Camden Club, London
Sunday, 13th April 2024
An afternoon of what was going to be psychedelic and prog rock from Wales in this familiar comfy venue changed direction slightly with the withdrawal of headliners Sendelica due to health problems. Get well soon Pete!
CSIDES PROJECT
Mostly hailing from Cardiff, and as bassist Allen tells us, he is speaking slowly between songs so us English folk could keep up. CSides Project give us onlookers a set of strong and melodic songs in an AOR neo-prog vein. Singer Sian Elson stands out with her forceful but never strident vocals. There is a similarity to neo-prog instigators Magenta, which is hardly surprising as two of the CSides were in that band.
This is the sort of thing that would go down well at one of the many prog festivals around nowadays. Preferably while the audience are soaking up the rays in a sun-baked field somewhere – probably not in Wales, then! 🙂 You can’t help tapping your feet to it.
They have a new album out soon, but we are informed that drummer Allan forgot the six-foot promo poster with the QR code. O dear! 🙂
Lost
Icebergs On The Sun
Shows On The Ground
Eyes Of Charcoal
Foxes On The Road
Sian Elson – Vocals
Allen McCarthy – Bass, Vocals
Martin Rosser – Guitars
Allan Mason-Jones – Drums
MONKEYTRIAL
This is the only band on this afternoon’s bill I have seen before, and their cosmic travails are the ideal accompaniment to a Sunday afternoon vibe.
This long-running duo provide soaring melodic keyboards and synths, and bubbling sequencers, overlaid with effects-heavy guitar, to take us on a journey to somewhere near the edge of time, where the warrior is having a break with a nice cup of tea. Staring back at the blue Earth, one is reminded of mid period Tangerine Dream, early Porcupine Tree, all with more than a touch of post-Rog Floyd at their least soporific. Given that, they certainly have their own readily identifiable signature sound, and it is an enticing experience.
Clive Mollart’s keyboards, with the backing of disembodied “Mission Control” voices off provide the starscape for Shaun Bailey’s guitar to zoom across like a fiery comet, or drift through like an untethered satellite. While getting into this band’s groove, time itself is doing a bungee jump! MonkeyTrial encourage the simile and metaphor engine to shift through the gears, it seems. 🙂
The last number, Dark Skies, is from their soon come new album, which they say, is hopefully out in June. MonkeyTrial are not Welsh.
Time Ships
Viking At First
Comma5
Dark Skies
Clive Mollart – Keyboards, Synths, General Technical Wizardry
Shaun Bailey – Guitars, Pedals, More Technical Hocus Pocus!
Z MACHINE
Z Machine are definitely Welsh, from Swansea, and find themselves promoted to headlining this afternoon’s matinée. This is another band new to me, barring a very quick bit of Bandcamp research the previous night, which sounded promising.
Straight out of the blocks at a pace, Slide instantly hits an insistent rhythm, and syncopated instrumental jazz prog is the order of the day. It’s a choppy sea, but Z Machine navigate it with aplomb.
They slow things down on the second number Andromeda, providing the opportunity to shine a short spotlight on each of the band in turn, and their enjoyment is plain to see. This is good fun!
The two guitars, bass, sax, drums line up tells you it should be heavy, and it is, but not at the expense of melody. Or indeed, funk, supplied in shed loads by bass player Maddy, with her five-string Sire bass. Amazingly, as it sounds like she’s been familiar with this music for a long time, this is only her second gig with the band! This fact was revealed in Owen’s band intros, which lead into the last song Synoceratus, a joyful romp through prog jazz fusion moves that sums up everything this fine band are about.
Catch them if you can at A New Day, and Nene Valley festivals later this year. There are other tour dates on their Facebook page too. Well worth seeing!
[Photos by Roger Trenwith]
SETLIST
Slide
Andromeda
Bonus Eruptus
Joining The Q
Spacewalk
Myrtle The Turtle
Blind Summit
Big Old Hen
Synoceratus
MUSICIANS
Lester Greenhalgh – Drums, Percussion
Rob Harrison – Saxophone, Flute
Gareth Piper – Guitar
Maddy K – Bass
Owen Rosser – Guitar
LINKS
Z Machine – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp
This was another successful promotion by the increasingly essential London Prog Gigs. It’s about time Chris Parkins got the Unsung Heroes gong.
