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Festival News: RosFest 2013 - The Story So Far....

Posted on Sunday, October 28 @ 12:00:00 UTC by nightowl

Since we've been out of the loop for what seems like forever, but has "only" been four months, we have missed out on sharing with you the band announcements for RoSFest (and I'm sure some for this past September's ProgDay as well). To rectify that oversight, here is the omnibus edition... and while the headline is a Marillion reference, to date, Marillion is not on the bill nor does it suggest anything of the like... all it means is, well, frankly, in addition to Rush (also not on the bill), I've been listening to Marillion... ah, but let me get out of the way and let Fest Organizer George Roldan "take over."

July 20, 2012: We're happy to announce that Polish band Believe have been signed for the 2013 edition of the Rites of Spring Festival.

Believe was formed back in 2005 by Mirek Gil, a long time active and well known composer and instrumentalist in the Polish progressive rock scene. He was a founding member of Collage, is the band leader of Mr. Gil and has also been a member of Satellite. All of them well known bands amongst fans of neo progressive rock.

Believe is the most recent of Gil's endeavours, and following an initial phase with some member alterations they have solidified into a line-up consisting of Mirek Gil (guitars), Satomi (violin), Karel Wroblewski (vocals), Vlodi Tafel (drums), Przemas Zawadzki (bass) and Konrad Wantrych (keyboards). Their reputation as a live act has been on the rise ever since their line-up stabilized, and was recently documented on the DVD Seeing Is Believing (Metal Mind Productions, 2012). One might also note that they have been booked for a number of European festivals in 2012, a good testimony to their growing reputation as a live act. Believe have a further live DVD out documenting their early days, one live album and a total of four studio CDs to their name. An extensive line of releases for a band that was formed just seven years ago.

When Believe hits the stage on Saturday it will mark their first appearance at ROSfest, and those familiar with any of their studio albums should expect to experience most if not all of their favourites given a performance of the highest quality. And according to the accolades regarding their stage presence and performance we've heard, we're sure that this fine Polish band will gain many new fans in Gettysburg at RoSfest 2013.

August 27, 2012: We're pleased to announce that Canadian band Bolus have been signed for the 2013 edition of the Rites of Spring festival.

Bolus is based out of Toronto, and was formed back in 2003 when the founding members attended secondary school. They started developing material straight away, and performed live already in the fall of 2003. The following year they had a full album's worth of songs ready, and in 2005 they released their debut album Watch Your Step.

Band development halted when founding member Richard Frankel left the band in 2007, but when a suitable replacement had been found the threesome, now consisting of Nick Karch (guitars, vocals, keyboards), Mat Keselman (drums, percussion, vocals) and Daniel Avner (bass, pedals, backing vocals) continued on in good spirit. Bolus released their sophomore effort Delayed Reaction in 2010, followed by a re-recorded version of their debut album Watch Your Step in 2011. They are currently preparing material for a new album, tentatively planned for release towards the tail end of 2012 or at the start of 2013.

This young and promising neo progressive trio, supplemented with the talents of guitarist and keyboardist Kyle Grounds for live events, will be given the honour of opening the 2013 edition of the Rites of Spring festival. We've heard good words about them from our Canadian contacts, and are certain that they will be a pleasant surprise for our devoted audience.

September 20, 2012: We're pleased to announce that US trio Dream The Electric Sleep have been signed for the 2013 edition of the Rites of Spring Festival.

DTES was formed back in 2009, with Matt Page (vocals, guitars and keyboards), Joey Waters (drums, vocals) and Chris Tackett (bass) as the studio line-up.

They made their debut with Lost And Gone Forever in 2011, and among the 78000 or so new albums released that year this one belongs to the category of productions that easily deserves a description as criminally overlooked. Grabbing a touch of Black Sabbath here and Radiohead there, flavoring the proceedings with details from the musical legacies of Rush, Genesis and Allman Brothers as well as a few bits and pieces of pop accessibility as seasoning, their debut concept album is a production that have made a distinct, strong and long lasting impression on us. This is why we have chosen this band to be awarded the coveted opening slot on Sunday to perform in our very own church of prog. If they will inspire to religious fervour or merely dedicated listening we don't know yet, but we're certain that this is a band that will make a lasting impression.

