Pendragon (band)

Last updated

Pendragon
Pendragon (2945890918).jpg
Pendragon live at Krakow 11 October 2008
Background information
Origin Stroud, Gloucestershire, England
Genres
Years active1978–present
Labels Metal Mind, Toff Records, Inside Out, Snapper
MembersNick Barrett
Peter Gee
Clive Nolan
Jan-Vincent Velazco
Past membersJohn Barnfield
Alan Gyorffy
Nigel Harris
Matt Anderson
Rick Carter
Fudge Smith
Joe Crabtree
Scott Higham
Craig Blundell
Website www.pendragon.mu

Pendragon are an English neo-prog band established in 1978 in Stroud, Gloucestershire as Zeus Pendragon by guitarist and vocalist Nick Barrett. [1] The word Zeus was dropped before the band started recording, as the members decided it was too long to look good on a T-shirt. [2] There were a few personnel changes in the early days, but since 1986 the lineup has remained relatively stable (with only the drummer changing several times since then) and the band are still active as of 2023.

Contents

History

The band were active in the progressive rock revival spearheaded by the likes of Marillion, Pallas, Solstice and Twelfth Night in the early 1980s, [3] and indeed (like their peers IQ) often appeared as support acts to Marillion and other major neo-prog bands, both on tours and at the Marquee venue which hosted many regular prog evenings. In spring 1984 the band took part in a 'battle of the bands' contest at Goldiggers club, in Chippenham, televised by the local HTV television station. This was named 'Best Bands West' and Pendragon performed O Devineo (spelling as credited on TV). A Bristol-based covers duo eventually won the contest. After their debut album The Jewel, the band pursued a more commercial direction, documented in the Kowtow album and the Red Shoes and Saved By You EPs, but despite these efforts failed to break through to a mainstream audience. The group appeared at the 1983 Reading Festival and were signed to Elusive Records. [1]

In 1991, the band established their own label, Toff Records,[ citation needed ] and released the archival release The Rest of Pendragon, a collection of EP tracks, and the studio album The World, in which they returned to a more progressive style that the band would continue to develop over their next three studio albums, The Window of Life, The Masquerade Overture, and Not of This World.

From this point on their fortunes have improved, and while they are still relatively obscure in their home country they have a significant following in Europe; in particular, they have managed to develop a strong fanbase in Poland, and have both released at least one compilation specifically for the Polish market and recorded several live albums there.

In 2002, the band released Acoustically Challenged, documenting an "unplugged" session with a number of the band's songs retooled for acoustic instruments, which was originally broadcast on Radio 3 Warsaw. This was considered an unusual move for a progressive rock band, since progressive rock tends to focus a lot on the use of electronic synthesisers and electric guitars; however, the melodic qualities of the band's compositions proved to be well-suited to an acoustic context, and the album was reasonably successful.[ citation needed ] This heralded a new willingness to experiment on the part of the band, following a run of studio albums all broadly in the same vein as The World. On 2005's Believe they took their music in a somewhat darker direction, causing a certain amount of controversy amongst their fans.[ citation needed ] 2008's Pure, which featured elements of progressive metal, refined the style of Believe and was well received by the progressive rock fandom, being voted Album of the Year 2008 on DPRP. [4]

On 21 April 2009, Pendragon released a live album and DVD, Concerto Maximo, shot in Katowice on 13 October 2008. It was filmed and edited by Metal Mind . It was released in several versions – a 2-CD release that features just the audio from the show, a DVD featuring the full show, and a DVD-and-2-CD special edition, which was limited to 1000 copies.

In October 2010, the band recorded the follow-up to Pure , the album Passion which was released in the spring of 2011. This was followed by Men Who Climb Mountains in 2014. Both albums continued the darker, heavier, more progressive metal-influenced direction of the band.

In April 2014, the band announced that they had parted ways with drummer Scott Higham for "personal reasons". [5] He was then replaced by Craig Blundell. In June 2015, Blundell was replaced by Jan-Vincent Velazco.

In September 2019 the band released a 40th Anniversary boxed set containing five compact discs. The first three represent a complete live concert recording made in London during 2018. The remaining two discs are re-mixed and remastered versions of the albums The World and Men Who Climb Mountains . In February 2020, a new album called Love Over Fear was released.

Members

Timeline

Pendragon (band)

Discography

Studio albums

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marillion</span> British progressive rock band

Marillion are a British neo prog band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becoming the most commercially successful neo-prog band of the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transatlantic (band)</span> Multinational progressive rock supergroup

Transatlantic is a multinational progressive rock supergroup consisting of Neal Morse, Roine Stolt, Pete Trewavas and Mike Portnoy. They formed in 1999 as a side project to their full-time bands, but disbanded in 2002. They then reunited in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camel (band)</span> English progressive rock band

Camel are an English progressive rock band formed in Guildford, Surrey, in 1971. Led by guitarist Andrew Latimer, they have released fourteen studio albums and fourteen singles, plus numerous live albums and DVDs. Without achieving mass popularity, the band gained a cult following in the 1970s with albums such as Mirage (1974) and The Snow Goose (1975). They moved into a jazzier, more commercial direction in the early 1980s, but then went on an extended hiatus. Since 1991 the band has been independent, releasing albums on their own label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mick Pointer</span> British drummer

Michael Pointer is an English drummer. He is known for his work in the neo-prog bands Marillion and Arena.

