Does no one want to make Prog Music?

[SubsonicSimpleton]

This just popped up on jmb, might suit the OP

http://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/guitarist-required-and-a-bass-player-chap-t871584.html

Also an ad on partysounds for a prog band seeking a bass player, search for ad reference 141595 (I can't link the ad directly)

http://www.partysounds.co.uk/v3/mca-search.php

Edited May 17, 2016 by SubsonicSimpleton

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='Wolverinebass' timestamp='1463433807' post='3051374']
nobody wants to do progressive material anymore. [/quote]

Is this actually true? I mean, from this thread there is certainly a strong interest.

For what it's worth, I think Progressive Rock is all around us. It is not a cult any more when lots of young bands are routinely pushing the boundaries. Remember that bands who dared to step outside of their promoter's business model were rare. Today it is the norm.

[AndyF]

Hey Kev - say hello, I'll be on the door taking your tickets!

[Wolverinebass]

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1463467693' post='3051489']


Is this actually true? I mean, from this thread there is certainly a strong interest.
[/quote]

You would think so, but it's just not the case if you're interested in the more grunge type end of the spectrum as I am. I'm not really interested in playing the other end though I like listening to it.

In the last 4 months I've found one band I liked that were looking for a bass player and they were in Milton Keynes. Since I live in south east London that wasn't going to work.

Seriously though, have a look. You'll find nothing more than a barren, featureless desert if you're interested in what I am which considering roughly 10% of the UK population live in the greater London area is pathetic. That's why I said nobody wants to do it because if nobody is advertising in the metropolis, considering the population density and diversity, where are the folk who want to play this stuff then?

Oh well, on with the coldplay tribute band then....

[SpondonBassed]

I suppose you are right if you can't find a couple of like minded musicians in that there London. I wouldn't give up if I were you however. It's always hard to find the better things in life but once you do you wonder how you ever overlooked them.

Milton Keynes - does it work for ANYONE? [Puts up an umbrella in case anyone from MK chucks a concrete cowpat this way]

[Earbrass]

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1463475064' post='3051554'] Milton Keynes - does it work for ANYONE? [/quote]

[quote name='Wikipedia'][b]Tesseract[/b][color=#252525][font=sans-serif] (often stylized as [/font][/color][b]TesseracT[/b][color=#252525][font=sans-serif]) is a British [/font][/color][url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_metal"]progressive metal[/url][color=#252525][font=sans-serif] band from [/font][/color][url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Keynes"]Milton Keynes[/url][/quote]

apparently it does!


[quote name='Wolverinebass' timestamp='1463474462' post='3051550'] Since I live in south east London [/quote]

Hey, I live in South East London! We should totally form a nordic-folk-grunge-prog-metal-fusion bass & nyckelharpa duo. I think the world is ready.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Earbrass

[ras52]

Did someone say prog in (from) Yorkshire?

[b] York prog band Mostly Autumn invited to open for re-formed Rainbow at one-off comeback show[/b]


http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/music/14497530.York_prog_band_Mostly_Autumn_invited_to_open_for_re_formed_Rainbow_at_one_off_comeback_show/?ref=fbshr

[Bilbo]

Prog is, for most people, a minority interest music, like Jazz. Finding four musicians willing and able to invest the time necessary to develop something intelligent and original will be like searching for the Holy Grail. Investment vs. return ratio would mean it's for a very dedicated few.

Personally, I love the fact that Prog is probably the only music in the popular fields that isn't linked to dance and/or the blues. It is an essentially English invention with no direct links to the African American influenced dance genres like Funk, Soul, Jazz, Blues etc etc. Thus it works best for White men who can't dance ;-)

[blue]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1463511815' post='3051998']
Prog is, for most people, a minority interest music, like Jazz. Finding four musicians willing and able to invest the time necessary to develop something intelligent and original will be like searching for the Holy Grail. Investment vs. return ratio would mean it's for a very dedicated few.

Personally, I love the fact that Prog is probably the only music in the popular fields that isn't linked to dance and/or the blues. It is an essentially English invention with no direct links to the African American influenced dance genres like Funk, Soul, Jazz, Blues etc etc. Thus it works best for White men who can't dance ;-)
[/quote]

No direct link,agreed.

I could debate indirect link based on the fact that a drum kit is involved.

Blue

Edited May 18, 2016 by blue

[Bilbo]

Of course and the occasional blues lick finds its way in but, in simplistic terms, there ain't much dancing at Prog gigs!!

[Wolverinebass]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1463511815' post='3051998']
Prog is, for most people, a minority interest music, like Jazz. Finding four musicians willing and able to invest the time necessary to develop something intelligent and original will be like searching for the Holy Grail. Investment vs. return ratio would mean it's for a very dedicated few.
[/quote]

Thanks Bilbo, that's cheered me up! At least I know I should find a like minded group of people to form a band soon....

Ha!!

[TrevorR]

[quote name='JamesTun' timestamp='1463387573' post='3050841']


It's bizarre that there isn't a scene for it in London. I'm originally from Reading where all the guys from Tesseract all worked in a guitar shop called Guitar Works.
[/quote]

Aaaaah, the Thames Valley Delta.. A hotbed for British prog of the last few decades... Some good bands hark from around here, often sharing many members... Threshold (a personal fave), Pendragon, Arena, Shadowland, Hoopy Frood... And of course, we're not far from Charterhouse school and lots of proggers lived around Wentworth/Virginia Water in the heydays...

