On April 3, 2007 Umphrey’s McGee releases a double disc B-Sides album – a spontaneous and intriguing follow-up to their highly touted spring 2006 studio release Safety In Numbers. Titled The Bottom Half, disc one features ten songs that did not make it onto Safety In Numbers, while disc two offers outtakes, alternative versions of songs, a cappella recordings, and other bits from the band’s 2005 studio sessions. As with Safety In Numbers, famed album artist Storm Thorgerson has designed the artwork for The Bottom Half.

Safety In Numbers attracted mountains of attention for Chicago’s rising stars during 2006. The highly anticipated album charted on Billboard’s Top 200 and on the coveted “Heatseekers” chart, and received a “4 Star” review in Blender magazine. Also in 2006, Umphrey’s McGee sold out shows in theaters coast to coast, appeared at Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, and made their late night TV debut on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. In addition, Guitar Player Magazine recently featured the band’s guitarists – Jake Cinninger and Brendan Bayliss – on their list of “Best Unsung Guitar Heroes.”

The current list of confirmed tour dates is as follows:

February 21 Culture Room Ft. Lauderdale FL
February 22 State Theatre St. Petersburg FL
February 23 The Music Farm Charleston SC
February 24 Amos’ South End Charlotte NC
February 25 Legend’s Music Hall Boone NC
February 27 The NorVa Norfolk VA
February 28 Georgia Theater Athens GA
March 01 The Orange Peel Asheville NC
March 02 Bijou Theatre Knoxville TN
March 05-06 Fox Theatre Boulder CO
March 14 Canopy Club Urbana IL
March 15 The Orbit Room Grand Rapids MI
March 16 Clutch Cargos Pontiac MI
March 17 Morris Performing Arts Center South Bend IN
March 22 Orpheum Theatre Madison WI
March 23-24 First Avenue Minneapolis MN
April 03 Iowa Memorial Union Ballroom Iowa City IA
April 04 The Blue Note Columbia MO
April 05 The Pageant St. Louis MO
April 06-07 Egyptian Room - Murat Centre Indianapolis IN
April 11 Calvin Theatre Northampton MA
April 12 Avalon Theatre Boston MA
April 13 Nokia Theatre Time Square New York NY
April 14 9:30 Club Washington D.C.
April 15 Water Street Music Hall Rochester NY
April 17 The Opera House Toronto Ontario
April 18 Penn’s Peak Jim Thorpe PA
April 19 The Town Ballroom Buffalo NY
April 20 Newport Music Hall Columbia OH
April 21 TBA - Green Apple Music Festival Chicago IL
May 02-03 The Workplay SoundStage Birmingham AL
May 04 House Of Blues New Orleans LA
May 05 Granada Theatre Dallas TX
May 25-27 Summer Camp Chillicothe IL
June 02 Mountain Jam Festival Hunter NY
July 18-21 10,000 Lakes Festival Detroit Lakes MN

More dates to be announced.

It has been a quick rise for Chicago’s Umphrey’s McGee. Their virtuoso playing and edgy songcraft recently compelled RollingStone to choose Umphrey’s “a band to watch” in their annual Hot Issue. Relix magazine put them on the cover of their December 2004 issue and the prestigious Chicago Music Awards bestowed upon Umphrey’s McGee the coveted Best Rock Entertainer of the Year award. Booked coast to coast by the Monterey Peninsula Booking Agency, the band recently sold out three nights at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom, two nights at Irving Plaza, San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium, and the list goes on.

www.umphreys.com.

ProgDay 2007 is pleased to welcome the New Jersey-based prog rock stylings of Advent to the Storybook Farm stage. Advent was formed in 1989. They released their self titled debut album to rave reviews in 1997. It would be a long gap until the band’s sophomore release in 2005, but it would be worth the wait. The album, “Cantus Firmus” drew superlative reviews from the progressive rock press and more mainstream publications like Guitar Player magazine.

