Starcastle in our own backyard

[Howard Roark]

Hello Everyone,

I would love to hear anything by Starcastle!

Funny, I use to think that these guy's were from the UK or Canada, then it was years later that I realized that they were a product of the good old Midwest,USA!


Looks like things are getting ready to roll on the Starcastle Website!

I would also welcome anything by Max Webster.

Thanks,

HR

Howard,

There's a TON of Starcastle on the site. Go to "Live Requests" and search for 'Starcastle'.

Happy hunting.

[djsmed]

I can remember back in 84/85 I was in a prog rock wanna be band. We actually played UK In the Dead of Night (It is very hard to play that bass part and sing it!). Anyway one of the guys in the band left a cassette in my car. I put it in and heard Eliptical Seasons by Starcastle. I had no idea who the band was and had listened to the tape about 5 times by the time I got a chance to ask the guy who the band was. It turned out to be "Fountians of Light" on one side and the 1st Starcastle album on the other.

From that moment on I was a Starcastle fan. Aside from the obvious YESish sound of the group, they are actually very creative. They are different musically than YES. I have all of the stuff on LP and I am currently getting it all on CD. The live CD is very cool also.

Do these guys tour? I would love to see them.

PS: TRIVIA QUESTION (What other popular band was the lead singer from Starcastle a member?)

-djsmed-

[Howard Roark]

Good to hear from another Starcastle fan!

..Terry was also the lead vocalist for REO Speedwagon.


If you are looking for information on the band check out www.starcastlemusic.com

There is a new CD due out this year entitled, Returning Delirium, and as far as a tour goes..well, we're working on it!


I have only herd the live version of 'In the dead of night" and have always loved the interplay between Wetton and Bozzio, especially on the short intro of Presto Vivace. I have no idea what the studio version with Bill Bruford on drums sounds like as I only own the Danger Money and the Night after Night CD's. UK is a very difficult band to find alternative recordings on, too bad as they were one of my favorites. I think I first saw them on a promo clip on Don Kirshners Rock Concert(Great show!)I never had the opportunity to see them live.

Thanks,

HR

[djsmed]

If you like UK-Danger Money, you will love the 1st UK CD In the Dead of Night. It should not be to hard to find on half.com or cdnow or one of those. The whole song is about 15 or 20 mins and presto is part of it.

Holdsworth, Bruford, Wetton, Jobson, what a group. The recording is very clean. I think the drum sound on this album is actually better than on Danger Money. Two incredible drummers Bozzio and Bruford one incredible short lived band. I never got to see that group live either, but Night after Night is a great recording. I just got it on CD a few months ago, the LP was wearing thin.

If you like Wetton, get the Steve Hackett live from japan DVD. Wetton's voice sounds as good as ever. Really neat to hear him sing Gabriel and Greg Lake stuff with power and passon.

-djsmed-

[Howard Roark]

Thanks for the info on Wetton.

Being a drummer, I have favorites that I wish I could play with, John Wetton being one of them, as well as Gary Strater from Starcastle, Geddy Lee from Rush and Tony Levin from everywhere!

I guess I feel that these types of players would be able to best work with my style of playing and composing on the drums.

So, Do you still play?

I always hate to hear that a musician with those kinds of influences has decided to lay his instrument down.

In my situation, Cincinnati is very lame when it comes to bands that want to do anything progressive, we're too conservative here!

Take care,

HR

[black max]

I saw Crimson in Cincinnati (twice, if you count the Projeckt 2 tour). The audiences were...polite. Between that and the cops harassing you if you smoke on the sidewalk, I wasn't thrilled with the place.

For my money, the first UK album blows the 2nd one away. Not the fault of Bozzio, or even the loss of Holdsworth, so much as it is the more "accessible" sound of the music written by Jobson and Wetton. The live album is interesting, but the bootleg material available from the 1979 tour with the original lineup is stellar. If you can't find it on CD, download it off of WinMX or something similar.

[Howard Roark]

You must have seen Crimson at Bogarts.

That place has really gone down hill and the area there is not a good one for getting people out to shows. The Southgate House, just across the river in Kentucky, is by far a much better place to see someone like Crimson.

I've tried off and on to put together a Prog rock type band in Cincinnati, but no one ever seems very interested. I dont understand because Cincy has some very talented players that would lend themselves to that type of music.

I guess I find that you need to reach that point where you are playing for the love of playing and not just to make money. The key for me, and I hate to admit it, is that you need to have some type of career that will afford you the nice things in life that you feel you need to have and still keep working at the music.
I have found out that it's never too late to have a career in music. I was ready to give up on the whole thing, but something has changed that and I am once more ready to get serious about playing.

Thanks,

HR

Originally posted by Howard Roark
I have found out that it's never too late to have a career in music. I was ready to give up on the whole thing, but something has changed that and I am once more ready to get serious about playing.

Thanks,

HR

You're right there Howard,

I used to sing in a part time (and unpaid) band until very recently when we split because everyone moved to different parts of the country (and the Bass player was in prison for tax evasion....but that's another story).

We were called KRAPP. It was good standing there saying "Good evening everyone, we're Krapp".

That way if we were crap I could say "I did warn you" and if we weren't the audience had a pleasant surprise.

Whatever, we got a real buzz out of performing and when the time's right I'll definitely put another band together.

As we did a lot of Doors covers I called myself Maurice Jimmson..........How "Krapp" is that????

Good luck for the future man! Keep on truckin'

[djsmed]

Howard,

I do still play. I have played with a prog group here in NJ called "Higher Ground" where I played Bass, Stick, and Keys.

I also released a CD with a group called "Random Access" where I played only keys. Tha was in 94. It is mostly Jazz Fusion in the Yellojackest style. There is a very progressive rock syled tune on the CD called Towerering Inferno (kinda my tribute to my roots). The CD sold well here in the Phila area, and got some air play on local Jazz radio, but I still have about 100 left.

Now I am playing in a wedding band (good money and great players) and recording at my home studio. My new material is mostly ambient with a progressive twist. Something I am trying.

How about you? Do you still play?