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MYSTERIOUS: 12 | Mind Blowing Facts

“I was shocked when I found out Demis Roussos was in the band. I had to convince a friend that it was really him”: Maxine Peake’s prog adventures with Aphrodite’s Child, Gong, Hawkwind and mushrooms

The award-winning Shameless, Silk and The Village actress finds inspiration in the genre’s theatrics – and explains why she feels it’s a summertime experience

Louder

“Mike Oldfield was pushing it a bit and I was getting edgy. He said, ‘I owed you that because I auditioned with Family and you blew me out.’ Good on him!” Roger Chapman’s journey from local band stage invader to unique prog star

Vocalist with a one-off voice talked writing hits, co-founding Streetwalkers, going solo and overseeing the emotional reunion as he marked the launch of his most recent album

Louder

“We cared so much about the music that we’d have these confrontational group therapy sessions… And then the switch went off”: Spirit didn’t know they were a prog band, but were always proud of their fearless diversity

Original bassist Mark Andes embraces what they achieved – but regrets they weren’t able to offer the support that “keystone” member Randy California needed

Louder

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“From here I drew a line to Pink Floyd and painted my room black … who knows where I’d be now if I’d never heard them?” Mikael Åkerfeldt, Bruce Soord and others pick their favourite Camel albums

Five prog musicians explain the lasting impact of Andy Latimer’s band

Louder

“At my level Spotify would be like a turkey voting for Christmas”: Billy Sherwood, Big Big Train,and other artists who pay it forward helped John Holden return to prog after he’d abandoned his ambitions

Launching his career in middle-age, he found a huge range of kindred spirits like John Hackett, Sally Minnear and Oliver Wakeman – who understand he doesn’t need to make money, but doesn’t want to lose it either

Louder

“Wordless vocals wail around the memory of his lost love, manifesting a grief too terrible to put into words”: David Crosby’s solo debut proved his prog credentials

If I Could Only Remember My Name, created during a challenging time in the folk rock icon’s life, demonstrated joy in artistic freedom as he pushed boundaries to prove his uniqueness

Louder

“We didn’t know we were creating a new style… we took sounds from anywhere and everywhere”: Tony Visconti, Roger Dean and the making of Osibisa’s debut album

Released in 1971, the African-tinged record pioneered what would become world music, and took prog into fresh new waters too.

Louder

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“He couldn’t understand amidst the noise that I was the other singer! I almost enjoyed it better that way”: The underwhelming moment when Yes’ Jon Davison met predecessor Jon Anderson

The brief encounter wasn’t what anyone could have predicted – but it was enough to give the younger singer a tantalising idea.

Louder

“Turn the lights off, put the music on, close your eyes and start to have a waking dream… it might even inspire people to create movies that could be scored with this music”: John Carpenter’s second career in prog

The cult movie director started composing his own soundtracks out of necessity. Eventually he returned to his first love of music to create the Lost Themes album series, and began touring too

Louder

“He was wearing a red satin suit and he’d closed his eyes to do existential-style doodles. Then he got ink on his suit and was pissed off”: Why Captain Beefheart is The Primevals frontman Michael Rooney’s prog hero

Scottish singer met Don Van Vliet a number of times, and the eccentric American’s influence extended through his own career

Louder

“You’re 17, it’s a normal dumb night, then someone’s screaming, ‘Get on the floor!’ I’m gonna die. This is the end of my life”: The armed hold-up that set the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne on the road to music

Sold on their older brothers’ counterculture dream of living in outer space listening to the Beatles, Coyne and bandmate Steven Drozd very nearly became full-time drug dealers instead of musicians

Louder

“I’ve had prog dates because of our concerts… the great thing is that you don’t have to explain your weird musical tastes!”: Focus guitarist Menno Gootjes’ prog life

He discovered Canterbury bands in his teens before moving on to Frank Zappa, Opeth, Genesis, obscure Dutch trio Three Dwarves Make War – oh, and Kiss