The band describes their music as a contemporary sound with an extensive variety of influences solidly rooted in western musical sources, whether they be folk, classical-romantic, or popular. Their lyrics range from reflective to the mysterious, complimented by a descriptive “cinematic” musical style. Advent plan to enter the studio in the near future to begin work on their 3rd release. We are thrilled to be able to welcome Advent to the ProgDay stage. Check out the Advent website at: http://www.adventmusic.net/.

ProgDay takes place at Storybook Farm near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Sept 1st and 2nd, 2007. For more information visit the ProgDay web site at http://www.progday.com.

The presale for the Subtacto Progfest 2007 has now started from our own website at www.subtacto.com.

The festival will take place at Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway on Saturday 4th of august.

Confirmed bands are Threshold, Pendragon, A.C.T, Magic Pie, White Willow and Wobbler. Two more bands soon to be confirmed.

The ticket price will be NOK 495,- (60 EURO / £ 41 / $ 79 ), and you can pay secure using your credit card via PayPal. No additional fees apply.

There will also be possible to buy a limited edition of souvenir tickets with the same motif as on the festival poster designed by Mark Wilkinson. These tickets will only be made in 250 copies, and will be sold for NOK 595,- (72 EURO / £ 49 / $ 95 ).

From Monday 5th of march you will also be able to order tickets from the Norwegian Ticketmaster-affiliate, Billettservice. They will, however, only sell ordinary tickets, not souvenir tickets.

More detailed information about how to travel to Oslo and the festival area, accommodation etc., will be online shortly.

SYMPHONY X (US)
Symphony X from New Jersey is arguably the only band being serious competitors with Dream Theater for the championship in progressive/symphonic metal. Their eponymous debut was released in 1994, followed shortly by new vocalist Russell Allan joining the ranks - and now Symphony X was a force to be seriously reckoned with. The following six releases - five studio and one live - are all classics and totally indispensable for any fan of progressive metal. Since the release of “The Odyssey” in 2002 the band has mainly devoted their energy to different side projects, and their scheduled appearance at SRF last years had to be cancelled for bassist Mike Lepond to undergo an emergency stomach operation. But better late than never: Symphony X will soon be releasing their highly anticipated seventh studio album, and are now confirmed for their first SRF-appearance since 2001. Front figures are, as always, the above-mentioned Russell Allan and lauded guitarist Michael Romeo. (We recommend: “The Damnation Game”, “The Divine Wings of Tragedy”, “The Odyssey”.)

SKID ROW (US)
When you talk about the eighties and sleaze a couple of bands are always mentioned, one of them is of course Skid Row. In the eighties the band was fronted by Sebastian Bach, who actually visited Sweden Rock a few years ago. The band had some massive hits with songs like “18 and Life”, “Youth Gone Wild” and “I Remember You”. Skid Row has, since Sebastian left, proven they still can deliver the goods, this when they returned in 1999 when the highly potent lead singer Johnny Solinger. The band has since released two albums, “Thickskin” and the latest release “Revolution Per Minute”.

QUIET RIOT (US)
Kevin Dubrow, Randy Rhoades, Drew Forsyth och Kelli Garni once formed the basics of Quite Riot. The band’s first two albums only saw the light of day on the Japanese market. After this Randy was hired by Ozzy Osbourne and tragically died in a plane crash in 1982. Kevin however kept the banner flying and made great impact in the eighties hair band era with the album “Metal Health”. The band even had a couple of massive hits with two old Slade-numbers; “Cum Feel The Noize” and “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” in the eighties. This year, after some time of silence Quiet Riot’s new album “Rehab” shows the band is still rocking strong. Today’s line-up consists of Kevin, Alex Grossi (guitar), Chuck Wright (bass) and long time member Franki Banali (drums).

