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

Dear friends

Blimey, there’s a lot to tell you so I’ll try to cut out the usual waffle 

But first 😉... we ended this year's run of shows on Nov1st at the fabulous Trading Boundaries, and what a night we had! I’d heard many good things about the venue but was frankly blown away by the whole experience. It’s run by an extended family (Clann in Gaelic... more on that later ;-)) who immediately make you feel right at home.Then there's the venue itself and the galleries (including Roger Dean’s art) which are just gorgeous. Highly recommended if you’re ever in East Sussex. 

Here’s a few of Howard Rankin’s photos from the evening.

Return To Cropredy

And so to the new Return To Cropredy release out now and AVAILABLE HERE! on Blu-ray/CD or USB-A drive (so cute!)

My copies arrived a couple of weeks ago but I’m sorry to say that a glitch at the distribution warehouse has meant that pre-orders only started dropping through doors last week. Apologies to all who’ve been waiting.

On the bright side, I’m absolutely delighted with the result and hope you will be too. The 2-disc ecopak consists of the live CD and a blu-ray which includes the full concert film, 24 bit audio and Shaun Blake’s brilliant ‘New Light’ documentary. There's even Shaun's full interviews with Steven Wilson and Gregory Spawton which, as heroes of mine, left me humbled and elated after hearing about their love for the music.

As the first blu-ray release I’ve been involved with, I made sure it was formatted for, and thoroughly tested in, different regions. Despite this they’ve have been a couple of mercifully rare reports of the disc not playing correctly. Should you have any problems please reply to this email and we’ll find a solution.

Buy Return To Cropredy Blu-ray/CD or USB-A

The  'Clann' album

Clann will complete our 'Sia' Trilogy with a title that reflects the feeling of family that's evolved within and around the band. The final parts are being recorded and the process of mixing has begun. 

On Friday I had the huge pleasure of working at Grand Chapel Studios recording brass parts with these three stunning musicians, Phil Bainbridge, Toby Carr and Luke Bainbridge. Huge thanks to our amazing Guardians for making this possible!! 

And on Sunday Jess brought tears to my eyes (again) after completing her work on the album with the most beautiful and moving vocal I've heard... from day one Jess has intuitively understood the music and I just can't tell you what an inspiration that is. Such a blessing.

The 'Clann' Tour

The Return To Cropredy Blu-ray/CD marks our first release through Progrock.com's Essentials and the second will be the new studio album 'Clann'. 

Clann is from the Gaelic for extended family, friends and kindred, which just seems perfect given the dynamic within the band itself and with all of you who give the music life through your support. 

We're fully focused on getting the new album ready for release in time for the Clann tour next April when we'll be jumping in a van and hitting the road together for the first time. Wish us luck and please join us if you can!

The brilliant Leoni Jane Kennedy will be stepping in for Ebony on harmony vocals and to open the shows from April 5th- April 13th. We're so looking forward to working with her!

Ebony and Nick have an amazing tour in The Netherlands early April but they'll be back for the last few shows! Ebony's tour info

The CLANN Tour dates confirmed so far are all here!

The Prog Rock Files 

We're so grateful to Garry Foster, who continues to champion our music. Garry recently devoted a whole hour to the band which included our now traditional round up of the year. If you fancy a listen please click the image below

The Great Winter Solstice Sell Off! 

We won't be ordering any more of the Cropredy keyboard warrior 'comments' shirts, so we've made the last few hoodies and T-shirts available by mail order from our Ko-fi page... just in time for you know what...

A reluctant spouse who was dragged to a recent show - and left unconverted - will be receiving a 'Solstice... Bloody Awful' T-shirt for Christmas from her loving husband. Of course, he thinks this is hilarious and remains confident it's the perfect gift... mmmm.. well see 🤣 

There's only a few of each size, design and colour and some are a little wrinkled so they're all discounted by 25%.
Perfect for anyone who loves or hates the band. Clever eh? 🤪

I've just loaded them to our shop and, as I write this, the orders are coming in so If there's anything you fancy, please pop over and grab one HERE pronto. Thank you!
 Ok, so now I must focus on the enormous though joyous task of completing the album, so this may well be my last missive before it's done. If so, I want to wish you a wonderful December and to thank you for all the support that's made 2024 another incredible year for us!

Here's hoping to see you at a gathering of some kind in 2025!