So no matter how long you party on Saturday, make sure that you'll be able to find a seat when DTES hits the stage on Sunday morning. As long as you're present, this is a band will cater quite nicely for shaking off the after party residue among our ROSfest faithful, energizing you for the final day of festivities for the ROSfest 2013 experience.

September 20, 2012: We're excited to announce that US band MoeTar have been signed for the 2013 edition of the Rites of Spring Festival.

MoeTar is named after vocalist Moorea Dickason and bassist Tarik Ragab, the former supplying an essential ingredient of the band's sound with her vocal skills and the latter the main songwriter. Matthew Charles Heulitt (guitars), Matt Lebofsky (keyboards) and Dave Flores (drums) supplement the duo with their instrumental skills and versatile musical backgrounds.

From the early days of the band to the launch of their official debut album From These Small Seeds through US label Magna Carta Records in 2012, MoeTar have sought to combine the challenging and adventurous aspects of progressive rock with the accessible and easily enjoyable qualities of modern day pop and rock, earning them comparisons towards artists as different as Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and XTC. Described by some, at least to some extent, as a US-based, modern day equivalent of Gentle Giant in terms of their approach to the art of creating music.

At ROSfest we're just as much fans of new artists working towards establishing a larger fan base as the well established and familiar ones. And we're convinced that MoeTar is a band that will gain many new fans following their performance at Gettysburg in May 2013, a fresh and innovative new band that will positively surprise a large percentage of the audience in general and the home crowd in particular.

Moetar on Magna Carta Records

October 9, 2012: We're happy to announce that Japanese artist Asturias have been signed for the 2013 edition of the Rites of Spring Festival.

When Asturias hits the stage at ROSfest in 2013, 25 years will have gone by since Yoh Ohyama released the first album sporting the Asturias moniker. At first a solo project exploring progressive rock in a manner similar to Mike Oldfield, later reinvented as an acoustic band project closer to chamber rock in expression. But during the last few years Asturias reinvented his creative energy yet again.

Opting for the slightly expanded moniker Electric Asturias when performing this material live, Ohyama has decided to venture somewhat closer to the shores of jazz rock and fusion with this current incarnation of the Asturias project. With himself on bass, supplemented by Satoshi Hirata (guitars), Sena Tei (violin), Yoshihiro Kawagoe (keyboards) and Kiyotaka Tanabe (drums) the foundation is well in place for a scorching performance by a tight and experienced live unit.

Sundays at RoSfest can be a slightly melancholic day. Our great audience is tired after much music and more festivities. Now the last day of the weekend plays out, the regular world awaiting in 24 hours or less. A day for talking, reflecting and trying to forget about the forthcoming Monday morning blues and just prior to the final headliner of the weekend, we're certain that Electric Asturias is a live experience that for their appointed amount of time will transport your mind to another place and time with their particular brand of instrumental progressive rock.

www.gaudela.net/gar/artists/Asturias.html | Myspace Electric Asturias [official] | Myspace Acoustic Asturias | Myspace Asturias [official]

Which brings us to the most recent band announcements, made on October 25, 2012: We're excited to announce that US act Jolly and Polish band Riverside have been signed for the 2013 edition of the Rites of Spring Festival.

Opening the festivities on Saturday morning, US band Jolly will serve their particular brand of subtly eclectic art rock to the RoSfest faithful. They are a band whose stylistic variations and combinations are plentiful and varied, bordering on progressive rock just as much as progressive metal. And towards the very end of Saturday, Polish band Riverside will finally be able to provide their brand of metal-tinged progressive rock to our audience as well. A band that we, along with a substantial number of our core audience, have desired to book for the Rites of Spring festival for quite some time. For the 2013 edition we finally managed to land them, and when they hit the stage they'll even be the 100th artist to perform at RoSfest. A worthy cause for celebration!

Jolly and Riverside will have a mini-tour in the US in the spring of 2013, so dedicated fans will get a few more opportunities to see these bands performing. But being able to enjoy these bands in a high class comfortable theatre alongside hundreds of other dedicated prog fans, that is a setting and scenario that is ROSFest exclusive. We wish both bands the very best for the entire tour, but we're convinced that their performances at RoSfest 2013 will be the clear highlight for bands and audience alike.

Riverside:

Jolly:

[Source: RoSFest]

Posted in Festival News