Good morning and a very happy, if belated, 2024 to you!

Blimey, what happened to January? Well quite a lot happened in it, so I thought it high time for a quick update.

I want to start by thanking you so much for voting for us in the Prog Mag Reader's Poll! And if you didn't, thanks anyway for reading this and continuing to support the music.

I was absolutely convinced that last year was one of those happy ‘one-off’ mobilisations after I suggested we vote for Jess and this amazing community rallied around. I honestly didn't expect a repeat, let alone the incredible support we ended up receiving. I was literally jumping around the studio while trying, and failing, to calm down and get out for a day of guitar teaching. This tells me our audience are growing and the engagement on all our platforms seems to support that. So motivating!

If you haven't already seen the magazine check this out!

Now that the male and female vocalist categories have been combined, this actually makes Jess the top female singer!! Well you'll get no argument from me that’s for sure. She’s incredible and has completely changed the fortunes of this band. I was also thrilled to see our very own Ebony Buckle in the new artist category. So well deserved! 

And on that sweet note, you can catch Ebony live at The Little Ember Sessions, The Talbot Hotel in Oundle on March 9th. Tickets available here. Do get along if you can. 

I'm also delighted to say that Ebony will be singing a song from Silent Dance during shows this year as part of our celebration of 40 years of the album. Talk about where did January go…

If you think you can make a show you'll find all the info on our website here. It would be wonderful to see you if you can join us. 

While we're talking about the website (and huge thanks again to Chris Elliott for creating and maintaining it), the latest addition, tucked away in the 'media' menu, is 'Andy's Guitar Corner' 😁 For any of you with an interest in Solstice guitar parts there's a number of requested tutorials and an open invitation if there's anything else you might like added. Just pop over here if you fancy a look.

The latest is Love Is Coming, the song that kicked it all off again for us back in 2020.

I've got to just show this... an entirely unexpected and extremely ostentatious birthday gift from Jenny (with help from co-conspirator Pete H). Now, buying a guitar for someone as a surprise gift is a bit like buying them a suit without first taking their measurements… but, rest assured, this one fits just fine! At this rate I'll be needing one of those fancy guitar racks. 

Can't wait to get this beauty fired up at rehearsals next month. We have a couple of weekends booked and lot of material to get through, including two new songs we want to road test. If they go down well we'll add them to the new album list. The plan is to release the last in the 'Sia Trilogy' no later than Spring 2025 and, to support it, we're booking dates for our first proper tour since 1985. WHAAA!

In other news, Shaun Blake has completed filming for a forthcoming documentary tracking the story of Solstice. The footage I've seen looks stunning and Shaun now embarks on the epic task of making sense of it all in the edit. What a legend... good luck mate!
And here's another epic task... Andrew Wild has completed his book covering the 'big six' bands who made the Marquee their home in the early 80s. He says...

"A Mirror Of Dreams is the first of two books which provide the definitive account of the intertwined stories of the six bands which led the progressive rock revival in the 1980s: Marillion, IQ, Pallas, Pendragon, Solstice and Twelfth Night.

For this book I interviewed over 85 musicians and other participants in the 1980s progressive scene. These took place between March and December 2023."

The book can be pre-ordered here and all pre-orders received by 31 May will be signed by Gregory Spawton.

So all in all, there's a lot going on and things are very much moving forward for the band. That's in huge part down to your support, the help of our amazing Guardians and everyone else who's been listening to the music and sharing their thoughts. This is an incredibly exciting and rewarding time for me personally and for the whole band so THANK YOU!

I hope we’ll see you at a show this year or, if you’re outside the UK, that we’ll make it over to you before too long. 

Love and thanks from us all
Andy