What truly is progressive music? Each month BraveWords will aim to dissect that answer with a thorough overview of the current musical climate that is the prog world. Old and new, borrowed and blue. A musical community without borders. So watch for a steady and spaced-out array of features, current news and a buyer’s guide checklist to enhance the forward-thinking musical mind. So, welcome to BraveWords’ monthly column appropriately titled, Between A Rock In A Prog Place.
In this month’s column, Solstice‘s Andy Glass discusses the group’s new LP, Clann, as well as the current state of prog, playing alongside a Jethro Tull veteran, and future plans.
How does Clann compare to the previous few Solstice albums, Light Up and Sia?
I’ve felt inspired from the moment I started working with Jess on Sia, yet immediately understood it would take a trilogy of albums to really start producing our best work. I feel like the three albums bear that out. By the time we made Light Up, Jess had been singing live with the band for a couple of years, and you can hear the growth in her voice and delivery. By the time we made Clann, we were fully formed as a unit and we’d worked through the whole album live before getting stuck into recording it. Once we had the tracks down, my focus moved to raising my production game and I think both these things play into the results. To be honest, I was a little nervous about some of the song choices but early responses have reassured me they were just fine. It’s a bit of a ‘prog’ sandwich, isn’t it?
What do you recall about the writing and recording of the song “Firefly”?
I wrote it soon after completing Light Up. I’m a huge fan of Exploring Birdsong and, in particular, Lynsey Ward’s beautiful voice. They in turn are fans of Agent Fresco, so I gave them a listen. Firefly came right out of the feeling their music gave me. There’s actually an outtake from Shaun Blake’s ‘New Light’ documentary that covers this [which can be viewed here].
Which songs are you most proud of from a prog point of view?
I find ‘prog’ a little hard to define if I’m honest, but I’d say Frippa has a lot packed into it, and it came from a riff that suddenly made me feel I was channeling Fripp. The song I’m most proud of, prog or not, is “Twin Peaks.” It carries a lot of the emotional weight I’d felt while writing the song, and that can be a rare thing.
You’re the last original member of the band, was there ever a point that you were concerned prog was approach extinction?
I can’t say I was, at least not since the band formed in 1980. We didn’t set out to be any particular genre or with any agenda other than to enjoy making music and playing some free festivals. The ‘success’ of the early ‘80s seemed entirely accidental but, boy, we had a good time! Having said that, he first band I saw live as a 14 year old was Yes, so you can imagine the impact that had on me, and when punk became a huge thing in ’76, I was appalled. I think I worried then that we’d never hear good music again, progressive or otherwise.
Original Jethro Tull drummer Clive Bunker was in the band for a spell. How was it playing with him, and do you agree he is quite an overlooked rock drummer?
We’d been friends for a while and met through Mick Abrahams, the original JT guitarist, who happened to live close by. Clive’s a lovely human being and a fantastic drummer. I’ve always felt he was greatly admired. He got up and played with us at Cropredy in 2023. We hadn’t played together in 25 years, and he only found out which song we were doing on the day. He smashed it, of course [consult the ‘Classic Clip’ at the end of this month’s column for the proof].
How would you compare the prog scene today to the ‘80s?
More vibrant than ever! I couldn’t believe it when we started playing again in the ‘noughties’ to find that Jerry Ewing had started Prog Magazine. The prog audience are the best in the world, there’s a huge network of fans, channels, magazines, social media groups, festival and concert promoters nearly all of whom are involved entirely through love of the music. And I feel driven to get Solstice on the radar of ALL of these good people! In the ’80s, prog was about as unfashionable with the media as it could possibly be…which was a badge of honor as far as I was concerned. And it didn’t matter when there was this great clan of young people enjoying the bands who had made their home the Marquee Club, London.
Who are some modern artists you feel are doing quality work?
Oh, there’s some extraordinary young ‘prog’ bands coming through and it’s thrilling. Exploring Birdsong from the UK and Oddleaf from France to name just two. Then there’s superb established acts like Big Big Train and Lazuli and many more besides. Prog’s in excellent shape!
Future plans?
The Clann tour runs April 5th-20th, which is a bit of experiment in how much money we lose and whether we can afford to more in the future. Meanwhile we’re continuing to book one-off festivals and concerts for 2025/6. When the Clann tour finishes I’ll start writing the next album. Onward and upward!
Between A Rock And A Prog Place News Blast
Big Big Train are in the midst of a North American tour, for which tickets can be purchased via their official site. The Flower Kings will be issuing a new studio LP on May 2nd, entitled LOVE, and its new single/video, “How Can You Leave Us Now!?”, can be enjoyed below.
Prog supergroup Cosmic Cathedral – which includes Neal Morse (Transatlantic), Chester Thompson (Genesis), Phil Keaggy (Glass Harp), and Byron House (session player with Robert Plant, Dolly Parton, etc,) – will be issuing their debut album, Deep Water, this month. Imminent Sonic Destruction will not only be issuing a new album, Floodgate, this month, but also will be launching a North American tour.
Italian proggers Benthos issue a new album this month, From Nothing, and you can see/hear their latest single/video, “Let Me Plunge,” below. French prog metallists Altesia will be issuing their third album overall, The Somnambulist, will be issued on June 13, while the single/video “Her Ghost In Limbo” is available for viewing.
Prog metallists Empyrean Sanctum return this month with Detachment from Reality, which is available for pre-order. And lastly, on July 4th, Visions of Atlantis will be issuing a physical edition of their live album, Armada Live Over Europe, which is also indeed avialble for pre-order.
April 2025 New Albums
April 4
McStine and Minnemann- Survive
Mike + the Mechanics- Looking Back: Living the Years (2LP vinyl reissue)
Solstice- Clann
April 11
Benthos- From Nothing
Epica- Aspiral
The Mars Volta- Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos del Vacio
April 12 (Record Store Day)
David Gilmour- Between Two Points (12″ Vinyl)
Geddy Lee- The Lost Demos (12″ Vinyl)
Jethro Tull- Songs From the Vault: 1975-1978 (2LP)
Alan Parsons Project- I Robot: Work in Progress
Roger Waters- The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux: Live
Yes- Live at the Rainbow, London, England 12/16/1972 (3LP)
April 14
Hawkwind- There Is No Space for Us
April 18
Empyrean Sanctum- Detachment from Reality
Lux Terminus- Cinder
April 25
Cosmic Cathedral: Deep Water
Imminent Sonic Destruction: Floodgate
Classic Clip
Earlier, Solstice’s Andy Glass claimed that original Jethro Tull drummer Clive Bunker “smashed it” upon sitting in with the group in 2023. And as evidenced by this clip shot at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention that year, he was not fibbing…
Source: bravewords.com
