Mermaid Kiss
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Suggest New Bands and Artists
Forum Description: Suggest, create polls, and classify new bands you would like included on Prog Archives
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=52475
Printed Date: April 28 2024 at 12:40
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Mermaid Kiss
Posted By: Takeshi Kovacs
Subject: Mermaid Kiss
Date Posted: October 11 2008 at 14:12
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A band I heard on Joel Craig's Interstellar Overdrive show. Certainly prog...but which sub-genre.....I'll let the experts decide. Band Members: Evelyn Downing - vocals, flute, harmonies, loops Wendy Marks - harmony vocals, oboe, flute, recorders, double bass, Jamie Field - guitars Jonathan Edwards - keyboards, piano Richard Northwood - bass, cello Others in the Mermaid Kiss collective: Andrew Garman - keyboards, piano, bass, drums, engineering, production Nigel Hooton - rhythm and lead guitars Guests on 'Salt On Skin' Kate Belcher - vocals, harmonies Kate Emerson - vocals Paul Davies - lead guitar Guests on 'Etarlis' Kate Belcher - vocals, harmonies Jonathan Edwards - keyboards Troy Donockley - uilleann pipes Discography Etarlis (11 track CD album) (2007)  Salt On Skin (7 song CD mini-album) (2006)  The Mermaid Kiss Album (14 song CD album) (2003)  Comments & Praise for the band: On 'Etarlis': "To describe this album as astonishing would be an understatement… there are bands who toil for many a year before producing a masterpiece of this quality… it is absolutely stunning." Paul Jerome Smith, Fireworks music magazine, UK “Ranks right up there with the very finest prog releases of the past few years.” Joel Craig, Interstellar Overdrive USA "Elemental rock on an epic scale." David Randall, Get Ready To Rock UK “A stunning, epic album… absolutely spellbinding.” Larry Kolota, Kinesis Progressive Rock, USA “Vocalists Evelyn Downing and Kate Belcher are new stars in the music scene.” Nick Gielkins, Mostly Pink, Netherlands “A killer album.” Gordon Tanner, Distant Early Warning, Canada “One of the best albums of 2007.” Artur Chacklowski, Metal Hammer Magazine & Radio Alfa, Poland “A rich, varied, melodic and multi-layered album.” Ian Fairholm. Progressive Ears, UK “Mermaid Kiss has made one of the year's best albums.” Anna Maria Stjarnell Collected Sounds USA/Sweden “An incredibly beautiful album!” Jany Claeskens Prog-Nose Belgium DPRP recommended album for August 2007 2007 Awards: Epic Prog named Etarlis the 6th best album of the year in its annual Top 10 list, and Kate won the Best Female Vocal Performance of the Year award for "Shadow Girl." Interstellar Overdrive placed Etarlis even higher, at 5 in the annual Top 11 list and Evelyn won the Top Female Vocal Performance of the Year award for “The City Of Clouds.” In addition, the Norwegian programme ‘Glasshuset’ listed Etarlis at 3 in their Top 10 albums of 2007 Visit the band's website: http://www.mermaidkiss.co.uk/ Let's get them added! -------------  Open the gates of the city wide.... Check out my music taste: http://www.last.fm/user/TakeshiKovacs/ |
Replies:
Posted By: Jared
Date Posted: October 11 2008 at 14:56
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http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=47831&KW=mermaid+kiss&PID=2813373#2813373 - http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=47831&KW=mermaid+kiss&PID=2813373#2813373
the last we heard, they were being considered for Crossover, but I'm not sure what happened after that...
 thanks for the reminder, though...
 (of course, being as they come from the same little town as me (Population 3,000), I could always just pop across the road, and ask them which genre they'd like to be added to....  )------------- Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson |
Posted By: Takeshi Kovacs
Date Posted: October 11 2008 at 15:03
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....thanks...didn't notice that one. Hopefully back on the PA radar now. They're not too far away from me either then, next county, Bucks! ------------- Open the gates of the city wide.... Check out my music taste: http://www.last.fm/user/TakeshiKovacs/ |
Posted By: Jared
Date Posted: October 11 2008 at 15:07
nope...Herefordshire, not Hertfordshire.... ------------- Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson |
Takeshi Kovacs wrote:Posted By: Takeshi Kovacs
Date Posted: October 11 2008 at 15:13
 Going blind now too! That's closer to where I'm originally from then, at least! ------------- Open the gates of the city wide.... Check out my music taste: http://www.last.fm/user/TakeshiKovacs/ |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: October 12 2008 at 16:34
We did look at MK for Crossover. I cannot remmeber the outcome - I'm going to have to trawl through 101 pages of posts in the Xover lounge.  ------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: October 12 2008 at 16:41
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Which didn't take long Mermaid's Kiss were accepted for Crossover on 15 April 2008 - we just haven't added them yet.
