In our ongoing mission to promote grass roots progressive music of a wide variety of styles, plus to further integrate the magazine and our digital presence, we're now introducing people to the Limelight and Prog Around The World bands for each issue, via the website, and through our social channels.
Prog magazine runs four Limelight features every issue – these are normally up and coming bands taking their initial steps on the ladder to success. And, as its title implies, Prog Around The World shines the spotlight on a band from other shores that we feel is deserving of your attention.
You can read these features in the magazine, Here we'll be precising the information for you but more importantly giving you links to follow and music that you can actually listen to while you check the bands out.
You can also hear music from all these bands played on Progzilla Radio throughout the month.
These bands represent the future of progressive music. Your support is essential. Enjoy...
Moundrag - heavy sounds from French brothers-in-prog with no strings attached
Moundrag are French brothers Colin and Camille Goallen who specialise is powerful organ-led progressive rock not dissimilar to the legendary Atomic Rooster in full flight...
“We may be the only band in France that plays with just an organ and drums,” says drummer Colin. “For many people, the first time they hear us, it's a real shock! People think they’re hearing lots of instruments,” adds Colin, “but there’s no guitar or bass; it’s just the distortion of the organ with pedals and a lot of amps.”
PROG FILE
LINE-UP: Colin Moundrag – Drums, Camille Moundrag - Organ
SOUNDS LIKE: Deep Purple if they were a fearsome two piece from Brittany and Richie Blackmore had gone awol travelling
CURRENT RELEASE: Hic Sunt Moundrages (Dionysiac Records)
WEBSITE: https://moundrag.bandcamp.com/
EBB - gutsy, authentic and multi-faceted rock from these Scottish proggers
EBB have been basking in the warmth of the hugely positive reception for new album, Mad And Killing Time. Its central tale of how love can be found between the most unexpected people in the most bizarre circumstances is told through a winning combination of eclectic storytelling and strong mutli-textured song-writing.
“God, we have had incredible receptions from various different online and print publications, good, great, really killer reviews,” guitarist and vocalist Erin Bennett enthuses. “People have really listened to it from beginning to end, which is what we wanted. It’s like a film that takes you on a journey,”
PROG FILE
LINE-UP: Kitty Biscuits (Percussion, BVs, Spoken Word), Anna Fraser (Drums, Percussion), Bad Dog (Bass), Suna Dasi (Synths, BVs), Erin Bennett (Guitars, Lead Vocals, Trumpet), Nikki Francis (Keyboards, woodwind).
SOUNDS LIKE: Late 70s Heart gone prog, channelling a gritty, earthier early Crimson
CURRENT RELEASE: Mad And Killing Time is out now on Boudicca Records
WEBSITE: www.ebbband.com
Cabiria - epic and ambitious post-rockers... to the power of three
Blending elements of post-rock and prog-metal with brooding atmospherics and fragile ambiance, London-based instrumental trio Cabiria have been working hard to build their profile since the COVID lockdowns. They even found space for the organ of Brecon Cathedral, (courtesy of special guest, Jon Pilgrim)!
“We've been working to strip away as much of the fat as possible and focus on writing in the room with each other, as opposed to having something that's sort of incoherent in a live context. Otherwise, it’s just riffs and time signatures and technicalities,” explains guitarist Rory Padfield.
PROG FILE
LINE-UP: Kye Phillips (drums), Stu Harris (bass), Rory Padfield (guitar)
SOUNDS LIKE: Russian Circles meets Rush at their noisiest amidst cinematic, post-rock soundscapes
CURRENT RELEASE: Rust And Grey out now. Self-released on Bandcamp
WEBSITE: https://cabiriaofficial.bandcamp.com/album/rust-grey
Wizrd - Soft Ffog and Krokofant musicians team up for unpredictable prog-psych joy
Wizrd are an Oslo-based four-piece comprised of members of Soft Ffog, Krokofant and Megalodon Collective, who have known each other since they all attended the Jazz Conservatory in Trondheim together, and who specialise in a heady mix of jazz, prog and psych.
"I actually founded the band for my graduating exam,” grins bassist/vocalist Hallvard Gaardløs. "I just wanted to merge rock and jazz. Rock is my roots, that’s where I’m from, but we also had this interest in jazz, improvisational music and experimental music, and we wanted to fuse those things into one.”
PROG FILE
LINE-UP: Hallvard Gaardløs (bass/vocals), Karl Bjorå (guitar/vocals), Vegard Lien Bjerkan (keyboards/vocals), Axel Skalstad (drums)
SOUNDS LIKE: Jazz rock, angular prog and rootsy psych collide, with harmony vox galore
CURRENT RELEASE: Seasons is out now via Karisma
WEBSITE: wizrd.bandcamp.com
Shell Beach - the rising, genre-straddling Hungarian quintet with a familial tie to one of their country's music giants
"We have a lot of great new bands here in Budapest," Shell Beach guitarist Pali Somlo tells Prog, "but I think you can out most of them into a genre - some are indie rock bands, others are heavy metal - I think they still try to copy their favourites."
"We come from a lot of different influences, which is why we're not mainstream. Our guitarist [Victor Sagli] is the best jazz guitarist in Hungary, our bassist [Matyas Mohasci] is a grunge guy and out drummer [Daniel Szalay] is the prog fan in the band. This is why we sound colourful and have very different types of songs."
PROG FILE
LINE-UP: Zoltán Bodóczy (vocals), Pali Somlo (guitarist), Victor Sagli (guitar), Matyas Mohasci bass), Daniel Szalay (drums)
SOUNDS LIKE: Dancing between post-hardcore, alternative and experimental rock
CURRENT RELEASE: Solar Flare is out now through Wild Thing Records
WEBSITE: shellbeachband.com
