Thursday, August 23, 2018

Velvett Fogg (Psychedelic rock, progressive rock, acid rock / England)

Velvett Fogg were a British psychedelic rock band from Birmingham. Tony Iommi was a member in mid-1968, but soon left to form Black Sabbath. Their lone eponymous album was released in January 1969.

Genres: Psychedelic rock, progressive rock, acid rock


Years active: 1968–1970

Velvett Fogg were formed in 1968 from members of a Birmingham band Gravy Train. Up front was soul singer Ernie Handy, Bob Hewitt was lead guitarist, with Graham Mullett on drums, and Mick Pollard on bass guitar. Londoner Frank Wilson who played Hammond organ, was also on vocals, eventually becoming band leader and lead vocalist. The newly formed band spent most of the year touring Germany playing at army bases and clubs. Their stage act included a light show and a go-go dancer.

On their return to Birmingham, the band, now managed by an agency called Inter City Artists, were given a record deal by Jack Dorsey of Pye Records. It was also a time when it seemed that the more unusual or controversial a band was, then the greater chance there would be for success in the record business. The record label was looking to sign unusual underground music acts and Velvett Fogg were told to, in Jack Dorsey's words, "develop an image that would make people think you would piss on the pope!" (Keith Law).

The initial line-up of Velvett Fogg featured guitarist Tony Iommi (later with Black Sabbath). Iommi was in the line-up for only one gig before he left to be replaced temporarily by Ian Leighton. Leighton was "a great blues guitarist", said his friend Frank Wilson. It was during this time that Pye Records arranged a photo-shoot of the band for the cover of their proposed first album.

Before recording could begin in late 1968, Ian Leighton left the band and was replaced by guitarist/vocalist Paul Eastment (a cousin of Iommi). Paul Eastment contributed original compositions for the album, as did Frank Wilson, Graham Mullet and Mick Pollard.

Velvett Fogg recorded the tracks for their debut album on Pye Records under the direction of Jack Dorsey. Apparently, Dorsey aimed to get the band onto the then-popular progressive band wagon. "I was a classically trained pianist but we all had to play way below our capabilities" says Frank Wilson.



Past members:

Frank Wilson - organ, piano, vocals
Keith Law - songwriter
Paul Eastment - guitar, vocals
Mick Pollard - bass guitar
Graham Mullet - drums
Tony Iommi - guitar
Ernie Handy - vocals
Bob Hewitt -  lead guitar

Ian Leighton - guitar


Discography:

Album: 

- Velvett Fogg - Velvett Fogg  (1969)

Singles: 

- Telstar '69  
- Owed To The Dip (1969)


https://youtu.be/kHzI2Osxoxg  Full Album:







Keith Law and Frank Wilson are back together writing as Velvett Fogg Reloaded, and recording for a proposed new Velvett Fogg album.

Source: Wikipedia


Monday, July 23, 2018

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Soup (Post rock, prog. rock / Norway)




Soup is a post rock band from Trondheim, Norway and was founded in 2004 by the Norwegian based multi-instrumentalist Erlend Viken as an outlet for his song writing and compositional talents.

Genrespost-rock, progressive rock, alternative rock, neo-prog, new prog.


Years active:  2004 -  present






Members:

Erlend Viken
Ørjan Langnes
Jan Tore Megård
Pål Ramsøy-Halle
Espen Berge

Past members:

Thomas Nyborg
Ørjan Saur
Rune Leraand
Sverre Leraand


Discography: 

- Give It An Empire (2004)
- Children Of E.L.B. (2010)
- Entropia (2012)
- The Beauty Of Our Youth (2013)
- DUUN (2013)
- Remedies (2017)



Sleepers: https://youtu.be/JrEEKaDSF4k  :




Memoirs Of An Imaginary Friendhttps://youtu.be/YfpYo3D17B4




More info: http://www.soupband.com/bio/

Source: Wikipedia 

When hippies ruled the world (documentary, hippie culture)

"When hippies ruled  the world" (documentary, BBC TV)


Part 1: https://youtu.be/LtjIsi6VMaI


Part 2:  https://youtu.be/FC6RPhUVdPQ


Part 3: https://youtu.be/PgeNIEyarz8


Part 4: https://youtu.be/M2usv4zGBhw



Source: YouTube




Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Temples (Psych. rock / neo-psychedelica, England)

Temples are an English rock band formed in Kettering, Northamptonshire in 2012 by singer and guitarist James Bagshaw and bassist Tom Walmsley. The band's lineup was later completed with the addition keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Adam Smith and drummer Samuel Toms.

