Hi!
I just wanted to know how you have discovered Arena...
My boyfriend was delighted by an anounced gig of Arena at "Spirit of 66", he just want me to come with him... I'd never heard about Arena before (never heard about prog'music either), ... "You'll love it", he told me. I wasn't so sure but...
It was in october 2002 (I think), it was THE day! ;)
We were 2 meters from the stage (yeah, at "Spirit", the further you can be is 10 meters, not a big place, about 500 fans max., friendly place to listen to music...).
And then, it begin's... Rob appears... waaouuuw, he's cute :) , his look is great; Clive is surrounded by keywords (never seen so much together, or maybe in a music shop?), ... 10 minutes of music and it's done, I'm completely "in", enjoying it so much... God, it's already the last song? It's already finished? :'(
I listened to all they've made...
Now I'm the one running to buy the new album the day it was released, to wait for THE date of the gig in Belgium in 2005, playing PG (I can imagine them coming on stage dressed as in the booklet of the CD ::) ). This time, I know the lyrics, the music, all the albums, so I'll enjoy it even more! ;)
Pleaaaaaase, come soon, can't wait!
I bought the first album as soon as it came out ;D
I already knew Clive's work from Pendragon, Shadowland & Strangers on a Train and so would have bought the Arena album anyway, the presense of Mick Pointer with the Marillion connection just made the project more interesting to look forward to. Loved the album to bits and have bought every release since. ;D
I'm a Arena fan for about two years. I listen every week to a radioprogramm about progrock. A song of Arena passed and I thought: hmmmm interesting. I know it's illegal but I downloaded a Arena song on KaZaA. It was The Butterfly man. After all nog a bad choice! It's still one of my favorite Arena songs! I was so impressed by The Butterfly man that I decided to by Immortal? Then it was done, and I became a Arenafan. Contagion followed soon, and the rest.
A friend of mine had bought Contagion after being curious about the bands that lend their artist's to Ayreon. When I visited my friend I heard the album and bought contagion the week after. En then bought another album... And another... Etc.
Quote from: Appelmoes?? on Fri, 2005-02-11, 12:48:43
A friend of mine had bought Contagion after being curious about the bands that lend their artist's to Ayreon. When I visited my friend I heard the album and bought contagion the week after. En then bought another album... And another... Etc.
I'm also a huge fan of Ayreon! ;)
Any of you guys got the "Ambeon" project - be interested to know what that's like..??
;D
Quote from: Moonloop on Fri, 2005-02-11, 13:56:54
Any of you guys got the "Ambeon" project - be interested to know what that's like..??
;D
I'm not a guy ;D but I've got Ambeon too :P
Check Arjen's site (http://www.ayreon.com/discography/album.php?album_id=8) to get more information about Ambeon.
Back in '95 I was lucky enough to witness what was probably the first-ever concert of Arena. They played a few songs on the Marillion Fanclub day, featuring a very nervous but intense John Carson on vocals. Maybe the bass-player wasn't present, and it was sort of semi-acoustic (I don't remember exactly), but it was rather impressive.
Soon after it I bought their album - a masterpiece, and since then I always bought every new Arena-album as soon as it came out.
Quote from: Moonloop on Fri, 2005-02-11, 13:56:54
Any of you guys got the "Ambeon" project - be interested to know what that's like..?? ;D
Ambeon is comparable to the first CD of the Universal Migrator, the Dream Sequencer. It's pretty much about computer sounds, assisted by spacy, but hard riffs. And the best feature about the Ambeon album is surely Astrid van der Veen's voice. She also wrote most of the vocals melodies.
Summary: an album for calm, rather depressed weekends... :)
Back OnTopic:
I became a fan when a musician friend of my wife's invited me to join him to a concert, which turned out to be the Kick-Off gig for the Contagion tour (28.03.2003, Substage, Karlsruhe) :)
I agreed. I sat down and listenened to some of the albums he had, which were Immortal and The Visitor. Fell in love that very moment and the night after.
Quote from: Peter on Sun, 2005-02-13, 14:45:01
Ambeon is comparable to the first CD of the Universal Migrator, the Dream Sequencer. It's pretty much about computer sounds, assisted by spacy, but hard riffs. And the best feature about the Ambeon album is surely Astrid van der Veen's voice. She also wrote most of the vocals melodies.
Summary: an album for calm, rather depressed weekends... :)
Thanks. Sounds good. I'd heard the singer was one to look out for but didn't know much about her or the project - will put it on the list..!! ;)
Bonjour,
Fairly simple: I was visiting my favourite CD shop here in Singapore ('The Roxy') and the boss show me a nice Digipack Arena 'Contagion' ... 'Want to listen ?' ... 'Yes, sure !' ... after a couple of tracks ... I buy it (36 SG$ if I remember correctly) and listen to it nearly every day during 2 weeks.
(http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0QQAJA8YSsVsZ4hew0h99mKUxbciu2j*N!y3woL0uHg0oHhf2AgaerkURsaOmmz470FWJOAiWg8LnClu1df9I4nOpD7pa2aQJXyWm*L0BX8g/Arena_01.jpg)
After that I bought all Area CD in no time ... but I still miss all 'fan club' CDs :(
Well, 'Immortal?' was pretty much the first contemporary prog-rock album I bought back in 2000, not having realised up until that point that there was still much of a scene surrounding the genre. That led on in turn to the discovery of a huge number of other bands and great music. So there you go, I owe part of my discovery of prog to Arena. 8)
I got a bit of a bizzare reason: Because of the AsiA album, "Arena". ::)
It was just something about that word that reeked of a certain sound or mood, so I took my chances, and ordered "Pride". My, I could have done worse!!!! So the name alone, as soon as Asia had used it as an album title (it had to happen one day!), provided Arena with a fan that buys every album, loves it and tells it. Our keyboard player has started, too, now! -I knew I would get him hooked! ;)
I became a fan of "Arena" because of "Camel"
its a long convoluted story, but it did have its roots in.....errmm "Camel"
After "Marillion" decided to "Hogarth" out i was in despair. I wasn't aware that bands were still out there progging it in the good old stylee. To be fair to H i did like "Seasons End", parts of "Holiday's In Eden" and "Brave", but was horrified by the "Afraid Of Sunlight" album. Crying into my cans of Tennents Super i turned to Whispering Bob Harris for decent music. He didn't disappoint. night after night were filled with "Walter Trout", "Robert Cray", "Crowded House", "Argent" etc etc......and even some good old stylee prog. :) Then the sadists at radio 1 decided i was clearly enjoying myself far to much, so they gave good old bob the boot. :'( NOW WHAT? Bobs succesor was a little bit on the crappy side to be perfectly honest, so i was left high and dry again. ( And still not realising that bands were still around progging it in the good old stlylee ) I was in the wilderness, and my tears were becoming oceans of despair........then it happened. One night i noticed that "Camel" were being featured on "Cue the music" To be honest and to my shame, "Camel" had escaped me the first time round, but i kinda remembered them being proggy. The concert was absolutely brilliant and the next day i started to add "Camel" to my prog collection. Each CD was snapped up greedily on a weekly basis until i had virtually everything they had ever done. Thirsty and hungry for more i virtually looked at every CD in HMV until i came across "The Window Of life" by "Pendragon" and thought that the cover and the length of the songs seemed quite proggy. I asked to listen to it on one of those ghastly listening posts and waited in anticipation for the girl in the shop to stick it on for me. To say i was impressed was an understatement, and the the deal was clinched when i noticed among the people thanked in the sleeve credits was one "ANDY LATIMER" yeaaaaaa i screamed, punching the air and jumping up and down in a manic fashion...............well to be honest i didn't really do any of that if i am being truthful, but i was smiling a lot anyway. Once back at home i blasted the album out and was fair near to tears of joy. i started to order the back catalogue, but was still too impatient to wait for the goodies to arrive. I made my way into "Virgin" records salivating and muttering "Prog Prog, I NEED MORE prog" i made my way to the "A" section ( Well where else do you start? ??? ) and noticed an interesting looking CD called "Songs From The Lions Cage"
What was more interesting was the round sticker which proclaimed " Includes Clive Nolan (Pendragon) Mick Pointer (Ex Marillion) and members of "Asia" ( This is paraphrased you understand as i no longer have said sticker) Without even asking to hear it, i snapped it up. On hearing it i was absolutely astounded......each track just seemed to get better and better until finally i had my brains completely blown out by "Solomon" I was hooked. From that day on i became a big big "Arena" fan. Things have snowballed since then, discovering "IQ" "Spocks Beard" "Threshold" and a tidy little band called "Shadowland". But nothing in years had blew me away quite as much as that fiendish little debut "Arena" album............But all this might not have been but for the domino effect of that "Camel" concert, so........................give my thanks to "ANDY LATIMER" :)
What a fantastic post Mr Hogweed ;D
I met one of my closest friends Steve through a Camel gig, indeed, a couple of years ago I wrote to Andy Latimer asking if he would sign a promo I'd come across for Steve (as a Christmas pressie) if I sent it over to him with return shipping. He took the trouble to write enclosing a 2 fully signed promos and some signed postcards - a truely magnificent guy.
If you haven't already, try GFT mail order for prog-related stuff (0208 339 9965 ask for Malcolm Parker and he'll post you a free catalogue).
(not sure about the Tenants Super though, prefer Real Ale meself ;) )
Impressive story Hogweed!