KORPIKLAANI (FIN)
Korpiklaani band leader Jonne Järvelä is perhaps best known as the supplier of yoik vocals on the Finntroll album “Jaktens Tid” (2001), but his own band also deserves wider recognition outside of their native Finland. Under their previous name Shaman, the band released two albums in Lappish (!). They released their first album as Korpiklaani in 2003, and their fourth one unde that monicker will appear in May, titled “Teravaskanto”. Korpiklaani’s lyrics are mainly in English, but they also often write in Finnish and traditional Finnish music and instruments are one of the cornerstones of the band’s recognizable sound. The other one is, obviously, vicious hard rock. Much like Finntroll, Korpiklaani have the status of folk metal-kings in their home country. By attending SRF, they will undoubtedly gain a legion of new fans in Sweden as well. (We recommend: “Spirit of the Forest”, “Voice of the Wilderness”, “Tales Along This Road”.)

MCQUEEN (UK)
From Brighton, England, comes this female and punky quartet, who opened for such bands as Cheap Trick, L.A. Guns, W.A.S.P. and The Almighty before they had even released their first album! Said album hit the shops in January 2007, titled “Break the Silence”. Since its release, McQueen have already appeared at a festival in Vietnam (!) and are about to embark on a tour in Germany. So it will be a both tight and aggressive live unit that comes to add the audience at SRF to their list of conquests. (We recommend: “Break the Silence”.)

CONFIRMED BANDS SO FAR. OUT OF TOTALLY 70!

HEAVEN & HELL (UK)
Ronnie James Dio - Tony Iommi - Geezer Butler - Vinnie Appice

MEATLOAF (US)
BLIND GUARDIAN (D)
MOTÖRHEAD (UK)
ICED EARTH (US)
REO SPEEDWAGON (US)
DIMMU BORGIR (N)
SYMPHONY X (US)
THE AUSTRALIAN PINK FLOYD SHOW (AUS)
NOVEMBER (S)
TROUBLE (US)
KREATOR (D)
UDO (D)
SUZI QUATRO (UK)
GOV’T MULE (US)
SKID ROW (US)
ANNIHILATOR (CAN)
NOCTURNAL RITES (S)
POINT BLANK (US)
PRETTY MAIDS (DK)
QUIET RIOT (US)
AMON AMARTH (S)
HARDCORE SUPERSTAR (S)
BLACK OAK ARKANSAS (US)
THUNDER (UK)
THE ANSWER (UK)
AXEL RUDI PELL (D/US)
CIRCUS MAXIMUS (N)
TIAMAT (S)
MCQUEEN (UK)
RANDY PIPER´S ANIMAL (US)
TOKYO DRAGONS (UK)
ELDRITCH (I)
LION’S SHARE (S)
FALCONER (S)
TRAIL OF TEARS (S)
ALL ENDS (S)
KORPIKLAANI (FIN)
MEMFIS (S)

MORE INFO ABOUT THE FESTIVAL AND HOW TO GET TICKETS AT:
www.swedenrock.com

This spring marks the Century Family’s inaugural Metal For The Masses tour, which will be co-headlined by Swedish titans THE HAUNTED and DARK TRANQUILLITY with INTO ETERNITY and Scar Symmetry rounding out the stellar bill. The trek will be sponsored by Decibel magazine, Draven and Lambgoat.com, and the tour’s moniker is derived from The Century Family’s annual Metal For The Masses compilation series, which is available exclusively through Hot Topic. See below for the tour’s complete itinerary.

THE HAUNTED’s dynamic new offering, The Dead Eye, sees the band effectively combine elements of their previous efforts while exploring new ideas to continuously challenge themselves. The new effort was recorded in Denmark at Antfarm Studios with renowned producer Tue Madsen (Himsa, Sick Of It All) and is being hailed as their most accomplished work yet. The group shot a new video for “The Flood” with renowned director Roger Johansson (Arch Enemy, In Flames), and it is definitely a clip that stands out from the pack.

Peter Dolving (vocals) of THE HAUNTED further describes his excitement over the upcoming tour: “Hitting the U.S. with Dark Tranquillity feels fucking immense. You’ll be facing a remorseless monster, a sonic violation machine. I think we’re hitting a level of crushing groove and intensity that we’ve never been close to. We’re all slowly losing our minds. It’s one of those things - with this many people coming out to these shows, there’s nothing else to do than play ‘til you’re within an inch of your life. The body screams for mercy, but that shit rocks! This tour will blow you away.”

