A very short summary of a very long story
The Tangent has actually existed as a music making group of people since 2002, but the idea of it goes back a lot further than that. Andy Tillison, the band's founder actually had a band called "The Tangent" back in the late 70's but abandoned the name when "The Tangents" a Sheffield new wave outfit grabbed the name. The band he eventually formed was called "A New Opera" which began life proper in 1980. This band was fairly proto-typical of the "stealth" Progressive Bands who came into the world with a commercial bent... bands like It Bites, Go West, XTC, Duran Duran..solo artists like Howard Jones. But look at the year! Complete with headbands, crimped hair and makeup too!. The band lived together, worked together and gigged all over the place. Pictured are Dave Albone (drums) Keith Marwood (bass), Quentin Churchill (Vocals and Keys) Mick Macsween (guitar) and Andy Tillison (Vocals & Keys). Other key members included Simon Albone (Bass), Jonathan Barrett (Bass) and Guy Hatton (Guitar) A fair few songs from the late 70s and early 80s have since appeared, re-imagined on The Tangent's albums in this century. Songs like Darkest Dreams, the Music That Died Alone, Uphill From Here and In Earnest all have certain sections that were used back then. And in 1982 Andy made a "solo" album. It was by "Andy Tillison - Parallel Or 90 Degrees" And 15 years later he formed a band by that name.....
The Tangent has actually existed as a music making group of people since 2002, but the idea of it goes back a lot further than that. Andy Tillison, the band's founder actually had a band called "The Tangent" back in the late 70's but abandoned the name when "The Tangents" a Sheffield new wave outfit grabbed the name.
The band he eventually formed was called "A New Opera" which began life proper in 1980. This band was fairly proto-typical of the stealth Progressive Bands who came into the world with a commercial bent... bands like It Bites, Go West, XTC, Duran Duran..solo artists like Howard Jones. But look at the year. Complete with headbands, crimped hair and makeup too!. The band lived together, worked together and gigged all over the place. Pictured are Dave Albone (drums) Keith Marwood (bass), Quentin Churchill (Vocals and Keys) Mick Macsween (guitar) and Andy Tillison (Vocals & Keys). . Other key members included Simon Albone (Bass), Jonathan Barrett (Bass) and Guy Hatton (Guitar)
A fair few songs from the late 70s and early 80s have since appeared, re-imagined on The Tangent's albums in this century. Songs like Darkest Dreams, the Music That Died Alone, Uphill From Here and In Earnest all have certain sections that were used back then. And in 1982 Andy made a "solo" album. It was by "Andy Tillison - Parallel Or 90 Degrees" And 15 years later he formed a band by that name..... Next up though was GFDD. or "Gold, Frankincense & Diskdrive"
This was formed after New Opera's demise as a band that sought to be part of the UK's burgeoning Anarchist music scene - the group were in effect running a recording studio largely based around a anarcho-punk/ early hardcore thrash clientele. The group produced agit prop music with a certain amount more progginess than most but held their own at venues around the country and took some encouraging reviews. Their debut album featured a good few members of Chumbawamba as guests. This was Andy "Diskdrives" entry to the world of political songwriting with which he persists to this day.
"Where Do We Draw The Line" was an album about the walls we build - particular focus on the Berlin Wall which was promptly torn down rendering the album out of date within 2 years of release. GFDD had several lineup iterations, but key members included Guy Hatton, Jonathan Barrett, Louie Houghton, Jerry Budby, Matthew Coleman and Paul Lawrence. The band released 2 vinyl albums and a 12" ep in the 1980s released by 2 different but equally legendary reord labels firstly Peaceville Records and secondly Nuclear Blast Records. A third album remains unreleased.
Next up though was GFDD. or "Gold, Frankincense & Diskdrive" This was formed after New Opera's demise as a band that sought to be part of the UK's burgeoning Anarchist music scene - the group were in effect running a recording studio largely based around a anarcho-punk/ early hardcore thrash clientele. The group produced agit prop music with a certain amount more progginess than most but held their own at venues around the country and took some encouraging reviews. Their debut album featured a good few members of Chumbawamba as guests. This was Andy "Diskdrives" entry to the world of political songwriting with which he persists to this day. "Where Do We Draw The Line" was an album about the walls we build - particular focus on the Berlin Wall which was promptly torn down rendering the album out of date within 2 years of release. GFDD had several lineup iterations, but key members included Guy Hatton, Jonathan Barrett, Louie Houghton, Jerry Budby, Matthew Coleman and Paul Lawrence. The band released 2 vinyl albums and a 12" ep in the 1980s released by 2 different but equally legendary record labels firstly Peaceville Records and secondly Nuclear Blast Records. A third album remains unreleased.
