How I re-discovered progrock

Oh No! Another auto-biographical post because I have nothing really new happening... I'm still "plugging away" on musical projects, but that's about all I can say about them right now. And "plugging away" makes a rather boring blog post. But the more I write in this blog, the guiltier I'm going to feel about deleting it later. So, bare with me, or just skip this one.

When I first started getting serious about being a musician, I was really into the big name classic progressive rock bands. ELP and Yes mostly, I would have to say. But then, as I started playing with bands and writing songs, and later singing my own songs, I really gravitated more toward less complex music and more pop-influenced stuff. For a while I was totally into bands such as Foreigner and Queen. And of course there was Genesis (ok, I admit it, I prefer the pop-band incarnation of Genesis).

Then in the early 90's I met a guitarist who told me about a guitar player buddy of his in a band called Dream Theater. I was intrigued and checked out "Images and Words". Wow! (as thousands of others were also saying at that time). This was new and exciting stuff. "Awake" was more of the same when it came out a little after.

A year or two later I happened to come across a real interesting review in Keyboard magazine of a cd from a band named Magellan. The album was called "Impending Ascension". It took a trip to Japan to actually locate that cd, as well as another by them called "Hour of Restoration". But I was totally hooked. I think I must have listened to nothing but those 2 Magellan cds for an entire year (seriously)!

I would say those bands and those particular albums, coupled with a re-invigorated interest in a long-time favorite, Kansas, got me interested in progressive rock again. Kansas were touring heavily back then, playing lots of small clubs, and they were just fantastic live and up close like that. Made me want to get out and start playing too.

It turns out that progressive rock was having a rebirth in general during those years. Dream Theater inspired a whole generation of musicians. The Magna Carta label was putting out some great releases. The internet was making promotion and networking possible for the new 'underground' scene. Progression Magazine was at the forefront of bringing new artists to attention. So, I guess it was only a matter of time anyway, but that's how it happened for me.