It's 11am in a very sunny Los Angeles when Prog catches up with PatternSeeking Animals keyboard player/ multi-instrumentalist, main writer and producer John Boegehold, and he's already been up for more than five hours. It's an almost daily routine that allows time to boot up his studio to write and demo material before tackling his 'proper job' in property management, and he'll keep toying with ideas throughout the day. This cycle of writing partly explains the vast pool of music (more than 200 songs, he estimates) Boegehold has amassed for a number of collaborations, film soundtrack work, contributions to Spock's Beard over the last 20 years and the already enviable back catalogue assembled by Pattern-Seeking Animals since 2018.
"When it gets to the point where I think, 'Oh, that would be a cool song' then I go full-speed ahead, I'll put all the tracks together and send them to the guys to do their parts, although with drums we always do everything live in the studio," he explains.
However, new P-SA album, Spooky Action At A Distance, has seen a shift from business as usual.
"The past three albums we've recorded with Rich Mouser at the Mouse House and it's been great Rich is so good. You'll have heard his work a zillion times recording and mixing the who's who' of prog. Because our albums are so close together, the challenge with starting a new one right after the previous one is to make it sound different, not just a bunch of more tracks from the same sessions.
But you're kind of trapped though, because Rich is so good you don't want to risk making any changes." Ultimately, fate stepped in with simple scheduling when Boegehold wanted to start recording drums for the current album.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 147-utgaven av Prog.
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JAKKO M JAKSZYK
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A Part & Yet Apart
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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.
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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.
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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.
