About Me
This is a tribute to one of the bands that knows how to translate the essence of classic progressive rock in current times.Sensitive, powerful and exciting!
*Thanks Ed Unitsky for allowed the use of the images and D! and Iasmin for the support.
The Tangent is aninternational progressive rock supergroup formedin 2002 by keyboardists Andy Tillison and SamBaine of Parallel or 90 Degrees
and Flower Kingsguitarist RoineStolt
, bassist JonasReingold
, and drummer ZoltanCsörsz . The septet was completed by renownedsaxophonist DavidJackson of Van der Graaf Generator andmulti-instrumentalist Guy Manning .Since 2003 amid several personnel changes theband has released four studio albums and two livealbums, played concerts and festivals in the USA,UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden andFrance.
Formation
The Tangent has animprobable history and numerous changes inpersonnel. In May 1999, Andy Tillison and SamBaine's band Parallel or 90 Degrees did a gig atRotherham supporting Swedish band The FlowerKings. Neither band had heard of the other.
While writing the nextParallel or 90 Degrees album, More Exotic Ways ToDie, Tillison began to filter out certain ideasthat were more overtly "prog" in nature and passthem over to what he called a "solo album".Inspired by the Flower Kings albums he was nowlistening to on an hourly basis, he decided toseparate his "prog" from his rock, and the resultwas a Parallel or 90 Degrees album stripped ofmuch of the flowery style of progressive musicwhich suited that band's cause well.
This 'left over' musicwas put to one side until Tillison had a row withFlower Kings crew member Ian Oakley. "I made thefatal mistake of slagging Po90 off in a review ofthat first concert the bands played together,"remembers Oakley. "I was obviously reviewing theFlower Kings, and I'd not in honesty paid thatmuch attention to Po90's set. I guess what Iwrote must have looked a bit dismissive, just acouple of lines about them. I got this mail fromAndy that tore me to bits. I wrote back and toldhim it was the actually the very first review I'dever written. He wrote back to me and apologised,we started to talk a lot about prog music,discovered we had a lot in common, and he sent methis CD of demos he'd been sitting on. Suffice tosay I am now the Tangent's manager..."
Oakley sent Tillison'sdemo to Roine Stolt of the Flower Kings. Stoltliked it, offered to play on it, invited JonasReingold and Zoltan Csorsz to help out on drumsand bass and suggested adding a saxophonist.Tillison happened to know David Jackson'stelephone number.
The resulting album, TheMusic That Died Alone, was welcomed by theprogressive rock community and the band won 'Bestnewcomer', 'Best artwork', 'Best debut' and'Album of the year' in nearly every worldwideprogressive rock poll. Each subsequent album hasachieved similar acclaim.
Though the originalline-up has changed significantly, Tillisonremains the driving force behind the band, andthey have of late branched out from the usualsymphonic prog format to include jazz, funk,Canterbury scene, electronica, and a variety ofother styles.
For early 2007, TheTangent released a double live CD and DVD on InsideOut Records , "Going Off On One".The material was taken from recordings of theirrecent UK shows and some of the ROSfest USArecordings. The album features music from allthree studio albums. The line up for the bandfeatured Swedes Jonas Reingold, KristerJonsson and Jaime Salazar and Brits AndyTillison, Sam Baine and Theo Travis onall tracks and Guy Manning on the UK basedtracks.
Early 2008 saw the nextfull blown Tangent album Not as Good as the Bookreleased (on Insideout), featuring new guitaristJakkoJakszyk . However, for a series of live datesin Europe in Spring 2008, the band performed as aquartet with Andy Tillison, Jonas Reingold, JaimeSalazar and the return of guitarist KristerJonsson.
On june 30, 2008 Tillison informed that The Tangent and BEARDFISH union ( to fill the places left due to Reingold, Salazar and Jonsson depart) and that both bands will also continue existing by their own.
2009
"The Tangent will become, for the first time in its existence, an all British band for the new album... working title "Down And Out In Paris And London" This decision has been based on a number of factors, not least of which is that I've finally decided that I live here in Britain. The enormous costs and prohibiting distances that have previously stopped Tangent from getting that "real band" feel have eventually taken their toll, and I decided that a band of people I could actually visit on a Saturday afternoon might actually be a good idea. I was genuinely looking forward to working with them, but you may have noticed that our very good friends Beardfish are doing very well! With a huge tour with Dream Theatre at the other side of the Atlantic, a new album out etc, right now it just would not make sense to interrupt their flow. Rikard and I had a great chat the other day, and we both hope that we/they will have the chance to work together as soon as possible. For me personally, I found collaboration with them some of the most fun I've had musically in the past 20 years.
My hopes are to create a band that may just be able to do gigs now and then without a logistics nightmare, and a band that can spend more time together. We already have the lineup of this band sorted and at this moment what we're able to tell you is that Guy, Theo and I will be joined by new and old friends."
- Andy Tillison
