There is a reason that the word cancer has taken on new meanings. It is no longer just a disease. Now the word, as the dictionary defines it embodies “any evil thing that spreads itself destructively”. Intrepid, stubborn and lethal, it is an incessant threat to all of us.
As such, when Trinity Live returns to The Assembly in Leamington Spa on 27th May Dec Burke expects his performance to be emotively charged, and all the better for it.
“I can’t think of anyone that isn’t directly or indirectly affected by this terrible disease,” says Burke. “It’s going to be on the forefront of everyone’s mind that’s for sure. But I think it should spill into my performance in a positive way, which will make for quite an emotional and memorable day. My uncle is fighting for his life at the moment with bone cancer, so I’ll be thinking of him in a big way.”
The Limerick born multi-instrumentalist, who says is “very excited and honoured to be part of this event” has performed and collaborated with a silly amount of progressive bands over the years. From stints in Frost*, Darwin’s Radio, AudioPlastik and beyond to his solo work, he’s had his fingers in many musical pies. His set at Trinity will celebrate his extensive and explorative career so far.
“At the moment the set will focus on my three solo albums. But there is definitely scope to include material from the other groups I’ve been a part of. Our keyboard player, Carl Westholm, is flying in from the States especially and now we have Andy Edwards on drums anything could happen at the show. Certainly with Andy’s involvement we could do some Frost* stuff and I think with Sean Spear on bass we could play some Darwin’s Radio stuff as well. Given AudioPlastik is primarily a studio band I’d like to do some of those songs too.”
Burke’s solo material is iced by 2016’s Book of Secrets, a record which sees him coming out of a long learning curve with an upswing.
“When I’ve been a part of bands I’ve mainly been the melody and lyrics writer. So, on my solo stuff I do everything, which I found exciting but challenging at first. With the latest record, I’m feeling much more confident. I’ve pushed myself to be a more proficient guitarist, both from a technical and theory angle and I think that’s evident in the newer material. My love for the instrument has come back strong, I’m playing at my best and hopefully that will translate at the gig.”
Aside from his own set, Dec Burke still has plenty else to savour at Trinity II: “I’m really looking forward to seeing Touchstone. I like what the guys are doing and to come back with a new line up and new material, that should make for a great show. As I’m knee deep in recording a number of projects at the moment, I don’t get much free time to catch up on new music which makes playing Trinity even more exciting.
“If we can all make even a little difference then it’ll be a tremendous success.”
About Trinity Live:
The idea for Trinity Live came about in 2014. It was originally planned as a triple-headliner tour for Magenta, Touchstone and The Reasoning but was rescheduled as a one-day fundraiser when Magenta vocalist Christina Booth was diagnosed with breast cancer. The original event raised £12,000 for Cancer Research UK, Macmillan and Teenage Cancer Trust.
Lonely Robot tops the bill with Touchstone, Ghost Community & more also performing. This year’s event includes a prog auction and an aftershow party at The Zephyr Longue with a DJ set from Prog Editor Jerry Ewing and a surprise acoustic act being announced nearer the time.
Tickets for Trinity II are available here. More information can be found here.
