Magenta

Description

When Rob Reed released “Revolutions” in 2001 under the banner “Magenta” little did he realise that he had started something that would take on a life of its own….

“Revolutions” was originally created as a studio-only project, built around four long pieces of music with Rob playing most of the instruments himself, with a few guest musicians. The masterstroke was bringing in Christina on lead vocals, who had previously played with Rob in the bands Trippa and Cyan. The album, which took its musical inspiration from many of Robs heroes such as Yes, Genesis and Marillion, was released to wide acclaim.

This gave Rob a problem. The success of “Revolutions” led to public demand for live shows, something that Rob had not envisaged. However, gathering a live band around himself and Christina, he soon realised that with some deft arranging, the album could be played in concert with considerable success. This they proved in their first live shows, including the prestigious Mexican festival Baja Prog in 2003. The Band followed this up by playing throughout the UK and Europe in 2003, including an appearance at the Progeny festival at the Astoria in London later that year, alongside Pallas, IQ and Mostly Autumn.

In March 2004, the band released their second album “Seven”. Once again, the album was an instant success, winning the “Best Album” award from Poland’s “Metal Hammer” magazine. More prestigious concerts followed, including a first headlining appearance at the Classic Rock Society in Rotherham, UK. The end of 2004 saw the momentum continuing to build, with the release of a double live album “Another Time, Another Place” – winner of best live album by the Hungarian Progressive Rock Society - and another single “I’m Alive”, which quickly became another concert favourite. As well as playing with IQ at the Classic Rock Society Awards at the end of the year, Christina won best vocalist and the band best live gig at the ceremony itself.

2005 was another great year for the band. The recording of the bands first live DVD quickly followed a headline appearance at the Rosfest festival in Philadelphia, USA. The bands reputation continued to increase as an entertaining, dynamic live act, with fans travelling to UK gigs from as far away as Italy, Russia, Hungary, Peru, USA, Canada and New Zealand.

With the addition of bass player Dan Fry, joining his guitarist brother Chris, things were certainly looking colourful for the band. The year finished with the triumphant release of the DVD and prize for Best Band at the Classic Rock Society end of year awards ceremony.

2006 saw the final release of the bands third album “Home” which also included the additional disc “New York Suite”. The band played another batch of dates in support of the album, including their largest performance to date, supporting Roger Hodgson in Belgium in from of 4000 people, and a gig near Porto in Portugal during the summer. Home was, once again, very well received, winning best overseas album at the Italian Prog Awards, and Christina was, once again, best singer at the Classic Rock Society awards at the end of the year. The band also recorded the single “Night and Day” with the legendary Annie Haslam, to great acclaim.

2007 saw the band moving forward yet again, signing with Tigermoth Records at the beginning of the year. The single “Speechless”, released in March, made a dent in the UK singles chart, and all the band’s EPs were re-recorded and gathered together as “The Singles” in April. The band also played live in Barcelona, Spain with IQ at the Tiana Festival and made another trip to the USA, this time at Nearfest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After a short break, the band played some highly successful live dates at the end of the year, one of which – at the Point in Cardiff - was taped for a live DVD for release in 2008.

2008 has already seen the band pick up Best band and best Female singer at the Classic Rock Society awards. The latest album Metamorphosis was released in April to amazing reviews from all over the world. Taking the very complex Metamorphosis on the road was quite an undertaking, but with the addition of Kieran Bailey on drums and Colin Edwards of guitar the live shows are getting tremendous responses from the ever expanding fan base.

The future continues to look very bright for Magenta – the true colour of Progressive Rock.

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