
Jo Kendall
Jo is a journalist, podcaster, event host and music industry lecturer who joined Kerrang! in 1999 and then the dark side – Prog – a decade later as Deputy Editor. Jo's had tea with Robert Fripp, touched Ian Anderson's favourite flute (!) and asked Suzi Quatro what one wears under a leather catsuit. Jo is now Associate Editor of Prog, and a regular contributor to Classic Rock. She continues to spread the experimental and psychedelic music-based word amid unsuspecting students at BIMM Institute London and can be occasionally heard polluting the BBC Radio airwaves as a pop and rock pundit. Steven Wilson still owes her £3, which he borrowed to pay for parking before a King Crimson show in Aylesbury.
Latest articles by Jo Kendall

Joseph Arthur’s first acid trip turned him on to the majesty of Rush
By Jo Kendall published
In an incident he doesn’t recommend emulating, the singer-songwriter’s appreciation for the Canadian giants was cemented – but that’s only one of four reasons he loves them

Wang Chung’s Jack Hues reinvented himself by revisiting Robert Wyatt, Radiohead and Talk Talk
By Jo Kendall published
Decades after playing to 80,000 people a night with Wang Chung, the Canterbury artist went wild on Epigonal Quark, with help from Syd Arthur and others

Colin Moulding on meeting Chris Squire at the worst moment, and declining to join Pink Floyd
By Jo Kendall published
Jethro Tull and Atomic Rooster endured a difficult return from the breakup with Andy Partridge, but it led to a happy reunion with drummer Terry Chambers

Masters Of Reality's Chris Goss on Ginger Baker, David Bowie and the aggression of Rick Rubin
By Jo Kendall published
The gospel according to Chris Goss

Siobhan Fahey’s lifelong passion for prog is only hinted at in Bananarama’s name
By Jo Kendall published
A Frank Zappa show bored her to sleep, but the Shakespeare’s Sister masterming has remained in love with Roxy Music, Hawkwind and Syd Barrett

"Driving in the middle of the night in North Ontario, someone flags us down. At that same moment, I smell smoke": Six things you didn't know about The Damn Truth
By Jo Kendall published
They were saved by the rock community, they’re produced by Bob Rock and dug by Billy Gibbons. They're Canadian rockers The Damn Truth

Paul Hardcastle admits he once used Hawkwind titles for his own songs
By Jo Kendall published
The multi-instrumentalist synth pop icon recalls trying and failing to play Silver Machine on a music store synth, years before he impressed Lemmy by asking about Orgone Accumulator

Rather than look backwards with Rush, Alex Lifeson is building a bright future with Envy Of None
By Jo Kendall published
Second time’s a charm for Rush’s Alex Lifeson as he returns with a new album alongside his collaborators in Envy Of None

Ice-T on Ozzy, Lemmy, songs to get women pregnant and the music he loves most
By Jo Kendall published
Body Count singer and rapper Ice-T picks the records and artists he loves, and names the singer who almost guarantees pregnancy

New Order’s Peter Hook hails Groundhogs’ Split
By Jo Kendall published
Long before he started playing bass, but after discovering Wishbone Ash and Curved Air, he was introduced to the pioneering power trio’s 1971 album by a future bandmate

Andy Fairweather Low’s wild tales of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Roger Waters and Tom Jones
By Jo Kendall published
From Hendrix’s backing vocalist to George Harrison and Roger Waters’ right hand man, Andy Fairweather Low is one of rock’s secret MVPs

“ELO, Judas Priest, my dad’s piano playing – that’s prog!” Pat Cash’s record collection
By Jo Kendall published
Travelling the world with his Walkman, the young Australian moved on from his family’s opera and folk to Rush, Steven Wilson, Brian Eno, Francis Dunnery and Anathema, and adopted his chequered headband in honour of Cheap Trick

“I’d get up in the morning, practise scales at my piano, go off dancing, and then in the evening I’d come back and play the piano all night.” The story of Kate Bush's debut album The Kick Inside
By Jo Kendall published
The story of how 19-year-old Kate Bush became one of the world's biggest music phenomenons, with a little help from David Gilmour and Emily Brontë

"A towering two-hour concept work on a Norse saga scale." Motorpsycho and Ståle Storlokken's The Death Defying Unicorn is a "battered, barnacled beauty."
By Jo Kendall published
Norwegian prog trio hook up with Elephant9 keyboard player for epic saga

”I wish I was as creative as him”: If a Skindred show slumps, Phil Collins saves the day
By Jo Kendall published
Welsh metal band’s drummer Arya Goggin hails the Genesis icon and reveals some of his secrets

Why Captain Beefheart is The Primevals frontman Michael Rooney’s prog hero
By Jo Kendall published
Scottish singer met Don Van Vliet a number of times, and the eccentric American’s influence extended through his own career

Ice-T on Law & Order, not blowing up the planet, and breathing new life into a Pink Floyd classic
By Jo Kendall published
A quiet word with Body Count's Ice-T

“As smart and surprising as Cardiacs themselves”: A Big Book And A Band And A Whole World Window
By Jo Kendall published
The idiosyncratic English art-rockers’ history is detailed in a pleasingly DIY limited-edition chunky read.

Mick Rock’s simple friendship with Syd Barrett, and other psychedelic adventures
By Jo Kendall published
Often called ‘the man who shot the 70s,’ the photographer experienced unforgettable moments with Pink Floyd, Kevin Ayers, Arthur Brown, Genesis and more

Cracking prog, Gromit! Aardman movies were made to soundtrack of Jeff Wayne, Focus, Goldfrapp
By Jo Kendall published
“We had a clunky old vinyl player and people would bring in odd records…” Minds open to limitless music helped build a legacy leading up to Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

“The Doctor Who theme was a fraction of what she could do”: Caroline Catz on Delia Derbyshire
By Jo Kendall published
Doc Martin and DCI Banks star’s record collection also features krautrock, space rock, acid folk, Canterbury and metal music

Joan Armatrading on her new music, riding with Leslie West and walking with Nelson Mandela
By Jo Kendall published
Singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading talks about inspirations, what her famous key was about, her popularity with freedom fighters and more

The 50 Best Rock Albums of 2024
By Classic Rock Magazine published
A-listers, established artists, up-and-comers, previously unknowns and more

“Everyone was talking about going electric like Dylan”: Maddy Prior’s tales of Steeleye Span
By Jo Kendall published
From breaking out of local clubs to touring with Jethro Tull and attracting guest spots from David Bowie and Peter Sellers, the leading light of British folk looks back – and forward
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