March of Progress - latest news

[Purplefreak]

And another last question: considering how underrated Threshold has been, do you intend to try a stronger media/advertising push for this new album?

Planet Rock are launching a new service for their VIP club with Darren Reddick doing a prog hour.
I asked Darren to include some Threshold and apparently he did a voice over on Clone (Goodbye Mother Earth).
Darren said that Threshold will certainly feature in the mix - looking forward to that.
Might be worth getting in touch Karl and feeding him some stuff from the new album, pre-release for him
Tony

 

[LavagesOfTime]

Whether recording a different vocalist on original recordings sits well is a different matter though. It feels a little disrespectful whichever singer first sang them.

My dream release would be a double cd, one being a remaster of the original, the second a new recording with damian on vocals

 

[karl groom]

I think Darren was known as the Badger when we made Clone. He did the countdown on the extended version of Latent Gene. Nuclear Blast deal with all promotion these days. I sent the masters to them on Monday, so hopefully things are underway for a release now.

I also was interested in how Damian would sing other albums after touring. He does such a great job on Dead Reckoning that I was tempted to see how he would sound. However, once an album is released in its form at the time it, becomes something special.

I imagine with people being so divided in opinion as to which singer they like, it would cause some kind of debate about who is best. That also detracts from what the album is really about and becomes a side issue. Personally I think it is much better to focus any efforts possible into making more music and not going over old ground.

 

[LavagesOfTime]

Personally I think it is much better to focus any efforts possible into making more music and not going over old ground.

Of course my idea was to have both things, ahah!

Anyway, you rerecorded Surface To Air with Mac (causing no debate at all), why not doing it with Damian? If not a full album, maybe a bunch of songs for the next fan club cd You can also call Glynn Morgan back and re-record Sanity's End with him, since he sounds MARVELLOUS on Livedelica.

 

[karl groom]

It is true that Surface to Air was re-recorded with Mac, but a whole album is not really moving forward. Also a fan club CD with bits and pieces has been done more than once already.

If I get a chance to work more with this lineup I would like to make our 10th studio album first. Then personally I would have liked to make Wireless 2 with Damian. He would be great on that.

In the meantime, hopefully a 75 minute March of Progress will satisfy with some new music.

 

[brlawyer]

It is true that Surface to Air was re-recorded with Mac, but a whole album is not really moving forward. Also a fan club CD with bits and pieces has been done more than once already.

If I get a chance to work more with this lineup I would like to make our 10th studio album first. Then personally I would have liked to make Wireless 2 with Damian. He would be great on that.

In the meantime, hopefully a 75 minute March of Progress will satisfy with some new music.

Given the above, what would the estimated release date be now, Karl? I can't wait to get my hands on the new album!

 

[karl groom]

It should be 12 weeks from the date I delivered the album to Nuclear Blast. I gave them the masters nearly 2 weeks ago now, so probably about beginning of September for release.

The only hitch is that I understand the artist has not completed the final booklets. There are two versions for standard and special edition CDs and further artwork for the vinyl release to consider. The special edition has extra content in the booklet as well as a bonus track, so the band had to contribute as well.

 

[forgottenglory]

Woohoo! Saying I'm excited is an understatement! I'm looking forward to the new album! But for now I will say congratulations on the awesome album cover! Who designed it and how did you come up with the concept for it?

I'm ready to join the march of progress! \m/

 

[forgottenglory]

Mac's contribution to Threshold's history is highly thought of by both band and fans, but now is a new era and we plan to move on.

...and that I believe is the unstoppable march of progress!

 

[forgottenglory]

definitely right but - bootleg or not - you still owe us a Clone special edition

Yes Karl, Clone is a masterpiece and deserves not only a special edition but also an Evening With Threshold treatment where you play Clone in its entirety!

 

[forgottenglory]

I imagine with people being so divided in opinion as to which singer they like, it would cause some kind of debate about who is best.

