It seems as though another chapter of the Half Past Fourian adventure is coming close to an end as the summer months fly by, however, our quest is yet to be over and the series is bound to continue, for we shall not rest until we slay the dragon, capture the palace and win the hearts of the citizens. Through the jungles we march, holding our Chapman sticks high as our only weapon, integrity- our most prized possession - should inevitably unlock the golden gates. Bear with me friends; it is quite a challenge to keep one’s mind disciplined when they are sitting near the blue honey of the pacific ocean, watching it bloom. I do wish you could share this delightful ocean scene with me, and on that note we hope that summer is treating you passably well as it is treating us. The fest quests that we have partaken in so far have been rather amusing, reaping many rewards and bizarre experiences that we are able to add to our treasure chest. Nearfest especially has been very exuberating for us as we were very fortunate to get a table to sell our merchandise courtesy of our dear friend Dave Astley. Thanks again Dave - we couldn’t have done it without your help!
Being at Nearfest greatly reinforced our motives and we decided that we would really like to become a part of Nearfest sometime in the future even though we are quite aware that it is one of those boggy roads with mud monsters that will try and steal all of the integrity stars that you’ve been collecting all this time. Nearfest is definitely the place where one goes when they are in need of reassurance that the prog community does indeed teem with life. Although not broad, I do stand by my opinion that there is something unique about our community that makes it distinctive from others. Perhaps it’s the mere fact that I am able to make out your username on progarchives. Whether that is a good or bad thing is for you to establish. And just to show what I mean, when we were at Nearfest a few fellow proggers approached us at the table with huge grins, mentioning that they have briefly exchanged words with our wonderful PR Yana who resides ovearseas. I rather find that quite droll however let’s not get too preoccupied with what schinzoid_man said on feb/23/10 in that “Ten Best Prog Albums of all Time” thread because I swear schizoid_man, that I will hunt you down next year at Nearfest and will not feel the least bit of shame to engage myself in a heated argument or use up half of my integrity points. Another particular thing that caught my attention at Nearfest was that Kyree and I were two of the very few females at the festival. What puzzled me is that many fellas would shy away or were very cautious when approaching us. We don’t bite, we promise! We just wanted you to hear our music. The question “do women belong in prog” is one that substantially concerns me. Progressive rock has always historically been male-dominated but our taste in music greatly corresponds to and defines our character, thus let us be progressive people and be more open minded for those who still raise eye brows. So Schitzoid_man, just come and say hi, I was kidding, I won’t mention anything about those ten albums, but don’t be afraid of the goodness, for there is a great probability that you will consider adding “Rabbit in the Vestibule” in your top-ten after hearing our substance.
In retrospect, Nearfest allowed the band to make some useful contacts with major distributors, labels and personally thank the people that have helped us in the industry. We’ll be back soon Nearfest!
At the same time that Nearfest was happening, the Russian festival Jet Lag was also taking place in Pennsylvania. Quite a few Russian proggers and even non Russian speaking ones would portal themselves from one festival to the other. Playing at Jet Lag allowed us to reconnect with our loyal Russian fans who still remember the band from the days of old before Kyree. Thank you so much for giving us such a warm welcome, we loved performing for you in the wilderness and what more is that the sound was superb on stage. Unfortunately we didn’t get to stay at Jet Lag too long because we had to race back to our merchandise table (talk about leaving an infant unsupervised) but we hope to meet you soon, as we have been invited to come back and play again next year.
Another fest quest that we partook of in July was the Ottawa Canada Day Festival. Playing there was fun but I must say the quality time we spend as a band bonding on the road, and sometimes not so much bonding is a powerful agent that contributes to making these trips simply funtabulous, or at least that’s how I feel. I am very much looking forward to the thirteen hour drive to North Carolina for Progday: better start stocking up on my Sodoku puzzles. What was really neat about the Ottawa gig was that the stage was built on the water and if you felt you needed to refresh yourself after a long song like Biel you could do a nice stage dive. There was also a carnival next to the stage and we thought that we would treat ourselves by riding the ferris wheel. Staring off in to the beautiful horizon of the lake where the stage was situated in the twilight hour and feeling the cool breeze sixty feet in the air brought me deep feelings of contentment.
Next on our list was the Dundas Square gig which drew the largest crowd that we have ever played to in a very long while. We were lucky to play at a time when the city was roaring with cheer after Espania won the World Cup. It was an admiring sight to see so many people present at once, and we hope that if you were there, you could sense the jolts of energy going through us, for it truly was an electrifying experience, to be able to reach such a high volume of listeners at once. And speaking of jolts, this was one of the most energetic sets we played in a long while and by that I mean that if you were dancing to it, or attempting to, I’m sure you could sweat off the same amount of calories as in a single cycling class.
A reminder to our local fans is that we will be playing a show at Clinton’s Tavern on August 19th with two very fun guest bands. Namgar is a Mongolian ethno rock band from Moscow Russia with totally hypnotic ethic costumes. Tools of Creation are a hard rock trio from Ottawa Ontario who will deliver you thoughtful metal tributes. There are two reasons why we really urge you to come down. Firstly, this will probably be our last Toronto show for the year before we head off to record our second album and second of all, your delicate ears will be in the meticulous hands of the sound guy Fletch – Master Fletch has so far been the only sound guy able to tame the sounds of Half Past Four setting us into enlightenment on stage. We are looking forward to seeing our old friends there and new faces alike.
Furthermore, we recently found out that we have been invited to play in New York at Webster Hall on Sept 5th and share the stage with the two amazing prog bands Edensong and the legendary IZZ. More information on this enterprise will be available on our website a little later.
By Ann Brody,
Half Past Four's Drummer