Good ol' Andy Latimer! He gets things done! ;D
And of course fantastic music, Camel. One of the few progbands who came up with great music in the distant seventies and are still capable of making good music. :)
hi guys, glad ya's liked the story. :)
Great story you have there yourself Moonloop about good old Andy Latimer. thanks for the GFT info. Seems like there are EVEN MORE prog bands to get into. :)
Cheers
Hogweed
My story of Arena addiction is somewhat shorter than Hogweed's ...
BLAME HOGWEED!!! ;)
Twas the spring of 2004 and this poor, prog-starved Jedi Master was desperate for more prog ... so thus my beloved Hogweed grintroduced himself to me and me to Arena (and other fantastic progbands like Threshold, Spock's Beard, Transatlantic, Land's End, Shadowland, etc).
Well, it was a dark and stormy night...........
I listen to all kinds of music, but have always loved some of the more complicated stuff. Listening to old Genesis, Yes, Rush, etc while in high school when everyone else was into Big Country. Then I heard Marillion's Heart of Lothian and just about flipped. That started it. So fast forward a few (few? more like 10 or 15) years, and here I am ("So here I am, sitting on a pile of stones...") typing away on my computer doing this or that and listening to an internet radio station on iTunes, and this band comes on and I pay attention. The song was Pendragon's Guardian of my Soul. And about halfway through I stopped, and looked at the info and made a wee note to myself.......check these guys out. Alot of times I'm disappointed in the prog scene when I hear some obscure band play and the singer can't sing or whatever. But not this time. I made a mental note and checked out their website a few weeks later. There was a link or two to previous and concurrent bands and I checked them out. Arena was one of them and I went there. There was a sound sample or three and the firs thing I heard was Spectre at the Feast. Uh-oh....I can feel that old feeling creeping up again (thinking back to when I first heard Marillion), so on I move to Jericho. Too late....it's all done...I'm hooked. The next day I ordered all the albums from Verglas (except Pride as I had to manage the expenses....therefore had to choose one to leave out). They arrived a few weeks later and that was that. Basically forgot about everything else. Not long after that, having decided that this band has moved me musically like none other (Contagion just got into my soul, I think) I see that they're playing Montreal a few months down the road. I live in Vancouver and Montreal is not a hop down the street. My buddy (who by now is totally hooked as well) and I each take a week off work and fly to Montreal (5-1/2 hrs) just to see the band. I guess you could say I'm a fan.....and that was how it started. Maybe it even was a dark and stormy night? Who knows?
Quote from: Constable Hogweed on Thu, 2005-02-17, 13:28:56
hi guys, glad ya's liked the story. :)
Great story you have there yourself Moonloop about good old Andy Latimer. thanks for the GFT info. Seems like there are EVEN MORE prog bands to get into. :)
Cheers
Hogweed
Yes. MORE prog. Sorry about that ;)
Quote from: Moonloop on Mon, 2005-02-21, 09:30:25
Yes. MORE prog. Sorry about that ;)
I should think so too Moonloop. ahhh well i shall let you off this time. ;)
Quote from: Xanxtuary on Sat, 2005-02-19, 17:04:11
My story of Arena addiction is somewhat shorter than Hogweed's ...
BLAME HOGWEED!!! ;)
I'm sorry Mistress, please please not the walnut whip again. :'( :-* ;)
Quote from: Constable Hogweed on Tue, 2005-02-22, 02:27:22
I'm sorry Mistress, please please not the walnut whip again. :'( :-* ;)
More details, please ;)
That's allready too much detail for me :-\
Quote from: Peter on Tue, 2005-02-22, 09:35:01
More details, please ;)
Its quite innocent really. Honest. Just don't add the cane sugar. :o ;)
A very nice lady who used to be known as Sue Element lent me a slew of CDs, which included Songs fro the Lions Cage. Enough for me...
I became a fan when i've heard 'The visitor', since i'm a fan-club member, i've all the albums, cool.. 8)
An uncle of mine had a colleague who was into prog. I had already discovered Genesis and Marillion and asked him if this guy could write down some more bands that were worth while and he gave me this note which included the name 'Arena'. I went to the local library to rent 'Songs from the Lions Cage' and the rest is history. All this took place in 1997, my first gig being The Paradiso concert of the 'The Visitor-Tour' 1998. Since then I bought practically everything Arena. The only thing still missing in my collection is the Lionhearted-tape :-(
I've known about new prog-act featuring ex-Marillion drummer and Pendragon's keyboard player. My expectations proved true. :)
I got into 'prog' by hearing Ayreon in the local record shop. Bought it immediately. Subscribed on the Ayreon mailing list and someone mentioned Arena. Clive Nolan participated on Ayreon releases too. I visited the Arena website after reading reviews on www.dprp.net which were very positive. After hearing 'The Butterfly man' at the download page I ordered 'Immortal?' a few months ago and what an album that is! Recently I bought 'Pepper's Ghost'. Last week 'The visitor' and 'Contagion'. I'm enjoying all those albums very much, it's very unpredictable music IMO, so it never gets boring. Now I have ordered 'The cry'. Trying to get all the releases complete, but have to save money first ;).
i became a big fan after my band recorded at clive nolans studio "Thin ice".. must say very glad i did become a fan :) and studio was top notch as well. recording got us alot of new fans :D
Quote from: crimsontears on Sat, 2005-03-19, 00:29:22
i became a big fan after my band recorded at clive nolans studio "Thin ice".. must say very glad i did become a fan :) and studio was top notch as well. recording got us alot of new fans :D
Got some of your stuff online so we can listen to it? (Believe me, we will be nice ;D )
Quote from: Appelmoes?? on Tue, 2005-03-22, 21:49:04
Got some of your stuff online so we can listen to it? (Believe me, we will be nice ;D )
Hear, hear...
It's a tradition for me and my girlfriend to buy a new album just before we go on holiday, as something to listen to in the car on the way. Fresh out of ideas, we went into a second hand music store for inspiration (this is about three years ago) and after a further hour of fruitless searching, I noticed the odd looking cover of The Visitor. Both being Marillion fans, I thought I'd see how Mick had done for himself after leaving them, and plumped up the cash (11 euros for the curious types ;)). So in the car, on the way to Austria and I stuck it on. Well you can imagine the reaction, not knowing what to expect, we were treated to something which mixed the passion of Marillion (and in many places excelled), the musical sensibilities of Genesis and the creative energy of every truly good prog rock band there has ever been. The rest of the holiday was spent walking and shopping (mostly music shopping ;D) and the love affair was firmly solidified with Contagion, an album so full of musical richness and variety, that it beggars belief how Arena aren't one of the biggest bands in the Rock world. Anyway, Arena and Threshold are currently my two favourite bands in the prog scene, and long may they both continue.
Quote from: Robo_1 on Sat, 2005-03-26, 20:42:16
It's a tradition for me and my girlfriend to buy a new album just before we go on holiday, as something to listen to in the car on the way. Fresh out of ideas, we went into a second hand music store for inspiration (this is about three years ago) and after a further hour of fruitless searching, I noticed the odd looking cover of The Visitor. Both being Marillion fans, I thought I'd see how Mick had done for himself after leaving them, and plumped up the cash (11 euros for the curious types ;)). So in the car, on the way to Austria and I stuck it on. Well you can imagine the reaction, not knowing what to expect, we were treated to something which mixed the passion of Marillion (and in many places excelled), the musical sensibilities of Genesis and the creative energy of every truly good prog rock band there has ever been. The rest of the holiday was spent walking and shopping (mostly music shopping ;D) and the love affair was firmly solidified with Contagion, an album so full of musical richness and variety, that it beggars belief how Arena aren't one of the biggest bands in the Rock world. Anyway, Arena and Threshold are currently my two favourite bands in the prog scene, and long may they both continue.
Your girlfriend liked it :o , WOW, I'm impressed ;D
Quote from: Moonloop on Tue, 2005-03-29, 09:30:35
Your girlfriend liked it :o , WOW, I'm impressed ;D
Yes, let her register, too, so the male-female-ratio gets better ;)
Let's see how far can my english go ;)
I got into Arena through two steps:
First, I learned that Arena existed. I was 12 when I started listening to Marillion and Rush, then Yes, then Genesis... By the age of 15 I was a prog-adict, and got to know some prog-rock radio program in my homeland, "The Musical Box". It was 1996, and I heard about a lot of "still alive" prog bands that I didn't know, including Pendragon, wich I liked a lot. Eventually, my older brother bought some Pendragon albums in 1997, I became a fan, and when they spoke of Arena in that program I couldn't help freezing at the sound of the names Nolan and Pointer. I wanted to hear some since then, but it wasn't until 2000 when my brother (again; I used to be a parasite :P) bought The Visitor.
Step two: liking it. My brother didn't like it much, but to me it was "love at first listening" :P I kept playing The Visitor on and on, and as soon as I knew Immortal? was out I wanted to try it. Bad news is that I had stopped listening to that radio program, what meant I lost my only prog-rock news source, and I missed Arena live in Buenos Aires, a gig that started with Moviedrome :( Anyway, Immortal? was my birthday persent on 2001 and confirmed that Arena was THE band to me. I still have "oldies" as fav bands, but the only one that keeps me anxious for new releases, the one that I always expect to get better is Arena.
