Niko Tsonev is a Bulgarian-born musician, producer, composer, mixing engineer, and arranger living in London, England. At age four, Tsonev played accordion; later he began playing guitar but only in his early teen years Tsonev began formally taking music theory and guitar lessons. Aged seventeen, he received a scholarship from Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA), however, Tsonev moved to London, England to study Music Production at Lewisham College. At that time (1996) Tsonev also joined a musician session agency as a freelance guitarist.
In younger years, Tsonev drew his musical inspiration [1] from artists such as Steve Vai, Jimmy Herring and Scott Henderson. In the following years Tsonev performed and recorded as a solo artist and creative freelancer, and with diverse artists and producers, including Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), JJ Grey & Mofro, Digitonal, Aquilina and FabGrease Quentin). Stylistically flexible and diverse in urban and world music, Tsonev's guitar instrumentals encompass various musical forms, from instrumental fusion of jazz and blues, to Americana, shred and progressive rock. Tsonev is also a film and TV composer, [2] known for his work on The Mortician (2011) directed by Gareth Maxwell Roberts, The Bridge (2005) directed by Richard Raymond, and Steven Wilson: Get All You Deserve (2012) directed by Lasse Hoile. Tsonev has performed in various countries and venues across the globe, from touring the United States, South America and Europe with Steven Wilson in 2012 [3] [4] to performing gigs with Lifesigns throughout Europe, and recording a DVD album Lifesigns - Live In London - Under The Bridge [5] [6] Tsonev sources various equipment while in studio and onstage, including Suhr Guitars, Elixir Strings, Kemper Amps, TC Electronic, Wampler, Source Audio, Hughes & Kettner. [7]
Tsonev was a member of Lifesigns, a British progressive rock band; with other notable band's members such as John Young on keyboards and vocals, Jon Poole on bass and vocals, Martin "Frosty" Beedle on drums, percussion and vocals. Tsonev performed (on guitars and vocals) with Lifesigns between January 2013 [8] and August 2016.
Tsonev's work includes albums both as a solo artist, and in collaboration with other musicians and bands.
With Lacryma Christi
With The Big Other
With Digitonal
With Mr. Fastfinger
With Italee
With Steven Wilson
With Lifesigns
With Asia
Nicholas Beggs is a British musician, noted for playing the bass guitar and the Chapman Stick; he is a member of the Mute Gods and Kajagoogoo, formerly also a part of Iona and Ellis, Beggs & Howard and plays in the band of Steven Wilson. He is known for modifying a Chapman Stick into a fully MIDI-capable instrument triggering MIDI from both bass and melody strings; he calls it the Virtual Stick.
Allan Holdsworth was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist, violinist and composer. He contributed to numerous bands, including Soft Machine, U.K., The Tony Williams Lifetime, Pierre Moerlen's Gong and Bruford, in addition to solo work.
Porcupine Tree are an English rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. During an initial career spanning more than twenty years, they earned critical acclaim from critics and fellow musicians, developed a cult following, and became an influence for new artists. The group carved out a career at a certain distance away from mainstream music, being described by publications such as Classic Rock and PopMatters as "the most important band you'd never heard of".
Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt is a Swedish musician. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of progressive metal band Opeth. A former vocalist of death metal supergroup Bloodbath, he was also guitarist for the "one-off" band Steel, and part of the collaboration Storm Corrosion with Steven Wilson.
Steven John Wilson is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosion and No-Man. He is also a solo artist, having released seven solo albums since his solo debut Insurgentes in 2008. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Wilson has made music prolifically and earned critical acclaim. His honours include six nominations for Grammy Awards: twice with Porcupine Tree, once with his collaborative band Storm Corrosion and three times as a solo artist. In 2017, The Daily Telegraph described him as "a resolutely independent artist" and "probably the most successful British artist you've never heard of".
Alter Bridge is an American rock band from Orlando, Florida. The band was formed in 2004 by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Myles Kennedy, lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips. After their former band Creed became inactive in 2003, Tremonti and Phillips formed a new band with former bandmate Marshall and new member Kennedy; Alter Bridge was formally unveiled in January 2004, months before Creed's official breakup in June.
No-Man are an English art pop duo, formed in 1987 as No Man Is an Island (Except the Isle of Man) by singer Tim Bowness and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson. The band has so far produced seven studio albums and a number of singles/outtakes collections (including 2006's career retrospective All the Blue Changes). The band was once lauded as "conceivably the most important English group since The Smiths" by Melody Maker music newspaper, and a 2017 article of Drowned in Sound described them as "probably the most underrated band of the last 25 years".
