Pendragon

Pendragon is a neo-prog rock band formed in Stroud, England, in 1978 by guitarist Nick Barrett. Although, like so many others in the genre, they originally took their name from the Greek myth and the Arthurian dynasty, calling themselves Zeus Pendragon at first, the Zeus was dropped before any recording was made because the members thought it was too long a name to fit on a T-shirt.

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The band was formed in Gloucestershire, England, at the height of punk and new wave, in the early 80s, but it was not until 1983, when they began to play at various clubs, that they achieved a modest fame on the local scene. The breakthrough of the group Marillion had a great deal to do with this, as it opened a gap for several bands of this new prog, with plenty of commercial potential, to be taken seriously. After having the chance to play at the massive Reading festival, and having signed with Elusive Records, run by Marillion's then manager, they went on to release within a couple of years two masterpieces of their progress, "Fly High, Fall Far" in 1984 and "The Jewel" in 1985. The band also settled its line-up with vocalist-guitarist Nick Barrett, bassist Peter Gee, drummer Fudge Smith and keyboardist Clive Nolan, establishing the classic Pendragon line-up. In 1986 they recorded the live album "9:15", beginning to build an enthusiastic base of followers across Europe, who saw in Pendragon the renewal of classic symphonic rock groups such as Genesis, Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Pendragon was another of the bands that did not seem to surrender to the commercial formula of the three-minute song and yet were able to hook a wider audience, which made them leaders of a movement that, though smaller in reach, was equally important.

After a long period without releasing records, the group returned in 1991 with "The Rest of Pendragon" – a compilation of the best of their early work, mixed with the B-sides of their singles – and their first original album in five years, "The World", produced by Tony Taverner and released on Pendragon's own label, Toff Records, which to this day maintains a close relationship with the band and its fan club. The album, which was released in the United States in 1993, had an excellent reception in the progressive scene and is considered a notable moment in their evolution and artistic design, with the artwork and visuals in the hands of a renowned artist named Simon Williams. This detail mattered because effects and imagery played an important role in the staging of their live shows.

Pendragon's next step was the release of the LP "Window of Life", which was well received despite the fact that recognition in Britain always eluded them, perhaps because the English press has never fully warmed to prog-rock bands. However, there was an audience elsewhere in the world, so in 1994 they signed with the Japanese label Pony Canyon, Japan being a country where they had a large base of devoted fans, and with whom they reissued their entire catalogue released up to that point.