Being my age, I'm really happy of having found a band with this characteristic :D (imagine - Fish left Marillion 6 years before I first listened to it! :P)
Hi there. I've been a fan of ARENA for about 2 years. A great friend of mine one day decided to "introduce" to the marvellous world of ARENA by playing "Solomon" from the album "Songs from a Lion's Cage" for me and I listened to the song 4 times over... and since then I've been addicted to ARENA...
Hi, it's me again. After being addicted to ARENA for 2 years, I have the joy of watching recently (9th April) at the Gouveia ArtRock 2005 (in the city of Gouveia-Portugal). Even more joy for my friend who introduced to ARENA, he's got a photo with Clive Nolan.
Quote from: Ocean_Angel on Tue, 2005-04-12, 20:04:06
Hi, it's me again. After being addicted to ARENA for 2 years, I have the joy of watching recently (9th April) at the Gouveia ArtRock 2005 (in the city of Gouveia-Portugal). Even more joy for my friend who introduced to ARENA, he's got a photo with Clive Nolan.
It's an old Arena promotion gimmick...
The more photos you take, the more Clive Nolans you get....!
Collect enough "Clive Nolans" and you win...oh I don't know these days...?
Help me out, Peter...what do you win...?
Quote from: gelert on Tue, 2005-04-12, 20:17:26
Help me out, Peter...what do you win...?
em,... lemme see,....
This year we again have our ever popular 'Eternal Fame Certificates'....Signed by the band members, very picturesque for walls of any color ;)
Well, I collected 18 "Clive Nolans"...
...but I put them in a jamjar...with holes in the lid so that they could breathe...
And they escaped.
I think that the cat got them.
Can I get a nice "Scissor Sisters" poster instead...?
Well, my friend only has one photo of Clive Nolan :D, but I'm going to pass the message on to him...
I got a picture of me and Arjen Lucassen, does that count? Clive played on one of his albums, I'm a 'arena fan', so that count up to 1 point I think ;D
Hello, I became a fan after reading a cd magazine from a CD shop, I looked at the page symphonic music and there was the writing about Arena being the smaller brother of Marillion, I always liked the music from Marillion very much so I decided to give it a try.
The first album I bought was Immortal!? to me it was the most Marillionlike album of the band, I found it a great album, afterwards I bought the rest of it I liked it very much, especially the songs Solomon, Jericho, A state of Grace (one of my favourites), the Healer and much more.
That was for me the reason to become a member of the fanclub, I've never seen a concert yet that's maybe a shame maybe in the future.
Of the latest album was my favourite: Lara Moon maybe a good top 40 hit, but the most of the top 40 hits are shit.
I used to keep missing Queen gigs, and argue that I would see them sometime 'in the future'... then it suddenly wasn't possible anymore (I'm talking the real Queen with 'Sir Fred').... Don't wait forever to see Arena... :)
I found "A Crack In The Ice" on a magazine sample CD back in 1998. It blew me away! So I checked out the magazine for details of the album, and found a picture of the Visitor album cover. It looked great... very intriguing! 8)
So I set about going out around the Poole & Bournemouth area (my hometown) to find a music store that
1) Had staff
2) Had a CD ordering facility, and
3) Could at least attempt to talk and be nice as opposed to GRUNT. :(
Well, it didn't happen, so I resorted to mail order instead! :)
Since then, I have brought every Arena album I can, and when I connected to the internet, moved to ordering albums through the Verglas website! ;D
Hi!
Constable Hogweed mailed me some tapes of the band's recordings to listen to in the car. It wasn't long before I started buying up the CDs. I still have a few to add to the collection, as they aren't easy to come by over here in the U.S., but I will one day complete my Arena catalog. My first purchase was Contagion, as that one was the current album at the time. Thanks Hogweed for opening my eyes (and ears) to a great band, and for forcing more money out of my already stretched bank account! ;)
Lurker,
If you're comfortable shopping on Amazon.com, you can find just about anything Arena at a good price used. I've had 98% success with Amazon, only a couple of bum dealers and I got my money back. I've built up most of my prog collection through Amazon the last couple of years.
Quote from: Clive on Sun, 2005-04-17, 17:19:00
I used to keep missing Queen gigs, and argue that I would see them sometime 'in the future'... then it suddenly wasn't possible anymore (I'm talking the real Queen with 'Sir Fred').... Don't wait forever to see Arena... :)
I'll do my best to catch you if you get your asses to Trondheim once more. Still, it's a 700 miles travel, and you were there in wintertime, once... Not altogether agreeable for different reasons. Some times. I think we had a blizzard of gargantuan proportions up here when you were there last. (Barring that "last" was smack in the middle of summer...)
Honestly, I'm gonna walk the extra mile (not 700!) next time. Still, to be on the safe side, don't die on us anytime soon!! You have yet to write the ultimate Arena album. Good to know, eh? ;)
Cheers,
Deenfan
You do know that we are playing Tronheim on October 1st, don't you? :)
Better get your walking shoes on ;) ;)
Why do you choose such difficult dates??? I would like to drive down and watch you. The problem? I'll have to pass over a couple of mountains, and at that time of year, ice and snow is a matter best considered. I could put on winter tyres, but then I'd probably end up driving about 1300 miles on dry tarmac, with studded tyres. NOT desireable! Trust me...
I could go by plane and pray there will be no cancelleation of it because of weather...
Oh, theses woe's... ;D
Hey, I know. I'll locate my vacation to around that date, then I can stay in Trondheim for a while, and be on the safe side!
I trust they have beer there...
Well, I became a fan because I saw Contagion on the shelf at a CD store, and I had heard Arena's name before in the usual places (I started into prog as a fan of Rush, then Yes, and worked my way from there)... the artwork for Contagion was great, and I felt like trying something new, so I got it...! And one of my strongest memories of ANY song by any band is listening to "Riding the Tide" while I was zooming down the motorway coming home from the beach one incredible summer evening! ;D And when I heard "The Visitor" (first the song, then the album... ohhhh that guitar solo!!!!), it took my appreciation of the group to an even higher level!
I live in Vancouver, Canada, which is hardly a great place for progressive music, so I've accepted the reality that to see many of my favorite bands, I'll have to travel. Is the band planning to be doing any gigs in England NEXT year, or will it be a year off?? I hope to get the chance to see a show...
I think the band plans to do Canada as well, so you might be lucky....
Quote from: JJ II on Thu, 2005-05-26, 12:38:26
I think the band plans to do Canada as well, so you might be lucky....
Montreal or Quebec City, either of which is several thousand miles away... ;P But never say never I suppose!
I became a fan thanks to joining the Classic Rock Society in about 1997. They'd had some bits in about Clive Nolan and Mick Pointer, and as a lapsed Marillion fan, I had to get 'Songs From The Lion's Cage' to see what it was like! By the way, I also got The Wishing Tree's 'Carnival Of Souls', John Wesley's 'The Emperor Falls' and 'A Blueprint Of The World' by Enchant as i was very anxious to see what Steve Rothery was working on outside of Marillion.
it's been a kind of backwards journey since, with getting 'Pride' and 'The Cry' in quick succession, then 'The Visitor' and 'immortal?' and 'Breakfast In Biarritz'. Was late coming to 'Contagion' and as I write, I've got a holiday coming up, so I hope to find 'Live & Life' and 'Pepper's Ghost' soon.
Quote from: pickle on Sun, 2005-07-03, 18:49:22
...and as a lapsed Marillion fan...
Yup, guilty as well...
I lapsed into becoming a Marillion fan...
But fortunately, I discovered new "Ayreon"...
"Ayreon" washes whiter...
...er, it sez 'ere...
hmmmm, a little English lesson, please:
"as a lapsed Marillion fan"
I'd say that means, you once were but no longer are?
"I lapsed into being a Marillion fan"
And that means that you actually are, right?
Quote from: POM on Fri, 2005-02-11, 09:44:00
I just wanted to know how you have discovered Arena...
Pretty standard way... Final year in high school, read a raving review of Songs From The Lions Cage in which comparisons were made with Marillion/Script. I was very much into Marillion and Pendragon, so this review and the line up mentioned did it, bought the album straight away!
Loved it and subscribed to the fan club. Kept following the band and especially the gigs really got me hooked, so much energy coming from the stage. A while before The Visitor was released I switched from being a member to an active Cage team member. I remember the thrill when Clive and John Mitchell came over to let us hear The Visitor for the first time, sheer magic! That album will always remain special to me. I consider Contagion as my absolute favourite though.
Quote from: Peter on Mon, 2005-07-04, 20:12:44
hmmmm, a little English lesson, please:
"as a lapsed Marillion fan"
I'd say that means, you once were but no longer are?
"I lapsed into being a Marillion fan"
And that means that you actually are, right?
Yup, I are, for the earlier stuff what I lapsed into.
But I lapsed out later...along with a few other fans...
Occasionally we have collapsed reunions... ::)
dear, any chance of non-riddled expressions ? :D
Quote from: Peter on Tue, 2005-07-05, 19:20:57
dear, any chance of non-riddled expressions ? :D
Only if you promise not to call me dear in public, sweety...  :-* :-* :-*
I'm actually quite reasonably priced...
Uuuhhhh... What have we lapsed into here?? :'(
In 2003 I went to see Arena at Madrid, and I must confess that it was because of the Pendragon's mini acoustic gig (that was great). I was wondering what kinda music were these Arena guys doing in that days, because I'd listened to Pride some years ago, and sounded great (now is one of my favourite albums).
When the gig ended I was an Arena fan. It's been the best gig ever seen, intense, perfect sound and playing, Rob was a magnetic presence ... they'd impressed me. After the gig they signed me the Contagion copy I bought (I also bought Immortal and The Visitor).
