Pagan folk-rockers Spriggan Mist were virtual unknowns in prog circles until their breakthrough set at 2022’s HRH Prog festival defined them as one of the genre’s must-see live acts. Following the release of their seventh studio album, The Glare, husband-and-wife founders Baz and Maxine Cilia talk faeries, festivals and friendly feuds.
Named after a “well ‘ard Cornish faery“ capable of vanishing people in an eerie cloud, Spriggan Mist have built a universe where pagan mysticism collides with driving rock energy and high kicks. To their delight, prog audiences have embraced it wholeheartedly.
“The band started as a bit of a laugh – but it’s got horribly out of control in a good way,” says bassist Baz Cilia. He and multi-instrumentalist wife Maxine co-founded the project 16 years ago, and after several personnel changes, they appear alongside vocalist Fay Brotherhood, guitarist Neil Wighton and drummer Ali Soueidan.
The seven diverse, kaleidoscopic songs that make up seventh album The Glare are a touchstone for their dynamic, multifaceted sound and fantastical storytelling. They tell stories of ancient gods, woodland seduction and cosmology, and of their steampunk talisman, Isambard the mechanical dragon.
Tracked in the Cilias’ back garden studio, it’s a family affair – their son Aaron produced and daughter Brianna created the album cover’s graphics. “Aaron’s usually quite calm, but I think we pushed him this time, especially his sanity,” Baz says.
Aaron arranged the sumptuous opener, The Gaze Of The Dragon, on which the shimmering soprano voice of iridescent priestess Brotherhood permeates the senses. It’s followed by roistering rocker and live favourite Ianatores Teresteres, about the Roman god Janus. Elsewhere, Pieces Of Glass evolved from Maxine’s dream about Wighton’s wife Anna as a wise woman manipulating people’s lives.
“Many of my songs come from dreams,” Maxine says, “and in Pieces Of Glass each person’s life is like a tile – by turning it or putting something on top of it, you can completely redirect it. Anna’s not like that in real life, though!”
Faery Wood is Brotherhood’s cautionary tale about falling for the wrong elemental and how it can set you on a path to ruin. There are also a series of spine-tingling instrumental moments, notably the guitar/saxophone/recorder interplay between Wighton and Maxine on Crystal Cave.
Later, When Stars Collide features sweeping keytar, jangling guitar, ethereal voices and soaring saxophone converging over a pounding, insistent rhythm. Meanwhile, between the resonant, rocking guitars, Isambard attains godlike status on The Cult.
Maxine is Spriggan Mist’s driving force – she encouraged Baz to take up bass. Having started playing at a young age, including in orchestras, she owns an impressive collection of whistles and recorders, which are an integral part of their sound.
Where they are now is a galaxy away from where they began. “I used to write quirky folky tunes when we had a covers band,” Maxine says. “One day, we decided to create a MySpace site and recorded some of the tunes, with Baz on bass and me on mandolin and guitar. We got a few hits and were contacted by the organiser of the 3 Wishes Fairy Festival in Cornwall. We called ourselves Spriggan Mist, played the show and quickly realised we needed a band!”
After more than a decade of playing pagan festivals – during which Wighton joined in 2017 and Brotherhood arrived two years later – Maxine applied for the 2022 edition of HRH Prog in Sheffield. “I kept seeing it in my online adverts, so it obviously targeted me and the bands I follow,” she says. “I applied, joining it up to our website and music. We were invited to come and play, then we got bumped up the bill when a couple of the bands, like Karnataka, had to withdraw.
“We looked down on a sea of grey – lots of white beards, mostly wearing black leather jackets and T-shirts. We weren’t used to that! We usually played to colourful pagan audiences. Then, to our astonishment, after the second or third song, people began to move as they were getting into it.”
Which brings us to the friendly feud with Ghost Of The Machine’s Charlie Bramald. The light-hearted and much-discussed dispute stems from Bramald’s assertion that dancing should be banned at prog shows because it distracts from the music.
Spriggan Mist, as their performances illustrate, strongly disagree. Their onstage fancy footwork includes high kicks that they introduced for the benefit of the prog paparazzi, honed through the years by Baz and Maxine, both award-winning kickboxing teachers.
“It was hard work pretending we didn’t like each other!” Baz says. “When we played Soundle last year, we walked through Peterborough the day before and some random bloke shouted to me, ‘Are you going to show Charlie what’s what?’”
It became a talking point at gigs, peaking at 2025’s Fusion Festival. “Even when we weren’t playing, there was a picture of me in a ‘wanted’ sign on the stage’s back screen. That was a red rag to a bull: everyone got up and danced!”
Looking back on their whirlwind few years, Maxine says, “I’m so glad people really get what we’re about. It’s been a lovely journey. It’s always a pleasure to come offstage and speak to people about our music.”
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
