The Spacelords started in 2008, when Marcus Schnitzler (drums, djembe, percussion, special effects) joined Matthias Wettstein (guitars) and Klaus Werz (bass) for a first session. Matthias and Klaus already had a few song-ideas and after a couple of weeks almost half of the first CD was arranged. As the ideas came so quick and the feeling was there from the first moment, it was clear: Even each of them had his own personal style and background, they had found a common sense in music. Marcus, who's traveling to west Africa since 1991, to study traditional rhythms, but is also into psychedelic music for over 25 years, Matthias, influenced by his trips to India since the seventies and playing his guitar for more than 3 decades…
The Web are perhaps best known for their progressive rock classic I Spider (available on Esoteric Recordings), an album of innovation that continues to draw comparisons with the work of Van Der Graaf Generator at that time. The Web began life as a jazz and soul influenced outfit, fronted by singer John L. Watson, enjoying Top Ten hit singles throughout Europe. By the time of Theraphosa Blondi the band underwent a metamorphosis, with their music taking on more Jazz and Progressive influences, resulting in an excellent album that is rightly seen as a precursor to both the album I Spider and the band'sevolution into the group Samurai.
Emerging from the Canterbury, England musical community that also launched Gong and Kevin Ayers' the Whole World, the whimsical progressive rock unit Hatfield and the North formed in 1972. Named in honor of a motorway sign outside of London, the group's founding membership brought together a who's who of the Canterbury art rock scene - vocalist/bassist Richard Sinclair was a former member of Caravan, guitarist Phil Miller had tenured with Robert Wyatt in Matching Mole, and drummer Pip Pyle had served with both Gong and Delivery. After a series of lineup shuffles, keyboardist Dave Stewart (an alumnus of Egg) was brought in to complete the roster, and in tandem with the Northettes - a trio of backing vocalists consisting of Barbara Gaskin, Amanda Parsons, and Ann Rosenthal - the group began gigging regularly…