DARK TRANQUILLITY triumphantly returns with Fiction, a scorching effort that will undoubtedly add an exhilarating new chapter to the genre’s storied history. They hold the esteemed distinction as being one of the bands responsible for founding an entirely new genre of death metal in the early ’90s, which came to be known as “The Gothenburg Sound.” With Fiction, they revitalize the genre they helped to create and further cement their status as one of the scene’s most influential metal bands. Be sure to visit www.darktranquillity.com to check out the blistering new track “Focus Shift.”

Mikael Stanne (vocals) of DARK TRANQUILLITY states: “We can’t imagine a cooler tour than this. The Haunted, one of my favorite Swedish bands and long time friends are coming with Into Eternity, whom we have briefly hung out with and looking forward to seeing again. It will be great to come to the U.S. once again and to finally bring the complete Dark Tranquillity experience to you all. Expect tons of tunes from different albums as well as some brand new stuff from Fiction. We look forward to seeing you all again real soon.”

INTO ETERNITY had a phenomenal 2006, which saw the release of a new album and a high-profile run on Gigantour alongside such genre titans as Megadeth, Lamb of God and Opeth. They emerged as one of the fest’s most talked-about acts and quickly developed a die-hard legion of fans along the way. Their critically acclaimed new album, The Scattering of Ashes, draws from all aspects of heavy music and is the perfect blend of technicality, memorable songwriting and traditional heavy metal. The group’s stunning new video for the track “Severe Emotional Distress” can be viewed here.

Tim Roth (guitars) of INTO ETERNITY states: “This will be a perfect tour for us. All the guys in the band dig these bands, so we are excited by this killer metal package. I remember playing the Rock Hard Festival 2004 with Dark Tranquillity. They blew me away and I went up to them after a few beers and asked them to take us on tour. Now, three years later it is happening. It will be great to see the legendary Haunted every night. I think this will be an amazing package for the fans. We hope to see everyone on the road very soon.”

Sweden’s SCAR SYMMETRY - called “masters of melody, complexity, and aggression” by Kerrang! Magazine – are touring in support of their 2006 sophomore album, Pitch Black Progress. The album climbed as high as #4 on the CMJ Loud Rock and #9 on FMQB charts. Their video for “The Illusionist,” debuted on MTV2’s Headbangers Ball in July 2006.

Per Nilsson (lead guitars) comments: “We’ve all been playing in bands for years, but we’ve never experienced or had this level of support before. We’re really glad and excited to be a part of this great package, as well as getting the chance to play on American soil for the first time. We’ve unfortunately been forced to cancel our performance at this year’s edition of Progpower U.K. in March, but when it comes to choosing between doing one gig in England and touring North America for almost a month, the decision isn’t really that hard to make.”

Having first debuted on Hot Topic counters across America during the 2001 holiday season, Metal For The Masses has gone on to become Hot Topic’s most successful and longest-running annual compilation series. Now on its fifth volume in the series, the latest installment is the best yet with two CDs packed full of all the latest from Century Media, Nuclear Blast and Liquor And Poker Music, plus a bonus DVD packed with 28 music videos. All together, the low-priced compilation offers up over five hours of headbanging mania.