By now I have all the albums, and have created my little spanish web dedicated to Arena.
And I can't wait to live another magic night with Pepper's Ghost and that incredible way of playing they have!!!
This is rather an old topic, but like to answer the question though.
In the mid 90's i was a bit experimental. Every new band that came with a ceedee, i had to listen to it. Only at the retailer of course, not buying them. When i read an article in AARDSCHOK, a dutch magazine, that the drummer was Mick Pointer, and we all know where he came from, i was convinced. I HAD to buy this album. And with the first turns in my ceedee-player, ARENA got theirselfs a new fan.
MAD. 8)
Seedy-player involves fewer letters...
CD even more fewer...er, less...
...er, if you see what I mean...?
Just a thought.
Quote from: gelert on Tue, 2005-08-23, 19:24:31
Seedy-player involves fewer letters...
CD even more fewer...er, less...
...er, if you see what I mean...?
Just a thought.
It looked quite funny, though. What do you think about this one: DeeVeeDee? ;D ;D ;D
MAD. 8)
Wow this topic has been for ages. Not surprising considering the question though.....
For me.... a few years ago I was a t lowish point in my life. Had some anxiety attacks and depression through work and had taken voluntary redundancy. I was off for a year trying to get my self back together. I was looking at the time for what had been doing and bought a couple of his albums plus Misplaced Chilhood (which I only had on tape and hadn't played for years), I got a recomendation of Amazon that I might like Arena. So I bought The Visitor and Immortal?
To say I was blown away by the music was an understatment. It lifted me back up and started me thinking about things in my life. These two albums and Contagion helped me get back onto the path in my life that I'm now following.
So there you go Arena can restore your sanity. They should bottle it and sell it as mineral water. They'd make millions! ;D
Cheers,
Ian
Quote from: Ian Lay on Fri, 2005-09-09, 19:52:11
<snip>
Cheers,
Ian
Thanx, Ian for that straightforward description. I really appreciate your being round here.
Cheers Peter. Having re-read my message I wish I'd checked it before I posted! The "I was looking at the time for what had been doing" Should read "I was looking at the time for what FISH had been doing". But then I suppose you may guessed that.
Plus a couple of other grammatical mistakes.....but hey I only got C in English! :D
Cheers,
Ian
Quote from: Ian Lay on Fri, 2005-09-09, 19:52:11
For me.... a few years ago I was a "t" lowish point in my life.Â
Loopy....where are you...?
This 'ole boy "speaks" your language...!
TWO non-existant bar-men, NOT serving free-beer on Northern Railway Stations, eh...?
I'm suddenly feeling seriously P-P-P-P..........Thirsty... ;D
LOL. I just type too fast and forget to check my posts before hitting "post"! ;D
Cheers,
Ian
I met the band at the same time i met the internet back in 1997. I think "Well, this is the web and first i wanna find some prog rock info" One of the first results in the yahoo search was "The Dutch progressive rock page" and i click the reviews section. There was some very positive review for "Songs from the lions cage" by Matijn Albering. By then it was very hard to find the CD in stores in Mexico but when a friend of mine went on vacation to Germany brought me a very rare edition of the disc from american label "Griffin Music".
The music grow on me so i bought the "Pride" CD on a Mexican store in a very expensive price. Since then, i buy the subsequent releases by mail order with more reasonable costs.
With those antecedents, the sole idea of meet te band members was an utopia but that became reality in this mexican tour 2005. What a concert!
Clive, Mick and the guys: Some people around the world really like Arena's music. They can even pay a lot of bucks to get the latest album or drive many miles to attend the concert. Touring is a very important part of this business. I hope this 10th anniversary tour will be a big success, so the band can return to play in Mexico, some day.
My story is quite simple, not very romantic or original :) the first album I bought (on a tape) was Pride (but that was well after 96). There was some point in my life where I thought Kansas, Pendragon and bands like that are the only progressive stuff in the world, and when I discovered Shadow Gallery (on the radio, yes!:) I started digging in for more "modern" bands, cos I used to think prog rock ended with Marillion, so I was surprised to discover (poor girl) that there are "new" bands coming up with what's called prog rock with a new - heavier- feel to it (!), and once I got to know SG I thought that maybe they ae not the only ones in the world that are new. I simply went to a music shop and picked someting at random, really!!!! I did not know the band at all, never heard of them, or seen them before, and what I bought ...was Arena ;D That's it!
Emilia
Hi to all,
Same story as Moonloop and we know Pendragon since 1989 (and have seen them in Reading in 1983 without interest at all !)
We discover Arena in 1996, because we found Clive Nolan one of the finest artist we know. All what he can do is happiness and joy at each time.
We've seen them on stage 36 times (me, 37 because of an acoustic gig in France in a shop, and my wife wasn't there, but she had a long discussion with Nick Barrett at the same time) and Clive more than 50 times, including some Shadowland gigs...
Anyway, it's always with great pleasure we saw them live ans listen their music for more than 10 years now...
Keep proggin'
Alain
Well, OK, I think it's time for my story.
I never got into music 'till I was 16 years old.
My dad just got an album of Genesis (Duke) from my uncle.
My dad said to me: "Ah I remember this album! It's really good! Let's listen to it OK?"
I said: "Sure..."
The first song 'Behind The Lines' wasn't really doing anything to me.
But as soon as the second song 'Duchess' came in, I was sold.
I never heard anything like that before. Those keyboards in the calm intro changed my life.
I soon got hold of all Genesis albums (on MP3.... :-[ ) and loved every album (not the Gabriel albums!!!).
I just couldn't hear Peter Gabriel's voice, I thought it was awful.
Then, one night, I put on a MP3-disc in my discman and was listening through all the albums (of Phil era) and fell to sleep at some point.
When I woke up (in the middle of the night), my discman was still playing and it was somewhere on the album 'Selling England By The Pound'. I think it was an instrumental bit on 'Dancing With The Moonlit Knight'. I was once again shocked! I never heard something like this before. This was no music! This was pure magic!
From that moment on I knew Progressive Rock was THE music genre for me.
A collegue of my dad's was also into Progrock and he said to my dad: "Your son likes Genesis? He should try Arena!"
So I downloaded my first Arena song: Witch Hunt.
"WHAT'S THIS?!?!?!?! THIS IS NO PROGROCK!! THIS IS METAL!!!"
Deleted it off my computer immediately.
A month later I really didn't know what to do in my spare time, so I thought: "Let's download some more of that stupid music, you can't judge it from just one song."
So I downloaded the Contagious and Contagium EPs.
The instrumental songs did it. I was sold once again.
I soon downloaded Contagion and listened to the whole thing and liked it so much, so I downloaded more and more and more!
(Now we enter four months ago (or something))
I was listening to all the music (every album) of Arena nearly every day.
I even brought my MP3 CD with Arena music with me on vacation to France.
There I decided to buy 'Pepper's Ghost', which I'm very proud of.
Now I want to buy every single Arena album, too bad they don't sell it at the stores here in Amersfoort (= a bad place in The Netherlands).
I'm waiting for the Contagion The Max album (where can I buy that by the way? I heard you have to be a member of The Cage?? (which I am (on the site, or is that something else??)))
Genesis is still my favourite, but Arena comes a close second and Arena still makes albums while Genesis don't.
Impressive story huh? ;D
Nice story :)
To get hold of the arena albums, just ask the recordstore guy to order them. In 2 weeks (probalby) you will have the albums. Or try Plato (http://phobos.plato.nl/plato/search.php?item=arena&whatever=artist) or Bol.com. (http://www.nl.bol.com).
PH, don't brag too much about downloading stuff, otherwise you'll have the RIAA knocking at your door some time soon....
Quote from: Peter on Mon, 2005-10-24, 17:34:47
PH, don't brag too much about downloading stuff, otherwise you'll have the RIAA knocking at your door some time soon....
Or at Peter's door for this is his forum ;)
Quote from: Peter on Mon, 2005-10-24, 17:34:47
PH, don't brag too much about downloading stuff, otherwise you'll have the RIAA knocking at your door some time soon....
Let them come.
I buy every album I like and I throw away every album I don't like.
Besides that, downloading is not illegal in The Netherlands.
Uploading is another story.
Oh, and if I had never downloaded the albums I never was introduced to Arena.
;)
Quote from: PH on Mon, 2005-10-24, 17:16:54
[...]
I'm waiting for the Contagion The Max album (where can I buy that by the way? I heard you have to be a member of The Cage?? (which I am (on the site, or is that something else??)))
[...]
Once it is out (and I can't make any statements on when that will be I'm afraid :-\ ) you can purchase it at the Cage Store at our website. To access the site you have to sign in. There was indeed a different kind of (paid) membership (and a printed magazine) before, but this has changed into a free membership and articles on the site instead of a printed magazine. Those who were already a member last year in the 'old setup' will receive Contagion The Max for free.
Quote from: erik on Mon, 2005-10-24, 18:06:28
Once it is out (and I can't make any statements on when that will be I'm afraid :-\ ) you can purchase it at the Cage Store at our website. To access the site you have to sign in. There was indeed a different kind of (paid) membership (and a printed magazine) before, but this has changed into a free membership and articles on the site instead of a printed magazine. Those who were already a member last year in the 'old setup' will receive Contagion The Max for free.
And have a creditcard?
