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Finnforest 
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: February 03 2007
Location: The Heartland
Status: Offline
Points: 17309
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 Posted: July 04 2009 at 17:41 |
 Atavachron wrote:
but see I think that was a wise and professional change to make..the content - other than the important points as dates, background, influences - is not as important as the approach; the best bio is the one that is best written, whether the author wants to be mostly objective or subjective (maybe a bit of both is best) is not as important as helping the reader with a clear history of an artist and their work
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Well said David.
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...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell"
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debrewguy
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 30 2007
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 3596
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Posted: July 04 2009 at 18:14 |
Snow Dog wrote:
I've noticed this myself in Biographies. Not very professional souding some of them.
A biography should give the facts...and no more. |
I have done 5 bio re-writes for our symphonic team - Ange, Akacia, Acuity, Chronos Mundi, and Chance. Ange was easy to write with many informative sites and articles. the rest ... well, Chance & Acuity - i could find nothing on the web, even after googling the two founding members names. Akacia was an improvement only in that I could find a little extra , but here is the whole re-write that I proposed to Ivan "AKACIA is a Christian hard/symphonic progressive rock band hailing from
Massachussets,USA, who have been around since 2001. After leaving his
last band, Mike Tennenbaum decided to assemble his own group of
musicians to make music that reflects his love of the music of Yes,
Genesis, ELP, King Crimson and the like . Combining 70s symphonic prog, with jazz & hard rock, they play a style that could be called retro prog. So far, they have three releases, all on Musea. " The guy / band has their own website with absolutely no "facts" other than each band member being a great musician & an interesting person. But no mention is made that the other guys are in the band or just played on the album, or actually, the info seemed to indicate that they didn't play on the album. Now take 4000 bios, take a guesstimate that 400 of them are going to be "successful" internet searches like these 3. Then calculate how many hairs you have left on your head after a 2 hour search only to find a short fawning blurb on the website of the independant label that has but one artist, which happens to be the owner of the label. Most of these amateurs have no clue about facts, much less the 5 Ws - who, where, when , why, what, & how. The why & what always seem to be cliche copy about the great band that they are. They have no problem posting the 10 reviews from completely unknown music fan sites that seem to believe that the group is the second coming of a prog supergroup , though. So, anyone who reports a uninformative bio should be more than welcome to do ferret out all possible info , write the bio, present it for acceptance. Or at least forward a summary and then we can write it. The post rock / post metal team can also give numerous examples of supposedly intelligent people who can't string together a reasonably informative bio. "We're great, we're like nothing else. We've been together since two years ago "(?)
Edited by debrewguy - July 04 2009 at 18:20
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"Here I am talking to some of the smartest people in the world and I didn't even notice,” Lieutenant Columbo, episode The Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case.
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DamoXt7942
Special Collaborator
Joined: October 15 2008
Location: Okayama, Japan
Status: Offline
Points: 17493
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Posted: July 04 2009 at 18:21 |
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As everyone has said here, also I consider a biography should be not remarkably subjective, not with much emotional expression, not with a strong passion.
However sorry honestly I say, it's a bit difficult for a bio-writer to write as above mentioned because in most cases he should be a fan of the artist, at the same time with a lovin' feelin'.
At any rate, we, who will write biographies here, should keep it in mind that we always try to write them as objectively as we can.
Edited by DamoXt7942 - July 04 2009 at 18:22
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harmonium.ro
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
Joined: August 18 2008
Location: Anna Calvi
Status: Offline
Points: 22989
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Posted: July 04 2009 at 18:35 |
debrewguy wrote:
"We're great, we're like nothing else. We've been together since two years ago "(?)
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Love that type! 
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DamoXt7942
Special Collaborator
Joined: October 15 2008
Location: Okayama, Japan
Status: Offline
Points: 17493
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Posted: July 04 2009 at 18:41 |
And I always appreciate the members (Ivan, Claude, and many collabs and Errors & Omissions Team) checking and fixing lots of biographies.  We all members should give & take any information we have noticed here I think.
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Ivan_Melgar_M
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 27 2004
Location: Peru
Status: Offline
Points: 19557
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Posted: July 05 2009 at 02:05 |
Thanks Damox 
Now, as Claude said, we are redoing bios ibnSymponic, this weeks Alex (Moving Pictures), Claude and myself have re-done 15 bios and moved one band and in some cases we jahve to do miracles adding a lot of Chit Chat because lack of info, for example:
This is what I found for Caja de Pandora:
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Mexican band who produces a very melodic progressive music, with lots of improvisation, and strong musicianship. The band has its own sound, influenced by the Spanish school (Without flamenco though) or to a bigger extent, the Italian one (BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO, PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI) and including guitar & keyboards combinations as well as a singing interrupted by the guitar. If you are a fan of any of the classic bands to come out of the Mexican prog scene, I'm sure you will enjoy this band. |
There was no info about the band, members, history, dates, except a vague reference otheir style and IMO inaccurate.
