Crippled Black Phoenix made it. They have outgrown the underground and gained a reputation on a broad level, which allows them to tour worldwide and play at the big festivals. And all this without bending, without giving up her vision of an alternative artrock. Band founder and guitarist Justin Greaves talks about the inner workings of his band and the new album.

eclipsed: "White Light Generator sounds quieter than its predecessors.

Justin Greaves: Yeah, it could be. There's no suitable material for the big stadium skirt, is there? No heavy rock either. We don't think about what a new album should sound like before. There is only one requirement: It should not sound like its predecessor. "White Light Generator has indeed become very intimate. It is very emotional and not as powerful as "(Mankind) The Crafty Ape".

The singer and guitarist Hans Magnus "Snah" Ryan is very balanced these days: As if the relaxed mood of the current Motorpsycho studio factory had been transferred to the musicians. Or was it the other way around? In the interview "Snah" talks about the advantages of purifying songs and why it's liberating that the big hype around the trio from Trondheim has diminished a bit.

eclipsed: Behind The Sun" unmistakably gathers influences from all your creative periods. Were you trying to please everyone? Have you given up your intransigence?

The news that Mike Oldfield has recorded a rock album again should be a good one for many of his fans. After all, his last work with simple vocals, "Heaven's Open", was twenty-three years ago. And the Englishman, once known for his shyness and unwillingness to talk to journalists, also willingly gives information about studio album number 25. But this doesn't necessarily seem to be the starting signal for an activity offensive of Oldfield. For some time now, the 60-year-old has been leading the comfortable life of an early retired rock star in the Bahamas, who only does what really suits him. And this definitely does not include tours, as he reiterates to eclipsed. The old demons haven't quite left him yet either.

Tuesday, 18 February, 5 p.m.: On the huge pool deck and along the higher parapet of the luxury liner Norwegian Pearl off the coast of Miami, around one thousand progfans from all over the world cheer for the multinational supergroup TRANSATLANTIC. The artificial palm trees all around symbolize the wonderful weather, which brings sunny 26 degrees Celsius. The mood couldn't be better. The hymn-like sounds of Transatlantic's current album "Kaleidoscope" unfold their very own greatness within this framework. This can be seen from the faces of everyone involved. The blue of the sky and the blue of the Atlantic Ocean, which pushes into Biscayne Bay, form the perfect setting for the longtrack "Into The Blue". Minor teething troubles - Mike Portnoy gets messed up once, Roine Stolt generates unwanted feedback - don't interest me. Again and again the audience stretches their hands into the air, mostly led by the radiant Neal Morse. Fans and musicians in unison.

Suspicions that the Rolling Stones might lose the desire to tour were fired up by the band members themselves in the seventies. In 1975, a 27-year-old Mick Jagger declared: "I can't jump around like a 21-year-old anymore, and I'd rather die than sing satisfaction at 45." Statements like these led the German magazine "Musikexpress" to write a story about the upcoming Europatrip in spring 1976 with the headline "The last tour of the Rolling Stones?" and about the possible "last big coup" of the group. The organizers of the performance in Stuttgart's Neckar Stadium recorded the ball: "Industry experts already see the European tour as the end of the glorious Stones era. Should that prove to be true, the audience would witness the great farewell concert of the world's best rhythm and blues band."

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX - Northern Comfort (6:02)
Album: White Light Generator (2014)
LABEL/Distribution: COOL GREEN/MASCOT/ROUGH TRADE
WWW.CRIPPLEDBLACKPHOENIX.CO.UK