Articles by Grant Moon

A music journalist for over 20 years, Grant writes regularly for titles including Prog, Classic Rock and Total Guitar, and his CV also includes stints as a radio producer/presenter and podcast host. His first book, 'Big Big Train - Between The Lines', is out now through Kingmaker Publishing.

Articles by: Grant Moon

"Their music is as aggressively and pretentiously dull as their choice of band name": The Band's second album is an acknowledged classic, but there are some dissenters

By Classic Rock Magazine published 7 April 25

For their second album, The Band relocated from upstate New York to California and turned Sammy Davis Jr.’s poolhouse into a makeshift studio

“I thought, ‘This is boring. I play these songs all the time! Where’s the audience to cheer me up?’” Richard Thompson’s battle against barking dogs, overhead planes and leaf blowers to make Acoustic Classics

By Grant Moon published 3 April 25

Richard Thompson thought 2014 solo album Acoustic Classics would just be a nice product for his merch stall – until he’d got over his reluctance to make it

More than a shredbot: The Joe Satriani albums you should definitely listen to

By Grant Moon published 2 April 25

Joe Satriani’s spectacular albums have dazzled and inspired for the best part of four decades, and these are the best of the bunch

"John Paul Jones' production rounds the edges a little but that's not necessarily a good thing": The Datsuns back themselves into a musical cul-de-sac on Outta Sight / Outta Mind

By Classic Rock Magazine published 31 March 25

The trousers were tight, the guitars were wielded like weapons, but The Datsuns' second album hasn't aged well

“We spent seven months on David Gilmour’s boat and almost bankrupted ourselves. But Bob encouraged us to dream big”: How Bob Ezrin brought out the prog in Kula Shaker

By Grant Moon published 25 March 25

Crispian Mills hails the “complete maniac” Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel and Alice Cooper producer for his work on 1999 album Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts

Chickenfoot posing for a photograph in 2011

“It felt like there were dark times hanging over this album”: How hard rock supergroup Chickenfoot restarted the party on their second album, III

By Grant Moon published 23 March 25

Chickenfoot’s second album, III, picked up where their debut left off

"My mother took me to see Saga when I was 15. It was fantastic!". A glimpse inside Yogi Lang's prog world

By Grant Moon published 17 March 25

When German prog rockers RPWL released their album Crime Scene we grilled singer and keyboardist Yogi Lang on his prog loves

"I have the art for In The Court Of The Crimson King blown up on my office wall, right next to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway." Nova Collective's Dan Briggs gives us a glimpse into his prog world...

By Grant Moon published 10 March 25

BTB&M bassist Dan Briggs formed Nova Collective with members of Haken and Cynic and they released their debut album The Further Side in 2017

“It’s such a good party trick – ‘So you think you’re heavy? Listen to this song from 1969!’” Enslaved’s Ivar Bjørnson argues King Crimson are the gateway from metal to prog

By Grant Moon published 3 March 25

Norwegian multi-instrumentalist explains what the genres have in common, buying a synth just to learn one Pink Floyd song, and discovering musical airplane engines via his wife

“It’s a slam-dunk lost classic”: How Rush and Pink Floyd led James Dean Bradfield to Man – a band he’d previously dismissed

By Grant Moon published 21 February 25

Manic Street Preachers frontman wasn’t convinced by his fellow Welsh musicians, until he discovered the Steely Dan and Little Feat elements of their 11th album

"Our band’s chemistry was really coming together. This whole new world opened up to us and we were off drugs. And then Jeremy died": The anarchic early years of one of rock's most enigmatic groups, The Mars Volta

By Grant Moon published 20 February 25

An interview with The Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala

“She grew up in Russia and bootlegged banned Deep Purple and Scorpions albums. It’s one of the reason I married her”: Kansas’ Joe Deninzon left the USSR and built a musical world out of a surprising coincidence

By Grant Moon published 16 February 25

Violinist discovered MTV and never looked back thanks to the influence of Yes, Rush, Zappa – and the band he’d later join

“I’ve had prog dates because of our concerts… the great thing is that you don’t have to explain your weird musical tastes!”: Focus guitarist Menno Gootjes’ prog life

By Grant Moon published 12 January 25

He discovered Canterbury bands in his teens before moving on to Frank Zappa, Opeth, Genesis, obscure Dutch trio Three Dwarves Make War – oh, and Kiss

