NEWSDESK, 26th January 2010
> FIRST DOWNLOAD HEADLINER
The above image says it all! AC/DC are confirmed as one of the headliners for Download 2010, playing Donington this June - pinch yourself to make sure you're not dreaming!
Joining AC/DC and following two incredible sold out shows at Hammersmith Apollo before Christmas, are supergroup Them Crooked Vultures. If that wasn't enough we've also confirmed Deftones along with Stone Temple Pilots, Bullet For My Valentine, Megadeth, Motörhead, Wolfmother and Volbeat, with many, many more to be announced in the coming weeks.
Returning to Donington Park from June 11th – 13th 2010, Download Festival will this year be celebrating 30 years of rock at the prestigious site, commemorating the very first Monsters of Rock Festival that took place way back in 1980.
Tickets for this year’s Download go on presale to all Download subscribers at 9am on Thursday, so if you haven't already done so, sign up now for free:
http://www.downloadfestival.co.uk/register/?c=mpbs-download-250110
> PROG ROCK RECORDS - MICHAEL GILL
Blues For Lazarus, out February 9th, 2010
San Francisco Bay Area - based pianist, composer, and band-leader, Michael Gill, has released an engaging, energetic, and evocative debut solo project. With an array of great players from both Northern and Southern California, Blues for Lazarus showcases Gill’s composing, arranging, and keyboard skills. About half of the CD is devoted to creative musical interpretations of favourite speculative fiction novels including Robert A. Heinlein’s 'Time Enough for Love', Mary Stewart’s 'The Hollow Hills', William Gibson’s 'Neuromancer', and Frank Herbert’s 'Dune'.
In his collaboration with master recording engineer Neal Harris, Gill has crafted a collection of musical textures that range from all acoustic ('Blues for Lazarus', 'Stay the Night') to all electric ('Tomorrow’s World') with most songs blending acoustic, electric, and synthetic layers in the style of early Genesis or Jethro Tull. World-renowned drummer, Dave Weckl, guests on the instrumental suite, 'Arrakis' and legendary alto sax soloist Dave Koz lends his horn to the ballad, 'Stay the Night'. Other featured artists include singers Rick Ellis, “Snappy” Dave Cowden, and Callie Thomas; guitarists Tom Valdez and Damian “Dan” Petruzzella; bassist Rob Fordyce; saxophonist Gary Meek; and drummers Brad McKeague and Michael Oliver. The CD includes a cover arrangement of Peter Gabriel’s melancholy 'Here Comes the Flood', sung by Callie Thomas.
Track listing:
1. Merlin’s Journey
2. Blues for Lazarus
3. Arrakis
4. Here Comes the Flood
5. Memory of a Dream
6. Colorado
7. Stay the Night
8. Rain
http://www.progrockrecords.com/
> PROG ROCK RECORDS - ECHOES
Nature | Existence, out February 9th, 2010
Echoes has been an oddity right from the start. In a country where latin rhythms dominate and radio friendly pop/rock has just found its sound footing, metal, prog and electronica still are regarded as odd genres to play.
In May 2005, they took it to the stage, winning Venezuela's prestigious Alma Mater Rock Festival and regularly playing festivals and shows in Venezuela to energetic crowds, honing their craft with every passing show. Nature | Existence, Echoes' first album is a mixture of prog-rock and math metal with a lot of post-rock, pop and industrial electronica thrown in for good measure. With the collaborations from vocalists Tobias Jansson, Nick Storr, Carl Webb and Pedro Castillo, saxophonist Dave Duffus, and the Anechoic Chamber String Quartet, Nature | Existence tells a story of love found and lost over the cyclical nature of life where experiences begin and breakups are a prologue to life shifting again.
Track listing:
1. Epilogue (...is where we start)
2. Rude Awakening
3. Leaf Motif
4. Lullaby
5. Bonfires
6. Unfair
7. Seasons Came to Pass
8. Far from Coincidence
9. Despair
10. Winds of Dread
11. Farewell
12. Prologue (Where we end...)
http://www.progrockrecords.com/