Louder

“People prefer to deal with the shadows rather than dealing with the truth”: 10 epic songs that showcase Orphaned Land’s ferocious pursuit of a better world

An introduction to the music of the Israeli prog metal powerhouse and their mission to promote peace and wipe out war

Louder

“Chris Squire was super fun. I love it when musicians retain their childlike qualities; that’s where music comes from”: Tal Wilkenfeld’s prog connections include David Gilmour, Todd Rundgren and Trevor Rabin

Inspired by Tool, the Australian bassist got her big break from Jeff Beck and went on to play with Prince, The Who and Brian Wilson – and her solo work is equally impressive

Louder

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“Andrew Loog Oldham asked if we were songwriters. I said we were – then I had to go away and figure out how you wrote songs”: The Nice helped found prog and merged classical music with rock, then they were gone

Prompted by a disagreement that spilled into the public domain, co-founders Keith Emerson and Lee Jackson once visited the Prog office to set things straight

Louder

“We’d been paying Rick Wakeman £25 a week and Yes offered him £100… We had his son Oliver with us for a while, and he left for Yes too!” Dave Cousins and the life and times of Strawbs

Prog veteran recalls connecting with Sandy Denny, his band’s attempt to fire him, being loved by Led Zeppelin, why they’ve never had a Steven Wilson remix, the “albatross” of Part Of The Union and the unreleased, more political version

Louder

Ghost Of The Machine share first music from upcoming album Empires Must Fall

UK prog sextet Ghost Of The Machine will release second album Empires Must Fall in March

Louder

We celebrate 50 years of Yes's Relayer on the cover of the new issue of Prog, which is on sale now!

Plus Marillion, Clannad, Pavlov's Dog, Klone, Swallow The Sun, Dilemma and more

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Louder

“Last time we did an album with solos was eight years ago. That’s a long time to ask people in a prog band to not have solos”: Why Frost* revisited dazzling debut Milliontown on Life In The Wires

Leader Jem Godfrey, who took a financial hit to spend five months focusing on the band’s double-length concept album, explains why doing something connected with their past equals doing something entirely new

Louder

“Effects companies know if they come up with a new effect that’s insanely expensive, there’s one band dumb enough to buy it – us”: How Trans-Siberian Orchestra take Christmas on the road beyond December

The seasonal theme was unintentional, and so was their focus on rock operas, but that didn’t stop “the world’s most famous unknown band” starting out with a 10-date, one-truck tour before selling a million tickets per road trip 15 years later

Louder

Dominic Sanderson announces second album Blazing Revelations

Young UK prog rocker Dominic Sanderson will release his second album, Blazing Revelations, in February

Louder

“Success is a label other people put on you… My success is in terms of fulfilment and perfection of my art. That’s something I never will reach. I have to accept that”: Kate Bush’s mid-80s battle for control

After making an unlikely connection, three interviews with a punk magazine editor – which she said felt like psychiatrist talks – illustrate her rapid development from Never For Ever to Hounds Of Love

Louder

“Lady In Red will have most of us reaching for the sick bucket. But if you dip into his back catalogue at any point from 1974 to 1984 you’ll find worthy listening:” Chris De Burgh… prog star?

Ignore the syrupy ballads. Connections to Alan Parsons, Supertramp and Sky suggest a valid case – and his 1979 album Crusader proves it beyond doubt

Louder

"I’ve gone back to a more progressive style." Steven Wilson will release new album The Overview in March

Steven Wilson's The Overview, a concept album featuring two long-form pieces of music, will be released on March 14

Louder

“A Rolls Royce appeared to pick me up for Top Of The Pops. I asked who booked it; the driver said, ‘Your manager.’ We sacked him and I took the bus”: The convoluted story of Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade Of Pale

In May 1967, the band’s debut single changed the musical world. Nearly six decades later it’s developed a long and protracted legacy

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