Next up though was GFDD. or "Gold, Frankincense & Diskdrive" This was formed after New Opera's demise as a band that sought to be part of the UK's burgeoning Anarchist music scene - the group were in effect running a recording studio largely based around a anarcho-punk/ early hardcore thrash clientele. The group produced agit prop music with a certain amount more progginess than most but held their own at venues around the country and took some encouraging reviews. Their debut album featured a good few members of Chumbawamba as guests. This was Andy "Diskdrives" entry to the world of political songwriting with which he persists to this day. "Where Do We Draw The Line" was an album about the walls we build - particular focus on the Berlin Wall which was promptly torn down rendering the album out of date within 2 years of release. GFDD had several lineup iterations, but key members included Guy Hatton, Jonathan Barrett, Louie Houghton, Jerry Budby, Matthew Coleman and Paul Lawrence. The band released 2 vinyl albums and a 12" ep in the 1980s released by 2 different but equally legendary record labels firstly Peaceville Records and secondly Nuclear Blast Records. A third album remains unreleased.
Parallel Or 90 Degrees were a sort of Indie band. It was all kind of supposed to be Radiohead, Mansun, Muse style stuff but it was also kind of proggy too. And the band signed to Cyclops records and the rest is - well.. if not history, certainly something else. During Po90's run, on the band's third album "The Time Capsule" there was a song called "The Single" This particular song was important because it was actually, looking back on it, a blueprint for The Tangent - an upbeat unashamedly bouncy Prog song. It got a little bit forgotten amongst the epics and heavier tracks like "Unforgiving Skies" but what Andy considered a future "side project" was suggested by this piece. And gradually he pieced together some songs and structures culled from the days of A New Opera, reworked polysynths into Hammonds and decided it would be a nice pun on the geometrically influenced name of "Parallel Or 90 Degrees" to call this "The Tangent" as he originally intended back in 1978. Key Members of the band were Jonathan Barrett (bass), Graham Young (Guitar) , Sam Baine (Keyboards), Lee Duncan (Drums), Alex King (Drums), Ken Senior (Bass), Dan Watts (Guitar), Gareth Harwood (Guitar) Matt Clark (Bass). If Po90 have one thing that commends them to history it is the Mp3 they placed online in 1996 which is arguably the first Mp3 of a band to have been on the internet (just a day after the release of the software to make an mp3.) They released a whole free downloadable album on the internet a full 8 years before Radiohead were lauded for doing the same thing.
The beginnings of the actual band "The Tangent" in 2002 have been told to the point of exhaustion - but to briefly recap a la "Previously On The Tangent" - Ian Oakley and Andy Tillison made friends after an argument. Ian sent the demos of "The Tangent" to his other friend Roine Stolt from the Swedish band The Flower Kings. Roine enlisted Jonas Reingold and Zoltan Csorsz as a rhythm section and together with english musicians David Jackson, (VDGG) Sam Baine and Guy Manning the album "The Music That Died Alone" was recorded using the internet as a medium. The resulting pieces were signed by Insideout Music who the band are still with 22 years later and the album went on to a resounding success with fans of progressive music all over the world leading to a career that has seen the release of 13 studio albums, 3 live albums and a whole boatload of side projects.
Parallel Or 90 Degrees were a sort of Indie band. It was all kind of supposed to be Radiohead, Mansun, Muse style stuff but it was also kind of proggy too. And the band signed to Cyclops records and the rest is - well.. if not history, certainly something else. During Po90's run, on the band's third album "The Time Capsule" there was a song called "The Single" This particular song was important because it was actually, looking back on it, a blueprint for The Tangent - an upbeat unashamedly bouncy Prog song. It got a little bit forgotten amongst the epics and heavier tracks like "Unforgiving Skies" but what Andy considered a future "side project" was suggested by this piece. And gradually he pieced together some songs and structures culled from the days of A New Opera, reworked polysynths into Hammonds and decided it would be a nice pun on the geometrically influenced name of "Parallel Or 90 Degrees" to call this "The Tangent" as he originally intended back in 1978.
Key Members of the band were Jonathan Barrett (bass), Graham Young (Guitar) , Sam Baine (Keyboards), Lee Duncan (Drums), Alex King (Drums), Ken Senior (Bass), Dan Watts (Guitar), Gareth Harwood (Guitar) Matt Clark (Bass). If Po90 have one thing that commends them to history it is the Mp3 they placed online in 1996 which is arguably the first Mp3 of a band to have been on the internet (just a day after the release of the software to make an mp3.) They released a whole free downloadable album on the internet a full 8 years before Radiohead were lauded for doing the same thing.
