Latest articles by Ben Myers
It took The Mars Volta three years and several arguments to make Noctourniquet
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez challenged himself to stop aiming for perfection, and challenged old friend Cedric Bixler-Zavala to write direct lyrics. It wasn’t easy for either of them
“Metal fans are still stigmatised. So I try and write lyrics with meaning, rather than standard metal lyrics”: How Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine set out to bust a few myths with Super Collider
A 2013 audience with an unexpectedly calm and approachable Dave Mustaine
The story of Karnivool, prog metal’s most elusive band
It’s been more than a decade since Karnivool released an album – this is the how they became the prog metal fan’s favourite cult prog metal band
How Zakk Wylde kicked the booze and saved his own life
Zakk Wylde was one of rock’s great wildmen – until he was told to kick the booze or die
How Ghost kicked things to the next level with Infestissumam
In this classic 2013 interview, Ghost mainman Tobias Forge talks ambition, success and Satan
“Elvis had attitude. So did Iron Maiden and Danzig”: an interview with Glenn Danzig, metal’s dark lord
Guns, goths and politicians - the world according to Misfits frontman and goth-punk icon Glenn Danzig
“The fact that he managed to mix the political with the comical and the absurd, without comprising his output, is a big influence”: Frank Zappa is Serj Tankian’s prog hero
System Of A Down vocalist hails the Mothers Of Invention leader for more than just his ambitious approach to making music
“These songs owe more to rhythmic, krautrock mood-makers and post-rock and drone exponents as any early hip-hop influence… it’s not background music for middle class dinner parties”: The prog credentials of Massive Attack’s Mezzanine
Out-and-out progressive rock it isn’t, but the 1998 record’s shared values influenced Steven Wilson, Anathema, Radiohead, Dream Theater, Katatonia and many others
“She has managed to maintain her position without ever once being sucked into the creative vacuum of celebrity culture”: The less we see of Kate Bush, the more we want to know
Supported by established artists, secured in a family business and a star by the age of 21, her vision and clarity made her prog’s first pop star (and pop’s first prog star)
“The proggiest pop song to reach the top spot since Marillion’s Kayleigh... and that only actually reached No.2”: Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know and its parent album, Making Mirrors
Wally De Backer’s Grammy-winning 2011 record proves he’s more Brian Eno then Ed Sheeran
“Though quintessentially punk records, their first two albums featured tricky time signatures, a four-part musical suite, and songs that clocked in at seven minutes”: The Stranglers were always more prog than you thought
Third album Black And White is Exhibit A in a case that also includes Robert Fripp, Peter Hammill, Steve Hillage and Nik Turner
“A standard teen rebellion story - on paper, at least… But this is a musical concept, where pieces join to form a narrative in which things get weird”: Why The Who’s Quadrophenia is a prog epic
Triumphant sixth album may be nostalgia for a previous decade, but it stands with the work of other bands who helped make 1973 the genre’s most vintage year
“Like no one else… Theirs was the sound of a progressive new future for rock”: the prog roots of Jane’s Addiction major label debut Nothing’s Shocking
Where other bands flirted with the dark side, listeners just knew this band were living it
“A subversive and musically schizophrenic infiltration of mainstream America”: Faith No More’s The Real Thing was more prog than many realised
Notoriously dysfunctional band’s 1989 album – their first with Mike Patton – made them much more than a cult rock oddity
There Goes My Hero: The Gallows Pole writer Ben Myers on Joey Ramone, the ultimate punk
Novelist Ben Myers (The Gallows Pole/The Offing) salutes Joey Ramone, the king of the underdogs
Public Image Ltd's Metal Box: "The entire concept was progressive"
How Public Image Ltd shifted from post-punk to a more progressive sound on 1979's Metal Box
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain: it's up there with any traditional prog release
Funkadelic's Maggot Brain has a solo that sounds like Rick Wakeman being dumped in the ghetto at midnight and told to play for this life!
10 of the greatest uses of bagpipes in rock'n'roll history
Some people love bagpipes, some people don't, but no one can deny the part they've played in painting rock'n'roll's magnificent tapestry
Why The Clash's debut album is no classic
It's gone down in history as a classic, but The Clash's self-tiled debut album offered a thrilling but limited blueprint for the future
Wolf People at The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge - live review
Not yet ratedPsychedelic Brits wow at a very unlikely venue
Simon Reynolds - Shock & Awe: Glam Rock And Its Legacy book review
Not yet ratedWonderfully weighty study of all that glittered – and no small debt to prog from Simon Reynolds
