For some prog fans the name Fernando Perdomo might not be too familiar, unless of course you are a fan of Dave Kerzner. In the last few years, Perdomo has been the guitarist for Dave Kerzner on albums and live shows and making a name for himself in prog circles. His talent has certainly been on display as a great lead player, as has been his Bowler hat and black coat, which he will not leave home without. But take one listen to his debut prog-rock solo album, Out to Sea, and it will be astonishing that he is not one of the most well-known musicians on the planet. Not only are the songs beautiful and the production brilliant, but Perdomo plays all the instruments, guitars, bass, keys, and drumms (except for one song). Described by Perdomo as drawing inspiration from classic 70s Art Rock albums by the likes of Steve Hackett, Peter Banks, Steve Howe, and Jan Akkerman, Out to Sea is an album that must be experienced as it is truly a fantastic piece of art.
It is common to hear an artist was inspired by classic sounds when recording a new album. The uniqueness of this album is that it sounds straight out of the 70s. All the sounds, from the drums to the guitar and keyboard tones, sound real and organic, and the production recalls classic albums by Yes and Genesis. This alone is a great achievement. It takes you back and you feel lifted into another time and place. To further the point, the album artwork was done by Paul Whitehead who created the Trespass, Nursery Cryme, and Foxtrot covers for Genesis.
The opening track “The Architect” is listed as a tribute to the great Peter Banks, and it takes one listen to immediately get that vibe. The middle uptempo section is raw and groovy all at once before shifting into various time changes. Perdomo’s use of multiple guitars and layers is outstanding and demands that you listen to the songs multiple times so not to miss anything.
The highlight has to be the third song, “De Boerderij,” which says is a tribute to Focus, but also recalls the stylings of Steve Hackett. This is such a beautiful song, it defies description. The same can be said for songs “The Future According to Roye” and “The Dream” which is bridges the use of acoustic guitars and space age moog sounds. Of course, what would a prog album be without an epic, here in the form of the final track “Dreaming in Stereo Suite,” a perfect title for the song. The song begins with a delicate piano passage before drums break the softness. Genesis seems to be a clear inspiration in the early stages of the song, but that quickly changes as the song explores multiple moods.
This album was really a surprise. Many guitar solo albums are different versions of the same thing; not the case here. From the first listen, Out to Sea is captivating as it is different. In the album bio, Perdomo is quoted saying “This record is a tribute to the sounds that made me the person and musician I am today.” Congrats to Fernando Perdomo for having a vision and seeing it all the way through is such glorious fashion. Definitely pick up this album.
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Released on Feb 9th, 2018
Key Tracks: Out to Sea, De Boerderij
“Out To Sea” Track Listing Side 1 1. The Architect (Tribute To Peter Banks) 2. Out To Sea 3. De Boerderij (tribute to Focus) 4. Roses Spread All Over The World 5. The Future According to Roye (Tribute To Roye Albrighton) Side 2 6. The Dream 7. Sonja 8. Dreaming in Stereo Suite
“Out To Sea” Credits All songs written by Fernando Perdomo All instruments by Fernando Perdomo Drums on “The Dream” by Eddie Zyne Produced and Engineered by Fernando Perdomo
Def Leppard have always had a spot here on The Prog Report, largely because of the shred ability of lead guitarist Phil Collen. The band have also been in the news of late with their announcement of a tour with Journey and releasing their catalog on streaming services.
Here Phil Collen of Def Leppard returns to talk about his tour with Joe Satriani and John Petrucci for G3, the new live Delta Deep album, the tour with Journey, Def Leppard, and more. The new album with Collen’s blues outfit Delta Deep, East Coast Live is out now and can be found here: http://radi.al/DeltaDeepEastCoastLive For the full audio interview click the link below or download the podcast on iTunes.
If you don’t know about Al Joseph, it is time to get acquainted because this new guitarist and singer is one of prog’s rising guitar shredders. With a new band, Hyvmine, and a debut album out this past Jan 19th called earthquake, everything is now in place to make Joseph a household name. In this interview we talk about his influences, the new band, the new album, and more, including his love of guitar gods like Satriani and Petrucci.
