Twelfth Night reform, gigs planned

 

So as promised before the summer hols, we are now able to confirm the line-up for the November shows!!!!

We are delighted to say that original members Andy Revell and myself, will both be joining Clive Mitten and Andy Sears, along with new boy Mark Spencer.

Which means it's now officially a 'Twelfth Night' reunion !!

Rev & I have actually been involved in the project from the outset, but had simply needed some time to convince ourselves that we would be able to play again - as both of us 'retired' from active musical service a long time ago !

Mark has been drafted in, as Rick wasn't able to join us, to take on keyboard / guitar and backing vocal duties, multi-talented chap that he is. (If you think his name is familiar - beside being a long-standing friend of the band - he was the singer in 80s prog band LaHost).

Our first full band rehearsal weekend went very well considering it was the first time we had played together for more than 20 years !! And although we can't guarantee to be quite as brilliant (ahem !) as we used to be !! ........... we are confident that it will all be 'alright on the night', and that both gigs will be a 'night to remember' ......... to use but two of our old clichés !!

We expect news of the reunion line-up will accelerate the sale of tickets - which are going well already, with both venues reporting strong advance sales !! ................. so if you want to make sure of seeing us, PLEASE get your tickets as soon as possible. Details can be found on our web-site.  www.twelfthnight.info

Talking of which we are only playing the 2 already announced gigs (Kingston 17th, & Deptford 24th) as we have been unable to agree a suitable gig in the North this time. However if these gigs go well ........ who knows what the future holds ?!

We are all looking forward immensely (albeit with some nervousness) to playing together and seeing so many old friends again - and are sure that we'll all have a great time !

'The Cacophonous Troubadours'.

 

Other News 

 

I listened to a LOT of prog and ultimately found a simply amazing number of bands up my alley (there's plenty more too but this type of music's recordings can be really hard to track down).  Which brings me to the 1 band I am MOST truly sorry I missed out on back then (but thrilled I found now)...Twelfth Night.

 

It's amazing to me now how much credit is given to Marillion, IQ & Pendragon for 'inventing' neo-prog with rarely if ever a mention of TN who had high-caliber music of this type out and about before all of them.  Granted neo-prog now carries somewhat of a stigma thanks to the classic symphonic prog fans who for some reason want to poo-poo it all the time but despite that, the early recordings from Twelfth Night defy any such pointless squabble.

 

The history of this band is very interesting and one manifestation of that was their lifelong vocalist issues which resulted in numerous singers and even a period of purely instrumental output.  Rather than a detriment, this has turned out be an incredibly interesting element of their music.  Disclaimer here is that while I respect what Andy Sears did with the band in its final incarnation, I'm much more drawn to the TN output up to the departure of Geoff Mann (though the song Art & Illusion is much better suited to Andy's voice).

 

Listening to their early recordings in sequence tells a great tale of a band breaking off in a whole new direction and, while not giving in to the new wave and heavy metal invasion of the time, certainly elements of it can be heard, which only make it better. 

Andy Revell is a TREMENDOUS guitarist, certainly one of the most underrated ever.  In fact all the musicians in TN were/are fantastic, the classic manifestation of individual virtuoso talent combined into a much larger whole which is to me the definition of prog music.

 

Culminating all of this is the 'Live and Let Live' recording of Geoff Mann's final show with the band.  Thanks to the 'Voices In the Night' release which restores the show's final 2 encores, we now have the final show in its entirety and it is one not to be missed, definitely my favorite TN recording.

 

I can't wait to hear/see the output from these upcoming TN reunion shows.