THE HAUNTED
w/Dark Tranquillity, Into Eternity, Scar Symmetry
03/19 The Social – Orlando, FL
03/20 State Theatre – St. Petersburg, FL
03/21 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
03/23 The Palladium – Worcester, MA
03/24 The Trocadero – Philadelphia, PA
03/25 Jaxx – Springfield, VA
03/26 Gramercy Theatre – New York, NY
03/28 Le Medley – Montreal, QC
03/29 Opera House – Toronto, ON
03/30 Mr. Small’s Theatre – Pittsburgh, PA
03/31 Harpo’s – Detroit, MI
04/02 Headliner’s Music Hall – Louisville, KY
04/03 Pop’s – Sauget, IL
04/04 Metro – Chicago, IL
04/06 Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom – Denver, CO
04/07 Country Club Theatre – Ogden, UT
04/09 Croatian Cultural Centre – Vancouver, BC
04/10 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
04/11 Hawthorne Theatre – Portland, OR
04/12 Slim’s – San Francisco, CA
04/13 House of Blues – Anaheim, CA
04/14 The Avalon – Hollywood, CA

Magna Carta is releasing the Alex Skolnick Trio’s LAST DAY IN PARADISE late March 27. Alex says the title “has a three fold meaning. Last year we played a festival called the Sarasota Earth Dance. We met a lot of artistic and socially conscience people. As we were driving away, we felt we were leaving paradise.”

Alex explains, “Last Day In Paradise is also a philosophy–a way at looking at the world and living each day. The theme also applies to the ecology in dealing with environmental concerns.”

All the songs on LAST DAY IN PARADISE are jazz, most are classic jazz. And most of the songs on LAST DAY IN PARADISE are original, the covers are: Ozzy Osborne’s “Revelation Mother Earth,” Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” in which the trio combines some techno sounds with their beat, and Testament’s “Practice What You Preach.”

Jethro Tull will be doing an acoustic tour this fall in the States. There is also supposed to be a new album from them soon. Now, with measured respect to our friends in politics, Ian’s tour diary has recent observations — since “Skating Away On the Thin Ice of a New Day” — on ecology, and ways that he’s setting up tourdates in the States.

Progressive Arts is proud to announce the lineup for the Friday night showcase for NEARfest Weekend. Guitar legend Allan Holdsworth with cohorts Chad Wakerman and Jimmy Johnson will headline a stellar night of international jazz rock fusion. Supporting Holdsworth will be Danish cult favorites Secret Oyster and the Magma off-shoot One Shot from France.

Allan Holdsworth is widely regarded by fans and musicians alike as one of the 20th century’s most prominent guitarists. An innovator in both jazz and rock, Holdsworth’s unique guitar voice and style has been pushing the limits of the electric guitar since the early `70s. An inductee of Guitar Player Magazine’s Hall of Fame and five-time winner in their reader’s poll, he is renowned for his work with the likes of Soft Machine, Bruford, and U.K. as well as his extensive solo catalog, exemplified by classics such as “I.O.U.”, “Metal Fatigue,” “Road Games,” and “Sand.” Holdsworth will be joined by Chad Wakerman on drums and Jimmy Johnson on bass. Wakerman, a phenomenally skilled jazz and rock drummer, has amassed a remarkable body of work including a seven-year association with Frank Zappa. He has also recorded six albums and toured with Allan Holdsworth. Johnson is one of the world’s most requested and busiest electric bass sessionmen, and pioneer of the five string electric bass. In addition to being a long-time collaborator of Allan Holdsworth both in the studio and on the road, Johnson has also worked with Roger Hodgson, Roger Waters, Simon Phillips and countless others.

Denmark’s Secret Oyster is a legendary jazz-rock supergroup from the `70s. The band’s catalog is currently being remastered and reissued by The Laser’s Edge label, which has revitalized the band to play live once again. Led by sax player Karsten Vogel, Secret Oyster were masters at walking the tightrope between jazz and rock, much like contemporaries like Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever. The band’s tour de force, 1974’s “Sea Son,” features everything from dynamic counterpoint to psychedelic fury. Secret Oyster has never played in the United States until now. This once-in-a-lifetime performance is not to miss.

Originally formed for a musical one night stand, France’s One Shot produces an appealling combination of Zeuhl and electric Miles Davis. Part of their influence is very apparent as bassist Philippe Buissonnet, keyboardist Emmanuel Borghi and guitarist James MacGaw all double-time with Magma. One Shot’s music is full of tasty Fender Rhodes and smoky organ runs mixed together with dazzling Patrice Meyer-esque guitar work. Their latest release, “Ewaz Vader,” was one of last year’s top fusion albums (#3 on the Gagliarchives Radio Top 100 of 2006). One Shot’s high-energy set will be the perfect kick-off to a fabulous weekend of music.

