Welcome, everyone, to another long awaited edition of John Dunphy's Follow Through, the column that revisits artists previously reviewed by Mr. Dunphy on MusicTAP, to see what they've been up to lately and what we listeners can look forward to from them in the future.
March is an exciting month for me, people, let me tell you! It's this month, March 21, to be exact, that I will finally, FINALLY get to see trip-rock pioneers The Gathering, one of my favorite bands of all time, LIVE! Yup, in support of their soon to be released, eagerly anticipated new LP, Home, The Gathering is venturing out on a small multiple city US tour, which includes the aforementioned March 21 stop at The Knitting Factory in NYC! I'll be there, as will long absent from MusicTAP writer Dw. Dunphy. Will you? If you're in one of the below areas, definitely consider getting out to one of their hopefully amazing shows.
Check out my review of their nearly five-star live album, Sleepy Buildings, or Dw.'s review of their 2003 release, Souvenirs, to get you up to speed.
USA Mini-Tour:
3/16/06 - Austin, TX - SXSW Festival/ The End Records Showcase
3/17/06 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade
3/19/06 - Springfield, VA - Jaxx
3/20/06 - Cambridge, MA - The Middle East
3/21/06 - New York, NY - The Knitting Factory
3/22/06 - USA/Canada - To be announced
Another one to keep tabs on is Liv Kristine Espanaes Krull (Leaves' Eyes), or simply Liv Kristine, who has just released Enter My Religion, her first solo project since 1998. This one has garnered enough attention to be snagged by Roadrunner Records (at least their German counterpart, anyway) and is getting some major buzz. Despite being on a metal label, I've heard it's a bit like her first solo effort, in that it's a lot more poppy and mainstream, a guilty pleasure of mine I must admit. Here's hoping it gets to this side of the pond soon (or at least the German RR label sends me a review copy!).
When I first heard about Finnish metal band Before the Dawn, my first reaction, and the first words to grace my review of their 2004 release 4:17am were, "who the hell is Before the Dawn?" Suffice it to say, I enjoyed them enough to review them and to even follow up on them here. That in itself is a surprise considering, following 4:17am's release, the entire freaking band decided to jump ship on founder and guitarist Tuomas Saukkonen. Poor guy. Well, I thought that was it. But, apparently Tuomas isn't about to throw his guitar away yet. On top of it, he's added bass, keyboards and drums to his resume. A veritable one-man show, Before the Dawn's newest release, The Ghost, will drop May 26. Clean vocals will be provided by Lars Eikind, who some may remember as the voice behind Norwegian black prog. supergroup Winds. That leaves me a little cold since I didn't like Winds all that much but I shall reserve judgement. For now. 4:17am was a surprisingly enjoyable album and, hey, I love rooting for the underdog anyway. Go get em, Tuomas!
And yes, I admit, I am a Marillion fanboy! Like I have said in previous editions of this column, I could not possibly conclude this without mention of something involving them! Oh well! This time, it is regarding the February 28 release of their Colours and Sound documentary DVD, which chronicles their goings on during the 2004 Marbles tour. Inside info from the band members themselves, crew, the writing process, the touring process, it's all here. I'll be reviewing this one soon and I CANNOT WAIT! The Marillos are currently working on putting together new material for the next album, a feat that will take them through most of this year. We wait with bated breath.
And that's all for this edition of John Dunphy's Follow Through! See you again in the distant future!
