So the Safari travels today to the UK to find some new Prog Rock in two locations. First in the West Midlands we find Andy Nixon and then in Derbyshire we meet Pete Riley. Both musicians are members of the leading Pink Floyd tribute act Dark Side Of The Wall. That though is not the band we had hoped to meet. The band we wanted to meet and learn more about is called Freedom to Glide and we have recently discovered the band and have listened to their latest album Rain. The album is really interesting on a couple of levels. The first level is that the music is terrific and the second is that the album is a concept album set during World War I(the album was released on Veterans Day 11.11.13) and is based on the experiences of Riley’s grandfather, Corporal Robert Wilson, who survived the conflict. In an article appearing in Prog Rock Magazine Riley says that….the first track on the album:
“Rain Part 1 is about the young men of WW1, filled with pride and keen for glory, being sent by their leaders to a foreign land to do their dirty work for them. Parts 2, 3 and 4 continue the theme.”
Now back to the fact that the two members of this band are located forty miles apart in the UK. We know they both are members of the Pink Floyd Tribute band but how did they come together to form Freedom to Glide. They tell us……
The tribute band were playing a concert in Manchester and after the band had sound checked Pete was chatting to Andy about a song ‘Hypnotized’ that he was recording. The song needed some acoustic guitar so he asked Andy if he’d be interested in taking a listen and maybe laying down the guitar. A week later, the track came back not only with guitar, but drums, bass and backing vocals! ‘It was just awesome. The song had now taken a totally new direction. Andy’s input had changed everything, musically we just simply clicked – Thinking back, it was one of those eureka moments.’
Ok so now they are together musically but they are still separated geographically. How do they make that work?? Freedom to Glide says…..
We both have our own studios at home and the recording is done separately then it comes together electronically via the Internet and hard copies on discs. In fact we could be on the other side of the world and still be creating music together. You don’t need to be in the same room to create ideas and demos, but we do get together for the important stuff like mixing and idea discussions – after all we are a band
And what about the band’s name???…..coming up with a name for their band they say was harder than their Internet collaboration. They tell us……
We spent hours and used up nearly all of our free text messages sending ideas to and thro, but a name just simply came out of nowhere, a phrase that just said it all:
Freedom To Glide
Ok now it’s on to the music and the lead track from the album Rain..….like I wrote the song and the album 
revolve around the story of Pete’s grandfather’s experiences during WWI. The opening track “Rain Pt 1” is the first track that they worked on and the rest of the album just followed and I for one am glad it did. The band also created the video for the opening track “”Rain Part 1” From Prog Rock Magazine….
The video was shot by the band with the help of re-enactment society Up An’ At ‘Em History. The success of the collaboration has led to plans for a full album movie Read More
You can check the band out at the usual locations:
Freedom to Glide Website:http://www.freedomtoglide.com/home
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreedomToGlide?ref=br_tf
Also check out their Facebook page Freedom To Tell where you can tell a remembrance of your ancestor who served – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Freedom-To-Tell/327555270658618You can also follow the band on Twitter – https://twitter.com/@freedomtoglide
Finally let’s go “Into the Night” with the video for “Rain Part 1”