Quote from: erik on Mon, 2005-10-24, 18:06:28
Once it is out (and I can't make any statements on when that will be I'm afraid :-\ ) you can purchase it at the Cage Store at our website. To access the site you have to sign in. There was indeed a different kind of (paid) membership (and a printed magazine) before, but this has changed into a free membership and articles on the site instead of a printed magazine. Those who were already a member last year in the 'old setup' will receive Contagion The Max for free.
Ah cool!!!
Quote from: Appelmoes?? on Mon, 2005-10-24, 18:08:31
And have a creditcard?
Yup.
(Well, actually, my father has one ;D )
im a huge fan of john wetton.... one day I was listening to net radio and i caught a glimps of a song (more at the ending like)....
and im like "whoah"!!! I gotta find out who these guys are... so I went searching on the web.......and I came accrossed a band called "kino" and john mitchell sounded sooo familiar to me... and i'm like "I KOW that name and i'm sooo fiiliar with the sound of that guitar... and when wetton came up on kinno's web site, everything fell in place... so i checked out the links and arena came up and so here I am with no regrets
lates
rick
Quote from: Appelmoes?? on Mon, 2005-10-24, 17:37:48
Or at Peter's door for this is his forum ;)
dude i love your story I was thinking the same thing when I first heard wtch hunt
I was like hunh??? naw naw naw..... so im fliping thru all the chapters and im like okay?? this is good!! and I was okay after witch hunt.. the singer caught me off gaurd though but still good
its cool i dowant some arena cd's
piece
rick :O)
Well first of all as u can prob tell by my name i am female and 16 , and i don't understand y 1 of the people in here was shocked that someones girlfriend likes arena. I myself LOVE them, i can't remember exactly when it happened but it all started because of my dad (which i am most surprised he hasn't written in this topic yet) (jhoninblack incase u know of him) i listened to them on and off for a while but i went with him and my uncal to see them at sheffield and was totally blowen away by them and fell inlove with rob's vocal skills (they are all totally amazing tho) and from then on it's all been about arena my m8s hear bout them all the time. my boyfriend and best mate now tell me to shut up. i too can't understand why the band isn't as big as they should be, they should be on the tv such like karrang,radio all of the time. so thanx dad you did a good thing. hi peter by the way ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :P :P :P :P :P :P :P
Quote from: sammi on Wed, 2005-11-09, 22:41:50
Well first of all as u can prob tell by my name i am female and 16 , and i don't understand y 1 of the people in here was shocked that someones girlfriend likes arena. I myself LOVE them, i can't remember exactly when it happened but it all started because of my dad (which i am most surprised he hasn't written in this topic yet) (jhoninblack incase u know of him) i listened to them on and off for a while but i went with him and my uncal to see them at sheffield and was totally blowen away by them and fell inlove with rob's vocal skills (they are all totally amazing tho) and from then on it's all been about arena my m8s hear bout them all the time. my boyfriend and best mate now tell me to shut up. i too can't understand why the band isn't as big as they should be, they should be on the tv such like karrang,radio all of the time. so thanx dad you did a good thing. hi peter by the way ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :P :P :P :P :P :P :P
The 16 year old daughter of Johninblack! Hehehehe cool!
I'm 18 by the way, so I'm not even the youngest anymore. (I believe I already wasn't)
How great, fathers are the best ones to introduce someone to progrock.
Or does someone got his/her musical taste from his/her mother?
That'd be good too of course.
My dad doesn't like Arena that much.
I once said to him:
"Dad, why don't you want to listen to Arena? I have to listen to your music aswell!"
He said to me: "Son, I think Arena is to heavy for me, but I DO like them! They're actually really good!"
Me: "Ah cool!" *puts Arena on in livingroom*
Dad: "Ahh OK, OK, stop it! I don't want to listen to it right now!"
And he never wanted to listen to it. So I wonder if he really likes them as he said so, or not.
He hasn't convinced me of it.
I try to convert him by playing 'The Visitor' which should be around his taste, more or less.
But maybe he's more the 'Songs/Pride' kinda man.
April this year, I got some mp3's of prog rock/metal from a friend of me which he had downloaded.. *ehm*
I started listening to Arena, Breakfast in Biarritz. I liked Moviedrome the first time I heard it, and just had to listen more and more.. Now, Arena is one of my favourite-bands, one of the bands I'm listening to regularly.
Can I find anybody of you on the audioscrobbler network? www.last.fm . There I've made a new group for Arena-fans. www.last.fm/group/Arena
A bit of a strange route. I was vaguely aware of Arena through comments on the Marillion forum. This year I bought the Kino album "Picture" and saw them in London. I was amazed at what a fantastic guitar player JM is. So I bought both of his Urbane albums. I thought an opportunity to see him live again in London at an Arena concert was too good a chance to miss. As the gig got nearer I thought I should buy a couple of albums to know what was in store for me. On advice of Marilllion fans I bought Pepper's Ghost and The Visitor. I loved them both and played nothing else for weeks. I have since bought Immortal and The Contagion, and expect I will buy all of them eventually. The London gig was fantastic. Infact 3 of the best gigs I have been to this year have been at the Mean Fiddler - Kino, Arena and Fish.
Helenxxx
Lol sorry to sorta steal your thunder. i have a lot to thank my dad for when it comes to music but saying that my mum has also had alot to do with my musical tastes my cd collection isn't as wot most 16yr olds would listen to nowadays. so am very greatful to both of them for their input. But i am also glad to say i like my own selection of music that they don't hehe. Arena are number 1 in my cd players tho.
Quote from: sammi on Wed, 2005-11-23, 00:03:52
my cd collection isn't as wot most 16yr olds would listen to nowadays. Arena are number 1 in my cd players tho.
It sure beats the ass off the consistant load of 'Tosh' that is the charts at the moment... ::)
(there are one or two exceptions in the charts, but that sort of thing is few and far between!) ;)
Quote from: keyboardistmatt on Fri, 2005-11-25, 21:37:04
It sure beats the ass off the consistant load of 'Tosh' that is the charts at the moment... ::)
(there are one or two exceptions in the charts, but that sort of thing is few and far between!) ;)
You're getting old...and the older you get the fewer and ferther apart they are!
Quote from: johninblack on Sat, 2005-11-26, 08:13:40
You're getting old...and the older you get the fewer and ferther apart they are!
I noticed! ;D
wots that say about me.cuz lets face it dad im still young!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quote from: sammi on Wed, 2005-11-30, 21:38:02
wots that say about me.cuz lets face it dad im still young!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can go off people yer know!
hehehehehehehehehehehehehe lol i wasn't being too rude you know it's just that if your are old and you know that stuff then wot does it make me cuz i now feel old even tho im not. sprry people if i am rambling
Quote from: sammi on Sun, 2005-12-04, 02:54:23
hehehehehehehehehehehehehe lol i wasn't being too rude you know it's just that if your are old and you know that stuff then wot does it make me cuz i now feel old even tho im not. sprry people if i am rambling
U drunk?
Quote from: johninblack on Sun, 2005-12-04, 02:58:46
U drunk?
How can you say shuch a thing im not old enough yet!!!!!!! im just dumb
Quote from: sammi on Sun, 2005-12-04, 03:00:46
How can you say shuch a thing im not old enough yet!!!!!!! im just dumb
You're plenty old enough to drink at home and you bloody well have been, and dumb,
you're far from dumb and you know itTotally bloody stupid.
Quote from: johninblack on Sun, 2005-12-04, 03:06:41
You're plenty old enough to drink at home and you bloody well have been, and dumb, you're far from dumb and you know it
Totally bloody stupid.
i would rather be stupid rather that fat old and stupid.
Quote from: sammi on Sun, 2005-12-04, 03:11:14
i would rather be stupid rather that fat old and stupid.
Me Too! But it's too late!
OMG, it runs in the family :o
The question was "How did you become a fan?".
And now people start talking about being drunk...
You guys (and girl) became fan while being drunk?? ???
Quote from: PH on Sun, 2005-12-04, 16:07:05
You guys (and girl) became fan while being drunk?? ???
Perhaps it was Jack Daniels... :D
Stupidity should be painful.
None of us are immune at times.
Although I hate to use that word. Let's just say comfortably numb might be a better one. ;)
Quote from: Saryna on Sun, 2005-12-04, 21:59:26
Although I hate to use that word. Let's just say comfortably numb might be a better one. ;)
A Pink Floyd referrence here?
This is the next topic which is influenced by alcohol. At least somebody is being honest and started a topic called 'beer'.
Let us talk about alcohol there, and leave this topic to the people who want to confess how they got into Arena.
Isn't that just a great idea? ;D
Of course, who am I to say such a thing? But I felt the need to say it, because some topics went VERY offtopic lately.
I saw the Contagion cd for sale in a video rental shop that sells second hand cds and dvds as well. Had a look at some reviews in the internet and went back to the shop to buy Contagion than. I put it in the cd player and was blown away.
I'm about to order Immortal?, Contagious and Contagium. ;D
There you go, infected by the Contagion....em...kind of :)
Kind of... ;)
Quote from: Saryna on Sun, 2005-12-04, 21:47:25
None of us are immune at times.
I am generally always immune... but I don't know what I'm immune to, because I haven't had it yet... :-\
Quote from: PH on Mon, 2005-12-05, 07:59:20
But I felt the need to say it, because some topics went VERY offtopic lately.