With love and thanks from us all
Andy X

Huge gratitude to Howard Rankin for this pic and the numerous other brilliant shots he's taken! X

Well, that was quite a summer!  We played some wonderful festivals finishing up at the excellent Nene Valley Rock Festival last Sunday via a wonderful night at the Stables on the Saturday. Amazing to see nearly 400 of you there!.. and icing on the cake to have Steve Rothery and Steven Wilson join us for the evening! 

It’s been great to catch up with many of you along the way and we’re already looking forward to the final show of the year at Trading Boundaries on November 1st. Tickets here if you'd like to join us.
 

Return To Cropredy

As you may already know, we’ve recently begun a new chapter working with the US boutique label, Progrock.com Essentials, and I’ve been busy preparing all the material for our first release together. This will be the Blu-ray/CD version of Return To Cropredy... but more on that later. 

Meanwhile, we’re celebrating the release of a fabulous limited edition 250 copy gold coloured double LP courtesy of Richard Swan through his label, Wild Thyme Records. Richard’s ensured this is a beautifully presented record and I’m thrilled with the result. Huge thanks to Richard and the 130+ people  who supported the release by pre-ordering. Your copies may already have started to arrive and I hope you’ll be as happy with it as we are. 

Here's what PROG MAG's Gary McKenzie had to say...

There’s around 100 copies of the Return To Cropredy vinyl left so if you’d like one please order from Fairsound via this link. Once that stock is exhausted we’ll make further copies available via our website and, of course, at future shows. 

So back to the Blu-Ray/CD, which will also be available as a fancy looking flash drive for anyone who’d like the contents digitally. 

The package includes the complete Cropredy Concert Film, a brilliant new Shaun Blake documentary, ‘New Light’, featuring the band + Clive Bunker, Gregory Spawton, Jerry Ewing and Steven Wilson, along with extras including the complete interviews with Greg and Steven plus the live album both on CD and as 24bit audio. 

Our good friend Shaun Blake, who heads up top animation company Studio 43, has already worked closely with the band as the creator of both the Sia and Light Up album covers. Last year he expressed an interest in making a Solstice documentary aimed at introducing new people to the history, background and current line up and, of course I was delighted, but knew it would be a massive task... and Shaun wasn't the first to attempt it.

Well he launched into it and what a job he's done! After a year of filming interviews and the epic task of editing them all together into a cohesive story, Shaun has produced something really exceptional. I’m blown away to be honest. The production values are second to none and the way he’s worked through hours of footage and crosscut between talking heads to make the story flow is just brilliant!

New Studio Album 

Throughout the year we've managed to road test virtually all the music for the next album and in August recording started in earnest. Myself and Pete spent four days in the studio with engineer Ben Maxwell and came out the other end with drums laid down for the whole thing. Pete totally smashed it!! Legend!

Over the next couple of months we'll be busy getting all the parts down and the album mixed and mastered by the end of the year. The plan is to release in March and play a run of shows in April so please watch this space.Trading Boundaries next and then our first show of 2025 will be March 9th at the amazing Fusion 6 Festival in Stourport, but before all that...

On October 17th Ebony Buckle will be launching her fabulous new album "Hearts Get Started"  at The Camden Club, London supported by none other than my younger son's band OCULAR.

Definitely one to catch and really hope to see you there!
Tickets and Info https://events.talentbanq.com/events/talentbanq/1288893

Here's Ebony's latest video to get you in the mood.

Ok, I'll leave you with some photos from this year's shows courtesy Howard Rankin, Ayush Newatia and many more besides 🙏

From us all... Thank you so much for all your support and hope to see you soon!
Andy X

Dear friends

I hope this finds you well and thanks for opening our latest newsletter.

It's been another busy month with some awesome shows, new videos and, of course, continued writing for the next album.

But here's the big news of the moment... our new live album!

Return To Cropredy

Double LP on 180 gram coloured vinyl.

We're delighted to announce our campaign for this strictly limited double vinyl release via Richard Swan's label, Wild Thyme Records.

This is the full set from our Cropredy 2023 appearance and records the extraordinary experience of playing to 20,000 music lovers.

The idea is this: Fairsound (part of Press-On Vinyl) have a model that avoids artists fronting the huge cost of a vinyl release by asking you to pre-order the album. As soon as the order threshold is reached the album goes into production with an estimated delivery to your door in September. So it's a big ask but... should for any reason the run not go ahead, you will be reimbursed in full via your payment method.

