Call me an ignorant metropolitan snob if you like, but Southampton isn’t the first place I would have looked to find an interesting or individual music scene – which is why it’s been a delight to find outposts like The Art House striving to prove me wrong. The Talking Heads might well be another such venue (the name already bodes well), and among the upcoming gigs there next month is this prog-happy show, in which veteran neo-proggers from the turn of the ’70s shake hands with an enterprising local band who are picking up the torch in their own particular way.
CentralSouthCoast Progressive Rock presents:
Haze + A Formal Horse
The Talking Heads, 16-22 The Polygon, Southampton, Hampshire, SO15 2BN, England
Wednesday 12th April 2017, 7.30pm – information here, here and here
“Formed in Sheffield during the late 1970s by brothers Chris & Paul McMahon, Haze established their reputation as one of the hardest-working underground bands of the ’80s, releasing two albums, three singles and countless cassettes while playing over five hundred shows around the UK and Europe After the band disbanded in 1988, the McMahon brothers continued with World Turtle, but reformed Haze in 1998 for a twentieth anniversary show. Haze performed intermittently over the next ten years while the brothers mainly focussed on their acoustic folk band Treebeard. In 2013, Haze released a comeback album ‘The Last Battle’ and reissued their first release ‘The Cellar Tapes’ as a thirtieth anniversary CD (remixed and including previously unreleased tracks and online bonus tracks).
“Despite building their reputation as a progressive rock band, Haze have always drawn on a wide variety of influences, ranging from pop, rock, funk, metal and meandering psychedelic jams to tightly structured prog epics. The new material draws on all these, plus a strong folk, acoustic and medieval influence (from Ceri Ashton’s contribution on whistle, flute, clarinet, viola and cello, and sister Catrin’s on fiddle, mandolin and flute), combined with latest recruit Danny McMahon’s powerhouse drumming. The band took part in the ‘2weeks 2make it’ video competition a few years ago with a video for Faces On The Wall, and are currently writing material for a new album.
“A Formal Horse is a visceral rock quartet working out of Southampton. The band released their debut EP in June 2014, recorded by Rob Aubrey (John Wetton, Big Big Train). They’ve since performed at A New Day Festival alongside The Stranglers and Focus, released a second EP, been nominated for a Progressive Music Award and garnered plenty of critical acclaim (‘Prog Magazine’ saluted their “warmth and charm” plus their “ability to turn on a dime with such élan”, while ‘Classic Rock’ admired their “nervy, twitching rhythms – think XTC playing Voivod’s back catalogue – with pure-as-the-driven female vocals… oddly intoxicating.”). They continue to play shows in the UK and Europe, and are currently working on two follow-up records – their third EP, ‘Made In Chelsea’, is out at the end of March.”
(They’ve also shown up in here before – click here for more of that.)
Misfit City 
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