...12 hours of Progressive Rock Excellence

July 8, 2006 in Whittier, California

Kino
Cryptic Vision
Helmet of Gnats
Presto Ballet

On the Patio stage: IZZ “unplugged” featuring John Galgano, Laura Meade and Paul Bremner
Friday Night Pre-party: Nima and Merge

Tickets are available at the CalProg website: http://www.calprog.com - http://www.calprog.com

Kino
This “super group” is made up of British musicians who all have made names for themselves in other bands. They include Pete Trewavas (Marillion/Transatlantic), and John Mitchell (Arena/It Bites).

Kino is a song-based rock band with progressive overtones. It is a modern sound with a touch of Transatlantic and, of course, Marillion. As highly respected individual musicians, their paths have all crossed at various times during their professional careers.  They decided finally to pool their common interest and talents together to make PICTURE - a totally new and original sound for them all, although one which should appeal to any fan of each member's distinctive musical style. This album can be found on numerous top 10 lists of Prog reviewers for 2005 releases. This will be their only US appearance this year.

Cryptic Vision
This Florida based symphonic prog band blew away the crowd at last year’s ROSFEST progressive rock festival. Their dynamic stage presence and precise instrumentals are reminiscent of prog pioneers Yes, Genesis and Kansas. In fact many reported that one of the highlights of their performance was a medley of prog songs that paid homage to both classic and current prog bands. The medley included songs from all these bands as well as recent prog classics from Spock’s Beard and Dream Theater.

They have just completed mixing their next release “In a World” in the UK last month and plan to debut it live at CalProg. This is a performance you won’t want to miss. This performance will be recorded for an upcoming Live Album.

Helmet of Gnats
While this name might have you subliminally scratching your head and hearing buzzing sounds, they have built a solid reputation by blowing away prog festival audiences over the past few years. They are an all instrumental band and their influences are reminiscent of bands like the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever. If you’re a fan of prog, jazz, fusion or jam bands, these guys are sure to please.

Presto Ballet
This is the project of renowned guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof from Metal Church. After years of playing progressive metal Kurdt wanted to form a band that would allow him to showcase his love for progressive rock, and so Presto Ballet was formed. Their debut album “Peace Among the Ruins” was met with overwhelming critical acclaim in prog circles. In a rare live appearance at CalProg they are sure to set the day on fire as they open the festival. Their music has been described as a cross between Styx and Deep Purple. If crunchy guitars, Hammond B3, vintage synths and full bodied vocals are your thing, these guys will blow you away.

CalProg purposefully chose bands this year were “young” and not tremendously well known, but that have reputations for turning in STELLAR live performances. This will be a day of music that will be talked about for years to come. And of course there’s the CalProg tradition of each band performing a classic prog cover. As usual the one’s being planned are extremely ambitious and are sure to bring goose bumps to all the old-time progressive rock fans.

We hope that you will come out this summer and support this great music, and spend a day with people from all over the world that share your passion for what has been described as “the thinking man’s rock”.

*Sound samples in MP3 format are available for all of these bands on the http://www.calprog.com - www.calprog.com website. And be sure to check out the RADIO AD posted on the home page.