Other music sites

Here's my, purely personal, selection of handy music links.

Societies and organisations that support music and musicians

The UK Classic Rock Society supports good musicians, and CRS members receive the bi-monthly "Rock Society" magazine. While I had a pad in Nottingham it was great to be able to get to some of the excellent gigs they put on in Rotherham.
I now run the unofficial CRS discussion group, a Yahoo! Groups forum which hosts CRS-related discussions for those who prefer forums that allow email participation.
I sponsored the CRS Guitarist of the Year award in 2002, which I was delighted to see won by Bryan Josh of Mostly Autumn, and again in 2003 (Steve Hackett) and 2004 (Bob Lawson of Strangefish).
Malvern Fringe organise gigs and other cool entertainment in and around Malvern.

Cathryn Craig at Solihull Boggery

Gig listings and ticket agencies (mainly UK)

Ents24 - The UK entertainment centre is a leading provider of UK entertainment listings and info, with comprehensive information covering every city and town. Its 100,000 pages cover more than 30,000 artists, 10,000 entertainment venues and 5,000 photos.
Two good sites for Scottish gigs, venues and so forth are Jockrock and the Scotland Gig Guide.
London Net's Live Listings is useful for gigs in that part of the country.
Electric Banana is a local music news and gig listings site for the (mainly West) Midlands.
The virtual Manchester What's On covers gigs in north-west England.
The Ultimate Gig Guide is a valuable source of East Midlands gig information.
eFestivals is another neat UK festival site.
Glastonbury has a comprehensive web site all of its own!
StarGreen Box Office is a handy ticket outlet in London, covering all main venues.
TicketWeb is another useful London online box office.
Ticketmaster UK are one of the major UK ticket agencies.
Musi-Cal is a more general US index that can be updated directly by its users.
Timeout also has listings for major cities across the world.

Dave Cousins (Strawbs) at Derby Flowerpot

Venue information

West Malvern Social Club is a great venue for smaller bands' live gigs and also hosts superb Open Mic sessions every Thursday evening and music sessions on Sunday nights.
The Bilston Robin 2 is a superb venue. Recently refurbished and having a marvellous sound system, it is a bastion of live music in the Black Country. I took photos of the Strawbs there on 28/6/2005.
Derby Flowerpot is an excellent venue that hosts a great range of gigs by progressive, tribute and other bands. It also has a superb bar with a wide selection of real ales. I photographed the Acoustic Strawbs there on 8/2/2002 and Karnataka on 20/3/03.
Camden Dingwalls is a superb London venue for upcoming and cult bands. I always have a good time there and have photographed Drugstore there on 1/8/2000 and 3/12/2001.
King Tuts Wah Wah Hut is Glasgow's premier venue for small and indie bands. I enjoyed many an excellent night there while I was living in Scotland.
The Marrs Bar is a lively Worcester venue that hosts local and alternative bands.
Huntingdon Hall is another great venue in Worcester - a converted church that has retained almost all of its original decor. I have twice seen the Strawbs there.
Camden Underworld is a great London venue - right opposite Camden Town tube - which hosts all kinds of rock and other bands.
The Cavern Club in Exeter is another good venue for smaller bands. A lovely part of the country, I had a girlfriend in nearby Honiton once.
Access all Areas is a database intended for performers giving information about the stage and backstage facilities available at each one.

Isabel and Daron (Drugstore) at Highbury Garage

CD vendors

is a new online CD retailer that focusses on artists beyond short term music industry fashions, across a variety of genres from pop to rock to folk to metal to prog, and all points in between.
101CD is a good site for records that aren't easy to find in the shops.
Action Records is an independent record shop in Preston that stocks a wide range of hard-to-find CDs.
Record-X is a secondhand e-tailer based in Wakefield with a diverse catalogue, well worth checking for hard-to-find or deleted CDs.
www.spincds.com is a good vendor from Newcastle-upon-Tyne with a decent range of stock.
Vinylnet is a great UK collectable vinyl and CD store.
BlahDVD offer music DVDs and CDs at discounted and competitive prices.
eil.com is an international specialist music e-tailer based in Meopham, Kent.
World Wide Rarities (VinylTap Ltd) is a specialist site based in Huddersfield.
Reddingtons Rare Records is a long-established specialist secondhand music store based in Birmingham. Their speciality has always been 7" vinyl but they do stock some CDs too.
Amazon also offer an extensive range - I have found them handy for getting CDs from foreign artists not well known here in Britain.
Resurrection Records in Camden are a good source for Gothic and other types of metal.
Southern are a UK mail-order company more geared towards indie/alternative titles.
Piccadilly Records is a great shop in Manchester.
Independent Musicians Marketplace, run by Second Fret Records, allows you to listen to tracks from independent bands' CDs and then buy what you want.

