To Hell With the Hammer, it’s Tommo Time!

It’s not very often that someone gets the chance to have a go at being a radio disc-jocky, calling the shots and choosing the playlist for the evening, but that’s exactly what happened to ardent prog fan Steve Tomlin, better known through the fan forums as Tommo.  With his Forbidden Planet plastic bag bulging with an eclectic mix of CDs, Tommo arrived at my house fairly excited about his coming sojourn with the radio. So, cutting to the quick, what did he play on the show?  Here’s the list:

Artist : Album : Track

Yes : Going For The One : Parallels

White Willow : Signal To Noise : Splinters

Here & Now : Give & Take : What You See Is What You Get

Nil : Nil Novo Sub Sole : Le Gardien (edit)

Ezra : Songs From Pennsylvania : Underground

Trees : The Garden Of Jane Delawney : Nothing Special

Twelfth Night : Live & Let Live : The Ceiling Speaks (Live)

Echobelly : On : Dark Therapy

Riverside : Second Life Syndrome : Artificial Smile

Pure Reason Revolution : The Dark Third : Bullitts Dominae

Rush : A Farewell To Kings : Xanadu

Magenta : Another Time…Another Place : The White Witch (Live)

Tommo’s a chatty old soul off air but, as soon as the mic went on, he became a little subdued.  Not surprising, in my opinion, if this is something you haven’t done before and know that there may be a few thousand people listening to what you say.  But, fair’s fair, I have to say that he soon opened up and chatted about the gigs he’d been too and the people he’d met at those gigs.  It was a real pleasure having him on the show as a guest, not least of which it gave me another chance to hear some prog that I hadn’t heard before.  Take the band Nil.  This is a French band and made it a first on the show for me from this country.  I supposed, sort of stretching the point slightly, that the closest thing to prog coming out of France at the moment is Air; the band that is, and nothing to do with “hot”.  In fact, as an aside, I explored the idea of playing some Air on the show but I couldn’t find a track I could settle on so the idea has been put on a back burner for the time being.

The playlist provided by Tommo had some of my favourites in it: Riverside, Pure Reason Revolution, Rush, Yes and Magenta.  The only band to have not yet made it onto the show up to now was Rush, though I had toyed with either Xanadu or Jacobs Ladder.  In this case Tommo beat me to it, but there are no complaints from me.  I was also impressed that he played some Pure Reason Revolution.  This is a new band that have recently come to the fore with their first album The Dark Third.  I suppose their style of music is best described as indie-prog, if I can be so bold as to join those two sometimes disparate descriptors. 

A highlight of the evening for me was being able to talk to Christina, the lead singer for Magenta.  It was also her birthday celebration and for the interview Christina bundled her guests off into her bedroom so they could listen to the interview on-line.  We learnt through the interview that Magenta are currently in the throws of their new album with Rob, the keyboardist and main writer for the band, creating the demos for the new material to come.  From the sound of it, the new album will provide a darker sounding Magenta than previously heard.  I have to admit to being intrigued as I’m somewhat partial to a bit of the dark side.

So, what’s due up in the next show?  Well, I’m still working on a playlist as I write this though I have some choices already in the bag.  I’m going for some Guitar Garden, some Flora Majora, possibly a track or two from The Bearded Project’s new release.  And the rest?  Tune in and find out!

All the best,

Dave

Article by Dave O'Neill, 22 May 2007
Posted in The Dave O Prog Rock Show

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