It’s early June when Prog video-calls Voyager frontman Danny Estrin, guitarist Simone Dow and bassist/singer Alex Canion, and the trio are midway through being smashed back into reality. This time last month, the Perth-based band (rounded out by drummer Ashley Doodkorte and Dow’s co-guitarist Scott Kay) were jet-setting in luxury. They were traipsing across Europe and getting interviewed by countless glossy magazines, all part of the run-up to them representing Australia to more than 160 million TV viewers live at the Eurovision Song Contest. Now they’re back home – and getting hammered by a storm so violent that it routinely wipes out their internet connection and freaks out Canion’s dog, Seamus.
“We played the WA Day festival [in Perth] yesterday,” Dow tells us, camera off to put less stress on the struggling WiFi, “and our booking agent sent us a video of the backstage area after we left. You should have seen the flooding! It was insane!”
Although Mother Nature is trying to quite literally rain on their parade, there’s no denying that Voyager became progressive music’s newest superstars this spring. Eurovision is touted worldwide as an international celebration of top-shelf songwriting (despite it frequently showcasing the most OTT pop possible) – and the synthprog quintet had been chasing that rainbow from the moment Australia joined, in 2015. They came tantalisingly close with their pop-prog anthem Dreamer in 2022, finishing second in Eurovision: Australia Decides, the nationally televised competition to select the country’s representative. This year, they finally got sent to the semi-finals when they were held in Liverpool, thanks to the electrorock singalong of Promise.
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JAKKO M JAKSZYK
King Crimson's vocalist and guitarist shares anecdotes from his revealing new autobiography, discusses his lost career as a footballer and reveals what he said when he met the former king of pop.
A Part & Yet Apart
Sheffield-based 80s proggers Haze have returned with a new studio album, The Water's Edge - their third since their 2013 comeback record, The Last Battle. Prog catches up with threequarters of the band to discuss Haze's DIY ethos, the curse of prog and playing to Cumbrian sheep farmers.
CONTROLLED AIRSPACE
He's about to embark on Dream Theater's 40th Anniversary Tour, but keyboard maestro Jordan Rudess has taken time out to discuss his soaring new solo album, Permission To Fly.
On The Wing
Birds, break-ups, big choruses and the Charlie Chaplin effect can all be found on In Murmuration, the ninth album from Finland's Von Hertzen Brothers. But as they embrace their power pop influences, have the Finns cast off their prog wizard cloaks once and for all? Mikko von Hertzen talks about the Seattle influence, songwriting secrets and sax solos.
Fourth Dimension
The stock of melodic Northumberland-based proggers Stuckfish has been rising since they formed six years ago. Their fourth studio album, Stuckfish IV, represents an important watershed in the band's musical evolution. Co-founders Adrian Fisher and Phil Stuckey tell Prog about the diverse influences that have helped to shape it.
Symphly The Best
In the 70s, Barclay James Harvest almost bankrupted themselves by performing with an orchestra, but, several decades on, they’re celebrating last year’s performance with the Slaithwaite Philharmonic, captured on their latest live record, Philharmonic! The Orchestral Concert. John Lees reminisces over the band’s ambitious early years and bassist Craig Fletcher fills Prog in on JLBJH’s upcoming “progtastic” double album.
We've Not Been Expecting You
The unpredictable Frost* are back with Life In The Wires, a bold double concept album that revisits the mood of Milliontown. Bandleader Jem Godfrey tells Prog why he rolled out the solos on a record he describes as the most fun since their dazzling debut.
FAR HORIZONS AND PANORAMIC AMBITIONS
Dutch five-piece Lesoir have been steadily gathering momentum over the last 15 years, and they hope to build on that with their latest release, Push Back The Horizon. Vocalist/ instrumentalist Maartje Meessen and guitarist Ingo Dassen discuss the creation of their sixth album, working with Muse's production team, and their dream of bringing their intricate music to new audiences.
'I mean, what is classical nowadays?'
Tony Banks reflects on his role as a 21st-century classical composer.
There Can Be Only One!
Never meet your heroes, or so the saying goes, but Opeth have had a blast working with Ian Anderson on their latest, The Last Will And Testament. Bandleader Mikael Åkerfeldt and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson discuss the band's proggiest album to date, the return of the growl and why blood isn't always thicker than water.
