ATLANTA, GEORGIA - February 1, 2006.
Sweden's Evergrey has been named to replace eight of the nine other bands in the line-up of ProgPower USA VII, scheduled for September 15-16, 2006 at Earthlink Live in Atlanta, Georgia.
Evergrey already reigns as the band with the most appearances at ProgPower, as they have previously appeared at ProgPower I, II, and IV. They may have also been special guests at ProgPower V, but they were all very drunk and so really don't remember if they were there or not. Evergrey were very excited to be asked to headline, for the first time, at ProgPower VII. "But when Glenn asked us later on to play all night on both nights we were floored by the honor!" said Evergrey frontman Tom Englund.
As of late January, ProgPower VII looked to follow the precedents of the previous six. The roster of bands had already been set, and there was an eclectic group of acts selected to appeal to a wide variety of tastes. However, promoter Glenn Harveston had a change of heart. "I looked at the other bands on the roster and all of them are good," he said. "But I don't like any of them as much as Evergrey. So I decided, yes, there are people looking forward to these other bands, but this is my festival so screw em. I'd rather watch Evergrey 10 times than bring in some unknown factors and risk another Secret Sphere experience. I mean, Freak Kitchen may be good on CD and all, but do I really want someone playing guitar with a vibrating dildo on my stage?"
When asked what arrangements he had to make to pull this off, Harveston replied, "At first, I was afraid I'd have to buy out the contracts of all the bands I had originally signed. That would have been expensive. But what I did was mention to the other bands that along with Earthlink's no smoking rule, and my own no moshing and no digital cameras rules, I was implementing a 'no metal horns' rule. I told them, really, after the backup singers for Therion did that spooky-cool metal horns thing last year, no one else can compete. The gesture just needs to be retired. So that freaked them out like I thought it would, they were like, 'Dude, how can we do a metal show without being allowed to flash our horns?!' So almost all of them backed out, and I graciously only made them pay me 50% of the cancellation fees stipulated in their contracts. Heh."
Harveston then noted the exceptions. "Well, Mercenary was a tough nut to crack. They didn't seem phased. I also told them I was implementing a 'no alcohol on stage' rule. After all, ProgPower has a rep of being a prestigious festival now, and I can't risk having that image damaged. They told me no problem, they didn't drink anyway. Which was surprising, because they're Danish. So I said that with Evergrey's large contingent that follows Mercenary on Friday night, they needed to be absolutely sure of the stage's structural integrity, and so I was implementing a 'no jumping up and down on stage like a pogo stick' rule. That finally broke them."
The one steadfast band not bowing to Harveston's pressure was the other headliner, Nevermore. Reports have Nevermore vocalist Warrell Dane simply telling Harveston that if he tried that one more time, he'd have to kick his ass. However, Nevermore has agreed to temporarily change their name to `Nevergrey' to maintain consistency and to help the t-shirt design look better. "We'll use the Evergrey logo with a little 'n' in front," Harveston reported.
Harveston did not provide comment about the rumors that the CD vendors at the festival would only be allowed to sell Evergrey CDs, that this year's ProgPower Sampler was a 6-disc box set containing all of Evergrey's work, or that Evergrey would be signing autographs during their own sets. He left the interview in a hurry, stating he "had to get in touch with Shane Dubose."
Asked how they plan to fill so much time on stage, Tom Englund reported that his band was rehearsing furiously to be able to cover live versions of "Green Grass and High Tides" by The Outlaws, "Tales From Topographic Oceans" by Yes, and an extended jam version of "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" by Wang Chung. "And we'll probably have a drum solo. A really, really long drum solo. With chickens."
Tickets for ProgPower USA VII go on sale in early April.
:Spin:
Sweden's Evergrey has been named to replace eight of the nine other bands in the line-up of ProgPower USA VII, scheduled for September 15-16, 2006 at Earthlink Live in Atlanta, Georgia.
Evergrey already reigns as the band with the most appearances at ProgPower, as they have previously appeared at ProgPower I, II, and IV. They may have also been special guests at ProgPower V, but they were all very drunk and so really don't remember if they were there or not. Evergrey were very excited to be asked to headline, for the first time, at ProgPower VII. "But when Glenn asked us later on to play all night on both nights we were floored by the honor!" said Evergrey frontman Tom Englund.
As of late January, ProgPower VII looked to follow the precedents of the previous six. The roster of bands had already been set, and there was an eclectic group of acts selected to appeal to a wide variety of tastes. However, promoter Glenn Harveston had a change of heart. "I looked at the other bands on the roster and all of them are good," he said. "But I don't like any of them as much as Evergrey. So I decided, yes, there are people looking forward to these other bands, but this is my festival so screw em. I'd rather watch Evergrey 10 times than bring in some unknown factors and risk another Secret Sphere experience. I mean, Freak Kitchen may be good on CD and all, but do I really want someone playing guitar with a vibrating dildo on my stage?"
When asked what arrangements he had to make to pull this off, Harveston replied, "At first, I was afraid I'd have to buy out the contracts of all the bands I had originally signed. That would have been expensive. But what I did was mention to the other bands that along with Earthlink's no smoking rule, and my own no moshing and no digital cameras rules, I was implementing a 'no metal horns' rule. I told them, really, after the backup singers for Therion did that spooky-cool metal horns thing last year, no one else can compete. The gesture just needs to be retired. So that freaked them out like I thought it would, they were like, 'Dude, how can we do a metal show without being allowed to flash our horns?!' So almost all of them backed out, and I graciously only made them pay me 50% of the cancellation fees stipulated in their contracts. Heh."
Harveston then noted the exceptions. "Well, Mercenary was a tough nut to crack. They didn't seem phased. I also told them I was implementing a 'no alcohol on stage' rule. After all, ProgPower has a rep of being a prestigious festival now, and I can't risk having that image damaged. They told me no problem, they didn't drink anyway. Which was surprising, because they're Danish. So I said that with Evergrey's large contingent that follows Mercenary on Friday night, they needed to be absolutely sure of the stage's structural integrity, and so I was implementing a 'no jumping up and down on stage like a pogo stick' rule. That finally broke them."
The one steadfast band not bowing to Harveston's pressure was the other headliner, Nevermore. Reports have Nevermore vocalist Warrell Dane simply telling Harveston that if he tried that one more time, he'd have to kick his ass. However, Nevermore has agreed to temporarily change their name to `Nevergrey' to maintain consistency and to help the t-shirt design look better. "We'll use the Evergrey logo with a little 'n' in front," Harveston reported.
Harveston did not provide comment about the rumors that the CD vendors at the festival would only be allowed to sell Evergrey CDs, that this year's ProgPower Sampler was a 6-disc box set containing all of Evergrey's work, or that Evergrey would be signing autographs during their own sets. He left the interview in a hurry, stating he "had to get in touch with Shane Dubose."
Asked how they plan to fill so much time on stage, Tom Englund reported that his band was rehearsing furiously to be able to cover live versions of "Green Grass and High Tides" by The Outlaws, "Tales From Topographic Oceans" by Yes, and an extended jam version of "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" by Wang Chung. "And we'll probably have a drum solo. A really, really long drum solo. With chickens."
Tickets for ProgPower USA VII go on sale in early April.
:Spin:
brilliant
