“Mr Blue Sky is the song I always go back to. It’s such a feelgood track and it’s never aged”: The ELO classic led Crobot’s Brandon Yeagley to Frank Zappa, Protest The Hero and a whole world of prog

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In 2019 Crobot vocalist Brandon Yeagley told Prog what the genre meant to him, staring with an Electric Light Orchestra album that stood out when he first heard it as an eight-year-old.

“I was raised on progressive rock. My parents were pretty much into everything, and I inherited this box of cassettes from them when I was between the ages of eight and 10.

ELO’s Out Of The Blue really stood out. I’ve always been a fan of concepts – I grew up with Meat Loaf and I was a big fan of the rock opera. Nobody has done it quite like Queen, Meat Loaf and ELO.

They were such great songwriters; ELO were one of those bands that you never realised how many songs they had until you looked at a greatest hits. Man, what a catalogue! Out Of The Blue is probably still my favourite record by them, and it just so happens that was the one I got second-hand. They certainly took you on quite a trip.

Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky (Official Video) - YouTube

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Mr Blue Sky is the song I always go back to. It’s such a feelgood track and it’s never really aged; it’s partially sentimental too. And the album still holds its weight. It reminds me of The Beatles’ White Album, where it touches on so many different styles.

Protest The Hero was like a science test! I have trouble counting to four, let alone 12/8

When [filesharing service] Napster rolled around, it opened up the floodgates and I could go deeper. I was always the guy who was trying to find the weird stuff and share it around my friends.

I found Protest The Hero that way – Fortress is still one of the progressive masterpieces, as far as I’m concerned. It was a daunting task to listen to it enough times so I could memorise every single change, turn and lyric.

It was like studying for a science test! I tried to learn it on guitar and bass, although it was way above my calibre of playing. Those guys are nuts! Sometimes I have trouble counting to four, let alone 12/8.

I love the quirkiness of Primus, too, and had it not been for them I’m sure I wouldn’t have found Frank Zappa. And Coheed And Cambria – their Good Apollo is still one of my favourite records of all time.

I never got the chance to see ELO live. That’s the downside of being in a band that tours so heavily – we don’t get to see many shows. But ELO have been a big influence on me for sure.”

Coheed and Cambria - Welcome Home - YouTube

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Artists

Contributing to Prog since the very first issue, writer and broadcaster Natasha Scharf was the magazine’s News Editor before she took up her current role of Deputy Editor, and has interviewed some of the best-known acts in the progressive music world from ELP, Yes and Marillion to Nightwish, Dream Theater and TesseracT. Starting young, she set up her first music fanzine in the late 80s and became a regular contributor to local newspapers and magazines over the next decade. The 00s would see her running the dark music magazine, Meltdown, as well as contributing to Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Terrorizer and Artrocker. Author of music subculture books The Art Of Gothic and Worldwide Gothic, she’s since written album sleeve notes for Cherry Red, and also co-wrote Tarja Turunen’s memoirs, Singing In My Blood. Beyond the written word, Natasha has spent several decades as a club DJ, spinning tunes at aftershow parties for Metallica, Motörhead and Nine Inch Nails. She’s currently the only member of the Prog team to have appeared on the magazine’s cover.

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