So this is February 2016… (And a lot happened so far)

Wow! This is a very strange month so far. A lot has happened… A lot of good things, but sadly also bad things… 

Let’s start with the bad news first. We lost the brilliant musician Piotr Grudzinski, the guitarist from the Polish band Riverside. The band confirmed the news today on their website: http://riversideband.pl/en/news/item/piotr-grudzinki-died

I’m a big fan of the band, I’ve been to several live concerts and had the honour to interview bassist/vocalist Mariusz Duda back in 2015 (you can listen to the interview here). Piotr was only 40 years old, much too young.

Sadly I have more bad news… Progpraat is going to quit. The owner of Progpraat wrote a statement on the website today, which you can read here: https://progpraat.com/2016/02/21/progpraat-stopt/

I started working for Progpraat just this year, and despite my short stay I had a wonderful time with my lovely colleagues. A big thank you and hug to my dear colleagues! I hope the friendship will still continue and that music will keep us connected.

Ok… Now time for some good news!

Because I was busy fixing my PC last week I couldn’t write any reviews, but I’m finally back on track. I also had two great interviews this week! I had the honour to interview Colin Edwin (ex-Porcupine Tree) last Wednesday before his gig with the amazing band O.R.k.. I also took some pictures during the gig and wrote a gig review (more information about the interview and gig review later in this post).

The interview with Colin wasn’t the only interview I had last week. I also had the honour to interview Neil Mahony (MAHONEY, ex-Amplifier) last Thursday. We had a very interesting and deep interview, it’s actually one of the most interesting interviews so please stay tuned! Neil released his EP named You Are The Big Bang last Friday, and I can tell you, it is a brilliant piece of music! I’m going to write an album review about it soon (more information about the interview and album review later in this post)! Feel free to listen/buy the EP on Bandcamp: https://mahoney1.bandcamp.com/album/you-are-the-big-bang (well, I recommend you to buy it anyway!)

Yesterday was the Vinyl Release Party of Robby Valentine‘s album Bizarro World at the P3 in Purmerend, and your roving reporter was there too! I took some pictures and I will write a review about this fantastic gig soon!

So, when are we able to hear the interviews and read the reviews, Iris? Well, I’m not sure yet, but I hope it will be soon! I always wait to upload the album/gig reviews when Background Magazine has uploaded it to their page, and I upload my interviews on my page after the ‘live’ show on House of Prog Radio. As you can see, there’s a ‘subscribe’ section on the left side of the page (just under ‘categories’). When you enter your email address (or click the ‘follow’ button) you will get my latest posts/updates automatically in your inbox!

What to expect next week? Well, expect album/gig reviews, more interviews and more posts! 🙂 Have a great week everyone!

Big hugs!

Iris, aka Ier