Touchstone
Touchstone are a five-piece UK rock band with progressive rock,
melodic rock, and alternative influences. The band was formed in
2003 by vocalist and keyboard man Rob Cottingham and guitarist,
Adam Hodgson - both of whom are great admirers of bands such as
Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Rush, and Asia – to name but a few.
Their philosophy was simple and remains today - to seek to find
a quintessential balance between melody and rock and to find a
sound which not only echoes the past, but is contemporary and
forward-thinking.
Paul Moorghen joined on bass in January 2006; Al Melville on
drums in January 2007 and Kim Seviour on vocals in April 2007.
The first studio EP, Mad Hatters, was recorded in April
2006 at Outhouse Studios in Reading with John Mitchell (Kino, It
Bites, Arena, Wetton & Downes) mixing, and received rave reviews
– including:
“While the likes of Dream Theater, Stratovarious and Spock’s
Beard continue with their quest for the perfect album,
Touchstone could teach them a thing or two about songwriting…the
result is an astonishing combination of muscle and melody”
Rob Evans, Powerplay Magazine
“…the CD of four tunes is awesome – passionate music,
wonderful singing and playing and absolutely tight performances
all round. Classy stuff.”
Jeff Wayne, Creator and Producer of War of the Worlds
The band’s debut album, Discordant Dreams, was recorded
and mixed again at Outhouse Studios in July 2007, with Tim Turan
(Status Quo, Frost*, Bad Manners, Stuart Copeland and many more)
mastering the album, which also features a guest guitar solo by
John Mitchell on the track ‘Dignity’.
Early in 2008, whilst Discordant Dreams was nominated for Best
Album award in the prestigious UK Classic Rock Society ‘Best
Of The Year Awards’ for 2007, the band were even more
delighted to win the very highly-regarded ‘Best New Band’
award. Not long after, Touchstone also won ‘Best New
Progressive Rock Indie Artist’ in the USA Progressive
Hall of Fame 2008 awards.
In May 2008 the band announced their UK Autumn tour, supporting
It Bites. They also announced the signing of a UK distribution
agreement with Proper Music - the largest independent
distributor in the UK, nominated in Feb 2008 for "Best
Distributor" in the 2008 Music Week Awards – amongst the likes
of EMI and Universal Records.
Discordant Dreams was reviewed in the May 2008 publication of
the globally-renowned Classic Rock magazine, in which Geoff
Barton (co-founder of Kerrang magazine) commented
“Touchstone’s debut album is a scintillating amalgam of
atmospheric prog and jolting power chords.”
Touchstone are presently writing their next studio album due
for release in Spring 2009 – so they are looking forward to
playing some exciting brand new material at ROSFest 2009.
DISCOGRAPHY
|
MAD HATTERS EP - 2006 |
DISCORDANT DREAMS - 2008 |
MP3
"
Shadow
"
- Discordant Dreams - 2008
Touchstone website -
www.touchstonemusic.co.uk
Touchstone Myspace
- http://www.myspace.com/touchstonemusicuk
