As reported by Fish himself in his monthly e-newsletter, he has taken a position as broadcaster with Planet Rock for his own show “Fish On Friday,” which kicked off this past weekend. “The show goes out every Friday (repeated on Sunday) until the end of June,” Fish writes, “and I’ll be playing an array of rock music including demos from The Thirteenth Star [his upcoming new album]. First show for example has King Crimson, Roger Waters, Genesis, Marillion, Led Zep, SAHB, the Faces - you get the drift! As well as stories behind songs and a plethora of anecdotes there’s a weekly competition to win my entire catalogue of solo studio recordings with a draw from all who enter for a special prize for a lucky someone of a visit to the studio for the playback of the new album and dinner with me and the boys. I’m cooking!”

Plans are in the works for a special live performance at a venue to be determined in Central Scotland, “which will probably be the first show on the ‘Clutching At Stars’ tour. Admission will be free and tickets only available to fans who enter the competitions over the broadcast period. In fairness to The Company I will probably be arranging a warm up gig to this show as it will be recorded and broadcast on Planet Rock after my run of shows.” Fish also notes that he’ll have a blog at Planet Rock and a dedicated email address for show-related contact.

Work on the new album proceeds, his new studio finshed and ready to go, and writing sessions - with Steve Vantsis and Frank Usher - beginning. “It’s been highly productive and the vibe on the sessions has been really positive and creative. I would go as far as to say this has been the best vibe in the studio and control room for years,” Fish says. “The chemistry on this album is very different and the material strong and melodic and sitting on some wonderful grooves.The style is different but relative and I can hear echoes of “Sunsets” and ironically “Clutching” in the tracks we are working on at present.”

Track titles so far: “Circle Line”, “Arc Of The Curve”, “Micklegate”, “13th Star”, “Dark Star”, “Openwater”, “It Ain’t Easy” (working title), “Going Home” (working title) and “Where in the World?”. “It is a concept album and in the next two months more will become clear (both to you and me ) as the writing progresses and more material takes the grid and others move forward to the intended band pre production in late April early May. I am fully confident we are on line to bring in Calum Malcolm in mid May to begin recording with an intended finished album by mid July.” Joining - or rather rejoining - Fish’s band is keyboardist Foss Paterson, as Tony Turrell and Andy Trill have moved on; a second guitarist position has not yet been filled.

The 4th annual progressive rock festival CalProg 2007 has been announced. The festival runs for 12 hours and is presented in a comfortable family friendly traditional theater where all seats are reserved. One of the top priorities is superior sound quality so we use the finest state of the art pro-audio equipment for your enjoyment. In addition, CalProg offers a unique opportunity to interact with the performers in our large Vendor area and dining patio. As returning CalProggers will attest, this is an all encompassing total musical immersion marathon. This year’s line up: The Rudess/Morgenstein Project, Frogg Café, Spiraling, and Puppet Show (Dinner Break Patio Performer: To Be Announced)

CalProg will be held Saturday May 19, 2007 in Whittier, California.

Tickets on Sale: NOW! (Saturday February 24 @ 8am PST) - All Seats Reserved. Get tickets at: www.calprog.com/2007_tickets.htm. PayPal or Major Credit Card accepted. First Come First Served, All Sales Final

Rush’s new album, Snakes & Arrows, is due in stores on May 1st! You can hear a clip from the first single “Far Cry” at the Rush website. Plus, there are plans for a summer tour.

Bay Area Rock Promotions is pleased to announce that DC Cooper has been confirmed as a special guest of the Bay Area Rock Festival. The current Silent Force lead singer and former Royal Hunt frontman will make a guest appearance onstage with one of the bands on the first night of the festival.

Additionally, portions of the proceeds from the festival as well as the March 24th headlining show with Enchant will benefit the local chapters of Guitars Not Guns.

DC Cooper will be promoting the new Silent Force album “Walk The Earth” available on AFM Records, as well as “Genius Rock Opera” Episode 3 on Frontiers Records and Steel Seal “By the Power of Thunder” on Underground Symphony Records (Italy). Additionally, he will be announcing his new project Amaran’s Plight on ProgRock Records with Gary Wehrkamp from Shadow Gallery, Nick D’Virgilio from Spocks Beard and Under the Sun’s Kurt Barabas. Their debut album “Voice in the Light” will be released in the late spring.

DC began his stratospheric rise through the melodic rock and metal world after being named as a finalist for Rob Halford’s position in Judas Priest. This led to the collaboration with Royal Hunt and the critically acclaimed album “Paradox”. DC received the honor of “Top Vocalist” from the Japanese magazine BURNN! 2 years in a row during this time. DC released a solo album in 1998, and joined the German melodic power metal sensation Silent Force for 4 albums and tours with Stratovarius, Angra and Kamelot.