Only some of them...? ;D
Quote from: Appelmoes?? on Fri, 2005-02-11, 12:48:43
A friend of mine had bought Contagion after being curious about the bands that lend their artist's to Ayreon. When I visited my friend I heard the album and bought contagion the week after. En then bought another album... And another... Etc.
Did you continue to buy a lot of albums by Tina Arena, Appelmoes?
Nicky.
Yes, but then I discovered that she wasn't in the band, so I stopped doing that...
i became an arena fan after i found out i was going on tour with them!!
I first met Rob Sowden during one of his music evenings where he promotes local talent in Reading, England sincce then we have been very good mates.
Rob plays in my pub from time to time and one day i asked him about his main band (other than Solar) and that was that 2 weeks later i was on the peppers ghost tour!
In the mean time i decided to buy peppers ghost as i was passing HMV in Smack er Stoke-on-trent (visiting my bro who was on tour at the time WWW.ADAMLINSTEAD.CO.UK).
I thought peppers ghost was one of the most interesting albums i've ever heard (don't tell Clive or Mick i have to keep some kind of moral standing on tour)
So thats that then you guys saw me on tour,
Since then i've devoted myself to the 'Spreading' of prog music worldwide
One more thing come and have a pint when your passing!!
Smeagal
The Greyhound Inn,
High Street,
Wargrave-On-Thames,
Reading,
Berks,
RG10 8BU.
Power to the people x
my story
Back in 1997 I was working for a venue in Quebec, Bar Spectacle le D Auteuiil. My boss decided to put me on duty that weekend because we had a big Festival on the calender. My job was to make sure that all the bands was happy and had everything they needed. I was very ignorant on progressive music but know a bit of Marillion cos they supported my favorite band Rush in Quebec city... For 5 days, Made sure that Arena was enjoying them self in the beautiful City of Quebec. Since then, I have been part of the Arena Family...
*horns*
Quote from: PH on Thu, 2005-11-10, 07:34:22
How great, fathers are the best ones to introduce someone to progrock.
Or does someone got his/her musical taste from his/her mother?
That'd be good too of course.
Well, I think I "inherited" a good deal of my musical taste from my Mom's side - when she was young she used to be into stuff like the Stones rather than the Beatles (my Dad liked them very much) and even nowadays I drag her to a rock concert every now and then and she still seems to like it! ;D
Quote from: POM on Fri, 2005-02-11, 09:44:00
I just wanted to know how you have discovered Arena...
Now THAT could turn into a long story... ;)
I first "bumped into them" at the Röhre in Stuttgart when they were touring in 1997 (or was it '96?) because I knew the band opening up for them (Headstone) very well and back then went to almost all of their concerts. However, when Arena went on stage - still with Paul Wrightson on vocals, by the way - I was completely blown away from the first second! I hadn't listened to much prog before and actually thought I didn't like that kind of music too much, but hey, when I heard and saw Arena perform "The Visitor" that night I suddenly changed my mind!
As I was in the lucky position to write for a rock magazine at that time (thanks for the good times, Völle), I got the chance to come back on their next tour(s) and do some interviews with the band, and from then on I usually ended up in the tour bus drinking lots of JD & coke after the shows. ;D
i had heard of the band, but never actually heard them. one day ( i hope you're all sitting comfortably ) the free cd on the front of classic rock had a track called crack in the ice on it. i taped the tracks i liked and used the cd as a coaster. whenever i played that tape i was ****ed off that it was the first track so gone straight away. after a couple of years i thought i really must get some more arena stuff, what album is 'crack' on ( seemed a good idea to me ), then just got them all. :-\
Quote from: clacket on Tue, 2007-08-14, 17:45:07
i had heard of the band, but never actually heard them. one day ( i hope you're all sitting comfortably ) the free cd on the front of classic rock had a track called crack in the ice on it. i taped the tracks i liked and used the cd as a coaster. whenever i played that tape i was ****ed off that it was the first track so gone straight away. after a couple of years i thought i really must get some more arena stuff, what album is 'crack' on ( seemed a good idea to me ), then just got them all. :-\
Nice story, Claket. Glad to hear you got the Arena-virus. :D
Anyway, welcome to the Shattered Room. Hope you'll enjoy your stay. ;)
Yes, welcome. It is never too late to get that virus *horns*.
My story how I discorvered Arena:
I heard that Arrow Rock Radio would release a 3 cd-box with only progressive rock music.
So I decided to buy that box, because I was getting more interested in progressive rock.
On one of the cd's can you find The Hanging Tree.
When I heard that song for the first time I was really blown away en I decided to discover that band.
Now I have all the albums and I became a fan!! *horns* ;D
The Hanging Tree is indeed a very powerful song!
ooh ta. i say i don't appear to have a gender wotsit like all you peeps wots been on here for years have got. not that it makes much difference when yer an ugly f***er :'(
???
The Room is an open forum, Appy, so one gets to meet some quite new types here. It's not the first time that something otherworldly has been dished up here ;D
Nicky.
Otherworldly? Could be... 'cause I first thought it was English, but now I'm not so sure! ;)
Quote from: Nicky007 on Wed, 2007-08-22, 10:17:42
The Room is an open forum, Appy, so one gets to meet some quite new types here. It's not the first time that something otherworldly has been dished up here ;D
Nicky.
Yeah, but most of the time there's a re reason for the offtopicness, this just came out of the blue :-\
I am really enjoying reading about the different ways people got into Arena :)
The return of the giant hogweed!!
Glad to have you back and please, stay for a while! ;)
Maybe I should consider buying that same Arrow Rock Progressive Rock compilation, 'cuz I want to discover something new!
And I think I've just discovered something which might become my favourite of 2007 and thus pushing Neal Morse of his throne...
But about that later.
Quote from: PH on Mon, 2007-09-03, 09:03:45
And I think I've just discovered something which might become my favourite of 2007 and thus pushing Neal Morse of his throne...
But about that later.
My guess is Saga - and I understand it.
Nicky.
Quote from: Nicky007 on Mon, 2007-09-03, 09:23:53
My guess is Saga - and I understand it.
Nicky.
Nope, by the way, Saga hasn't released their 2007 album yet, so that would be impossible.
I'll tell you all about it in a minute, but first I'm going to eat something.
I haven't seen the name of the band here in the Room yet, so it will be a discovery for all of you! ;)
Oh, come on, Paco, DO tell us! Please!!
;) Ok then.
Take a look here:
http://shattered-room.net/index.php?topic=1100.0
-Paco
I read article about Arena in russian magazine Dark City in 2006.Some time after I decided to listen album "Pepper's ghost" and this album made me a fan of progressive rock/metal (and Arena's fan of course).
Hello all,
I am very happy to see how you got into Arena... it's a very interesting reading... keep the Prog Alive...
Wagner 8)
Hi folks,
I guess this is as good a place as any to make my first post. I've been lurking for a couple weeks but didn't want to register until I owned at least one Arena album. Pepper's Ghost arrived about 10 minutes before I left on a 7-hour drive last week. ;D I pretty much just listened to that and IQ - Subterranea (my other new purchase) all the way there and all the way back tonight. Contagion is now on order. The rest will follow soon, no doubt.
Anyway, I first found Arena through Pandora. I seeded a station with Genesis and IQ, and eventually Bedlam Fayre came up. It's great, obviously, so I later made an Arena station and gradually got to hear everything on PG except for Shattered Room and Opera Fanatica, plus a few songs from Contagion. Since the 5 out of 7 songs on PG I heard were all great, it seemed like a pretty safe purchase. Turns out 7 out of 7 are great. But you knew that.
I will now listen to Opera Fanatica for the 7th time in a row and then maybe get some sleep.
-Manatee
Good to see you here, Manatee!
Very nice to hear that you found out about Arena through Pandora. :)
I'm looking forward to see more posts from you here on the board! ;)
Bye!
-Paco
Welcome Manatee, glad you found Arena. Seems I have to check out Pandora, music like IQ, Arena, Genesis, just great. Have a nice stay here! *horns*
Hi there, Manatee. :D
Great to see you found the lovely tunes of Arena. *horns*
Never heard of Pandora btw. Will check that out.
Welcome to the Room. *horns*
*Sigh...*
Guys --> http://shattered-room.net/index.php?topic=707.0 ::)
-Paco
Quote from: PH on Sat, 2008-02-09, 14:08:04
*Sigh...*
Guys --> http://shattered-room.net/index.php?topic=707.0 ::)
-Paco
...where
is Frank, by the way?!
Quote from: Peter on Sat, 2008-02-09, 17:03:18...where is Frank, by the way?!
Good question... He's not really into forums (anymore).
Worse yet, I haven't talked with him about prog for months now...
The "christian rock" virus got him... He's only listening to things like
Pillar,
Skillet,
Third Day,
Flyleaf,
Relient K etc...
I've got to bring the new Ayreon album to his attention! 8)
-Paco
Thanks for the welcome guys. One reason I registered instead of just lurking is that the people here seem a lot nicer (and smarter) than what you usually find online.
Regarding Pandora, yeah, I think their license with the music companies only allows them to have U.S. members, although it sounds like you might be able to fake it. Someone here mentioned lastfm.com in a post -- from what I saw, their streaming feature is sort of like what Pandora is, so that could be an option if Pandora won't let you use it.
To get back on topic, more or less, I was into prog music a long time ago (long ago, as in, everything I had was on vinyl ;D) and, although I never stopped liking it, I wasn't too aware that much good stuff was still being recorded until fairly recently. Once I heard it though, I did some poking around on the net, and here I am. Why is that you can hear garbage 24/7 without trying, and you have to do research to find something like Arena?
