Prog Features

Tears For Fears sneaked prog into a run of hit singles in 1984 and 85. So why weren’t they at Live Aid?

By Paul Lester published 1 February 26

As they tried to outdo Trevor Horn, with influences including Genesis and Yes, their second album hit No.1 in the US and No.2 in the UK. But they didn’t contribute to Bob Geldof’s world-changing charity extravaganza

Cool new proggy sounds from Arcane Roots, Karnivool, Crippled Black Phoenix and more in Prog's new Tracks Of The Week

By Jerry Ewing published 30 January 26

Great new prog you must hear from Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns, plantoid, Maebe and more in this week's Tracks Of The Week

“Ghosts, rustling, scraping at the window… happening every full moon”: The creepy tale of Camel’s Moonmadness

By Dom Lawson published 30 January 26

Charged with matching The Snow Goose’s surprise success, Andy Latimer’s band wrote a record about themselves – disguising their vocals because they’d been told they couldn’t sing

“He wrote, ‘Eat more shit – 100,000 flies can’t be wrong”: German prog icon ignored haters to scale the charts

By Rob Hughes published 29 January 26

Accused of being a European “knob-turner,” he faced the music establishment’s rejection attitude with a lesson learned from Salvador Dali, and defied expectations by scaling the charts

Steven Wilson tried to forget his shamelessly commercial song, but met it again in a strip club

By Dave Everley published 28 January 26

The band leader learned a valuable lesson about himself after an attempt to do his record label’s bidding

Ian Anderson on Jethro Tull, the right kind of guitarist, and forgetting what he's done

By James McNair published 28 January 26

Ian Anderson talks about Jethro Tull’s latest album Curious Ruminant and ponders the itch to make another

When The Flaming Lips proved they love you with a 24-hour song delivered in a human skull

By Paul Lester published 27 January 26

Wayne Coyne and co sold 13 units of 7 Skies H3 in 2011 – and for him, it was just another example of being influenced by Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Radiohead

“If you see any Floyd tribute act there’s an utter po-facedness to them”: Gary Kemp on Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets

By Dave Everley published 27 January 26

The previously secret fan – who sneaked prog onto a Spandau Ballet album – helped bring Sex Pistols, Clash and Bowie vibes into Mason’s band, and felt intimidated when Roger Waters guested with them

Some of Roxy Music hated Virginia Plain, but its producer loved it

By Sid Smith published 26 January 26

Former King Crimson man Pete Sinfield tried to balance prog and pop sensibilities on the 1972 single, and had answers for the criticisms levelled at it

“I could have ‘guitarist for Genesis and Yes’ on my CV”: Why Steve Hackett didn’t take up Chris Squire’s Yes offer

By Dom Lawson published 26 January 26

Hackett was in reflective mood when he released 2019 album At The Edge Of Light – which he described as not remotely progressive, explaining why that was a good thing

When this singer had his band’s logo tattooed on his arm, they were already planning to fire him

By Rich Wilson published 25 January 26

The disaster of their first album – which remains unpopular with many fans – sent them into a nosedive. Dismissing their vocalist was part of the course correction that made them massive

Debate: What was the best prog album of 1976?

By Martin Kielty published 24 January 26

Punk might have been on the rise but Rush, Genesis, Jon Anderson, Van der Graaf Generator, Kansas, Alan Parsons, Camel and Soft Machine released records that became all-time greats. But which one is your favourite – and why?

What happened when Ozzy Osbourne bumped into Peter Gabriel in a lift in New York

By Merlin Alderslade published 23 January 26

When these two music giants bumped into each other, one of them was a little overawed by the whole thing

“The lawyer said, ‘Have we just paid $12,000 for a piano player?’” When Rick Wakeman delivered his first solo album

By Rick Wakeman published 23 January 26

In 1970 they gave him Scotch in the morning, a big cash advance and a three-ton limousine. Eventually the man who’d hated the resulting album gave him a platinum disc for its sales

Prog's Tracks Of The Week! Awesome new proggy sounds from Opeth, NMB, Myrkur and more...

By Jerry Ewing published 23 January 26

There's cool new proggy sounds from Esthesis, worriedaboutsatan, Holosoil, JeGong and more in this week's Tracks Of The week

Radiohead, Primal Scream influencers found new singer on the street, after the last one went mad on stage

By Rob Hughes published 22 January 26

The late Holger Czukay discusses the importance of Can's groundbreaking second album Tago Mago

That time Steven Wilson covered a Taylor Swift song, proving he’ll always do what he likes

By Martin Kielty published 21 January 26

Ahead of launching The Future Bites, he delivered his version of Swift’s The Last Great American Dynasty, hailing her storytelling abilities

“I pushed the fader up. He pulled it down. I haven’t forgotten”: Alex Lifeson’s struggle with Rush’s synth obsession

By Dave Everley published 21 January 26

The guitarist was never against the band going in new directions, but feels he had to fight to be heard on every album from Signals to Presto

Watch Geddy Lee give celebrity tobogganing advice

By Fraser Lewry published 20 January 26

Rush's Geddy Lee, Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson all appeared on Canadian satire show The Mercer Report over the years