The Trip were a British-Italian progressive rock band of the early 1970s. While their career was less successful than those of Italian progressive rock prominent bands such as Premiata Forneria Marconi or Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, they were very popular for a few years, and were very appreciated by the critics, especially because of their talented leader, keyboard player Joe Vescovi, who is often referred to as the Italian counterpart of Keith Emerson. [1] The band is also notable as British guitarist Ritchie Blackmore was in The Trip's personnel before joining Deep Purple.
The band was established in London in 1966, when Riki Maiocchi of I Camaleonti fame decided to create a new band to explore the new opportunities brought about by the advent of psychedelic rock. In London, Maiocchi had met with Ian Broad, who joined in Maiocchi's project; they also recruited Ritchie Blackmore (on guitar), Arvid "Wegg" Andersen [2] (bass and vocals) and William Gray (also on guitar). The band debuted in Italy as "Maiocchi and the Trip". Blackmore left in December 1966 and returned to London where he continued as a session musician until 1968 when he joined Deep Purple. He was replaced by Luciano Galdolfi. When Gandolfi, Maiocchi, and Broad left, new and fundamental additions were made to the personnel, namely Joe Vescovi (keyboards) and Pino Sinnone (drums).
In 1970, the band (who had been renamed "The Trip") signed for RCA Italiana, releasing their first, eponymous album. At the time, progressive rock was still not clearly defined as a genre; The Trip is in fact a rather traditional rock and blues album. Also in 1970, the band was featured in a surrealistic Italian movie by the title Terzo Canale: Avventura a Montecarlo .
The Trip's second release Caronte (1971) was a major shift towards progressive rock. It was a concept album which blended mythological themes, structured compositions, and virtuoso keyboard playing by Vescovi. Caronte included songs that paid tribute to rock giants Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. [1]
After Caronte, Gray and Sinnone left; a new drummer was hired, Furio Chirico. This line-up released Atlantide (1972); at the time, The Trip had become a trio (keyboards, bass, and drums) and their overall sound came as close as ever to that of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. In 1973 that same lineup released the last official album of the band, Time of Change , this time with label Trident. This too was a mythology-themed concept album, with a sound that blended progressive rock and jazz elements.
After Time of Change the group disbanded, with Chirico leaving to establish his own band Arti & Mestieri(Arti e Mestieri), that also had some success in the Italian progressive rock and jazz-rock scene. Vescovi joined band Acqua Fragile and then Dik Dik, one of the most popular Italian pop-rock bands of the time.
The band reunited briefly in 2010 (with a line-up consisting of Vescovi, Andersen, and Chirico, along with new members Fabrizio Chiarelli and Angelo Perini) to participate in progressive rock festival "Prog Exhibition" (held in Rome in 5–6 November). The band's live performance from this festival has been released within the CD/DVD boxed set Prog Exhibition: 40 anni di musica immaginifica.
In 2011, the band's reunion tour has been held in Japan, to participate in "Italian Progressive Rock Festival I" (held in Tokyo in 4-5-6 November).
Founding member of the group, bass player and singer Arvid "Wegg" Andersen died in 2012. His memory was honoured by a concert in Alassio featuring, among others, an incarnation of The Trip with special guests. [3] [4]
In 2013, the band's performance with the formation of Vescovi, Andersen, Chirico, along with Chiarelli and Perini from "Italian Progressive Rock Festival I" has been released from Sony Music', within the 2 CD boxed set "Atlantide" with the special remastered edition of the band's worldwide most successful album Atlantide .
Joe Vescovi died in San Benedetto Del Tronto on the night of November 29, 2014.
In 2019, Pino Sinnone formed the band with Andrea Ranfa Ranfagni (vocals), Carmine Capasso (guitars), Andrea “Dave” D’Avino (hammond and keyboards), Tony Alemanno (bass and vocals).
In July 2021, this line-up released "Caronte 50 Years Later", the remake version of the iconic record "Caronte" in 1970 and "The Trip" in 1970. The band performed two memorable Italian dates, "Porto antico ProgFest" in Genoa and "Veruno Prog festival" in Veruno. Immediately after that, Andrea “Dave” D’Avino left the formation and was replaced by another keyboardist Giuseppe “Sep” Sarno.
In January 2022, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the band's album Atlantide (originally recorded in 1972 by Joe Vescovi, Arvid "Wegg" Andersen and Furio Chirico), a new formation of the band has been announced, led by Furio Chirico, under the name of "Furio Chirico’s THE TRIP" together with Paolo "Silver” Silvestri (hammond and keyboards), Giuseppe “Gius” Lanari (lead vocals and bass) and Marco Rostagno (guitars).
All albums have been re-released several times by different labels.
IQ are a British neo-progressive rock band founded by Mike Holmes and Martin Orford in 1981 following the dissolution of their original band The Lens. Although the band have never enjoyed major commercial success and had several lineup changes, IQ have built up a loyal following over the years and are still active as of 2020, currently with the original recording line-up. In 2021/22, IQ are due to perform a series of concerts in the UK and Europe celebrating their 40th anniversary.
Mostly Autumn are an English rock band. The group formed in 1995 and have built their reputation through constant touring, never signing to a major label. They produce music heavily influenced by 1970s progressive rock. According to the BBC, Mostly Autumn "fuse the music of Genesis and Pink Floyd with Celtic themes, hard rock and strong, emotional melodies". They have also been compared with other progressive bands from the same era such as Renaissance, Jethro Tull and Camel, blended with traditional folk music. Later albums also include more contemporary influences.
Styx is the self-titled debut album by American rock band Styx. It was released in 1972.
Italian rock is a form of rock music produced primarily in Italy. The music genre has roots in the country as it spread in the early 1960s from the United States with the earliest versions of rock and roll during this period being cover versions or interpretative covers of already existing songs.
Goblin is an Italian progressive rock band known for their soundtrack work. They frequently collaborate with Dario Argento, most notably creating soundtracks for Profondo Rosso in 1975 and Suspiria in 1977. Because their collaborator Dario Argento specializes in creating horror, suspense and slasher/giallo genre movies, soundtracks made by Goblins in these movies often had eerie and ominous tones. CD re-releases of their soundtracks have performed well, especially in Germany and Japan. Goblin returned with a series of live concerts in Europe in 2009 and in North America in 2013.
Museo Rosenbach is an Italian progressive rock band whose album Zarathustra, in spite of the limited success it scored in the 1970s, is today considered a cornerstone of the genre.
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Quatermass is the only studio album by English progressive rock band Quatermass, released in May 1970 by Harvest Records. It was produced by the Swedish producer Anders "Henkan" Henriksson.
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Purple Passages is a 1972 North American, Japan and Venezuela only double-LP compilation album by Deep Purple featuring material originally released in 1968 and 1969 on the Tetragrammaton label. It features classics such as "Hush" and "Kentucky Woman". It was issued in Japan on compact disc in 1993.
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Caronte (Charon) is the second album released by the Italian progressive rock band The Trip, in 1971. It is a concept album based on the Charon character from Dante's Divine Comedy, recast as a metaphor of conformism; Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin are mentioned, respectively in songs Ultima ora e ode a Jimi Hendrix and Little Janie, as victims of a conformist society.
Joe Vescovi was an Italian progressive rock keyboard player, considered as one of the prominent musicians of the 1970s Italian progressive rock scene, best known for his work in bands The Trip and Dik Dik. A self-proclaimed imitator of Keith Emerson, Vescovi was popular for his histrionic stage presence and eccentric clothing as much as for his virtuoso keyboard playing.
Murple are an Italian psychedelic rock/progressive rock band.
I Teoremi were an Italian progressive rock band.
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