PRESTO BALLET - Vanderhoof Reborn As Prog God! [Hot Flashes - 05.05.12 09:59:50]
By Martin Popoff
Sure to turn a lot of heads, PRESTO BALLET is a new, punchy, insanely catchy prog metal band conceived by METAL CHURCH/VANDERHOOF musicologist Kurdt Vanderhoof. Their debut album is called Peace Among The Ruins and it is a record destined to make the rounds of Top Ten Lists for 2005.
What's more amazing and wholly unprecedented for a record this grand, detailed and simply stunning, is that Kurdt and his band recorded the whole thing analog...
"Oh yeah, as I will always try with everything I do," laughs Vanderhoof, seemingly oblivious of the enormity of the feat. "The recording of it was done organically; we used tape. All the keyboards and all the synths are all analog. Real mellotrons, real Chamberlains, real mini-Moogs, real everything. And basically just the process was that organically you do it. There's no cut and paste editing. It's just all on two-inch tape. That's basically how I've done every record I've ever done - you play it. You don't have a drum machine fix it (laughs); you don't do any of those kinds of things. And whatever anomalies happen due to analog and tubes and whatever stuff, are welcomed. Any of those little things... I don't want it too pristine. There's just a warmth to it. And approaching the record that way was the main starting point with it. Keeping it all very... keeping it real (laughs). Look, keeping it real, for real! (laughs)."
"The mission is the influence of the '70s prog/rock bands," continues Kurdt. "It's kind of like the Vanderhoof project on steroids (laughs). I mean, it's kind of taken that whole thing to the next step. You know, I really want to keep the Vanderhoof thing going as well. But the influence is definitely Kansas, Rush. old Styx, some Yes, some Genesis, all that stuff that I love. It's another big pile of the stuff I love, kind of like the Vanderhoof stuff. It's that same thing, but more from the prog element. And it is definitely influenced by a lot of the new stuff now, and I love to be able to actually say that. That there is a lot of new stuff out there that I really, really enjoy now. Right now I'm totally into the band IQ, Spock's Beard, Flower Kings, Symphony X, all the new prog stuff, which is just amazing. I was just thrilled to stumble across all that."
The www.prestoballet.com site won't be up until next week. Do yourself a favour and make a point to investigate this record. And be sure to check out our full feature in BW&BK #90.
By Martin Popoff
Sure to turn a lot of heads, PRESTO BALLET is a new, punchy, insanely catchy prog metal band conceived by METAL CHURCH/VANDERHOOF musicologist Kurdt Vanderhoof. Their debut album is called Peace Among The Ruins and it is a record destined to make the rounds of Top Ten Lists for 2005.
What's more amazing and wholly unprecedented for a record this grand, detailed and simply stunning, is that Kurdt and his band recorded the whole thing analog...
"Oh yeah, as I will always try with everything I do," laughs Vanderhoof, seemingly oblivious of the enormity of the feat. "The recording of it was done organically; we used tape. All the keyboards and all the synths are all analog. Real mellotrons, real Chamberlains, real mini-Moogs, real everything. And basically just the process was that organically you do it. There's no cut and paste editing. It's just all on two-inch tape. That's basically how I've done every record I've ever done - you play it. You don't have a drum machine fix it (laughs); you don't do any of those kinds of things. And whatever anomalies happen due to analog and tubes and whatever stuff, are welcomed. Any of those little things... I don't want it too pristine. There's just a warmth to it. And approaching the record that way was the main starting point with it. Keeping it all very... keeping it real (laughs). Look, keeping it real, for real! (laughs)."
"The mission is the influence of the '70s prog/rock bands," continues Kurdt. "It's kind of like the Vanderhoof project on steroids (laughs). I mean, it's kind of taken that whole thing to the next step. You know, I really want to keep the Vanderhoof thing going as well. But the influence is definitely Kansas, Rush. old Styx, some Yes, some Genesis, all that stuff that I love. It's another big pile of the stuff I love, kind of like the Vanderhoof stuff. It's that same thing, but more from the prog element. And it is definitely influenced by a lot of the new stuff now, and I love to be able to actually say that. That there is a lot of new stuff out there that I really, really enjoy now. Right now I'm totally into the band IQ, Spock's Beard, Flower Kings, Symphony X, all the new prog stuff, which is just amazing. I was just thrilled to stumble across all that."
The www.prestoballet.com site won't be up until next week. Do yourself a favour and make a point to investigate this record. And be sure to check out our full feature in BW&BK #90.
