KEV ROWLAND – The Progrock Storyteller

1. How long have you been writing about music and how did you start?

Although progressive rock had been popular with both fans and media in the Seventies, the latter quickly fell out with it in the Eighties. At the time I was a huge fan of Jethro Tull, and used to spend a silly amount of money on multiple copies of albums, singles, promos etc., but it was really hard to uncover information about releases, so right from the first issue I used to subscribe to the ‘A New Day’ fanzine run by David Rees. In my search for things Tull I had come across references to the band Carmen, which featured John Glascock before he joined Tull, and who had toured with Tull in the States but finding out information was next to impossible. The only thing to do was to write a letter to Record Collector asking about the band, which Dave saw, and he asked if I managed to get any information, did I think I might be able to write a piece on Carmen for AND? That was the very first piece of music writing I undertook, more than 30 years ago.

Fast forward a couple of years and I was living in London, and knew very few people, so joined Mensa to see if it would help me make friends. I soon discovered I had very little in common with the 35,000 members, but there were little clubs called Special Interest Groups and when someone posted in the Mensa magazine asking if anyone was interested in a Rock Music SIG, I was one of the first to sign up. The secretary asked for contributions, so having written the Carmen piece for AND I started sending in material and in 1988 the first newsletter came out. After five issues she decided to give up, and I volunteered to take over, with #6 coming out towards the end of 1990. I had already decided I wanted to run it as a magazine I would like to read, so changed the content, and started writing silly amounts myself and managed to convince other writers to become regular contributors. From there it just kept growing, with #50 coming out in August 1998 at a rather insane 284 pages long. I ran it from 1990 – 2006, and in those 16 years generated more than 11,000 pages of print and more than 80 issues of the newsletter, which was now a magazine called Feedback.

Most fanzines only lasted a few issues, so we were unusual in many ways, and in fact it is still going (renamed Amplified) more than 30 years since its inception. At some time in the early Nineties I was asked to write for the French progzine Acid Dragon, and that relationship continues to the present day. I wrote for other fanzines here and there, but they tended to come and go, and it was only when I was asked to write for the music paper Rock ‘n’ Reel that there was stability. After the advent of the internet Ghostland was launched, one of the first prog sites around, and I was asked to write for them as well.

The advent of the internet was the death of fanzines in many ways, as anyone could set up a blog, and there were sites for everything imaginable. These days there are very few fanzines around, and I consider myself incredibly fortunate to be a contributor to the best digital magazine around, Gonzo.

2. Nowadays, we live in a digital era with great access to music and information. How important was the fanzine culture in the pre-internet days?

I don’t think it is possible to overstate the importance of fanzine culture to progressive rock music, at least in the UK. Back in the Nineties progressive music was at best ignored, and it was incredibly rare to find any journalist who was even prepared to admit such a scene existed. A few pieces did appear here and there, but it is was little and not very often. Remember, this was not only in the days pre-internet but was also pre-email, so contact used to be by phone or letter. This meant that fanzines who managed to keep afloat were incredibly important to the scene overall. It was the only way for anyone to discover who was playing, who was releasing, and have them reviewed by someone who had an affinity for what they were attempting to achieve. I was living in and around London from the mid-Eighties onwards yet had no clue whatsoever that there were loads of bands playing gigs to a select few, as no-one in the mass media was writing about it.

I was out drinking with a friend one night in 1991, and he started talking about bands I just wasn’t aware of. I had seen IQ support Magnum in 1985 but had no idea they had been releasing incredible albums. He lent me a CD by Galahad, and one by Twelfth Night, along with copies of ‘Night Moves’ (Twelfth Night’s newsletter) and a fanzine called Blindsight. From my perspective it was the Blindsight fanzine which hooked me into the underground scene, and although Graham and Rob only released 5 or 6 issues, they very much inspired me to do what I later did with Feedback. I fell in love with both albums, so much so that I contacted Galahad and ordered both the debut CD and an earlier tape, mentioning in passing I was running an independent magazine. The lead singer, Stu Nicholson, wrote me a nice letter which got me even more interested, and not long afterwards I received a tape in the post by Big Big Train. I had never heard of the band, but soon worked out that Stu must have told them about me and here they were sending me music and I hadn’t paid for it! What would happen if I wrote to the bands listed in Blindsight I wondered? Then after they all wrote back and started sending me music, what would be the harm in writing to music labels?

Because no-one, literally no-one, was writing about the scene in a positive manner, little Feedback became incredibly important. Bands and labels from all over the world were soon sending me material for inclusion, as they wanted to have their music written about and would then use the reviews in their publicity. I remember seeing one of the very first flyers printed by Big Big Train following the release of their debut demo cassette, and they used some of my comments on it. All these years later and Greg repaid the favour by providing commentary for the rear of my book.

Email made life easier, and the internet was a total gamechanger, but before those days it was the fanzines which helped in keeping the scene alive.

