Since it seems that a good portion of the music buying public feels the same way these days, Presto Ballet will be making our next record for the vinyl format first. We will still be releasing our records on CD and you will still be able to download from the usual places… but it will be the vinyl format that will determine the design.

What that means is this….

The album’s length will be shorter (roughly 20 minutes per side), and the artwork design will be for a gatefold album cover. It will then be shrunk down to fit a CD booklet, not the other way around. (Modern CDs are just WAY too long these days, and I for one have CDs that I really like but still haven’t heard the entire album yet!) This also means that the recording and especially the mastering processes will not be the modern “FULL BLAST” method, which is the way CDs are mastered these days in order to sound good on today’s digital mediums.

One of the most important aspects of this return to vinyl is having a “proper” album cover… when you put the record on you will have an actual piece of art in your hands, not some goofy little piece of plastic with some pictures and text that you can barely read. When you buy an actual album you are not only buying the music but you are also getting something much more substantial… you are getting the ENTIRE experience that the artist intended. And one other thing, VINYL SOUNDS BETTER!! No more digital fatigue!!

In addition, getting back to actual “records” again will help keep music from being so damn disposable!!! Digital formats are very convenient, no question, but when you have to take a moment to pull the record from it’s sleeve, put it on the turntable and drop the needle, you’ll find that you will pay more attention to what you’re listening to.
And THAT is the way it should be.

So… the new Presto Ballet album will be in a not only be in a gatefold cover with a full color sleeve, but there will also be an actual poster included. (Remember how cool THAT was??) Again, we still be releasing it on CD, but if you want to experience the music the way it was intended then get the vinyl. Our plans are for the bands next records to be designed for vinyl first as well.

Everybody go out and get yourself a good turntable and let’s start listening to music the way we are supposed to! Treat yourself to the full experience of buying a piece of art again.

Cheers!!!
Kurdt

Also, here is a very cool link to check out!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17784093

We are so happy to have Chuck Campbell on board with Presto. It’s always so difficult to change singers because the sound of the band changes (obviously), but I’m sure you will totally dig what Chuck is bringing to the band. We sure do.

It’s been so hard having all these line-up changes, but I think we finally have stabilized. Everyone that is in the band now have been warned that if they quit for any reason that they will burst into flames!!

We have decided to start lining up shows and get this train rollin’ before a wheel falls off or something. Anyone and everyone out there who wants to have Presto Ballet come to your town, or any bands that would like to do some shows together, get in touch and let’s see what we can work out. That means not only here in the U.S. but everywhere!

Now to the new album….
Now that Chuck is on board I can get back to work on the new album. I have to say that I’m REALLY digging these new songs. At this stage the album is now starting to take on a shape and a direction. It is still very much in the Presto classic rock/prog style, but for a change of flavor we have one HUGE epic track that will take up one side of what will be an actual vinyl record. The other “side” of the album will be a few more straight forward type songs. This time out we have our first song contribution from Kerry, and it’s going to blow your mind! It’s quite incredible actually. Basically the new album is laid out the same way 2112 is laid out. I just felt it was time to dig into the major epic thing, since we really haven’t done that yet. I guess that means next we have to do a concept album, then a double concept album, then a double live album ….. you get the idea.

Okay, I’m off to have some tea, wake up and fire up the Hammond and Leslie and make sure it all works before Kerry arrives on Thursday to track the keyboards.

As always, thanks to everyone that has stuck by the band. With all the changes we keep going through we really appreciate it and we promise to deliver the best music possible, and for many years to come.

Cheers!
Kurdt

Greetings from USA’s Pacific Northwest, where we’re FINALLY getting some sun- maybe Mother Nature is trying to compensate for not giving us a summer this year. Nice try mom, but too little too late.

I wanted to take a minute today and apologize to anyone who has recently purchased an Invisible Places CD on this site for the extended delay. The CDs we expected a month ago from our distributor in Germany are still not here. We don’t know if there are customs issues or what, but we’re trying hard to find out what happened and get that shipment delivered. Thank you all so much for your patience!

On a brighter note, some truly outstanding drummers have responded to our search, and we expect to be making that choice in the next couple of weeks. It will be nice to have a full lineup again!

Thanks everyone! And don’t forget to visit us on Facebook!

Bobby

I feel I should address something. In the issue of “Classic Rock Presents Prog” they so kindly gave Presto three pages!! In this article I was talking about my plans to move to the UK and setting up “camp” Presto. That ended up not happening, and here’s why.

I got my house shut down and made arrangements to start making the move, and headed across the pond. After being there for about three days it became painfully obvious that there was NO WAY that I was going to be able to afford to relocate there. Due to the fact the the U.S. dollar is next to worthless at this time, my money was only going half as far as I needed it to. I ended up staying for the length of time my room was booked, drank a lot of great beer, and then came back stateside. I will just have to get Presto “launched” from here. So there you have it, just in case anybody was wondering what was up with us moving to the UK.

It’s something I would still very much love to do one day. I really dig the UK and the music scene for prog is very healthy there at the moment. But until things change with the global economy, we will have to settle for playing there as soon as we can, and as often as we can. Hell, I’d settle for just being able to find a drummer and playing a show anywhere!

I’ll rant about that later.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Kurdt

Well, here we are at the release of the new EP “Love What You’ve Done With The Place“!
This is pretty exciting for me, in more ways than one. First it would be the fact that I’m trying to do this record company thing all on my own, and as I said earlier, its quite an experiment. However, after the past few weeks of really embracing the “new music biz”, it’s not nearly as overwhelming as I thought it would be. I’m very happy about that!

The other reason would have to be that we have tried a few new things on this record, which I hope opens even more doors for us creatively. The first couple of tracks are standard Presto Ballet fare, as “pompous” as possible. Then we have a couple of excursions down a few new musical paths, and then into what I like to call a straight forward rock song, but I think we retain that Presto bombast that we love so much. “The Faith Healer” cover was just something that I have wanted to do for many many years. I have always loved The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, and I thought it would be a good tribute to a great band. I hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it.

One last thing… as I’m sure most of you have figured out, the title and cover art of the record are basically a comment on the current ecological condition of the world.

Cheers!
Kurdt V.

If you are THE drummer or if you know anyone who might be please drop me a line at kurdt@prestoballet.com

See you all soon!
Cheers,
Kurdt

This is a whole new thing for me, I have never written a blog in my life, and it’s only been the past few months that I even became aware of what one is. I guess I have finally decided to fully embrace the internet!

It has become painfully obvious that the old ways of getting your music out to the masses have truly died. That saddens me greatly, but as long as people are still listening and enjoying music everything should be okay, right? Right?

Having said that, this is why the new Presto Ballet EP will only be available from the website (for actual CDs) and on iTunes, as well as all the other digital websites. It’s going to be an experiment of sorts, at least for me, to see if does actually work! I’m actually quite excited about the prospect, because if this works, we will able to be very productive musically and have complete control over EVERY aspect of our work. That is very exciting indeed.

So check back in from time to time and watch me learn how to write a blog!
I’m sure as soon as I get more comfortable with the whole idea of it, it will become quite fun. The rest of the band will be posting as well, so be sure to check it out.

We have some shows coming up and we are trying very hard to get over to the UK and Europe as soon as possible. We’ll update the website, this blog and our Facebook pages as soon as dates become available.

Thanks for reading, and welcome to the “Ballet”!

Cheers,
Kurdt Vanderhoof