Music
Prog
BIG BIG TRAIN
British prog classicists honour absent friends, look to the past and forge a new future with their very first narrative concept album.
3 min |
Issue 166
Prog
Steeleye Span
Fifty-six years on and still going strong; Steeleye Span released their first album this decade in 2025. Conflict was a record of our times and contained a mix of original material and reworked traditional songs. Longtime vocalist Maddy Prior explains the story behind it and how she came to unleash her inner Tom Waits.
7 min |
Issue 166
Prog
BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD
Black Country, New Road have always been full of surprises. When frontman Isaac Wood bowed out days before the release of their second album, Ants From Up There, most groups would’ve found a new singer or simply folded.
2 min |
Issue 166
Prog
Solent Area Prog
Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2026, the live music promotions company led by Geoff Tucker has helped put Southampton on the prog map, and bring an even more eclectic mix of music to its largest independent grassroots music venue, The 1865. We caught up with the accidental promoter to discover why the British port city is rocking the prog boat.
4 min |
Issue 166
Prog
Steve Rothery
Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery embraced his more electronic side this year with Bioscope, his soundscape project with Tangerine Dream's Thorsten Quaeschning. But he's not ditching the day job: work is well underway on Marillion's next studio album, and there's his long-awaited collaboration with a certain Mr Hackett still to come.
7 min |
Issue 166
Prog
JORDAN RUDESS (DREAM THEATER)
The great and good of progressive music give us a glimpse into their prog worlds.
3 min |
Issue 166
Prog
BE PROG! MY FRIEND ANNOUNCES LINE-UP
Soen and The Ocean will headline the 2026 edition of the Barcelona-based festival.
1 min |
Issue 166
Prog
Rush
“Geddy said from the stage [in 2015], how they’d see us down the road some day. And now, before we even know it, that day will be here again.”
5 min |
Issue 166
Prog
MARTIN BARRE
Every month we get inside the mind of one of the biggest names in music. This issue it's Martin Barre. From the shy kid who learned music to avoid having to ask girls to dance, he conquered the world with Jethro Tull, a band that sold out the Los Angeles Forum five nights in a row in 1975, shifting some 100,000 tickets in the process. The guitarist reflects on not letting fame go to his head, his guilt at staying with Ian Anderson in Tull at the start of the 1980s, and his enduring hunger for new music with the Martin Barre Band.
10+ min |
Issue 166
Prog
MOON SAFARI
It was only two weeks ago that the promoters had to shift a prog gig by Germans RPWL upstairs at this venue, such was the demand for tickets, and tonight, Swedes Moon Safari are probably knocking on the door of something similar. It's busy here; not uncomfortably packed, but it's getting there. And while tales of gigs being cancelled due to poor ticket sales are rife these days, both these London Prog Gigs shows provide a crumb of comfort.
3 min |
Issue 166
Prog
LORELLE MEETS THE OBSOLETE
Mexican pair dety categorisation with groovy, electro-infused psych rock.
2 min |
Issue 166
Prog
THE BLACKHEART ORCHESTRA NEW LP
Arctic Deep Sea Diving will explore adventurous areas this spring.
1 min |
Issue 166
Prog
STEVEN WILSON THE OVERVIEW FICTION
Steven Wilson returned to his progressive rock roots in 2025 with an epic two-track concept album and a wow-factor tour. Somehow, he even managed to find the time to remix Pink Floyd and a whole host of other rock and pop icons, too.
6 min |
Issue 166
Prog
AARON BOND
Arriving late to the party, the When Rivers Meet guitarist shares his love of latterday
2 min |
Issue 166
Prog
BIFFY CLYRO
INFINITY LAND
2 min |
Issue 166
Prog
NEW DEVIATIONS FROM GENRE-SMASHERS ULVER
The Norwegian collective switch from synthpop to ambient.
1 min |
Issue 166
Prog
HEN OGLEDD ANNOUNCE RELEASE OF THIRD LP
The folk-prog collective explore contemporary crises.
1 min |
Issue 166
Prog
CONFIRMATION BIAS
Former Rush tribute act embrace the slow-fermentation process of their debut.
2 min |
Issue 166
Prog
GONG
You're probably the youngest two people in here,\" a gentleman behind Prog explains to his son and girlfriend accompanying him, not, you'd have thought, unreasonably.
2 min |
Issue 166
Prog
JENNY SORRENTI
Italian prog singer returns with a bold new chapter of a project that began over 50 years ago.
1 min |
Issue 166
Prog
HAWKWIND DEBUT ALBUM REMASTERED FOR BOX SET
The package includes remixes, live tracks and rarities.
1 min |
Issue 166
Prog
SISTER RAY DAVIES
Alabama shoegaze duo head seek inspiration in the North Sea.
2 min |
Issue 166
Prog
EBB
Since they drifted into our world a few years ago, EBB have gone from strength to strength and on their hotly anticipated second album, The Mirror, the Scotland-based collective have flexed their muscles even further.
6 min |
Issue 166
Prog
ALSO EDEN TO RELEASE THREE EPS
Spread across the year, the band's new releases coincide with 2026 live dates.
1 min |
Issue 166
Prog
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
The mid-century brutalism of London's Barbican Centre was made for Public Service Broadcasting. Its concrete 70s modernism, which seemed so painfully dated a couple of decades ago, now feels relevant and contemporary a celebration of yesterday's future that now seems rather quaint. And celebrating the past in a retro-futuristic manner is something that Public Service Broadcasting do exceptionally well. With a string of UK Top 10 albums, and, lest we forget, two Top 30 singles behind them, they seem to forever be on the cusp of getting much bigger.
2 min |
Issue 166
Prog
Yes
Ever-busy Yes guitarist Steve Howe discusses the band's recent US tour and plans for 2026, as well as his own upcoming solo releases.
7 min |
Issue 166
Prog
THE NEAL MORSE BAND ARE BACK WITH NEW CONCEPT ALBUM
Featuring the return of drummer Mike Portnoy, the 71-minute epic explores belonging, faith and renewal.
2 min |
Issue 166
Prog
JUSTIN HAYWARD
The opening of the heavens and a sudden downpour over London do nothing to deter the fans who fill the sold-out Cadogan Hall.
3 min |
Issue 166
Prog
GAZPACHO CONFIRM 2026 TOUR DATES
The sextet will play their first UK show in four years in April.
1 min |
Issue 166
Prog
Future Times: 2026 Preview
Buckle up because 2026 is shaping up to be one helluva ride. We take a look into the prog crystal ball and find out what live releases, reissues and shows are expected in the next 12 months.
7 min |