In thanks for your support, your Fairsound receipt will include a link to the Return To Cropredy digital download. Just follow the link to access a choice of 24 bit wav, flac or mp3 audio formats and the gatefold sleeve artwork featuring live photos by the inimitable Howard Rankin.

You might want to create an account on Fairsound first, although I didn't, and below is the browser receipt that opens up once you've made your payment . Just click the 'Audio Download' button and you'll go straight through to the files.

The pre-order price is £29.50 (+£4.42 flat rate shipping) and you can relax in the knowledge that Richard will ensure the press and sleeve is of the highest quality. Of course, we’ll be buying copies ourselves for the merch stall but these will certainly have to be at a higher price, so supporting the release does have some small benefit to you... and is hugely helpful to us!

I must warn you though, the album is also planned for release late autumn as part of a Blu-ray/CD package featuring the concert film and the rather splendid Shaun Blake documentary currently in production.

Thanks so much in advance should you choose to support this release!

Find the details and pre-order link here on our Fairsound artist page

Gigs

Just two since the last newsletter but both were wonderful events at The 100 Club and The Soundle Music Festival respectively.

Massive love and thanks to the 225 people who brought 100 Club tickets + our 30 'new to the band' guests! You filled the room with an energy I've not experienced since our Marquee headlines back in the day. Thank you all so much for being there!

Ebony opened the show with a sensational set, this time with Nick Burns (singing and playing pretty much everything) and fab drummer, Laura Williams filling the room with high energy and emotion. Magical!

Particular thanks must go to Chris Parkins at London Prog Gigs for doing a superb job of promoting the show.

The Soundle was another great night with our usually undemonstrative sound engineer, Loz, enthusiastically declaring it our best ever performance!! Funny that because we were in the middle of discussing the cock ups as he bounced up to tell us 😁

Again Bob Cheatham and his team deserve huge recognition and gratitude for running another excellent event that's entirely a labour of love. Where would we be without these guys?

100 Club queue. Pic: Paddy Eason
100 Club live shots: Howard Rankin
Soundle Music Festival  : Pics: Marc Auger

The next gig's a bit special for us and marks 40 years since we played Stonehenge Free Festival, the last before Thatcher instigated Operation Solstice (oh the irony)) and some of the worst scenes of police brutality the country had witnessed. Have a look here if you can stomach it.

But it'll be a very different vibe on June 22nd when both Solstice and Ebony Buckle play Solsticefest at Stonehenge Campsite just a couple of miles from the stones themselves.

Ebony Buckle - 6pm
Solstice - 7.30pm

Info and tickets - https://stonehengefestivals.co.uk/

Here's the rest of the shows for 2024. I would be wonderful to see you if you can make it. The Stables is filling up fast so please do check the link if you fancy joining us.

August 17th ~ A New Day Festival, Mount Ephraim, Faversham, Kent
Tickets/Info

August 26th ~ Towersey Festival, Claydon Estate, Buckingham
Tickets/Info

September 7th ~ The Stables, Milton Keynes with Ebony Buckle
Tickets/Info

September 8th ~ Nene Valley Rock Festival, Peterborough
Tickets/Info

November 1st ~ Trading Boundaries, Fletching, East Sussex with Ebony
Tickets/Info

Videos

Here we are at MK11, Milton Keynes, having fun in seven. No title as yet for this one that may, or may not, make the next album. As always, suggestions welcome 😁

And another new track, this time with a (sort of) title and also from our MK11 show.

It's all very niche but for anyone who dares paying a visit to 'Andy's Guitar Corner', the latest requests were for the chords to A New Day and Bulbul Tarang.... ssshh 😁

Ebony Buckle

For fans of our wonderful harmony singer, Ebony Buckle, it's an exciting time with a brilliant new album on the way produced by Nick Burns (I know, I've heard it!). 'Hearts Get Started' releases on October 4th with a launch show at The Camden Club on October 17th.

In the run up to the album Ebony will release four singles the first of which, Fall Behind, arrives on July 5th so look out for that. She also has some great shows coming up including several opening for Solstice so please check out out gig list here for details.

Ok, that's about it for now so thank you so much for your support and we very much hope to catch you at a show. Failing that there's plenty of live material online and, of course, there's that double live vinyl from Cropredy.

Love and thanks from us all
Andy X

Soundle pic: Graham Harris