“I am thrilled to attend this festival with some of the finest names in progressive rock and metal” comments DC “I am looking forward to visiting with all the great people at this show and delivering a great performance on Friday night!”

The final lineup for the festival will be as follows:

Friday May 4th
Timeline
Mob Rules
Balance of Power
Enchant
Spocks Beard

Saturday May 5th
Odins Court
Eyefear
Zero Hour
Crimson Glory
Jon Oliva’s Pain

Guitars Not Guns (GNG) is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization that provides guitars and lessons to foster children, at-risk youth and other deserving children, serving kids and teens ages 8-18. Guitars not Guns provides youth a positive alternative to the self-destructive behaviors of substance abuse, crime, and gangs through opportunity, encouragement and empowerment. National sponsors of Guitars not Guns include Gibson Guitars and Bill Graham Presents.

Bay Area Rock Fest will take place on Friday and Saturday, May 4th and 5th at The Independent in San Francisco. Tickets are available through TicketWeb.com. Only 500 tickets will be made available to the public. Ticket costs will be $85.00 for the festival covering both nights.

For more information, please contact david@bayarearockfest.com

Website information:
Bay Area Rock Fest www.bayarearockfest.com
DC Cooper www.myspace.com/dccooperofficial
ProgRock Records – www.progrockrecords.com
Guitars Not Guns- www.guitarsnotguns.org

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – ProgRock Records is please to announce the signing of “Amaran’s Plight”, a new Supergroup featuring:

DC Cooper (Ex-Royal Hunt, Silent Force)
Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery)
Nick D’Virgilio (Spock’s Beard, Kevin Gilbert, Tears for Fears, Genesis)
Kurt Barabas (Under the Sun)

The band’s debut album, “Voice in the Light” will be released worldwide this spring by Progrock Records and its label partners. Voice in the Light was recorded in 2006 at Gary Wehrkamp’s New Horizon Studio’s and described as textbook Symphonic Progressive Metal. It combines the soaring vocals of DC Cooper with the master riffs and melodies of Gary Wehrkamp, backed by the sonic, dynamic and explosive rhythm section of D’Virgilio and Barabas.

Gary Wehrkamp and DC Cooper are no strangers to working together. Gary is the keyboardist, guitarist and Producer of veteran Proggers, Shadow Gallery. DC Cooper appeared on their 1999 conceptual piece, Tyranny as a guest vocalist on the epic track, New World Order. Fans of Shadow Gallery have longed for a Wehrkamp/Cooper collaboration ever since. DC Cooper is the voice behind the Power Prog-metal band, Silent Force. Before joining forces with guitarist Alex Boyrodt to form Silent Force, he was vocalist for veteran Proggers, Royal Hunt. DC will also be a special guest at the upcoming Bay Area Rock Fest in early May (www.bayarearockfest.com).

Nick D’Virgilio is one of the highest rated drummers in Prog today. Besides being the driving force behind Spock’s Beard, he has also played with Mike Kennealy, Kevin Gilbert, Tears for fears and Genesis. Nick takes drumming to the next level on Voice in the Light with an over the top performance that adds emotion, heart and a sonic punch that makes the bands debut album a must hear.

Kurt Barbaras is one of the founding members of Los Angeles based Under The Sun and along with Shadow Gallery was part of the prog revival spearheaded by Magna Carta records in the early 90’s. Kurts bass playing is often singled out as the driving force of Under The Sun.

For more information please visit http://www.progrockrecords.com/shop/view.php?id=120 where video studio diaries are being released every few days to give you a taste of the audio and the project. More details about the album will be revealed shortly.

Things have taken more time than expected with the new album from Cross. The main reason is that the band keep on getting more and more ideas while recording, and want to check these out. But, now they have decided not to incorporate any more material and will instead focus on finishing the recordings and have the album mixed as soon as possible.

Hansi says: “We now have about 77 minutes of music we are pleased with. In order to release it in the most enjoyable form with a certain flow, we have decided to make the original album about 50 plus minutes long. There will also be a limited edition 2-CD version of the album released. This one contains also a 25-minute EP. It would be possible to squeeze it all in on one CD but, artistically, we feel that this is not the best way to listen to it as it would become too long and very difficult to create a nice album flow”.

The release date for The Thrill of Nothingness is set to May 18.

ATLANTA, Georgia - March 1, 2007 (10T Records) -10T Records is thrilled to announce the release of the first official double live CD
by Frogg Cafe, entitled “The Safenzee Diaries” on April 10, 2007. This will be the New York based band’s 4th official release and their first new release on 10T Records.