Ok, I'll go be a pest in some other topics now.
Lookin forward to it, Manatee, and welcome from me too.
Yeah, we gotta lotta freaks in this joint (not me though), but they're pretty bright - and fun *horns*
Where are you based ?
Nicky.
Quote from: Nicky007 on Mon, 2008-02-11, 10:27:48
gotta lotta freaks in this joint (not me though), but they're pretty bright - and fun *horns*
A small rewrite jumped out at me:
Gotta lotta joints in this freak (not me though), but they're pretty bright - and fun ;D
Great Deenfan ;D *horns*
How's it goin with Winterstrain ? Touring Europe soon ? You can count on me, I'll come with all my friends and joints 8) We got pizzas in Cop too, yknow ? ;D
Nicky.
Pizza!? :P
Now I'm really going to make an effort to get out on the road!! ;D
We're in the last stages of mixing the backing tracks. Still waiting for the backing vocals to be finished, and then we'll mix those and the vocals in. Booklet is coming along nicely... and I actually believe it'll be ready for shipping around May or so... :-X
Quote from: Deenfan on Mon, 2008-02-11, 10:41:58
A small rewrite jumped out at me:
Gotta lotta joints in this freak (not me though), but they're pretty bright - and fun ;D
:D
Quote from: Deenfan on Mon, 2008-02-11, 10:41:58
A small rewrite jumped out at me:
Gotta lotta joints in this freak (not me though), but they're pretty bright - and fun ;D
;D
Quote from: Nicky007 on Mon, 2008-02-11, 10:27:48
Where are you based ?
I'm in the U.S. near New York, which means I mostly just have to sit here and be jealous when you all talk about going to see Arena in concert. :( Maybe they'll make it over here after they release the new album?
Manatee, you're complaining because you're living near New York ? :o
You can go to a great prog concert every f*in day there !
And you got Dream Theater just a stone-cast away.
Nicky.
Well, Nicky, I'm not exactly complaining, but my favorite prog bands are mostly Europe-based. The American bands I like are mostly not so proggy. Maybe I just haven't discovered some of the good stuff yet. As for DT, they can play for sure, but I haven't really gotten that excited about them yet. I'll give them more of a chance though -- I know a lot of folks on here love em.
Manatee, I can recommend you to take a look at our Listening Profiles, and further I started a topic "Which groups are prog", which unfortunately stalled (temporarily?), because I have no authority here (I mean, I'm the senior figure here, but who cares?) ;D
Nicky.
Via Amazon
I started reading listmania's and decided that as I owned 23 of the 25 that were on the list I would take a punt. The other band was IQ who I also love listening to.
What better place to post for the first time than a how did you become a fan thread!
Hey everyone I'm Bill...look forward to meeting you all and having some good conversation on here...been a few years since I joined a message board should be cool...
It wasn't until I sat back to really think about WHEN the first time I heard Arena's music truly was that I realized how complicated the path leading me to them was...forgive my long winded first post but I'm just excited to be here with people who share my musical tastes! I don't find many around here....
Since the age of 10 or 11 years old I've been obsessed with rock n' roll and music in general....because I hadn't really mastered any instruments of my own but had an itch to make music around 2003 I began to get into making sample based beats and such (trip hoppy type music such as portishead without vocals) I had a large vinyl collection but I started getting into obscure psychedelic stuff at first trying to find good samples to loop for beats but then I really started liking some of it...I began researching websites dedicated to rare/obscure psych from the 60's and 70's and SOMEHOW I found the progarchives and a few other sites....my fascination with PROG had begun....
Probably early 2006 I was on amazon.com researching Kansas and Pink Floyd albums when all of these recommendations popped up...I began looking through them and ended up downloading In the Court of the Crimson King LOVED it and bought a copy MY FIRST PROG PURCHASE! I bounced around from group to group buying cds left and right from Genesis, Yes, ELP, Camel etc. eventually coming upon Marillion. It was through Marillion and amazon.com recommendations I was led to Arena.
The first song I ever heard was: Cutting the Cards
I loved it and downloaded the rest of Contagion as well as Immortal? and Peppers Ghost. A few weeks later I had purchased every single Arena cd I could find (with the exception of Songs From the Lions Cage (I know, I know) and they became a staple in my playing rotation...
Arena has a special place in my heart for many reaons but for ONE main reason....I'm an aspiring author working on my first book of many in an epic fantasy series...Arena's music has been a muse....every time I sit down to write I play Contagion (sometimes twice through) and then I work my way through their whole catalog (and then Ayreons, Pink Floyd, Marillion) I really credit prog for opening and expanding my creative realm and drawing out of me the 550+ pages that I have now....I will be mentioning Arena in the beginning thank you pages of my novel when it is published (keeping my fingers crossed on that one!!!!). Their music means so much to me more so than any other bands....I'm sure some of you feel the same and its an honor to be here amongst such people!!
Sorry for the tangent!
Quote from: Poison Lies 2 Close 2 Us on Sat, 2008-04-19, 00:12:55
Sorry for the tangent!
Not at all, Bill. I had a great time reading your post *horns*
Now we know you better than we know several members who have written hundreds of posts - that's great ;)
Yeah, prog also kinda saved
my life.
There are a lot of people here in the Room who live for their prog, so I think you'll feel at home here, Bill.
Welcome !
And good luck with your story. Maybe you'd like to share some of your stuff with us here.
It was also interesting to hear how long and winding your road to Arena was. Mine was too :)
A minor correction: It's Ayreon
without the 's' (to avoid the apples raining on you) ;D
Quote from: Poison Lies 2 Close 2 Us on Sat, 2008-04-19, 00:12:55
I'm just excited to be here with people who share my musical tastes! I don't find many around here....
Where do you live ?
Nicky.
Great story you got there, Bill.
Welcome by the way to the Room.
In The Court is indeed a heck of an album and such a good way to start your way through ProggyLand. 8)
Quote from: Nicky007 on Sat, 2008-04-19, 10:59:16
Now we know you better than we know several members who have written hundreds of posts - that's great ;)
Hundreds you say?
Good. That means that i am on the safe side. ;D
Quote from: maddox on Sat, 2008-04-19, 14:30:06
Welcome by the way to the Room.
I think that we can say that Bill made it all the way into the Room, Mad ... 8)
... for whatever it's worth ;D
Quote from: maddox on Sat, 2008-04-19, 14:30:06
Hundreds you say?
Good. That means that i am on the safe side. ;D
You're actually one of the most open roomies, Mad. *horns*
I dont know what you look like, except that you have two horns on your forehead, and that you're stuck with Tom, but that's pretty normal for Room standards ;D
Nicky.
What about me then, Nicky?
-Paco
Welcome to the Room, Bill :) a Room that is very active those days, which is nice !
Quote from: PH on Mon, 2008-04-21, 13:33:47
What about me then, Nicky?
You have two horns on your
ass, or three, depends ......
;D
Nicky.
Quote from: Nicky007 on Mon, 2008-04-21, 14:53:37
You have two horns on your ass, or three, depends ......
How would
you know?! :o
(Sorry, that one was too good to miss out on it!) ;D
Yes Nicky, here's a new abbr. for ya: TMI!! ;D
Quote from: Appelmoes?? on Mon, 2008-04-21, 22:33:12
Yes Nicky, here's a new abbr. for ya: TMI!! ;D
The Mighty Inglishman (in Copenhagen) ;D
Nicky.
Quote from: Appelmoes?? on Mon, 2008-04-21, 22:33:12
Yes Nicky, here's a new abbr. for ya: TMI!! ;D
The Muffin Illustration
Ten Malignant Ideas
Tempting Murder Itches
I have no clue...
The Mushroom Incubator? ???
;D
Quote from: maddox on Fri, 2008-04-25, 19:51:17
The Mushroom Incubator? ???
;D
Way-Hay...! LMAO! :D :D :D ;D :D :D :D
Too
Much
Information!
:o
Ahh of course.
Rumour has it that the next Ayreon album may be called " - .... . / -- ..- ... .... .-. --- --- -- / .. -. -.-. ..- -... .- - --- .-. "
;)
Or maybe a combination of those two. :D
Some years ago, when we were on holidays, my father let me his mp3 and said : you'll surely like this band.
Bedlam Fayrewas was just begun when I thought "ok, this is a great band."
Then, some months later,, Immortal? and Contagion.
This is when I became a fan. ;D
I've heard Neal Morse will be on it too!
Quote from: Draco chimera on Sat, 2008-04-26, 21:24:16
Some years ago, when we were on holidays, my father let me his mp3 and said : you'll surely like this band.
Bedlam Fayre was was just begun when I thought "ok, this is an awesome band."
Then, some months later,, Immortal? and Contagion.
This is when I became a fan. ;D
OK,, Draco,, so do you think they can get even better than "awesome" ?
How come your Dad isnt a member of the Room ? Or maybe he is ? Gelert could fit agewise ... except that if he had kids, he would have had something sensible to spend his time on ;D
Nicky.
Quote from: Nicky007 on Sun, 2008-04-27, 17:13:12
OK,, Draco,, so do you think they can get even better than "awesome" ?
How come your Dad isnt a member of the Room ? Or maybe he is ? Gelert could fit agewise ... except that if he had kids, he would have had something sensible to spend his time on ;D
Nicky.
