Pendragon

Pendragon was formed in 1978, Stroud, Glos when four like-minded musicians got together and decided to form a rock band. Zeus Pendragon, consisting of Nick Barrett [guitar/vocals], Julian Baker [guitar/vocals], Nigel Harris [drums] and Stan Cox [bass] was born (The Zeus part of their name was dropped when the foresighted Julian decided it was far too long to fit across a t-shirt, and this ridiculous cross pollination of Arthurian and Greek mythology just seemed silly beyond belief).

In the next few years there were a number of line up changes, ending with a stable line up of Nick, John “Barney” Barnfield, Peter Gee and Nigel. Nick and Barney spent a lot of time writing together and the distinctive Barrett/Barnfield sound was forged (eg : Excalibur, Oh Divineo)

In 1982 Pendragon’s then manager booked a young band called Marillion to play and added Pendragon as support. The two bands hit it off and Pendragon toured extensively with Marillion for several years in the UK whilst building their own strong and loyal following.

1983 saw Pendragon play to 30,000 strong audience at Reading Festival, they also recorded a live session for Tommy Vance’s Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio1 (re-aired on BBC 6 Music Feb 08)

Barney then left and Rik Carter from Southend joined the band on keyboards and soon with some help from John Arnison (Marillion’s manager) Pendragon were in the studio to record a mini album Fly High Fall Far, and later the bands first full length album The Jewel.

Eventually, due to lack of cash in pockets and a grueling tour schedule more line up changes were afoot. Nigel left and was replaced for a short time by Matt Anderson. He didn’t last long and was then followed by Rik leaving… So Pendragon were at this point just Nick and Peter!

Fudge Smith from the band La Host joined on drums and the ‘disco/soul influenced’ session keyboard player James Colah [Nick - “he had a Mini Moog , we thought he would be good!”] was drafted in to complete the 9.15 Live album tour. Clive Nolan on keyboards was the final addition.

In 1987 Pendragon set up their own label “Toff Records”. A few songs the band had put together for an EMI demo plus a couple of extra songs made up Toff’s first release, ‘Kowtow’.

Many fans thought that Pendragon started with ‘The World’ album in 1991 and were unaware there was a history prior to this record. It was in fact their third full length studio album but definitely the beginning of a new era for the band. ‘The World’ was the least commercial sounding album so far, yet was the biggest seller at that point. The album was met by much critical acclaim bringing a tidal wave of new fans, even the press were beginning to realise that Pendragon were a force to be reckoned with.

During the 1990’s Pendragon grew from strength to strength with ‘Masquerade Overture’ selling over 60,000 copies on their own label. The partnership of Pendragon and artist Simon Williams along with the “5th member of the band” Karl Groom engineering the superb classic Pendragon sound was to make the band one of the highest selling prog-rock bands not signed to a major label.

There was a five year gap between ‘Masquerade’ and the next studio album ‘Not Of This World’ which was a cathartic body of work, perhaps the most personal and emotionally charged by the band, considered by many to be the finest work produced by Pendragon.

Just like in 1991 when ‘The World’ was unleashed, there was a wind of change and a feeling of anticipation in the air. 2005 saw the release of ‘Believe’, the 7th studio album by Pendragon which reflected a renewed youthful exuberance and fresh approach both musically and visually for the band. Pendragon undertook the biggest tour they had ever done of Europe and followed it with a release of the brilliant ‘And Now Everybody To The Stage’ dvd.

Following the success of 2005’s ‘Believe’, Pendragon played many festivals during 2007 including Loreley (Gemany with Jethro Tull and Fish) Minnuendo (Spain with Pain of Salvation) Reichenbach (Germany with Fish) RoSFest (USA Headliner)

During 2008 Pendragon released their 8th full studio album ‘Pure’ through their own website which then came out on general release in March 2009. ‘Pure’ sounds like an album made with the unbridled enthusiasm and energy of 20 year old musicians. It is powerful, melodic, fresh and gutsy , but still retains all the positive aspects that Pendragon have carefully built and woven into their music over the past 30 years. With ‘Pure’, Pendragon introduced their new drummer Scott Higham, a young powerhouse player who has brought a tremendous new energy both in the studio and in the live arena.

“’Pure’ – Pendragon’s finest hour so far without a doubt” Classic Rock Magazine 8/10

They completed a hugely successful 30 date European tour in Autumn 08 and have played even more shows and festivals throughout 2009 to promote the new DVD Concerto Maximo, including guesting for Dream Theater in Portugal, playing Loreley Festival Germany , special guests at the Fish Convention and headlining the Summer’s End festival.

2009 started with Nick and Scott accepting the Classic Rock Society’s ‘Album of the Year’ award for ‘Pure’ and in March the album came top of the Dutch Progressive Rock Page’s annual poll. It has been top of the IO Pages chart for nearly a year now and has also topped many other polls and charts and received brilliant reviews from all over the globe.

At the 2009 Classic Rock Awards, Pendragon also won Best Gig, Best guitarist, Best Keyboard Player and Best drummer.

2010 sees Pendragon play the Prog Stage at High Voltage festival.

www.pendragon.mu