Halo Blind (UK): Crossover Prog

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From my post 10 days ago in Get The Word Out forum: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=98468. 
 yam yam wrote:

If I had my own way, I'd propose this band in 'Suggest New Bands and Artists' forum for inclusion in Crossover...But after the fate that similar-sounding project Luna Rossa suffered recently, I've decided to just drop something in here instead. 
Halo Blind is a project led by singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Chris Johnson. It began life as 'Parade' before a heavily promoted girl band with the same name forced them to have a re-think over the band name. That girl band rapidly crashed and burned after their debut album flopped, but that’s another story entirely.

As 'Parade' the band released an album called 'The Fabic' in 2009. Kazuhiro proposed them for inclusion on the site in February 2010, but it was a short post, got no replies, and was locked. The myspace link he gave in that thread has now gone, and is replaced by https://myspace.com/haloblind/music/songs, where you can hear a selection of material from the earlier album.

Joining Chris on the debut album was multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Anne-Marie Helder of Panic Room and Mostly Autumn, plus Gavin Griffiths (Fish, Mostly Autumn) on drums, Patrick Berry (bass) and Simon Snaize (guitar) - as well as some special guests, including ex-Mostly Autumn vocalist Heather Findlay (percussion on “The Diamond“, “The Dogs“, “Facing Down” and “Ending“), Olivia Sparnenn (vocals on “All That I Wanted“), and current member of Mostly Autumn, Bryan Josh (guitars on “The Diamond” and “Ending“).

'The Fabric' is essentially a mixture of indie rock combined with elements of progressive rock. Chris handles the majority of the vocal chores, with Anne-Marie primarily supporting him on backing vocals. 

As Halo Blind the band released their follow-up album 'Occupying Forces' back in April this year, and as well as a new name they also have a rather different line-up from the one that recorded “The Fabric” - although four out of the five from Halo Blind’s last live appearances in 2011 are still on board - Gavin Griffiths on drums, Stu Fletcher on bass, Stuart Farell on lead guitar and of course Chris himself, with new recruit, multi-instrumentalist Andy Knights, completing the band.
It’s got a similar combination of indie-rock guitars and progressive rock atmospherics, but while “The Fabric” was by Chris’s own admission a collection of songs originally written with different projects in mind, in contrast “Occupying Forces” has a far more coherent feel as an album.
More info here: http://newprogreleases.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/halo-blind-occupying-forces.html.

See also:
http://haloblind.com/
https://soundcloud.com/#haloblind
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/haloblind2

Chris Johnson also works closely with Heather Findlay - both on her solo project, and her new venture with former Sound Of Contact keyboard player Dave Kerzner - called Mantra Vega.

The 'Occupying Forces' album is currently on progstreaming: http://www.progstreaming.com/_wb/pages/play-album.php?activeAlbum=00706%20-%20Halo%20Blind%20-%20Occupying%20Forces, but it is getting very close to the bottom of the page now, so act fast if you want to hear it. Apart from a couple of tracks on the earlier soundcloud link I posted, there are no other full samples from it available as far as I know...unless you buy the album! 

This post has had just 19 views in 10 days, so sod it - it's coming to the New Suggestions forum anyhow  - and I think the band deserve to be here even if others may not. 

Crossover guys - you need to be quick with this one if you are prepared to hear these guys out - the album on progstreaming is almost at the bottom of the page -  so only a few days left to sample it...  