Heather Findlay (Mostly Autumn) at the CRS

Sites that promote music and musicians

Pagan Rock on the Web is a useful page of links to pagan rock bands and other related sites.
The Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock is a superb catalogue of the less-well-known progressive rock bands.
The Progressive Rock Hall of Fame aim to set in motion a real and viable way to honor those involved in music's highest artform.
The Dutch Progressive Rock Page gives a good starter on the Dutch scene and contains many useful pointers elsewhere too.
is a great site listing many bands with discographies and reviews. It also has a good classification of the different styles of classic/progressive rock.
New Horizons is a good site devoted to Progressive, Classic and Melodic Rock.
www.mostlypink.nl is great fan site focussing on Pink Floyd, Mostly Autumn and a number of other great bands.
Musical Discoveries actively follows and promotes contemporary, progressive and crossover music that features female vocalists, with reviews, interviews and career histories. They include a feature on Karnataka.
Melodic Hard Rock Today is devoted to melodic rock bands. A review of Karnataka's Strange Behaviour album is included there.
Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal - Internet Zine is a Brazilian webzine that have featured photos of Ashtar.
The UK Net Goth site has a useful directory of Goth bands.
- British Underground Rock Bands is a site for independent British bands, with its own Internet radio station, to help spread the word and get their music more widely heard.
Getreadytorock.com showcases prog/metal/AOR/folk - anything bar death metal! Lost of interviews, too.
CelebrityBlog.Net includes pages for bands such as Karnataka.
Anil Prasad's INNERVIEWS®

Publications and media

Jim Hawkins now has a radio show devoted to classic rock on BBC Radio Shropshire (96FM, 90FM, 95FM, 104.1FM & DAB) - this is also relayed on BBC Stoke and Hereford & Worcester. Tune in on Sunday nights from 1800 to 2000 when you'll actually be able to hear some decent music!
The New Music is a great Canadian TV show. It used to be broadcast on British ITV during the small hours, until the b***ards axed it! :(
Ghostland is an excellent eZine from the stable that produces cool US progressive music Progression Magazine.
PAPERLATE is Holland's main radio-show for progressive and classic rock, also on the Internet.
Acid Dragon is a French prog magazine (though it's published in English).
Silhobbit.Com is a progressive rock e-zine that rose from the ashes of the former Silhobbit magazine.
NME is one of the leading UK weekly papers.

John Ford (Strawbs) at Exeter Phoenix

Indexes

The Ultimate Bands List has now relaunched itself as a showcase for unsigned bands, allowing you to hear sample songs from each artist.
The All-Music Guide is a directory of useful band information though it probably needs more updates submitted from its users.
CDDB is a cool online CD info base which interfaces to a variety of CD player applets to present disc and track information as you listen!
The Indie Index contains a significant listing of indie bands.
The Groove Guide is a US database with bands, gigs etc.
There is a good selection of Internet Music Resources at the William and Gayle Cook Music Library, Indiana University School of Music.

Record labels

Cyclops records, run by Malcolm Parker, have produced many British progressive releases over a number of years, as well as launching several great bands such as Mostly Autumn.
Ankst Records have released a lot of great music from Welsh bands such as Melys.
Kinesis records is a contemporary American progressive label whose roster previously included Norfolk pagans Earthstone.
Musea records are a French prog label with a strong catalogue.
Witchwood Records is a well-run, expanding label initially established for Strawbs but now looking to widen its horizons.

Sites offering services to bands and musicians

Please note I have no personal experience of using any of these sites' offerings:

Disc Wizards - in London, specialises in CD and DVD replication, Blu-Ray duplication and mastering at competitive prices.
Music Media Entertainment Group's mission is to bring new talent to the public by providing an Internet-based community that nurtures and supports creative talent.