Neil Palfreyman
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
You have no idea how excited this news makes me! It's something I have been looking forward to for a very, very long time and this morning I saw confirmation from Big Big Train's audio engineer Rob Aubrey that he's currently working on the surround mixes for Big Big Train's December release of "Stone and Steel" on DVD and BluRay.
So who are Big Big Train?
They're a contemporary Prog Rock band who are arguably one of the most successful of the "new" bands in this genre in recent years, founded in 1990 by Greg Spawton, the current line up, which has been expanded for live performance includes Nick D'Virgilio, Dave Gregory, Rachel Hall, David Longdon, Danny Manners, Andy Poole, Rikard Sjöblom and Gregory Spawton. The music could be shallowly described as "Trick of the Tail" era Genesis (indeed vocalist Longdon had an audition for Genesis back in the day) but they're so much more than that. Melodic, thoughtful and complex (but not "twiddly") and quintessentially English.
Have a look and listen here: http://www.bigbigtrain.com/ The video of "Victorian Brickwork" on the main page will tell you everything you need to know about the band! (Watch it until the end as the brass section is spine chilling.)
I've been a fan since around 2007 and one of my biggest musical dreams has been to hear their music in 5.1 and now it will happen. :banana:
So what is "Stone and Steel"?
(taken from the band's Facebook page FAQ)
"This will be a DVD, Blu-Ray release and high-definition download release. It will consist of live-in-the studio performances of a number of songs plus some documentary footage and film of three or four live songs from the Kings Place gigs. Bonus material will be available online and may include interviews and drum-cam footage. Expected release date is December 2015."
To expand; the "live-in-studio" was recorded at Real World studios using the live band line up complete with brass and strings. It was essentially the extended rehearsal for the live gigs this summer just gone, though it was always intended to record/release the material. (Annoyingly, I was asked to photograph these rehearsals for the band but couldn't because I was in Turkey at the time!)
...anywa, enough rambling. If you like good, thoughtful well written music with a story give them a listen and get behind this release. I have a feeling that it's going to be awesome!
So who are Big Big Train?
They're a contemporary Prog Rock band who are arguably one of the most successful of the "new" bands in this genre in recent years, founded in 1990 by Greg Spawton, the current line up, which has been expanded for live performance includes Nick D'Virgilio, Dave Gregory, Rachel Hall, David Longdon, Danny Manners, Andy Poole, Rikard Sjöblom and Gregory Spawton. The music could be shallowly described as "Trick of the Tail" era Genesis (indeed vocalist Longdon had an audition for Genesis back in the day) but they're so much more than that. Melodic, thoughtful and complex (but not "twiddly") and quintessentially English.
Have a look and listen here: http://www.bigbigtrain.com/ The video of "Victorian Brickwork" on the main page will tell you everything you need to know about the band! (Watch it until the end as the brass section is spine chilling.)
I've been a fan since around 2007 and one of my biggest musical dreams has been to hear their music in 5.1 and now it will happen. :banana:
So what is "Stone and Steel"?
(taken from the band's Facebook page FAQ)
"This will be a DVD, Blu-Ray release and high-definition download release. It will consist of live-in-the studio performances of a number of songs plus some documentary footage and film of three or four live songs from the Kings Place gigs. Bonus material will be available online and may include interviews and drum-cam footage. Expected release date is December 2015."
To expand; the "live-in-studio" was recorded at Real World studios using the live band line up complete with brass and strings. It was essentially the extended rehearsal for the live gigs this summer just gone, though it was always intended to record/release the material. (Annoyingly, I was asked to photograph these rehearsals for the band but couldn't because I was in Turkey at the time!)
...anywa, enough rambling. If you like good, thoughtful well written music with a story give them a listen and get behind this release. I have a feeling that it's going to be awesome!