GlobalProgressive Rock Weekly: HAKEN - launch '1985' playthrough; 10th anniversary tour begins this month

Saturday, March 4, 2017

HAKEN - launch '1985' playthrough; 10th anniversary tour begins this month

Haken recently returned from a triumphant appearance on Cruise To The Edge in the US, and now have their sights set on their 10th anniversary European tour which starts later this month. In advance of that, the band have launched a special playthrough video with guitarist Charlie Griffiths which you can see now here:

https://youtu.be/y-KptyAx6iI

Charlie had this to say: "For me, the perfect format for an instructional guitar video is VHS. Loading one of those Don Mock, Frank Gambale or Yngwie Malmsteen tapes into the machine was such a magical moment - as it was often the only way you could actually see how those seemingly impossible licks were done! I watched, rewound and re-watched those videos hundreds of times until the tapes were worn out.

There's something about that tactile experience that I really miss, so for this play-through of '1985' from our album 'Affinity' it seemed like the perfect opportunity to pay tribute to those days when everything was in lower resolution, yet somehow seemed more palpable."

You can also watch an interview with Charlie and Rich Henshall where they discuss the forthcoming tour here: https://youtu.be/26tTXfqczlQ

Make sure to catch HAKEN live on the band's 10th anniversary tour kicking off in March 2017, with support from The Algorithm & Next To None.

'Haken X' Tour 2017

22nd March - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK

23rd March - O2 ABC2, Glasgow, UK

24th March - Academy 3, Manchester, UK

25th March - O2 Academy 2, Birmingham, UK

26th March - Islington Assembly Hall, London, UK

28th March - Le Splendid, Lille, France

29th March - La Maroquinerie, Paris, France

30th March - La Laiterie, Strasbourg, France

31st March - KIFF, Aarau, Switzerland

1st April - Keller Klub, Stuttgart, Germany

3rd April - Zona Roveri, Bologna, Italy

4th April - Szene, Vienna, Austria

5th April - Dürer-Kert, Budapest, Hungary

6th April - Futurum, Prague, Czech Republic

7th April - Beatpol, Dresden, Germany

9th April - Chez Heinz, Hannover, Germany

10th April - Kesselhaus, Wiesbaden, Germany

11th April - Turock, Essen, Germany

12th April - Rockhal, Esch-Sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

13th April - Melkweg OZ, Amsterdam, Holland

The band recently reissued their first two albums 'Aquarius' and 'Visions' as brand new remastered editions.

Buy limited colored vinyl and the 2CD digipak here:

Laser's Edge

http://lasercd.com/fr/inside-out-music-pre-orders-and-recent-releases

Find more purchasing options below:

"Aquarius"

http://smarturl.it/HAKENaquarius

"Visions"

http://smarturl.it/HAKENvisions

Vocalist Ross Jennings commented on the releases: "As advocates of the physical format and fellow record collectors, it seems almost criminal that our first two albums have never had a vinyl release until now, so we are thrilled to finally give these albums a fresh presentation on the format they deserve. We have taken this opportunity to polish the sound of our beloved concept albums without going back over every little detail and rewriting history. In essence we wanted to give these albums a chance to stand shoulder to shoulder in sonic quality with "The Mountain" and "Affinity". In addition to this and due to popular demand, both releases will also be available again on CD with instrumental, or "Karaoke" versions of every track. This release marks 10 years since we formed the band and started putting together our first demos so it's a perfect time to reflect on these releases and appreciate what we've achieved so far.

The "Aquarius" concept was drawn from conversations about our favourite albums and the way in which the songs flow that make those particular records work. This lead to ideas about having our album be about the flow or journey of water from mountain spring to oceans and evaporation, which in turn lead on to a deeper concept about human life and reincarnation. The themes of water helped us to create aqueous soundscapes and as the music and lyrics started coming together a narrative was formed in the shape of Mermaids & natural disasters. "Aquarius" will always have a special place in our hearts. It's where our journey really began.

When writing for "Visions" came around, we set about the process with the same formula, although we hadn't set out to write another concept album at the time. As themes found themselves recurring in the music it only felt right to go in the narrative direction, although this time around we drew from our science fiction influences such as Minority Report and 12 Monkeys and was inspired by real recurring dreams I had been having around the time. It's always a joy to revisit these tracks in our live sets, so much so that we will be performing it in its entirety later this year at ProgPower USA, Atlanta!"

Newly remastered by the renowned Jens Bogren (Devin Townsend Project, Between the Buried & Me) both are available as 2CD Digipaks, digital album including the entire albums as instrumentals, and on vinyl, arriving as Gatefold heavyweight 2LP editions with the full album on CD included.