Melt-Banana . . . exude a fervent passion for their music and a sense of hyperactive aggression underpins their work that’s not lost on the crowd, who spend the full set in a desperate, sweaty crush to get a foot closer to the riffs.

To say that cellist and composer, Jo Quail, has had an amazing 2018 is nothing short of an understatement. With the UK leg of her sell-out tour with Myrkur starting next week, we thought it an ideal time to ask Jo to write about three albums that have been huge influences on her playing and composition.

Oh Sees pound out a trailblazing, intoxicating, impression at London’s O2 Forum on their current European tour to promote latest release Smote Reverser.

Make no mistake, this Black Moth has done its time flitting around the candle. From now on, the candle is coming to them. . . only it’s not a candle any more – it’s a bloody great beacon.

We’re here to take a communion of sorts with Nergal and celebrate his album ‘Songs of Love and Death’, a side project with Anglo-Polish bluesman John Porter. Together, they are Me and That Man. At least, I think they are, because the shadowy figures taking the stage through a fog, to the ominous accompaniment of the harmonica theme from ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’, might just as easily be the Spaghetti Western Orchestra.

Musically, the entire band is ridiculously tight, as they run through just over an hour of instrumental tech metal. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel … It’s just done brilliantly well, and varied enough to never outstay its welcome.

Everyone, it seems, loves Clutch; and in turn, they provide an all-points meeting place for fans from a myriad of genres. Charlie Gardner joined the party and Magda Wrzeszcz took the pictures to prove it…

Robert John Godfrey has made way for a new generation in the band he formed 43 years ago. In a feature piece containing an extended interview and gig review that takes in three key performances, we look back at his last days in the band and forward to see what the future holds for The Enid.

Katie Kim is an enchantress, and Salt sees the visionary singer-songwriter at last set loose in a properly expansive landscape. An outstanding album of elemental beauty that teeters on the edge of darkness…

Charlie Gardner saw Torche light up the seafront and Red Fang make Brighton rock!

Gaz Cloud, Charlie Gardner and Dave Brooks attended this year’s HRH Prog Festival. Read their extensive coverage, which includes photos taken by Charlie as well.

Hypnotic and entrancing, ‘The City Lies in Ruins’ may not be psychedelia, but it’s certainly Trip-le Sun. – By Charlie Gardner

Charlie Gardner went on a walking tour of Brighton, and managed to fit in Mugstar and Luminous Bodies on the way…

‘Illusory Blues’ was a fine debut, but in many ways it was an illusion. The Messenger story starts here with ‘Threnodies’, and it’s a story you need to listen to. The message is simply this: Messenger rock! – By Charlie Gardner

On the eve of their UK tour, Renaissance’s Annie Haslam talked to Charlie Gardner about painting, patronage and why the band, now in their fifth decade, have never really seen themselves as prog rockers.

Ahead of this year’s HRH Prog festival, which starts on Thursday, we sent two of our resident progheads, Charlie Gardner & Gaz Cloud, out to talk to some of the bands on the bill. In this episode, they talk to Mikko Von Hertzen.

Ahead of this year’s HRH Prog festival, which starts on Thursday, we sent two of our resident progheads, Charlie Gardner & Gaz Cloud, out to talk to some of the bands on the bill. In this episode, they talk to Jaime Gomez Arellano from Messenger.

Ahead of this year’s HRH Prog festival, which starts on Thursday, we sent two of our resident progheads, Charlie Gardner & Gaz Cloud, out to talk to some of the bands on the bill. In this episode, they talk to Bojan Preradovic from EYE.

Ahead of this year’s HRH Prog festival, which starts on Thursday, we sent two of our resident progheads, Charlie Gardner & Gaz Cloud, out to talk to some of the bands on the bill. In this episode, they talk to Pye Hastings from Caravan.

Ahead of this year’s HRH Prog festival, which starts on Thursday, we sent two of our resident progheads, Charlie Gardner & Gaz Cloud, out to talk to some of the bands on the bill. In this episode, they talk to Theo Travis from the legendary Soft Machine.

Ahead of this year’s HRH Prog festival, which starts on Thursday, we sent two of our resident progheads, Charlie Gardner & Gaz Cloud, out to talk to some of the bands on the bill. In this episode, they talk to bass demon and Honey Monster look-a-like, Kevin Feazey, of The Fierce And The Dead.