Progressive rock band Persephone's Dream unveils mythical epic
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Josie Crooks, left, Roman Prokopenko, Jim Waugaman, Rowen Poole, John Tallent and Scot Harvey make up Persephone's Dream.
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Finally getting the chance to play the main stage at last year's Three Rivers ProgFest, Persephone's Dream has become the Pittsburgh region's longest-lasting progressive rock outfit. The group has existed in some form or another since 1993, when guitarist Rowan Poole started the band with bassist Chris Siegle as a strictly studio affair to release the "Evening Mirage" album.
"At that time, progressive rock bands didn't normally have a female lead singer," relates percussionst John Tallent, who joined the group in 1998. "The last [well-known] band to do that, Renaissance, had gone away by 1982."
With: Tiffany Apan and Sergei Lamash.
When: 7 p.m. Friday.
Where: Rex Theater, South Side.
Tickets: $10. 412-381-6811; www.rextheater.com or www.persephonesdream.com
Since then, Persephone's Dream has gone through a string of female vocalists, but that wasn't the only aspect setting it apart. Mr. Tallent lugged in a roomful of percussion from around the world. "Since they already had a drummer, I was free to play all the percussion I'd been collecting for years: hand drums, odd Third World instruments, slit and tongue drums from Central America and Africa. [The band] asked me to write a percussion piece, so [drummer] Ed Wyanko and I decided I'd only use bells and whistles, and it ended on the second album, 'Moonspell.' "
The door revolved again with the addition of (now deceased) bassist John Lally, who joined as Persephone's Dream was finishing recording its fourth album, "Pyre of Dreams." He brought along his fellow bandmate, Jim Waugaman from rockers On Beyond Zebra, as well as a drummer acquaintance, Scott Harvey, formerly of ESP and Blue Sun.
The roster that appears on the group's latest release, "Pan: An Urban Pastoral," for which it will hold a release concert at the Rex Theater this Friday, was galvanized with the addition of Russian bassist Roman Propenko. "When he answered the ad, he said he was from Belarus, and I had never seen that word before, so I thought it was another planet," jokes Mr. Waugaman.
First Published December 2, 2010 12:00 am