3. Can you find any similarities/differences with the electronic fanzines (websites, newsletters, etc.) of today?

The main similarity is that they are still run by people who have a love of the genre and want to show it off in the best light and allow others to understand what is being released and who is worth going to see. I still prefer physical magazines as I much prefer to read (and listen) away from a computer, and I still love looking at the old fanzines which in many ways were quite naïve in their presentation but contain something special. Very few have survived the introduction of the internet, either disappearing altogether or becoming websites (such as Background, which I remember as hard copy), but French progzine Acid Dragon is still going strong in a very similar fashion to the way it always has, just more colour.

I used to love the band newsletters back in the day, and still have every issue of IQ’s and Pendragon’s which I received in the Nineties, as they used to again be more like a fanzine as they wanted them to have real depth and contain lots for fans. Again, it was the only way people could find out what was happening, and I do miss these as nowadays it is easy to send out a blanket email and it just isn’t the same.

But there is no doubt that if it wasn’t for sites such as ProgArchives, Progressor, DPRP, Skylight and all the rest then the progressive scene would still be poorly served by the mass media as it is down to those who really care about the scene to continue to publicise it. Over the years I have written well in excess of a million words just on progressive rock, yet the only money I have ever made from it is for writing the booklets for the Red Jasper reissues some years ago. This is done from a love of the scene and a real desire to assist others in discovering music, and in many ways that is exactly the same as it has always been as although a few bands occasionally cross through into mainstream media (Steve Wilson for example), the vast majority of musicians in the scene are still holding down a day job.

I love the anarchy of the Gonzo electronic magazine, which is one of the reasons I have a column in it, as it is a magazine I always enjoy reading as it is so off the wall.

4. How long did it take to complete your new book and what is exactly the content of the book?

I was on holiday in Orlando towards the end of 2011 and was reading yet another book on progressive rock and was saddened that again there was no mention of the scene I knew and loved. This started me wondering if it might be an idea to pull together all my progressive reviews and interviews from when I was in the UK (our emigrating to New Zealand in 2006 was what made me stop running Feedback). But I was fully aware it was going to be a massive piece of work, and I wasn’t sure if anyone would even want to publish it. The thought just wouldn’t go away, and in 2014 I happened to ask Jon Downes of Gonzo Magazine if it was worthwhile undertaking the effort. His response was that not only was it a good idea, but he would publish it – I wasn’t aware he ran Gonzo Books – which meant it was now up to me. It took me 2 ½ years to pull together all the text and undertake the initial proofing. I only had #55 onwards digitally, as immediately prior to that I had an Amstrad and not a PC, and prior to that I ran the magazine on an electronic typewriter with 1K of memory. I had to use the original hard copies, some of which weren’t well copied at the time and were certainly hard to read now.

In April 2017 I finally sent Jon the text and was more than a little worried as the word count was more than half a million, which made it larger than Lord of the Rings! Jon was already working on several books that year, and it was only in 2018 that he was able to start looking at mine in earnest, and he promptly told me it was too big. So, what did I think about breaking it into three volumes and adding all the album artwork? Luckily, I still have every demo tape I was ever sent, so was able to scan those covers, and there were only a couple of album covers I struggled sourcing but I was able to get them from others in the scene.

During this period, I also became friends with Martin Springett. Gonzo had reissued a solo album of his from the Eighties called ‘The Gardening Club’, and I had written a very favourable review. He then tracked me down (it’s not hard given how many places my name appears), and at one point we were emailing each other multiple times a day. Although Martin is a great songwriter and singer, his day job is providing the most amazing illustrations and artwork, and I wondered if he might want to be involved. He jumped at the chance and has provided the artwork and designs for all three volumes, for which I am incredibly grateful.

5. What were your sources for the content of the book?

These are all my original reviews from 1991-2006, warts and all. The only changes I have made to the reviews is just grammar, spelling and typos. After reading some of them I felt I wanted to change them in the way they were written, or what they were saying, but felt that in many ways that would be a falsehood as these reviews had already been published albeit on a very small scale, and I very much wanted it to reflect the time they were originally written in. Over the years my writing style has changed, yet I am still incredibly passionate about the music and write very quickly to capture my thoughts as they tumble out and even now I stumble at times and things may not always be how I would have said them if I had the time, but I don’t so have to live with it.

6. How did you decide upon the quantity/quality of material that it was finally published?

We agreed it was timebound, so it was all progressive reviews and interviews from 1991-2006. I also mostly excluded reviews of reissues of albums by well-known artists, as that didn’t seem right. The editor decided he wanted the books to be about 300 pages long each, and at one point we were seriously questioning if it should be four volumes rather than three, but in the end I made the decision to cut out all the various artists reviews, and the smaller amalgamated reviews, which reduced the overall word count. Volume 2 will be the largest at approximately 340 pages, but Volume 3 will be back to about 300.

