
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.
Latest articles by Grant Moon

"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
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
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

“Think you’re heavy? Listen to this song from 1969!” Ivar Bjørnson’s gateway from metal to prog
By Grant Moon published
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

How Rush and Pink Floyd led James Dean Bradfield to Man – a band he’d previously dismissed
By Grant Moon published
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

The anarchic early years of one of rock's most enigmatic groups, The Mars Volta
By Grant Moon published
An interview with The Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala

Kansas’ Joe Deninzon left the USSR and built a musical world out of a surprising coincidence
By Grant Moon published
Violinist discovered MTV and never looked back thanks to the influence of Yes, Rush, Zappa – and the band he’d later join

Focus guitarist Menno Gootjes on his prog life: Frank Zappa, Opeth, Genesis… Kiss
By Grant Moon published
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

How William Shatner learned to love prog and make an album with the humanity of Star Trek
By Grant Moon published
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

“Childlike qualities are where music comes from”: Tal Wilkenfeld’s prog connections
By Grant Moon published
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

Frank Zappa’s talent for using popular music to sell unpopular music, by people who helped
By Grant Moon published
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

Despite an armed cop drama, Joe Satriani has always loved Jethro Tull
By Grant Moon published
Guitar maestro professes his love for Ian Anderson’s genius, along with early Yes, ELP and King Crimson

Colin Edwin’s prog world includes Captain Beefheart, Magma, Cardiacs, Gong and more
By Grant Moon published
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

Roine Stolt slashed the average age of The Flower Kings before making Waiting For Miracles
By Grant Moon published
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

Steve Babb of Glass Hammer’s prog world orbits Yes, Rush, Genesis (and the Human League)
By Grant Moon published
Inspired by Tolkien at an early age, the Tennessean encountered prog when a punk friend handed over his suddenly unwanted record collection

The 40 greatest Yes songs, as voted by 50,000 Prog readers
By Jerry Ewing, Grant Moon, Chris Roberts, Johnny Sharp, David West published
When 50,000 Prog magazine readers voted on the band’s catalogue, the resulting chart contained a few surprises

“I had a great schoolteacher… he had a band called Butt-Crack”: Rikard Sjöblom’s prog world
By Grant Moon published
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

Despite dad Rick’s album, Oliver Wakeman included one wife of Henry VIII on new solo album
By Grant Moon published
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

Why ‘nice guy’ Dream Theater’s John Petrucci is Steve Vai’s prog hero
By Grant Moon published
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

Crown Lands’ Kevin Comeau discovered Rush at 14, forging two marriages made in Heaven
By Grant Moon published
Multi-instrumentalist, who caught Canadian giants twice on final tour, once played alongside Alex Lifeson – and he’s hoping for a second date

Prog was always in Elbow’s music, but it’s upfront on Audio Vertigo
By Grant Moon published
Singer Guy Garvey and keyboardist Craig Potter chart their history from second-hand record collectors to art rock giants with big-name fans

“You can’t just replace Geoff Tate”: Queensryche are Tobias Sammet’s prog heroes
By Grant Moon published
Avantasia mastermind recalls being blown away by Geoff Tate’s vocals – and struggling to copy what he’d heard

“We got pretty eclectic… it didn’t pay off”: When Spock’s Beard went back to basics with X
By Grant Moon published
Funded via the “Marillion Method,” the band’s 10th album was their strongest since the departure of Neal Morse eight years earlier

“When working on material we could ask, ‘What would we have done in the days of Close To The Edge?’ Maybe sometimes we didn’t ask that question enough”: Steve Howe’s favourite Yes songs
By Grant Moon published
Guitarist lists his five of the best – and explains why they’re all from the 70s

“Such a spectacle: 80,000 fans, eight-way spatial audio”: Did Roger Waters top Pink Floyd at Desert Trip in 2016? His guitarist Jonathan Wilson thinks so (and he wasn’t in the band at the time)
By Grant Moon published
While not living his “Canyon life,” American musician and producer’s prog world includes Rush, Frank Zappa, Roy Harper, Robert Wyatt and others
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