[Spoombung]

As Bilbo is suggesting, Prog requires longer rehearsal times, therefore commitment is a big factor and Prog bands remain a rarity.

If one buys Prog magazine at WHSmiths you'll realise that Prog isn't really Prog anymore. It's largely metal/math Prog.

[Wolverinebass]

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1463643209' post='3052956']

If one buys Prog magazine at WHSmiths you'll realise that Prog isn't really Prog anymore. It's largely metal/math Prog.
[/quote]

Exactly. But seemingly nobody is up for doing that. Does my head in as it's so frustrating.

[KevB]

There are lots of prog bands aroud that I wouldn't personally describe as metal/math but I guess it depends on your own definitions, maybe if they don't fit that subgenre someone might just dismiss them as 'not really prog then' and it becomes self serving.

[JamesTun]

The thing about Prog is that it filters into a variety of genres and the more modern prog stuff which I have been involved with before. Like Jazz, it does take a long time to get something so tight to perform live. Having just moved on from a prog project which I had been with for 4 years with nothing to show for it, suggests that the commitment to something like that is completely different to playing just normal rock.

[ras52]

If prog now was like prog was in the 70s, it wouldn't have progressed, would it?

[TimR]

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1463656824' post='3053116']
If prog now was like prog was in the 70s, it wouldn't have progressed, would it?
[/quote]

I always thought the term progressive referred to the music. As in - the actual tunes are progressive in nature, they don't stick to the rigid rock verse/chorus structure and timings.

I don't think prog rock has really changed that much. Once the basic idea is there there's not a lot further you can take it.

[Bilbo]

It's like Modern Jazz, invented in the mid 1940s.

[Geek99]

To be honest i was a bit late for prog and whilst I'm sure it's technically very accomplished it really does leave me cold

[BassTractor]

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1463746995' post='3053791']
To be honest i was a bit late for prog and whilst I'm sure it's technically very accomplished it really does leave me cold
[/quote]

I think the core of prog lies in its breaking the musical expectations. I think most of it isn't accomplished at all, and very much of it relies on the composer not knowing how to continue and then simply deciding to change styles completely so as to cover his insecurity.
I lurv it.

[TomRandles97]

Prog does seem to be making a come back, to a certain degree, though I couldn't pinpoint areas in the UK where there is a 'prog scene'. Like people have said, it's mainly progressive metal/djent which is a big step away from traditional prog, but then again that is what makes it progressive. Though saying that Steve Wilson and Opeth have both dabbled with classic camel-esque prog in the past, and newer prog metal bands (particularly BTBAM and Haken) are combining traditional prog elements with more modern stuff which I'm liking a lot.

If anywhere, I would say around London would be the best place to set up a progressive band, most bands of the genre I can think of are from/based in London, such as Tesseract, Sikth and Haken.

[JamesTun]

[quote name='TomRandles97' timestamp='1463918452' post='3054914']
Prog does seem to be making a come back, to a certain degree, though I couldn't pinpoint areas in the UK where there is a 'prog scene'. Like people have said, it's mainly progressive metal/djent which is a big step away from traditional prog, but then again that is what makes it progressive. Though saying that Steve Wilson and Opeth have both dabbled with classic camel-esque prog in the past, and newer prog metal bands (particularly BTBAM and Haken) are combining traditional prog elements with more modern stuff which I'm liking a lot.

If anywhere, I would say around London would be the best place to set up a progressive band, most bands of the genre I can think of are from/based in London, such as Tesseract, Sikth and Haken.
[/quote]

Yer, Tesseract are from Reading, Sikth from Watford and Haken from London. So yeah you'd be right in saying that the South East is probably the most prominent area.

[Wolverinebass]

[quote name='JamesTun' timestamp='1463946905' post='3055265']


Yer, Tesseract are from Reading, Sikth from Watford and Haken from London. So yeah you'd be right in saying that the South East is probably the most prominent area.
[/quote]

And yet, we find nobody looking for a bass player in this vast progressive metal/djent paradise....

[Conan]

More prog metal maybe, but have a listen to these guys - [url="http://deeexpus.co.uk/"]http://deeexpus.co.uk/[/url] - their current and previous bass players are both members on here.

I've had a number of attempts over the years at getting prog bands going. Not only do some of the musicians tend to be on the "challenging" side ( ) but even if you get as far as putting a set together very few venues are interested, and if you do get a gig nobody comes to see you!

One of the last prog gigs I saw locally to me (Newcastle upon Tyne) was Pendragon*, supported by DeeExpus (see above). Both bands were utterly outstanding, but there was an audience of about 30 people, including both bands are their "entourages"!

My advice if you want to play prog? Relocate to the continent. Poland, Holland, Germany, even ex USSR states. They love their prog over there!

* BTW, Pendragon hail from the West Country, or at least main songwriter/singer/guitarist Nick Barratt comes from Stroud...

Edited May 23, 2016 by Conan