With the full backing of music cruise producer On The Blue (OTB), Cruise To The Edge’s Late Night LIVE Prog Experience may be the largest live Prog pro-am stage project on earth. Organizers are unaware of anything that resembles it, especially since it is hosted on the second-largest indoor stage on a cruise liner.
“Indeed, all music cruises have passenger singalong bars, which is great,” says OTB’s Larry Morand. “We recognized, though, that CTTE’s Late Night LIVE Prog Experience deserved our production company’s resources to give it sea legs. Late Night LIVE’s 11:30 p.m.-3 a.m. stage operates like any other pro stage on the ship, replete with a full backline, engineers and ample space, but it’s up to the passengers to organize, plan and coordinate the eventual five-night showcase. Replicating something like this anywhere else would be daunting. Today, safe to say, Late Night LIVE has earned its onboard motor,” added Morand.
“This year, more than 60 auditioned passengers will gather from far-away places like South Africa, Central America, England, Iceland, Canada and across the United States,” said Rob Rutz, the project’s emcee-coordinator and liaison with Morand’s OTB team. In all, passengers suggested about 120 songs, which was narrowed to 73 final selections. The 2018 song list includes ‘Supper’s Ready’ and an album side of ‘Close To Edge’, but also features deep cuts including Steve Lukather’s ‘Party In Simon’s Pants’ and Tool’s ’46 & 2′. “This is the perfect storm that combines a passionate talent pool, a dedicated Late Night LIVE volunteer production team and the seamless guidance, gear and assistance of OTB’s executive producers, staff and crew. We don’t know how many collective hours everyone contributes, but many volunteers work year-round to ensure we have a solid program,” added Rutz.
Among the volunteer coordinators are Floridians Bill and Devora Goldman, who also host a pre-cruise “Prog On The Ranch” festival at their home prior to CTTE. “We gathered prior to disembarkation from 2017’s CTTE vacation to form 2018’s Late Night LIVE project plan,” said Bill. “Everyone is focused on continuous improvement each year, never taking for granted what everyone contributes along the way. The song list, player profiles and player instructions all come together through a dedicated website www.ctte-grid.com and an active Facebook page (CTTE-Grid),” said Goldman, who also serves as a co-keyboard advisor for Late Night LIVE. “It’s about open collaboration and keeping things as simple as possible.” Communication systems are important. This year, passengers will be able to view a continuously-projected “ribbon board” on the ship to convey song schedules each evening.
Other production team personalities include prog band Circuline’s bassist, Joel Simches, who serves as Late Night LIVE’s volunteer stage manager with assistance from his wife Carolyn. Suzanne Mulhall of Florida, along with UK residents Ken and Kate Slater, work closely with the Goldmans on scheduling and project details. Samy Salib, a Canada resident, provides onboarding guidance for new players. Instrument advisors include veteran keyboardist Bob Harris and South Africa’s ‘Prog Nick’ drummer and music industry attorney Nick Matzukis. Additional instrument and stage advisors include Tim Palsson, Dennis Mahon and Greg Bennett, all of whom are long-time musicians in local bands.
Among the professional headliner talent joining passengers on songs? Dave Kerzner, Durga McBroom and Fernando Perdomo of Dave Kerzner Band, Paul Bielatowicz and Simon Fitzpatrick of Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy, Jonas Reingold of Karmakanic and Steve Hackett’s current touring band, Steve Babb, Fred Schendel and Aaron Raulston of Glass Hammer, Jez King of IO Earth, John Young of Lifesigns, Jorge Tenesini of Bad Dreams, Mike Thorne and Dean Meehan of Saga and, likely, many other headliner musicians. Last year, Jon Davison stepped up to sing The Musical Box, which marked the first time the Yes frontman ever sang a Genesis song in public.
Michael Colter Photography
CTTE will kick off with a Pre-Cruise party at Ferg’s LIVE in Tampa on Friday, February 2, followed by the five-day Yes-Steve Hackett-Marillion-headlined cruise that includes stops in Belize and Costa Maya. Feb 3-8.