William Shatner, Billy Sherwood, Tony Kaye and Circa

“Prog rock is to music what sci-fi is to literature: a desire to further the imagination, to push the music to the edge”: How William Shatner learned to love prog and make an all-star album with all the humanity of classic Star Trek

By Grant Moon published 11 January 25

Knowing some people would never get over the novelty, Billy Sherwood decided to go for broke with Ponder The Mystery, featuring Steve Vai, Rick Wakeman, Nik Turner, Edgar Froese and others

“Chris Squire was super fun. I love it when musicians retain their childlike qualities; that’s where music comes from”: Tal Wilkenfeld’s prog connections include David Gilmour, Todd Rundgren and Trevor Rabin

By Grant Moon published 10 January 25

Inspired by Tool, the Australian bassist got her big break from Jeff Beck and went on to play with Prince, The Who and Brian Wilson – and her solo work is equally impressive

“He said he reflected the craziness around him – he’d see other people go nuts and write about that”: Frank Zappa’s talent for using popular music to sell unpopular music, by people who helped him

By Grant Moon published 21 December 24

Jon Anderson, Adrian Belew, Mike Keneally and Don Preston discuss dealing with the filthy freak’s genius up close – and what you’re missing if you haven’t investigated his catalogue

“I wound up on the bill with them in Malaysia, where I got escorted offstage by police with automatic weapons”: Despite the drama, Joe Satriani still loves Jethro Tull

By Grant Moon published 15 November 24

Guitar maestro professes his love for Ian Anderson’s genius, along with early Yes, ELP and King Crimson

“Captain Beefheart possessed an unrestrained imagination and a totally eccentric form of creativity… I’d have lasted five minutes in The Magic Band”: Colin Edwin’s prog world includes Magma, Cardiacs, Gong and more

By Grant Moon published 14 November 24

Former Porcupine Tree and current O.R.k. member on seeing Daevid Allen live, falling under Tim Smith’s spell, messing about with plastic cameras and, well, Lonnie Donegan

“I had a wake-up moment with Jon Anderson – ’It can be this great, so why am I in a band with people who just wait for the pay cheque?” Roine Stolt slashed the average age of The Flower Kings before making Waiting For Miracles

By Grant Moon published 8 November 24

Tired of people who “put a lid on the joy” of music, a line-up change presented a fresh front with younger energy on their 2019 double album

“Jon Anderson taught me some things about songwriting – I’d love to work with him again”: Glass Hammer mainman Steve Babb’s prog world orbits Yes, Rush, Genesis… and the Human League

By Grant Moon published 22 October 24

Inspired by Tolkien at an early age, the Tennessean encountered prog when a punk friend handed over his suddenly unwanted record collection

“When the mood took them, the prog legends of the 70s could write simple but catchy music with aplomb”: The 40 greatest Yes songs ever

By Jerry Ewing, Grant Moon, Chris Roberts, Johnny Sharp, David West published 25 July 24

When 50,000 Prog magazine readers voted on the band’s catalogue, the resulting chart contained a few surprises

“I had a great substitute teacher who lent me albums by King Crimson, Gentle Giant and Genesis. He had a prog band called Butt-Crack”: Rikard Sjöblom’s musical world

By Grant Moon published 24 July 24

Big Big Train, Gungfly and Beardfish man once wrote a term paper about the Hammond organ and went on to teach piano in a school

“Because Dad did his album I thought, ‘Do I really want to put this out there?’” Despite Rick’s legendary work, Oliver Wakeman includes one wife of Henry VIII in his new solo record

By Grant Moon published 16 July 24

Celtic-themed Anam Cara – featuring guests Troy Donockley, Hayley Griffiths and Scott Higham – came about after a nudge from his record label and a question from his son

“Anybody that doesn’t get along with John Petrucci must be a really big asshole”: Why the Dream Theater guitarist is Steve Vai’s prog hero

By Grant Moon published 12 July 24

They met at college and watched each other’s careers develop as the decades pass – but Vai remains in awe of how much his friend’s playing has developed too

“When The Spirit Of Radio came on she sang every word. I knew right then she was the one”: Crown Lands’ Kevin Comeau discovered Rush at 14, forging two marriages made in Heaven

By Grant Moon published 2 July 24

Multi-instrumentalist, who caught Canadian giants twice on final tour, once played alongside Alex Lifeson – and he’s hoping for a second date

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