Years active: 2012 – present

History

The band was initially formed as a home studio project in mid 2012. Walmsley and Bagshaw had known each other for years before these projects. It was at this point that they were in rival bands based in their hometown of Kettering.

In an interview with Sound of Boston, lead vocalist James Bagshaw noted that signing on to Heavenly Records did not change their recording process. "Nothing changed, everything stayed exactly the same... At no point did they say, you know, go into the studio. If they did, we probably wouldn’t have signed to them because we liked the idea of what we were doing," Bagshaw stated

The duo uploaded four self-produced tracks to YouTube which caught the attention of Heavenly Recordings founder Jeff Barrett who agreed to release the band's debut single in the form of "Shelter Song" in November 2012. They then enlisted fellow Kettering resident drummer, Samuel Lloyd Toms  and keyboard player Adam Smith and started rehearsing as a band, so they could play their songs live, having never played live as a band before. The band released their second single "Colours To Life" in June 2013.


Bagshaw also commented on the difficulty in selecting which tracks to release as singles. The melodic nature of "Mesmerise," was a main reason why Temples chose to release it as a single; "I guess melody is something that assigns a single because that’s the thing that people listen to. But for us, we always found it very hard to choose singles… it might not be commercially viable, but that one sounds more catchy," said Bagshaw.

The band debuted two new songs live in 2015, entitled 'Henry's Cake' and 'Volcano/Savior' respectively. The band confirmed that they were working on a new album via Instagram on 9 July 2015. The band spent much of the first half of 2016 recording new material before embarking on a number of European festival dates. On 26 September 2016 the band announced a new single, "Certainty".

They released their second studio album, Volcano, on 3 March 2017.


In June 2017 Temples released their new single 'Henry's Cake' - which is not on their second studio album 'Volcano.'

Band members:

Current:

James Edward Bagshaw – lead vocals, lead guitar
Adam Thomas Smith – rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Thomas Edward James Walmsley – bass guitar, backing vocals
Samuel Toms – drums

Former:

Jack Prince – drums


Colours to Life: https://youtu.be/tUGEnXz4EG8 : 




Discography:

Studio albums:

- Sun Structures (5 February 2014) 
- Volcano (3 March 2017) 

Remix album:

- Sun Restructured (10 November 2014)

EPs:

Shelter Song EP (7 July 2014)
- Mesmerise Live EP (16 September 2014)

Singles: 

"Shelter Song" / "Prisms" (12 November 2012)
"Colours to Life" / "Ankh" (24 June 2013)
"Keep In the Dark" / "Jewel of Mine Eye" (7 October 2013)
"Mesmerise" (20 November 2013)
"Move with the Season" (3 November 2014)
"Certainty" (26 September 2016)

"Strange or Be Forgotten" (10 January 2017)




Source and more info: wikipedia




Friday, March 9, 2018

The Summer of Love Experience & How Hippies Changed the World (documentaries)

The Summer of Love Experience

https://youtu.be/SnJGYjuNBCE



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The Summer of Love How Hippies Changed the World Series.

The first episode looks at how ideas, music and lifestyles from Asia, Europe and the American Left became entwined in California. It traces the roots of the hippies back to a 19th-century German sect of wandering naturalists called Lebensreform who brought their freethinking ideas about nature to California after the Second World War. There they merged with a growing interest in Eastern mystical concepts of human nature imported to America by maverick British thinkers like Aleister Crowley and Aldous Huxley. Add to this mix a wonder drug first developed by the CIA called LSD and a wave of student activists and anti-war protestors agitating for revolution and you have the astonishing story how these forces came together to give birth to the Summer of Love in San Francisco, 1967.



https://youtu.be/zoKue11ArRw 


or the trailer: