Morning all!

I hope you're all well and feeling the coming Spring in your step.

An alarmingly shaky, but ultimately wonderful return to the stage and much more to update you on...

Firstly today sees the release of the second 'single' (still can't get used to that :)) from the Clann album 'Life' and follows the incredibly well received Firefly out into the world.

Thanks so much to everyone who voted to make this happen!!....

Click the images to watch the videos.

And then this!! Amazing!! 🌞

'Life' is the second track from the 'prog sandwich' that is Clann and part of the filling that perhaps not everyone may expect 😁 The song releases on Youtubeand Spotifytoday so please do check it out and see what you think.

In case you didn't know, the ‘Clann’ title refers to the sense of family within and without the band... that's you! And the video attempts to convey this with footage of our family and friends attending the shoot for the album inner sleeve. Hope you enjoy it.

Clann Vinyl Update

Richard Swan of Wild Thyme Records has really done us all proud and we're extremely grateful that he's completely overseen the vinyl production on our behalf. 

The latest update is that it will be ready for the tour and shipped to pre-orderers by the April 4th release date.

And.. the vinyl now comes with a digital download included with your receipt. Anyone who's already ordered will have received a download link via email. Thank you for your support!!

The vinyl pre-order's proving very popular and the 'rusty red' coloured vinyl is a strictly limited edition so, if you fancy one, please do order now. It's also hugely helpful to us, so many thanks if you go for this. 

Clann Rust Red Vinyl

Clann Black Vinyl

Clann CD

From April 4th Clann will be available on CD & Vinyl from Burning Shed and Progrock.co.uk in the UK, Just For Kicks in Europe and Progrock.com Essentialsin the US and worldwide.

I've also decided to sell direct to the UK via our website. It's a lot of extra work but it does mean we see a bit more return on the album which all helps. Particularly given the realties of touring costs.

Here’s the order link https://ko-fi.com/s/7f8ee5ad82

You can order the CD from us above and all orders received by March 30th will be dispatched on April 1st and should be with you by release day.

Warning: any orders received  after March 30th are unlikely to be fulfilled before we're back from the Clann tour so I'd advice ordering elsewhere or, even better, coming to a show and grabbing one from the merch stall. 

Fusion 6

We had a weekend of rehearsals in February with wonderful singer/songwriter/guitarist Leoni Jane Kennedy but, as we gathered for another run through last weekend, Jess messaged to say she'd been struck down by a virus and whilst she’d come to the rehearsal, wanted to warn me she might not be up to much singing... I advised an early night instead. On the Saturday, as hard as she tried she simply couldn't get through a song without coughing and spluttering and worse, dangerously straining that beautiful voice. It was heartbreaking for her and the band. 

But for me, pulling a show, especially Steve & Lou Gould's amazing Fusion Festival, just isn't an option if there's any possible way of avoiding it. I remember back in the day when Sandy Leigh fell to a similar malaise we did the best part of a tour just playing as much instrumental material as we could muster. Fortunately we're now blessed with some amazing singers so Ebony, Dyane and Leoni, who thankfully had already planned to come and watch the Fusion show, jumped right in and with just a day's notice, did the most amazing job!

If there was ever a 'safe space' to appear without Jess it was in front of that wonderful Fusion audience and everyone went home happy.

Love and thanks to Howard Rankin for capturing these memories.

The Clann Tour

Ebony & Nick begin a fabulous tour this Sunday in The Netherlands with Anneke van Giersbergen that runs right through to April 13th. If you're in the Netherlands please do get along to a show if you can. Find all the info here https://www.ebonybuckle.com/shows

Ebony will be back with us from April 17th at Colchester Arts Centre but, in the meantime we're thrilled to have  Leoni join the clann. She'll be opening the shows and singing with us from April 5th in Oundle right through to Sheffield on April 13th. Expect some awesome guitar playing too! 🌟

Info and tickets for all Clann tour dates are here https://www.solsticeprog.uk/gigs/upcoming-gigs

We so hope you'll be able to join us for a show!

I've found myself doing a lot more press than ever before and take that as a really positive sign that our profile’s growing the album’s landing well. 

Here's a long form interview with Roie Avin, head honcho at the most excellent 'The Prog Report'

And an even longer form with the lovely Claudio Bustamante who's seems bemused by the extraordinary growth of his YouTube channel to 134k subscribers since creating it as a lockdown project. I suspect that in addition to his relaxed and generous interview style, the fact that all income goes to support charity may have something to do with it.

Look out for the next issue which includes yet more Solstice coverage. A couple of weeks back I had the pleasure of a lengthy chat with the lovely Allison Reijman who’s writing the article.

Not only that but Prog are planning a Solstice Collectors Edition which includes a Solstice front cover (amazing!) along with an exclusive Prog Clann T-shirt and a signed lyric sheet. Sounds like we must be getting somewhere folks!! 🌞
With Jess back to full health we're so excited to get out on the road and for the first time in 40 years, play a real tour and completely immerse ourselves in the music.

Look out for the next issue which includes yet more Solstice coverage. A couple of weeks back I had the pleasure of a lengthy chat with the lovely Allison Reijman who’s writing the article.

Not only that but Prog are planning a Solstice Collectors Edition which includes a Solstice front cover (amazing!) along with an exclusive Prog Clann T-shirt and a signed lyric sheet. Sounds like we must be getting somewhere folks!! 🌞
With Jess back to full health we're so excited to get out on the road and for the first time in 40 years, play a real tour and completely immerse ourselves in the music.

We’re so looking forward to meeting you and the rest of the clann!

Thank you for being part of this extraordinary journey and for helping to bring us to this point.

With love from us all
Andy X