HISTORY
Growing up on the Northern Beaches I started to play guitar at six years of age. In my youth I listened to bands such as Limp Bizkit, Korn, Offspring, MXPX, Frenzal Rhomb, among others.
One day, many years later, when I was about fifteen, I realised that this music no longer inspired me. I spent a few days wondering what to listen to, and so I went through my dad's music collection that was in the loungeroom, and took a whole stack of CD's back to my room.
In that collection of music, I found bands like Jethro Tull, Yes, King Crimson and Gentle Giant, among others.
I vividly remember putting on Close To The Edge by Yes, the first album from all the CD's that I had in front of me. I chose to listen to that one first because of the album cover, I loved the design! And I still remember to this moment, the first few minutes of that album, being in absolute awe of what I was hearing.
That day changed my life in terms of music. I had found something that was totally beyond anything I had heard before, and for those next few years I delved deeply into progressive rock, and music from the 60's and 70's primarily.
I even got my highschool friends into the genre, who were all just as amazed as I was at what we were hearing. I found the artistic, explorative, surreal and spiritual journey that prog rock took me on was a fantastic adventure through music, which I still explore today within my own music.
My taste in music has become incredibly varied these last few years, and I enjoy all forms of music, though progressive rock will always have a special place in my life.
The genre I most align with, considering what I have written, and the style of my songs, is 'progressive pop.' I find that this genre suits my music best.
Interweaving both pop music and progressive rock, this is where I find my music is most inspired and these two genres blended together are really what I am about.
INFLUENCES
All music I listen to has an influence on me, though my most prominent influences come from Yes, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, ELP, Gentle Giant, Captain Beyond, James Gang, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Jimi Hendrix, The Moody Blues, Elvis, Gorillaz, Pink Floyd, Air, Regurgitator, It's A Beautiful Day, Buffalo Springfield, Genesis, Kate Bush, CSNY, Alanis Morrisette, Focus, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Supertramp, Family, Groove Armada, Ray Lamontagne, Jet, Spirit, Silverchair, Goldfrapp, Klaatu, Jefferson Airplane, Roxy Music, Deep Forest, The Devin Townsend Project, Rogue Traders, The Zombies, Iluvatar, Owl City, Spiderbait, Portishead, Scissor Sisters, Return To Forever, London Grammar, Grimes, Gryphon, Blind Faith, Gomez, Ruphus, The Beach Boys, The Carpenters, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Cream, The Four Tops, Lamont Dozier, Lisa Mitchell, Crowded House, The xx, Aldous Harding, Starcastle, Sky, Steely Dan, Tame Impala, ABBA, The Commodores, Fleet Foxes and Laura Marling
WHAT IS PROGRESSIVE POP?
Simply put, progressive pop is where the two genres of progressive rock, or progressive music, meets pop music.
The artful, poetic, and unusual flavours of progressive music meet the easy, simple and memorable flavours of pop.
You can think of bands like The Beach Boys, Supertramp, The Beatles, Sparks, Electric Light Orchestra, or even Kate Bush, all these musicians have these two genres combined within their music.
And that is what I love most about these bands, that they are using two of my favourite genres in one, mixing them into something that is not only pop, but that have elements of everything that progressive rock lives by.
I'll always love both these genres, and the music I write always has a blend of both flavours. When I listen to progressive rock I hear magic, and when I listen to pop I hear joy and excitement and positivity, that is why I love the genre of progressive pop.