so as their music really covers lots of ground showing great depth and professionalism throughout. In fact Demians is the nom de plume for Nicolas Chapel who writes all of the music, plays all the instruments and even goes as far as to mix and produce the album and even draw and design the artwork for the sleeve ! For live purposes Nicolas brings along three extra ace musicians so they can easily deliver their outstanding music. Demians will perform in between Textures and Pain of Salvation in the main hall

So the full line-up for the second edition of the Symforce festival looks as follows :

Main Hall :

Opeth (sweden) (play exclusive full two hour show)
Pain of Salvation (sweden) (play exclusive full two hour show)
Demians (france) (first every appearance in Holland)
Textures (holland) (play an exclusive progressive set)

Small Hall :

Alquin (holland) (sold out the small hall by themselves in 2007)
Magic Pie (norway) (first ever concert outside of Norway with the new singer)
The Watch (italy) (bring real Moog and Mellotron)
PBII (holland) (hot in the footsteps of Plackband this fourpiece delivers it’s world premiere)

Batcave :

Hypnos 69 (belgium) (no doubt one of Belgium’s best kept prog secrets)
Solstice (england) (going strong for over 20 years featuring stunning female vocal acrobatics and fiddle)
Quantum Fantay (belgium) (they continue where Ozric Tentacles left off)
Kriminal Hammond Inferno (belgium) (Hammond & drums dressed to kill whilst focussing on Italian underground themes. Morricone eat your heart out)

News from the band Frogg Cafe:

“The original line-up of the band is in the studio right now recording our 4th studio album. Last month we laid down the foundation tracks for tunes called Terra Sancta (Sussman), From the Fence (Lieto), and Move Over I’m Driving (Lieto) and in mid-May we are going to attempt to lay down guitarist’s Frank Camiola’s latest epic called Belgian Boogie Board. You won’t be spinning “Boogie Board” at your grandmother’s 90th birthday party unless you tragically want it to end early. Hold onto your Charles Ives knickers for this one.

“This is the longest break we’ve ever taken from playing live shows and we definitely miss it. But it has given us the freedom to concentrate on this CD which we are having a blast creating for you. I’m sure that once this CD is done we’ll be able to play some shows as long as we get some prog fans who don’t mind changing a diaper or two for us in the parking lot. And NO, it’s not for our drummer. How dare you. He may be old, but he is spry.”

When the lights go up, the hum of the endless road is lost to the unmistakable strains of those twin-lead guitars and the cheers of the crowd. Life on the road has seduced Andy Powell and Wishbone Ash for 39 years. The band is in the midst of a six-month tour to promote two releases: The Power of Eternity, a studio recording featuring the current lineup; and a DVD and double-live CD soundtrack, Wishbone Ash Live in Hamburg, recorded in 2007 at Germany’s famed club, The Fabrik.

Dubbed the “Eternity Tour,” it has brought the band to many familiar stomping grounds in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States. The upcoming leg of the U.S. tour begins on May 4 at the Rites of Spring prog-rock festival in Phoenixville, PA. Other dates include a live performance from the XM Satellite studio in Washington, D.C. and an encore appearance at the Ramshead Tavern in Annapolis, MD, before the group heads West to Las Vegas, California and the Pacific Northwest, finishing with a stop in Vancouver.

The lineup of twin axemen Andy Powell and Muddy Manninen, bassist Bob Skeat and drummer Joe Crabtree will deliver performances chock-full of current and future classics, including tracks from The Power of Eternity, released in the United Kingdom on Talking Elephant Records and worldwide through Sanctuary Records. Recently, Talking Elephant released two compilations from its Wishbone Ash catalog: ‘Tough,’ showcasing the rockin’ side of the band; and ‘Tender,’ featuring mellow tunes for when it’s time to unwind.

Wishbone Ash Live in Hamburg is the band’s ultimate video performance to date. The DVD clocks in at more than two hours of concert performance, plus an extensive interview with founding member Andy Powell joined by Muddy Manninen.

Formed in October 1969, Wishbone Ash was gigging by 1970. The band garnered notice in the early days for a unique blend of blues, jazz and English folk. But it was the way the guitars played melodic leads together that would become Wishbone Ash’s trademark, inspiring such bands as Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden. Throughout the years, many notable musicians have contributed their talents to the band, including Asia’s John Wetton, Trevor Bolder from David Bowie’s Spiders From Mars and Uriah Heep, and Laurie Wisefield, who would later play guitar for Joe Cocker and Tina Turner.

Wishbone Ash has released nearly 40 albums and six DVDs, performed on five continents, and received worldwide acclaim. The band regularly plays more than 150 shows a year, delivering the goods to an ever-growing number of appreciative fans of all ages.

Michael Piper, a longtime fixture on the progressive music scene via his New York-based music mail-order service The Wild Places, passed away recently after a lengthy illness. Michael also was known for his support of and connections with the band Porcupine Tree, from the group’s formative stages through present day. Additionally, Michael was one of the few Americans to be closely connected with “Mr. Doctor” of Italian progressive project Devil Doll. He will be missed.

The pioneering music group Curved Air is reuniting for a tour in 2008. A series of concerts have been arranged from June and include the Isle of Wight Festival on Friday, June 13. The lineup sees iconic vocalist Sonja Kristina teaming up again with other founding members Darryl Way and Florian Pilkington Miksa.

Curved Air, originally formed in 1969, was a groundbreaking progressive art-rock band renowned for the showmanship of individual musicians. Each member pushed the boundaries of possibilities for rock music performance; Darryl Way, with his flamboyant virtuoso exploration of electric violin, Francis Monkman’s brilliant innovative sound manipulation of synthesizers and fiery intricate guitar playing, and Florian’s expressive approach to rock drumming. Vocalist Sonja Kristina won the hearts of a generation of music lovers and was voted top British Female Vocalist of the 70’s.
Three ‘top twenty’ albums that this lineup released are generally regarded as classics, with “Back Street Luv” reaching the ‘top ten’ singles chart.

Of the reunion, Darryl said, “I’m very excited to be performing again with Sonja and Florian and looking forward to meeting faithful fans and maybe creating some new ones along the way.”

As for future plans, he continued, “Curved Air in the early 70s was very much at the cutting edge of new technologies for the production of music, with its use of synths and sequencers. Since that time, music technology has developed and matured in almost unimaginable ways; it should be really exciting and great fun to come back after all these years and have so many new toys to play with.”

Sonja Kristina, who is currently recording and performing with composer Marvin Ayres as MASK, (www.myspace.com/maskuk) is honored to re-unite with her Curved Air band mates to celebrate the legend and legacy of their unique sound and times. A new Curved Air CD produced by Darryl Way will be released in June 2008 including fresh recordings of classic and new tracks. Also, plans to tour Japan in the autumn are currently in the works.

For more information:
www.CurvedAir.com