 If you're interested in writing a biography Chris that would speed up the process. ------------- What? |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: October 13 2008 at 08:10
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Mermaid's Kiss have been added with a temporary (and very poor) biography
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=4020 - http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=4020 ------------- What? |
Posted By: Takeshi Kovacs
Date Posted: October 13 2008 at 15:41
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Nice one - check the name though, as it's Mermaid Kiss rather than Mermaid's Kiss.
------------- Open the gates of the city wide.... Check out my music taste: http://www.last.fm/user/TakeshiKovacs/ |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: October 13 2008 at 15:42
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Yes - I'm changing that now - I really, really should not do PA work in my lunch hour ------------- What? |
Posted By: Takeshi Kovacs
Date Posted: October 13 2008 at 16:35
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Dean - the following is what I found on Wikipedia in relation to Mermaid Kiss, which might help in terms of a biography for the band (not sure about the policy of lifting stuff wholesale from another source though, to be honest): Mermaid Kiss is a band formed in the small http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herefordshire - Herefordshire (UK) market town of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kington,_Herefordshire - Kington in 2000. BiographyThe initial line up was: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Evelyn_Downing&action=edit&redlink=1 - Evelyn Downing (voice, harmonies, flute, and loops) http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jamie_Field&action=edit&redlink=1 - Jamie Field (guitar and bass) and http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrew_Garman&action=edit&redlink=1 - Andrew Garman (keyboard, bass and drums). In the beginning the band was envisaged purely as a studio project and in June 2003 they released a 14 track debut CD, The Mermaid Kiss Album, and following many requests they made their live debut on 21st December 2003 at The Rock Cafe 2000, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stourbridge - Stourbridge supporting Karnataka . For this gig they were joined by http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nigel_Hooten&action=edit&redlink=1 - Nigel Hooten on lead guitar and he continues to play with the band. In September 2004, Evelyn left Kington to further her studies initially at University in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester - Manchester and currently in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London - London , though she continues to work with Mermaid Kiss. The band recruited a second vocalist, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kate_Belcher&action=edit&redlink=1 - Kate Belcher (also from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kington,_Herefordshire - Kington ), and they've also invited a number a number of guest vocalists to play and record with them. The band's second release in February 2006, a 7 track EP entitled Salt On Skin contains songs featuring vocals by both Evelyn and Kate, together with guest singer, Kate Emerson. The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_arts - artwork and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography - photography for the CD is by http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chris_Walkden&action=edit&redlink=1 - Chris Walkden . One of the songs on the EP, The Blushing Bride features the guitar work of Panic Room (and former Karnataka) guitarist Paul Davies. A second full length album entitled http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etarlis - Etarlis was released on June 18th 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etarlis - Etarlis is an ambitious and complex work described by the band as a series of musical illustrations of the fantasy story of the same name, written by Jamie and Evelyn over recent years. The music features vocals from founder member Evelyn Downing as well as Kate Belcher, first heard on the band’s previous release, the ep Salt on Skin. The album’s 11 tracks, written and arranged by Jamie Field and Andrew Garman, range from progressive pieces, full of melodies, counter-melodies, sweeping strings and orchestral sounds, to simple piano based arrangements. An added edge is supplied by lead guitarist Nigel Hooton and a range of woodwind instruments played by Wendy Marks. Guest performances from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Donockley - Troy Donockley ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iona_%28band%29 - Iona ) and http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jonathan_Edwards_%28Karnataka%29&action=edit&redlink=1 - Jonathan Edwards (Panic Room & ex- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnataka_%28band%29 - Karnataka ) also feature in this hour long journey through a mesmerising landscape. Field and Garman are also writing and recording a number of separate projects, for instance, the Mermaid Kiss upcoming album, with a working title of American Images, will feature a number of different vocalists: Mermaid Kiss vocalist Evelyn Downing has recorded a song called This Trail Of Tears, and writer / singer http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kristen_Kissinger&action=edit&redlink=1 - Kristen Kissinger flew over from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston - Boston MA in spring 2005 to record two songs Nomad and Seattle. Classical singer http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Penny_Hawkins&action=edit&redlink=1 - Penny Hawkins travelled from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego - San Diego to record The Secret Knowledge Of Water and Ex Fula vocalist http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zoe_Stafford&action=edit&redlink=1 - Zoe Stafford will be singing a track entitled L.A. Aria. Discography
------------- Open the gates of the city wide.... Check out my music taste: http://www.last.fm/user/TakeshiKovacs/ |
Posted By: Jared
Date Posted: October 13 2008 at 16:42
^^as a fellow inhabitant of Kington, I would just like to point out that the biography doesn't say anything about them practicing in a wooden hut, next to the Llama pen at the Small Breeds Farm Park... ------------- Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: October 13 2008 at 16:44
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^ Thanks Chris - I have just cobbled something together from the Wiki and the band's website & uploaded it - sorry Jared, I didn't mention the llama pne, but did put a word in for the Goat Shed. ------------- What? |