Frogg Cafe is a 6 piece band making music that incorporates elements of progressive rock, pop melodicism and fusion jazz into a sound that is wholly their own. Peppered with an appealing variety of other flavors including Latin music, bluegrass, modern chamber music and avant-garde/experimental, their energetic live shows feature extended flights of group improvisation that draw grins from hardcore jam-band fans.

In fact, it is these live performances that have historically set Frogg Cafe apart, with each show being a unique and exhilarating one of a kind event. “The Safenzee Diaries” fully captures Frogg Cafe on stage, preserving the world-class musicianship and unexpected interplay that have garnered the band praise from around the world. “The Safenzee Diaries” also incorporates live in the studio jams intertwined between tracks. Additionally, there are energetic reinterpretations of classic Frogg Cafe tunes featuring different solos and sometimes entirely new arrangements, plus three brand new tunes never heard before.

“I’m really excited that Frogg Cafe is releasing our first live (double) CD!” says Frogg Cafe bassist Andrew Sussman.” This is a true
representation of the energy of our music, which on a studio album is very hard to achieve. This release represents the best of hundreds of hours of live shows and live in the studio jams. We’re also psyched that this is our first release with 10T Records, who have been there for us every step of the way. This really is a road trip musical diary of all of our great memories and crazy moments on stage and off.”

“We couldn’t be happier with our partnership with Frogg Cafe,” says 10T Records president Steve Carroll. “They were one of the bands that we launched our label with and it’s very satisfying to be able to bring this fantastic double live CD to the ears of all of their eager fans around the world!”

“The Safenzee Diaries” is available for immediate pre-order through the 10T Records website. All orders received between now and the
official release date will ship on or before the end of the week prior to the official release. Additionally, all tracks from “The Safenzee
Diaries” are available to listen to in their entirety through the 10T Records website.

After April 10, “The Safenzee Diaries” will be available at your favorite retail outlet for immediate purchase.

A “Live at Montreux 2003″ DVD (Eagle Eye Media (Eagle Vision), EREDV627; no region coding) is due 19 Mar in Europe and the next day in North America on DVD-High Definition (catalogue number TC40482) and on DVD-Blue Ray (TC40484). This will be the entire show (dur. 2 hours 18 minutes; the entire show was shorter than most 2003 dates as it was at a festival); tracks: “Siberian Khatru”, “Magnification”, “Don’t Kill the Whale”, “In the Presence of”, “We have Heaven”, “South Side of the Sky”, “And You and I”, “To be Over” (Howe solo), “Clap” (Howe solo), “Show Me”, Wakeman solo medley, “Heart of the Sunrise”, “Long Distance Runaround”, “the fish” (i.e. “Whitefish”, including elements from “On the Slient Wings of Freedom”), “Awaken”, “I’ve Seen All Good People”, “Roundabout”. A 51-minute extract from this show was previously broadcast in France and Switzerland.

From the Rick Wakeman official website:

“To celebrate the forthcoming launch of ‘Amazing Grace’, a DVD & CD package, set for release on April 2nd 2007, the Studio T label presents an exclusive screening of Rick Wakeman’s ‘Amazing Grace’ DVD at Shepperton Film Studios to premier the brand new production. All screening ticket purchases include a copy of the DVD & CD, plus, fans will be treated to some NEVER SEEN BEFORE recordings, filmed in High-Definition.

The ‘Amazing Grace’ DVD features Rick performing a timeless collection of beautiful, inspiring, instrumental arrangements of traditional hymns, with his unique variations on some of the most popular melodies and themes ever produced. ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’, ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘Jerusalem’, ‘Ode To Joy’, ‘Morning Has Broken’ and ‘Abide With Me’ are just some of the pieces crafted with motion pictures, high-end graphics and emotive imagery to bring to life stunning visual interpretations of music that has proved to produce an unprecedented impact on our society and it continues…

Rick has weaved subtle intricacies throughout this ‘Amazing Grace’ soundtrack and created masterful variations upon the original themes. These two exclusive private screenings will feature specially recorded introductions by Rick, the whole ‘Amazing Grace’ DVD in its entirety, plus the NEVER SEEN BEFORE recordings.

The screenings are on March 27th and 29th at 8pm at Shepperton Studios in the UK. The tickets cost £30 and include a copy of the DVD/CD package.

At this time, it is not known if Rick will be attending the screening but tickets should not be purchased in the expectation that Rick will be present.”

The Steve Howe Trio features Steve, Dylan Howe on drums, and Ross Stanley on organ. Below are tour dates in the UK.

May 13: Glee Club, Cardiff
May 17: Bloomsbury, London
May 18: Stables, Milton Keynes
May 19: Platform, Morecombe
May 20: Glee Club, Birmingham