The beginnings of the actual band "The Tangent" in 2002 have been told to the point of exhaustion - but to briefly recap a la "Previously On The Tangent" - Ian Oakley and Andy Tillison made friends after an argument. Ian sent the demos of "The Tangent" to his other friend Roine Stolt from the Swedish band The Flower Kings. Roine enlisted Jonas Reingold and Zoltan Csorsz as a rhythm section and together with english musicians David Jackson, (VDGG) Sam Baine and Guy Manning the album "The Music That Died Alone" was recorded using the internet as a medium. The resulting pieces were signed by Insideout Music who the band are still with 22 years later and the album went on to a resounding success with fans of progressive music all over the world leading to a career that has seen the release of 13 studio albums, 3 live albums and a whole boatload of side projects.
The band started life with a "revolving door" lineup. In fact the first album to be made by the exact same lineup as the previous album did not occur until 2020. To do a lineup history is a huge project, but Andy has 4 epochs of the band:
1. Beginnings. The first 2 albums were made by almost the same lineup. Tillison, Stolt, Reingold, Csorsz, Manning and Baine were on both, but the band enlisted Theo Travis for the second album after David Jackson returned to Van Der Graaf Generators fold. both of these albums were written for the most part by Tillison with a contribution from Sam Baine ("Photosynthesis"). However, the presence of Roine Stolt loomed large and - quite rightly - the band did have a type of "sister to The Flower Kings" sound about it. The band had never sought to make more than ONE album. This second one was a surprise, the third one was never even contemplated. When Roine left, everyone assumed this was over. Except Jonas.
The band started life with a "revolving door" lineup. In fact the first album to be made by the exact same lineup as the previous album did not occur until 2020. To do a lineup history is a huge project, but Andy has 4 epochs of the band:
1. Beginnings. The first 2 albums were made by almost the same lineup. Tillison, Stolt, Reingold, Csorsz, Manning and Baine were on both, but the band enlisted Theo Travis for the second album after David Jackson returned to Van Der Graaf Generators fold. both of these albums were written for the most part by Tillison with a contribution from Sam Baine ("Photosynthesis"). However, the presence of Roine Stolt loomed large and - quite rightly - the band did have a type of "sister to The Flower Kings" sound about it. The band had never sought to make more than ONE album. This second one was a surprise, the third one was never even contemplated. When Roine left, everyone assumed this was over. Except Jonas.
2. Development. The next 2 albums were keen to point out the difference between The Tangent and The Flower Kings. Roine Stolt had left to concentrate on his job as leader of TFK. Jonas - (and it was his idea to carry on with the band) stayed with both bands, and Tangent recruited Krister Jonsson (Karmakanic) as guitarist, Jaime Salazar on Drums to replace Zoltan who remained with The Flower Kings. Travis, Tillison, Baine and Manning remained in The Tangent for the next album "A Place In The Queue" and Sam Baine left after this album after the relationship with Andy broke up in France in 2006. Krister Jonsson handed over to Jakko Jakszyk for the next album "Not As Good As The Book", the bands 2007/8 album. The album "A Place In the Queue" was the moment the Tangent became a band in its own right, no longer a Po90 or Flower Kings side project. This was the real deal. The band were captured live for the DVD/CD set "Going Off On One" which features 2 performances, from the USA (Rosfest 2005) and the UK (Southend 2006)
2. Development. The next 2 albums were keen to point out the difference between The Tangent and The Flower Kings. Roine Stolt had left to concentrate on his job as leader of TFK. Jonas - (and it was his idea to carry on with the band) stayed with both bands, and Tangent recruited Krister Jonsson (Karmakanic) as guitarist, Jaime Salazar on Drums to replace Zoltan who remained with The Flower Kings. Travis, Tillison, Baine and Manning remained in The Tangent for the next album "A Place In The Queue" and Sam Baine left after this album after the relationship with Andy broke up in France in 2006. Krister Jonsson handed over to Jakko Jakszyk for the next album "Not As Good As The Book", the bands 2007/8 album. The album "A Place In the Queue" was the moment the Tangent became a band in its own right, no longer a Po90 or Flower Kings side project. This was the real deal. The band were captured live for the DVD/CD set "Going Off On One" which features 2 performances, from the USA (Rosfest 2005) and the UK (Southend 2006)
3. The English Band. After a chaotic time in Andy's life which saw him making an unanticpated move back from France, he formed a new version of the band with musicians all from the UK in order to get the band started again. Guy Manning now became an occasional contributor as he focussed more on his own bands "Manning" and later Damanek, bass was handled by Jonathan Barrett - who handed over to Dan Mash - Paul Burgess (10cc) was drummer, handing over to Michael Gilbourne, then Tony 'Funkytoe' Latham, then Nick Rickwood, then back to Funkytoe.... Wow. Mad. Guitar for the first album by the English Band (Down And Out In Paris And London) was played by Andy Tillison with a guest solo on "Perdu Dans Paris" by Jakko. The second album was a live recording which saw the debut of guitarist Luke Machin with the band on "Going Off On Two" Luke stayed and made the third album of the set "Comm". Dan Mash and Michael Gilbourne sadly never got to play and Funkytoe was on the "Going Off On Two" live album. Theo remained stalwartly with the band through all this chaos!