Pallas are a Scottish progressive rock band from Aberdeen. They were one of the bands at the vanguard of what was termed neo-prog during progressive rock's second-wave revival in the early 1980s. Other major UK acts included Marillion, IQ, Twelfth Night, Pendragon and Solstice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Carnation</span> Norwegian band

Green Carnation is a Norwegian progressive metal band from Kristiansand, formed in 1990. Green Carnation's trend of music has continuously changed on every release one by one; from straight forward death metal in their demo, to death-doom, then a progressive doom metal sound, to an atmospheric gothic metal sound, to a melancholic hard rock sound and in 2006, went as far as to releasing an entirely acoustic album Acoustic Verses. The band released its first album in 14 years titled Leaves of Yesteryear on May 8, 2020, which marked a return to their earlier gothic progressive metal roots. A new single was composed, arranged, rehearsed and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, called "The World Without a View", and released digitally on December 18, 2020.

<i>Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory</i> 1999 studio album by Dream Theater

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory is the fifth studio album and first concept album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released on October 26, 1999, through Elektra Records. It was recorded at BearTracks Studios in Suffern, New York, where the band had previously recorded their second studio album, Images and Words (1992), and the EP A Change of Seasons (1995).

Neo-progressive rock is a subgenre of progressive rock which developed in the UK in the early 1980s. The genre's most popular band, Marillion, achieved mainstream success in the decade. Several bands from the genre have continued to record and tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Groom</span> British guitarist and record producer

Karl Groom is a British guitarist and record producer. He is best known as a founding and the only constant member of the progressive metal band Threshold. His production and mixing credits are mainly with progressive and power metal bands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enchant (band)</span> American neo-progressive rock band

Enchant were an American neo-prog band, formed in 1989. Their music is characterized by ambitious lyrics and melodies along with harmonic experimentation.

Henry Fool are an English experimental rock band that use elements of psychedelia, progressive rock, jazz and post-rock in their music.

Mach One are a British neo-prog band, founded in 1980 by a group of students attending Burlington Danes High School in West London. After a series of studio demos, school gigs and lineup changes, the band attracted the attention of Keith Goodwin who represented them through 1983-85. During this time Mach One embarked on a series of live shows at pubs and clubs around London, and universities across England, while releasing two albums, Six of One and Lost for Words, that featured prominently in underground progressive rock fanzines and specialist progressive rock catalogues. However, in the more mainstream press they received mixed reviews for their second album, including a humorous 1-star review by Mary Anne Hobbs in Sounds, although their live show was given a positive write-up in the same paper a few weeks thereafter by journalist Gareth Thompson.

<i>Do You Like It Here Now, Are You Settling In?</i> 1971 studio album by Man

Do You Like It Here Now, Are You Settling In? is the fourth album by the Welsh rock band Man and was released in November 1971. The album was recorded in August at Charles and Kingsley Ward's Rockfield Studios near Monmouth in Southeastern Wales. Sessions took place soon after the renowned 'All Good Clean Fun' tour of Switzerland, although a brief break in the hectic German tour schedule during the late spring had resulted in two tracks being written at a studio in Swansea, Wales. Critical reaction to the new album was positive. The album title is apparently a Swansea saying, usually directed at pub landlords of exceptionally long standing.

<i>Pure</i> (Pendragon album) 2008 studio album by Pendragon

Pure is the eighth studio album by English neo-prog group Pendragon. It was first released on October 1, 2008, as a regular edition on Toff Records, the band's own imprint, and reissued on March 14, 2011, as a special CD+DVD edition in rigid digi book through Madfish, a division label of Snapper Music. The DVD in the new special packaging has an 1hr. 24min. footage titled 'Handy-Cam Progumentary', recorded by the band themselves.

<i>Ascension of Kings</i> 2014 studio album by Nth Ascension

Ascension of Kings is the first full-length studio album by the British Progressive Rock band Nth Ascension, which was released in December 2014. While not being a concept album, the album includes a three part suite entitled ‘Clanaan Chronicles’ which will is planned to run and occur on the band's subsequent albums. It follows a story by keyboard player Darrel Treece-Birch in the vein of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings which sees the rescue/redemption of a tortured realm from an evil dictator by a Seventh Rider who ultimately ascends to be a prophesied King.

This is the discography of English rock band Pendragon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan-Vincent Velazco</span> British drummer, session musician and composer

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.

Andy Edwards is a British drummer and multi-instrumentalist musician, who is best known as former member of the progressive rock bands Frost* and IQ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RanestRane</span>

RanestRane is a Neo-progressive rock band from Rome that stages melodic and partly instrumental symphonic prog with fine melody lines as a rock opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marjana Semkina</span> Russian musician

Marjana Semkina is a Russian-born singer and songwriter, based in the United Kingdom since 2020. She has released music as a solo artist, and as a member and co-founder of the bands Iamthemorning and Maer.

References

  1. 1 2 Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 942. ISBN   1-85227-745-9.
  2. ↑ "Biography". pendragon.mu. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  3. ↑ Alexis Petridis. "Go back to go forward: the resurgence of prog rock". The Guardian . Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "DPRPoll 2008". dprp.net. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  5. ↑ "Breaking News". pendragon.mu. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.