Magenta are a Welsh progressive rock band formed in 1999 by ex-Cyan member Rob Reed. Reed takes his influences from artists such as Renaissance, Genesis, Mike Oldfield, Yes, Eurythmics and Björk.
John Mitchell is an Irish musician and record producer. He primarily plays guitar and has been a member of the bands It Bites, Arena, Frost*, Kino, A, The Urbane and Asia, as well as pursuing a solo career with the Lonely Robot project.
John Young is a British rock musician hailing from Liverpool. He is currently the keyboardist and singer for the progressive rock band Lifesigns.
Fear of a Blank Planet is the ninth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree and their best selling before 2009's The Incident. It was released on 16 April 2007 in the UK and the rest of Europe by Roadrunner, 24 April 2007 in the United States by Atlantic, 25 April 2007 in Japan by WHD, and 1 May 2007 in Canada by WEA. Steven Wilson has mentioned that the album's title is a direct reference to the 1990 Public Enemy album Fear of a Black Planet; while the former tackled race issues, the latter is about the fear of losing the current generation of youth to various common threats to their mental and social wellbeing, including broken homes, excessive "screen time", and narcotic overuse to the point of mental and spiritual "blankness".
Touchstone are an English progressive rock band. The band was formed by keyboardist Rob Cottingham and guitarist Adam Hodgson in 2003. The name was thought up by Rob, being taken from a lyric in his solo album, Behind The Orchard Tree. Touchstone's music is distributed by Proper Music Distribution.
Anesthetize is the second live concert film by progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, released on 20 May 2010. The Blu-ray edition was released on 15 June. It is filmed in high definition and taken from two concerts given by Porcupine Tree at Tilburg, Netherlands on 15 and 16 October, at the end of the Fear of a Blank Planet tour in 2008. The film is directed and edited by Lasse Hoile and the audio track is mixed in stereo and 5.1 Surround by Steven Wilson.
Mika Tyyskä, better known by his stage name Mr. Fastfinger, is a Finnish virtuoso guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist who encompasses several genres of music. Originally, Mr. Fastfinger was an imaginary character, created and animated in Flash, to be "host" of the website GuitarShredShow.com, an award-winning combination of further animation and an online guitar school. The online guitar school opened 2005. The better the website was known, the more Mika Tyyskä was asked to share and to teach in clinics and guitar camps in Europe and Japan.
Get All You Deserve is the first live DVD and second live album by progressive rock musician Steven Wilson, released on 24 September 2012. It was filmed at a sold-out show in Mexico City, Mexico, during his Grace for Drowning tour. The deluxe edition of Get All You Deserve consists of two CDs, a DVD and a Blu-ray disc.
The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) is the third solo album by British musician Steven Wilson, released by Kscope Music Records on 25 February 2013. Each track on the album is based on a story of the supernatural. Alan Parsons, who had previously been involved in the creation of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon was responsible for engineering the album.
Lifesigns are an English progressive rock band, first conceived by lead singer and keys player John Young in 2008. By 2014, the band's lineup included Steve Rispin as their sound engineer, Jon Poole on bass and vocals, Martin "Frosty" Beedle on drums, percussion and vocals, and formerly Niko Tsonev on guitars and vocals. After Tsonev departed the band in 2016, Dave Bainbridge joined on guitar and additional keys. Beedle left the band in 2020 and was replaced by Zoltán Csörsz.
Jan-Vincent Velazco is a Filipino-born British drummer, session rock musician and composer. He is a current member of Pendragon after the recommendation of Craig Blundell, drummer for Steven Wilson and Frost*. He also plays with Raymond Watts of KMFDM, Ben Christo of The Sisters of Mercy and previously with Control.
Vola are a Danish progressive metal band formed in Copenhagen in 2006. Having gone through a number of lineup changes earlier in their career, the band currently consists of three Danes, Asger Mygind, Martin Werner (keyboards) and Nicolai Mogensen ; and one Swede, Adam Janzi (drums).
Lee Pomeroy is an English musician, best known for performing bass guitar and backing vocals with several artists, including Jeff Lynne's ELO, It Bites, Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman, Take That, Steve Hackett and Chris Braide. He has also worked with Take That's Gary Barlow as a solo artist. Pomeroy is a member of Rick Wakeman's English Rock Ensemble and the progressive metal band Headspace, founded by Wakeman's son Adam and Damian Wilson.