Before the next "epoch" began, a one off album.. the conceptual/orchestral "Le Sacre Du Travail" came out in 2013. A lineup featuring Jakko, Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree), David Longdon (from Big Big Train), Theo, Andy and Rikard Sjoblom (Beardfish) made this record which was important because it re-introduced Jonas Reingold to the band after a 2 album hiatus which really should never have happened.
3. The English Band. After a chaotic time in Andy's life which saw him making an unanticpated move back from France, he formed a new version of the band with musicians all from the UK in order to get the band started again. Guy Manning now became an occasional contributor as he focussed more on his own bands "Manning" and later Damanek, bass was handled by Jonathan Barrett - who handed over to Dan Mash - Paul Burgess (10cc) was drummer, handing over to Michael Gilbourne, then Tony 'Funkytoe' Latham, then Nick Rickwood, then back to Funkytoe.... Wow. Mad. Guitar for the first album by the English Band (Down And Out In Paris And London) was played by Andy Tillison with a guest solo on "Perdu Dans Paris" by Jakko. The second album was a live recording which saw the debut of guitarist Luke Machin with the band on "Going Off On Two" Luke stayed and made the third album of the set "Comm". Dan Mash and Michael Gilbourne sadly never got to play and Funkytoe was on the "Going Off On Two" live album. Theo remained stalwartly with the band through all this chaos!
Before the next "epoch" began, a one off album.. the conceptual/orchestral "Le Sacre Du Travail" came out in 2013. A lineup featuring Jakko, Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree), David Longdon (from Big Big Train), Theo, Andy and Rikard Sjoblom (Beardfish) made this record which was important because it re-introduced Jonas Reingold to the band after a 2 album hiatus which really should never have happened.
4. The Current, Stable Lineup. Starting with the album "A Spark In The Aether" The Tangent's lineup settled down for a long stretch which is still intact. Barring Steve Roberts (who was with Magenta at the time) This album saw Tillison, Machin, Reingold and Travis together for the first time - the drums were handled by Morgan Agren. Andy T handled drums on the next album "The Slow Rust of Forgotten Machinery" but with the same band as before and for the album "Proxy" Steve Roberts joined as the band's drummer and has made the last three Tangent albums (Proxy, Auto Reconnaissance, and Songs From The Hard Shoulder) with the same team and toured Europe and the USA with the band's variant "Tangekanic" a collaboration with Jonas' band "Karmakanic"
4. The Current, Stable Lineup. Starting with the album "A Spark In The Aether" The Tangent's lineup settled down for a long stretch which is still intact. Barring Steve Roberts (who was with Magenta at the time) This album saw Tillison, Machin, Reingold and Travis together for the first time - the drums were handled by Morgan Agren. Andy T handled drums on the next album "The Slow Rust of Forgotten Machinery" but with the same band as before and for the album "Proxy" Steve Roberts joined as the band's drummer and has made the last three Tangent albums (Proxy, Auto Reconnaissance, and Songs From The Hard Shoulder) with the same team and toured Europe and the USA with the band's variant "Tangekanic" a collaboration with Jonas' band "Karmakanic"
In 2024 a one off album will be released in May.. "To Follow Polaris" is official Tangent Canon but on this occasion is created from the ground up by just Andy who plays all the instruments and was responsible for all aspects of the production from music to artwork. Realeased under the name "The Tangent - For One" the record is totally The Tangent, yet veers in ways that perhaps it would not have with the full lineup. That full lineup is already preparing and gearing up for the next full band album which looks set to be the second orchestrally based concept album.. provisionally entitled "Was"
The band now can look back over 22 years of music, 13 studio albums and if not a constancy of personnel, certainly a constancy of quality reflected by their support since the beginning from Insideout. "They don't release our music because they like my hair" says Andy Tillison with a certain amount of despondency....
In 2024 a one off album will be released in May.. "To Follow Polaris" is official Tangent Canon but on this occasion is created from the ground up by just Andy who plays all the instruments and was responsible for all aspects of the production from music to artwork. Realeased under the name "The Tangent - For One" the record is totally The Tangent, yet veers in ways that perhaps it would not have with the full lineup. That full lineup is already preparing and gearing up for the next full band album which looks set to be the second orchestrally based concept album.. provisionally entitled "Was"
The band now can look back over 22 years of music, 13 studio albums and if not a constancy of personnel, certainly a constancy of quality reflected by their support since the beginning from Insideout. "They don't release our music because they like my hair" says Andy Tillison with a certain amount of despondency....