7. Do you have any plans for a new book?

This book is very much Volume 1 which contains my album and demo reviews from A-H, Volume 2 will be I-S, while Volume 3 contains the rest, plus my video/DVD/live reviews and interviews, with the plan to be for them to be all published this year. I am currently going through the final proof of Volume 2, again, so we expect that to be released in August, with Volume 3 towards the end of 2019.

Reaction so far has been incredibly positive, and we are now wondering whether we keep the series going to get it more up to date. It would be very easy to pull together a Volume 4, using for example my thoughts from 2007 – 2012, as I have never stopped writing and reviewing, and these days am writing more than ever. Last year I reviewed 850 albums of all types of music (no, I have no idea how I did it either) and am always playing catch up. One thing about becoming known within the scene is that there are still very few writers out there who commit to keep banging out reviews week after week, month after month, year after year. Consequently, I am always being sent material by “new” bands, as well as still being sent material by bands I have known for 30 years.

8. Writing a book is a long-time process which requires passion, what kept your passion alive during the writing?

It all kept coming back to a very simple concept, which was I have never seen another book like this about the underground, written by someone who was there and was actively involved. Yes, it is just reviews, but they are reviews written within the context of the time. For example, anyone can now find Roine Stolt’s solo album ‘The Flower King’ and write about it, but they will be writing about it understanding the context of The Flower Kings, Transatlantic, the reformed Kaipa and so many other of his projects. When I reviewed it, I was writing about him having previously been in Kaipa but apart from that was totally unknown to me. Also, in the days pre-internet I had no idea what anyone else was saying about albums so my opinions are raw and not impacted by others.

Although the progressive scene of the Seventies was well-covered, and continues to be so, the Eighties, Nineties and early 2000’s are a desert in terms of written material, and I felt I had a duty to get the books completed although there were plenty of times I wanted to give up. From starting work to having the first volume finally published was more than 4 ½ years, and although I stopped writing reviews for a couple of those years I continued to work in that space as well. But to hear how well they have been received has made all the effort totally worthwhile.

9. Do you find a continuation of the prog scene today?

The simple answer is “yes, it never went away”, but the longer answer is rather more complex. There are very few bands from the underground who broke through and have managed to maintain that as a full-time career. Some musicians have done this by working in multiple bands, running studios and acting as producer/soundman for hire, while others earn living as side men, but the vast majority of musicians all have day jobs. I can remember when a top prog band had an accountant as a lead singer, the drummer was a postman while the guitarist also worked in the post office: prog music these days does not provide for well-paid lucrative careers. Tours have to be undertaken carefully as there is rarely any label support, and there often isn’t a label, but I get incredibly angry when I hear people say the music of today isn’t nearly as good as the music from the Seventies.

We often hear the discussions about Genesis, or Pink Floyd, or Yes but of these bands only one has kept releasing material during the last 20 or so years. I hear much more progressive rock music than many, and I am fortunate as I still hear albums which make me sit there stunned with what I am hearing. Normally as then I have to try and convey my feelings into words.

10. What is your opinion about the Prog magazine?

I can only really talk about it from a general perspective, as we rarely see it down here in New Zealand and it is incredibly expensive if it ever does get here. I hear complaints about it from some bands and labels saying that it has favourites, but as I haven’t seen a copy of it in years I can’t comment.

But what I will say is that if someone in the Nineties had told us there was going to be a regular large scale full colour glossy magazine being released on a monthly basis in a similar format to Q Magazine, just on prog, and that it would be sold in all regular shops we would have laughed and called you crazy. It is an amazing asset in so many ways, and anyone who is having anything to do with prog will try to be featured in that magazine as it is so important in the scene. I know my book is being reviewed in #100, but I have no idea if it is going to be positive or not, but if it is then I know it will have an impact on sales. The magazine is simply that important as it has become the best place to find mass media comment on the scene, although it will only ever cover a fraction and the rest is left to the websites and fan sites.

11. What is the benefit for someone who reads your book, tell me a good reason that the fan should read this book?

Simply put, it is the only place you will find reviews of bands from the underground scene, written at the time by someone who was on the inside. I personally knew/know many of the main players and used to regularly get drunk with some of them! I defy anyone, no matter how knowledgeable, to say they know all the bands featured in the books. Use it as a guide to discover the early days of bands you now know, or bands you have never previously come across which pique your interest. Many of the bands will no longer be in existence, while others have thrived. Discover bands who are new to you, buy their music, support them and see where they came from.

In Volume 1 read the earliest reviews ever written on Big Big Train, discover Casual Affair and Freewill which were the bands featuring singer Mark Colton before he was in Credo, read about the trials and tribulations of Galahad, look at the demos of Frog and wonder why you have never come across them before. Read it from start to finish or dip in and out, I can ensure you it is the only book like it around. Until the next two volumes come out!

The Progressive Underground Volume 1

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