Another great year for prog! We continue our approach from last year by listing our best albums of the year as a group rather than a ranking but we did pick our Album of the Year. It was especially difficult this year with so many albums to choose from from some incredible artists, ranging from some classic bands who returned with amazing albums, to brand new groups who released impressive debuts. This list of 15 albums represents our favorites 2017 in alphabetical order.
Album of the Year – Big Big Train – Grimspound: Big Big Train have been on a mad tear since releasing both English Electric albums 5 years ago. Since then they released the Wassail EP, Folklore, The Second Brightest Star, the recently released Merry Christmas single, multiple live albums and our choice for 2017 Album of the Year, Grimspound. A perfect mix of everything BBT is, the grand epics, stupendous instrumentality, glorious vocal harmonies and engaging storytelling are all present here. This was the album that, despite coming out back in April, we kept coming back to again and again. The tracks “Brave Captain” and “A Mead Hall in Winter” are among their best, along with the adventurous instrumental “On the Racing Line.”
Australia’s progressive metal powerhouse group Caligula’s Horse scored mammoth praise for their first release with InsideOut Music, Bloom, a couple of years ago. With their latest album, In Contact, the band have laid down the hammer and staked claim to being one of the premier new era prog bands around. In Contact is memorable, powerful, and takes risks where few bands of this ilk do. The single “Songs for No One” is a catchy arena-sized track, while the epic “Graves” is one of the best songs of 2017.
The Dear Hunter are as prolific as any band around but this year only teased fans with this EP of 6 songs. Despite the brevity of the collection, it proves that sometimes less is more. Each of the 6 songs is its own unique story and there is not a second wasted. From rockers to haunting ballads to acoustic Beach Boys influenced hooks, the EP has it all and is another reminder that this band is the most under-appreciated gem in music.
Norway’s Leprous use every album release as a chance to try out new things and their 2017 masterwork, Malina, continues this methodology. Leaving behind the precision metal-sounds of their last album The Congregation, Malina instead has more lush keyboards, sonic experimentation, and more emotion infused into the songs making Leprous another band that continues to surprise and therefore expands their audience with each release.
Lifesigns founder and main member John Young took a long time to record this follow up to the band’s debut album from 2013, but the wait was worth it. Cardington is a wonderful Neo-Prog collection of wonderful songs from the long epics like “N” and “Cardington” to the radio friendly “Impossible” and “Chasing Rainbows.” The musicianship is top notch and the hooks are plenty. Joining Young is a collection of great musicians that bring life to this solid group of tracks.
The Mute Gods – tardigrades will inherit the earth
Bassist extraordinaire Nick Beggs wrote the follow up to the bands debut album just a year later, but you wouldn’t know it. The sophomore release had even more depth and creativity to it and barrage of great singles from the intense “Animal Army” to the quirky new wavey title track which was also the video of the year. Great performance by Marco Minnemann and Roger King along with Beggs, who seems to have really found his footing as a frontman and lead vocalist.
The enigmatic vocalist for Steve Hackett’s live band delivered one of the best albums of the year with The Bride Said No, a surprisingly spirited mix of classic prog and modern rock. One of the highlights of the year was the ballad “What Have You Done” which finds Sylvan delivering his most powerful vocal performance alongside other-wordly guitar solos from Hackett and Guthrie Govan. Sylvan has proven to be a brilliant artist in his own right, one that can step out of the shadow of Genesis with supreme confidence.
This surprise instrumental supergroup from Haken, Between the Buried and Me, and Cynic members came out of nowhere and blew us all away. The songs on their 6 song debut The Further Side are complicated and technical but also highly melodic and brilliantly written. The opening track “Dancing Machines” perhaps perfectly encompasses what the album is about, a mix of metal, prog, jazz, fusion, and everything in between.
Caligula’s Horse – In Contact
The Dear Hunter – All Is As All Should Be
Lifesigns – Cardington
The Mute Gods – tardigrades will inherit the earth
Nad Sylvan – The Bride Said No
Nova Collective – The Further Side