I know this is not great
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CAJA DE PANDORA
In 1981 a group of skilled Mexican musicians formed by Alejandro Lomelín (keyboards), José Terán (guitar), Antonio Castro (bass) and Víctor Illaramendi (drums), join in order to form a Progressive Rock band.
Almost in the run the band starts the recording sessions of their self titled debut album, but in the mean time Victor Illaramendi leaves the band in pursue of his career with another band and is replaced by Eduardo Medina.
With this new lineup CAJA DE PANDORA completes the recording of the album which because of financial problems is not released until 1991 when Deneb Records releases it with 3 excellent bonus tracks.
Before writing this short bio (Not much to say in a bio of a band that released only one album) I listened their self titled debut and must say that is impressive, because the band blends Baroque and Medieval influences with passages of pristine Rock and a bit of Jazz with the lead keyboards of Alejandro Lomelín who obviously has Classical formation.
Despite many people try to compare CAJA DE PANDORA with 70's Symphonic pioneers as CAMEL or even with Italian bands like BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO or PFM; the truth is that I find their style absolutely unique and interesting from start to end.
Maybe a few ELP reminiscences and dissonances similar to the ones of GENTLE GIANT, but not enough to call any of this bands a determinant influence in CAJA DE PANDORA'S style.
A great addition for any Symphonic listener who likes instrumental music in the style of the 70's but with an absolutely unique sound.
:::Iván Melgar Morey - Perú:::
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But at least says a bit more about the band, even when there's a lot of unnecesary words only to make the bio more easy to read, being that they have bno official website except a review of the bandthatcalls them amateurs.
Iván
Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - July 05 2009 at 02:07
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debrewguy
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 30 2007
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 3596
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Posted: July 05 2009 at 12:07 |
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And Ivan was lucky. For Chronos Mundi, one of the few things I found was one Commercial site's description of them as a Neo band like Tempus Fugit.
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"Here I am talking to some of the smartest people in the world and I didn't even notice,” Lieutenant Columbo, episode The Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case.
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crimson87
Prog Reviewer
Joined: January 03 2008
Location: Argentina
Status: Offline
Points: 1818
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Posted: July 05 2009 at 17:08 |
My humble opinion is that most of you take things way too seriously. I mean , it's just a little piece of writing.
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Ivan_Melgar_M
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 27 2004
Location: Peru
Status: Offline
Points: 19557
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Posted: July 05 2009 at 17:53 |
crimson87 wrote:
My humble opinion is that most of you take things way too seriously. I mean , it's just a little piece of writing. |
Probably, but when we are asked to do something, is better to do it the best you can.
Most surely you don't know this, but is very common to receive mails or PMs from the band members asking to correct some points or add new information, they take our bios seriously because Prog Archives is trusted, and our responsability is to honor his trust doing our best effort.
DamoXt7942 wrote:
However sorry honestly I say, it's a bit difficult for a bio-writer to write as above mentioned because in most cases he should be a fan of the artist, at the same time with a lovin' feelin'.
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This is an advantage of being in charge of a sub-genre that has more than 500 bands, we notrmally write bios of bands the less known bands (The most popular bands have decent bios in most cases because there is a lot of info) and hardly we can be fans of 200 or more bands.
Iván
Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - July 05 2009 at 17:56
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Plankowner
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 09 2008
Location: Florida
Status: Offline
Points: 4006
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Posted: July 05 2009 at 22:53 |
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Well let me honestly say, you never know how a bio is going to turn out when you start one.. Hopefully each one you write will be different, informative, and give you a clue what they sound like.
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Ivan_Melgar_M
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 27 2004
Location: Peru
Status: Offline
Points: 19557
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Posted: July 05 2009 at 23:39 |
Plankowner wrote:
Well let me honestly say, you never know how a bio is going to turn out when you start one.. Hopefully each one you write will be different, informative, and give you a clue what they sound like. |
That's totally accurate, specially when you write a bio of an unknown band with little (if any) information.
You start with two or three facts and what you get from listening theitr music...Then you find an important historic fact on another Prog site and you have to research it,............Then you get your version, but out from nowhere you get a paragraph from an obscure site and you have to change it even more.
Most of the times is a surprise even for the author.
Iván
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Plankowner
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 09 2008
Location: Florida
Status: Offline
Points: 4006
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Posted: July 06 2009 at 00:17 |
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Yep, I can't tell you how many interviews and reviews I've read for a sentence worth of description.