Steady.
Not long after 'The Visitor' was released, a mate lent me his copy. You'll not be surprised to learn that I thought it something of a gem and have bought everything since. Utterly excellent band 8)
Over the last few weeks I've been thrashing the back-catalogue with renewed passion, for no reason other than I noticed a few albums had slipped into the not-played-for-six-months bracket (hangs head in shame!) according to the trusty iPod.
So many bands, so little time...
Quote from: Steve Jones on Sun, 2008-04-27, 18:29:03
So many bands, so little time...
I'm not surprised - how are preprations for the Isle Of Wight Festival 2008 going, BTW?
Quote from: gelert on Sun, 2008-04-27, 18:44:27
how are preprations for the Isle Of Wight Festival 2008 going, BTW?
Eh? If this is a game of Confuse The New Boy then you've thrown a double-six. ;) ;D ;)
Quote from: gelert on Sun, 2008-04-27, 18:44:27
I'm not surprised - how are preprations for the Isle Of Wight Festival 2008 going, BTW?
Quote from: Steve Jones on Sun, 2008-04-27, 19:05:53
Eh? If this is a game of Confuse The New Boy then you've thrown a double-six. ;) ;D ;)
"The Sex Pistols will be appearing at the Isle Of Wight Festival 2008 as the headlining act on the Saturday night. They are also due to appear at the Peace and Love Festival in Sweden, and the Live at Loch Lomond Festival in Scotland the same summer." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jones_(musician)
Curses! I thought I'd left this mistaken identity stuff behind when I changed my name from Clint Eastwood. ;)
Quote from: Steve Jones on Sun, 2008-04-27, 19:47:04
Curses! I thought I'd left this mistaken identity stuff behind when I changed my name from Clint Eastwood. ;)
Clint Eastwood....!? :o
What! THE Clint Eastwood?
THE Clint Eastwood - that works in High Wycombe as a Hairdresser, and once met the second cousin of someone who's brother's mate threw-up at a
"Hello-Magazine" photo-shoot for
"Best Chocolate to be sponsored by when getting married" competition?
WOW! :o
Yes, The Shattered Room is actually a place for famous people to connect.
Even some people who were always thought of as dead (Maddox is Elvis).
And I though that Nicky was actually Matt Damon.
I'm John Wayne (secretly not dead).
Quote from: PH on Mon, 2008-04-28, 08:44:01
I'm John Wayne (secretly not dead).
I'd say you're John
Vain ;D
And Bluey's Britney Spears - the intelligence reveals it :D
Quote from: PH on Mon, 2008-04-28, 08:44:01
And I thought that Nicky was actually Matt Damon.
Here also the intelligence reveals it - just at the opposite end 8)
Thanks for the compliment, Paxi. MD is one of my fave actors. Good Will Hunting is a heck of a film *horns*
Nicky.
Quote from: Nicky007 on Sun, 2008-04-27, 17:13:12
OK,, Draco,, so do you think they can get even better than "awesome" ?
How come your Dad isnt a member of the Room ? Or maybe he is ? Gelert could fit agewise ... except that if he had kids, he would have had something sensible to spend his time on ;D
Nicky.
1. Sorry for having posted twice the same message, this is a mistake... ???
2. You're right, "awesome" is not the best word to describe them, but words are never enough for Arena. ;D
3. My father should be a member. Soon ? Who knows ? ;D
Quote from: PH on Mon, 2008-04-28, 08:44:01
Yes, The Shattered Room is actually a place for famous people to connect.
Even some people who were always thought of as dead (Maddox is Elvis).
And I though that Nicky was actually Matt Damon.
I'm John Wayne (secretly not dead).
[beavis-mode]Maddox has left the building. Hehehehe[/beavis-mode off] ;D
Quote from: Nicky007 on Mon, 2008-04-28, 10:19:30Thanks for the compliment, Paxi. MD is one of my fave actors. Good Will Hunting is a heck of a film *horns*
Oops my bad, I didn't mean Matt Damon, I meant Meat-demon.
Yup, you're a meat demon! :D
-Paco
Now you're dead meat :o
Yeah, maybe Cap and I should get down to the coup de grace. We'll then organise a great grill party for all roomies (-1) with the dm .... and dance thru the night to The Beatles ;D
Nicky.
You're talking about a fanmeet? I like that idea, I'm won't organise one though, I'm already a bit busy with the Ayreon Fanmeet ;)
No, Appy, this is about fanmeat ;D
"Would someone please let me know how we have spun out of control ?
Has the Captain let go of the wheel ?"
Queensrÿche: Sign Of The Times
Nicky.
Quote from: Nicky007 on Mon, 2008-04-28, 19:41:16Yeah, maybe Cap and I should get down to the coup de grace.
Soup with grains?
Quote from: Nicky007 on Mon, 2008-04-28, 19:41:16We'll then organise a great grill party for all roomies (-1) with the dm .... and dance thru the night to The Beatles ;D
As long as Arena is played, I'll forgive you the Beatles. :D
-Paco
Quote from: POM on Fri, 2005-02-11, 09:44:00
Hi!
I just wanted to know how you have discovered Arena..
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a bloke that liked Yes, Genesis and ELP etc. Being in the British Army meant he wasn't kept up to date with all the goings on in the prog world - what with it being 198** and all that. Prog meant you wore a cloak and had a pet toad called Nigel.
On to 1995 and I was a Sergeant in the Royal Artillery stationed in Bergen-Belsen Germany when I saw an advert for the Classic Rock Society in a copy of Q magazine.
'At last! Someone else that cares about REAL music', so I subscribed.
Holy crap! I was shocked to see a letter from someone who lived not far from my parents. I got in touch and found she ran Arena's UK fan club. We met up whilst I was on leave and went to a couple of gigs. Jadis etc. Wonderful. I did some work on the magazine (being a Mac man I couldn't resist) I met Clive and Mick. Next thing I know I was crew and driving. Mick suggested I was part of the British Army Drinking Team, possibly because I have a tendency to consume beer in vast quantities. I left the Army and am still occasional crew for Arena. We visit now and again, my 6 year old daughter likes to tell 'Uncle Clive' where he's going wrong ;-)
My first Arena gig was Rees-Haldern Germany, 6 April 1996. The ticket is still on my pinboard in the kitchen. Clive, Mick, John, Keith and Paul. I was blown away - the last gig I'd seen was ELP at The Royal Albert Hall in UK a few years before and I was astonished how far Prog had come - I'd bought some albums but seeing a LIVE band is always different.
I was at TAFKAT's first gig and realised that the future of prog was safe in younger hands. Now he just needs to write a new 'In The Court Of The Crimson King'
And unless they can coax James La Brie across the water (no pun intended), Damian Wilson is the best man for the job. Or how about a slight change of track and let Tracy run with it. Sorry, but Ron Snowdon just doesn't cut it for me. He never has.
It's 03:30. Best stop now
Ian
Great story Oliver! :o
Except for the Rob Sowden part... ::)
I think Rob is perfect for the job! (As is/was Paul Wrightson).
And when I think of it, I think Damian Wilson would make a great Arena vocalist too. *horns*
But let's stick with Rob! ;)
-Paco
Or how about watching the reunion gig footage on the 'Smoke & Mirrors' DVD? Both on stage at the same time - excellent stuff! 8)
Quote from: Oliver Twist on Fri, 2008-05-02, 04:32:05
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, ....
Welcome back, Ian :)
I could see that your visits to the Room are sporadic. Maybe now you'd like to come a bit more often.
Nice to have another guy my age (I'm 53). You and I may not quite have experienced the splendid dawn of Beatles, but you probably, just like I, relished the first spacy sounds of Floyd and the first great riffs and insane singing of Jimmy and Percy.
I enjoyed the story of you and Arena very much.
Mine is a lot duller: One of my good friends told me that I should listen to Arena cause they're great, and he was sooo right: They are great *horns*
But just like Paco, I can't either follow your dissatisfaction with Rob. I like his singing a lot, I find him very expressive, and for me, he's an essential part of Arena.
Btw I was born in B'ham, but I only lived there for five years. But I cant escape from my limeyism, especially not because the rock scene in Copenhagen is so lousy. Man, people here are totally gone with Madonna's new product ;D & :'(
Nicky.
Quote from: Nicky007 on Fri, 2008-05-02, 11:57:42
Welcome back, Ian :)
Nice to have another guy my age (I'm 53). You and I may not quite have experienced the splendid dawn of Beatles, but you probably, just like I, relished the first spacy sounds of Floyd and the first great riffs and insane singing of Jimmy and Percy.
Thank you!
Never been too keen on the Beatles - I find them VERY overrated
Thinking back - the first single I had was Jethro Tull - Life's A Long Song. My sister bought it for my birthday. Then my (now) brother in law gave me Disraeli Gears and Led Zeppelin II. Opened my ears there!!
Goodnight!
Ian
Quote from: Oliver Twist on Tue, 2008-05-13, 03:17:27
Goodnight!
Yeah, you were up pretty late, Ian.
True, Cream were great in those days. Eric did some awesome stuff; that unfortunately changed soon after Cream broke up. Fortunately Jack and Ginger kept breaking ground.
I noticed on your homepage that you recommend Dream Theater and King Crimson, two of my fave groups too.
You also write that you're averse to religious drivel. I agree with you in general, but we might mean bit different things by "drivel". Isnt there any of the religious stuff in the Room that you can connect to ?
Nicky.