Date: Friday, June 22nd, 2007
Time: 7:00pm
Venue: Zoellner Arts Center, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Tickets
NEARfest ticket buyers will be given the opportunity to buy the same seats for Progressive Arts’ Fusion Friday. The Patron Program sign-up for NEARfest 2007 is from Thursday, January 18th, 2007 at noon EST and until Saturday January 20th at 6:00pm EST. Details are at http://www.nearfest.com. General ticket sales for NEARfest (June 23rd & 24th) go on sale Saturday, March 31st at 11:00ma EST.

General ticket sales for Fusion Friday begin Saturday, April 7th at 11:00am EST.

Tickets will be available through the following methods:
1. Online from Zoellner Arts Center, http://ztickets.lehigh.edu
2. By phone at 610-758-2787 using Visa, MasterCard, or American Express
3. Zoellner Arts Center Box Office, 420 East Packer Avenue, Bethlehem, PA
Price Levels
Lift $49.00
Orchestra: $44.00
Grand Tier: $39.00
Balcony: $35.00

Allan Holdsworth with Chad Wackerman and Jimmy Johnson (UK/US)
Allan Holdsworth – Guitar
Chad Wackerman – Drums
Jimmy Johnson - Bass

Secret Oyster (Denmark)
Karsten Vogel – Saxophone, Keyboards
Claus Bøhling – Guitar
Ole Streenberg - Drums
Assi Roar - Bass
Christoffer Sten Møller - Keyboards

One Shot (France)
Emmanuel Borghi – Keyboards
Philipppe Buissonnet – Bass
James MacGaw - Guitar
Daniel Jeand’heaur – Drums

More online soon at http://www.progressive-arts.net

UK prog metal giants THRESHOLD will add to the exciting lineup of Norway’s new progressive music festival Subtacto this summer.

The latest chapter of Threshold’s story sees the band signed to Nuclear Blast Records to release their 8th studio album “Dead Reckoning” with release in March this year.

Their 2004-effort “Subsurface” was hailed as “absolute perfection” by Darkscene (AT). “Subsurface” scooped 15 “Album Of The Month” awards across 9 countries, making it one of the essential rock albums of the year. The band’s subsequent European tour was their most successful yet.

The band adds to the already confirmed line-up of Pendragon (UK), A.C.T (S), Magic Pie (N), White Willow (N) and Wobbler (N).

The festival’s Norwegian and foreign headliner will be announced on 22nd of February, and the ticket sales starts from the 23rd.

The Subtacto Progfest will be held at the world famous venue Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway Saturday 4th of August 2007.

For more information contact the festival manager Per-Helge Berg on admin@subtacto.com or phone +47 91 17 18 85.

North America (More Dates TBA)

June 14 (with Foreigner) Atlanta, GA - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
June 17 (with Foreigner) Bristow VA - Nissan Pavillion
June 22 (with Foreigner) Homdel NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
June 23 (with Foreigner) Wantagh, NY - Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre
June 28 (with Styx/Foreigner) Scranton, PA, Toyota Pavilion (Montage
Mountain)
June 29 (with Styx/Foreigner) Camden, NJ, Tweeter Center
June 30 (with Styx/Foreigner) Atlantic City, NJ, Borgata Hotel Casino
July 1 (with Foreigner) Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun
July 4 Milwaukee WI - Summerfest
July 6 Detroit, MI - Renassiance Center
Aug 17 (with Foreigner) Des Moines, IA - Iowa State Fair
Aug 31 Jim Thorpe, PA - Penn’s Peak

Europe (More Dates TBA)

July 20th Winterbach Festival, Germany
July 21st Loreley Festival (Night of the Prog) , St Goarshausen, Germany

United Kingdom (More Dates TBA)

December 16th Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London