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Ivan_Melgar_M
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 27 2004
Location: Peru
Status: Offline
Points: 19557
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Posted: July 06 2009 at 00:56 |
Plankowner wrote:
Yep, I can't tell you how many interviews and reviews I've read for a sentence worth of description. |
LOL you also check intervoews.  We all have done it.
And adding photos is even harder in some cases
Look at his beauties
If you make an effort you can see their faces.
Not even good for an album photo, much less for a band picture, but there's nothing about the band in the 1,390,000,000 Google references about Black September as you might guess.
This photo of The Pink Mice looks more or less decent.....Sadly is not a photo of The Pink Mice.
The trick is that this band has the exact same lineup than Lucifer's Friend but without John Lawton, so I found a photo of the second band that had Lawton in one border, and removed him using Photo editor (You can still see his left leg).
Of course there are several collages of members of a determined band found in 5 or 6 different sites.
This is the magic we have to make sometimes.
Iván
Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - July 06 2009 at 01:01
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Atavachron
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: September 30 2006
Location: Pearland
Status: Offline
Points: 65616
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Posted: July 06 2009 at 01:15 |
^ oh yeah, done that on several occasions ..and how about when there are three bands from Germany called Odin that all play various forms of symphonic folk-metal 
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DamoXt7942
Special Collaborator
Joined: October 15 2008
Location: Okayama, Japan
Status: Offline
Points: 17493
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Posted: July 06 2009 at 05:29 |
Ivan_Melgar_M wrote:
Thanks Damox
Now, as Claude said, we are redoing bios ibnSymponic, this weeks Alex (Moving Pictures), Claude and myself have re-done 15 bios and moved one band and in some cases we jahve to do miracles adding a lot of Chit Chat because lack of info, for example:
This is what I found for Caja de Pandora:
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Mexican band who produces a very melodic progressive music, with lots of improvisation, and strong musicianship. The band has its own sound, influenced by the Spanish school (Without flamenco though) or to a bigger extent, the Italian one (BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO, PREMIATA FORNERIA MARCONI) and including guitar & keyboards combinations as well as a singing interrupted by the guitar. If you are a fan of any of the classic bands to come out of the Mexican prog scene, I'm sure you will enjoy this band. |
There was no info about the band, members, history, dates, except a vague reference otheir style and IMO inaccurate.
I know this is not great
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CAJA DE PANDORA
In 1981 a group of skilled Mexican musicians formed by Alejandro Lomelín (keyboards), José Terán (guitar), Antonio Castro (bass) and Víctor Illaramendi (drums), join in order to form a Progressive Rock band.
Almost in the run the band starts the recording sessions of their self titled debut album, but in the mean time Victor Illaramendi leaves the band in pursue of his career with another band and is replaced by Eduardo Medina.
With this new lineup CAJA DE PANDORA completes the recording of the album which because of financial problems is not released until 1991 when Deneb Records releases it with 3 excellent bonus tracks.
Before writing this short bio (Not much to say in a bio of a band that released only one album) I listened their self titled debut and must say that is impressive, because the band blends Baroque and Medieval influences with passages of pristine Rock and a bit of Jazz with the lead keyboards of Alejandro Lomelín who obviously has Classical formation.
Despite many people try to compare CAJA DE PANDORA with 70's Symphonic pioneers as CAMEL or even with Italian bands like BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO or PFM; the truth is that I find their style absolutely unique and interesting from start to end.
Maybe a few ELP reminiscences and dissonances similar to the ones of GENTLE GIANT, but not enough to call any of this bands a determinant influence in CAJA DE PANDORA'S style.
A great addition for any Symphonic listener who likes instrumental music in the style of the 70's but with an absolutely unique sound.
:::Iván Melgar Morey - Perú:::
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But at least says a bit more about the band, even when there's a lot of unnecesary words only to make the bio more easy to read, being that they have bno official website except a review of the bandthatcalls them amateurs.
Iván |
 You're welcome, Ivan. One of progressive searchers here from lots of biographies was me before joining PA members.  I do feel, then and now (and maybe in future), ProgArchives.com was/is/will be authorized by lots of progressive rock fans and musicians. (Also in Japan, PA is regarded as one of the most famous progsites all over the world.) That's why the biographies here should be objective, informative, and enjoyable as possible. I do consider Ivan's above-mentioned review be a good example, with all of 5W1H, some of his opinions for the band and Symphonic Progressive Rock, and a spice of his passion. (Exactly, writing lots of biographies is a hard and pressing work, I feel...even writing Brast Burn's obscure bio in my blog... )
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debrewguy
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: April 30 2007
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 3596
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Posted: July 06 2009 at 19:55 |
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Add to that the fact that PA is always open to someone doing some work on their own time
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"Here I am talking to some of the smartest people in the world and I didn't even notice,” Lieutenant Columbo, episode The Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case.
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Highly Biased Band Biographies