I love both singers equally as they both have their own charm!

 

[LavagesOfTime]

Yes Karl, Clone is a masterpiece and deserves not only a special edition but also an Evening With Threshold treatment where you play Clone in its entirety!

+1!

 

[karl groom]

I'm sure the three of us would be there, but whether we could get the rest of the band or a crowd is another thing.

 

[LavagesOfTime]

I'm sure the three of us would be there, but whether we could get the rest of the band or a crowd is another thing.

I'm pretty sure that doing it at Z7 or De Borderij would grant a respectable crowd

As for the remaining 3 members, well, at least one of them said he took a non-permanent vacation from the band

 

[karl groom]

I see Nick occasionally and think you can take his vacation as permanent. Sadly Mac's too. Personally I would like to play tracks from Clone and Psych again because we have not seen them live for a long time.

Currently it is proving difficult to even schedule a tour for MoP though. It will be hard to co-ordinate time when everyone is available. Therefore I think it is down to you Rob to reform your band and make the evening with Clone. Maybe change the name to The Likeness!

 

[LavagesOfTime]

I see Nick occasionally and think you can take his vacation as permanent.

I assume that adding Pete as a permanent member should have been a hint. Anyway, say hi to Nick from me, next time you see him. I miss the stories about his gear going up in smoke all the time

Personally I would like to play tracks from Clone and Psych again because we have not seen them live for a long time.

I understand why you may have skipped tracks from Psych since the return of Damian, but I don't get it for Clone. I'm pretty sure he can do a great job on, say, Angels or Voyager II

Therefore I think it is down to you Rob to reform your band and make the evening with Clone. Maybe change the name to The Likeness!

Ahah, if you mean the tribute band I was in, well, that's basically over - lack of interest and so. I have just restarted my original hard rock band (hiatus was due to the birth of my twins), but I'm not sure if/how they are into Threshold. Perhaps the new drummer, being a Queensryche fan, may appreciate you, I have to ask him. But it would work nice to change our name from The GuestZ to The CloneZ to do that album live, ahaha

 

[karl groom]

I also miss the fun of all Nick's gear mishaps. I'm not so sure he does though! I doubt he has plans to return to playing in a band again, but still has an interest in the band he helped start and listens to every release.

Clone was definitely overlooked during the last 5 years with Damian, but he learnt songs that he had a better chance of recalling and the newer tracks we had to play. With Mac we were always playing something from Clone and in particular he was keen on Latent Gene.

If you are interested, here are the track timings from the new album:

1 Ashes 6.51
2 Return of the Thought Police 6.09
3 Staring at the Sun 4.26
4 Liberty Complacency Dependency 7.49
5 Colophon 6.01
6 The Hours 8.15
7 That's Why We Came 5.41
8 Don't Look Down 8.13
9 Coda 5.23
10 The Rubicon 10.22
-----
11 Divinity 6.28

 

[LavagesOfTime]

I already saw tracklist and artwork via facebook

Speaking of news, by the way, do you have plans for singles/videoclips? Any idea about when there will be soundclips available? I'm very curious about how it will sound: long gaps between albums usually grant better production and better technology used. And since I really liked the sound Dead Reckoning, I'm sure you took it even further

 

[karl groom]

I was pointing to the track lengths, but facebook isn't really my thing. I prefer the quiet backwaters of forums.

Look out for some clips in 3 weeks and the lead track at the beginning of August.

 

[LavagesOfTime]

I was pointing to the track lengths,

Look like standard lengths for Threshold, don't they?

but facebook isn't really my thing. I prefer the quiet backwaters of forums.

Twitter is much less intrusive. You can use it just to gather news, blog posts and so from sources you're interested in - you do not need to twit at all But of course, now forums are less crowded, but sure there are no trolls at all, only people very interested!

Look out for some clips in 3 weeks and the lead track at the beginning of August.

Now we're talking!