Beltane Fire, the 80s prog rockers who released an acclaimed album, Different Breed, on CBS in 1985 and also supported Marillion on the Misplaced Childhood UK tour, have reformed to play a one-off show at London's Water Rats on Friday 26 April. Support comes from fellow prog rockers Jump and Mellotronanism, the band who feature former Airbridge frontman Ed Percival.
"For many years all kinds of people have asked us to play a Beltane Fire gig, it’s something we thought long and hard about before we decided to do it," singer Clint Bradley tells Prog. "There is a strong feeling within the band that we never really finished the job we set out to do back in the 80’s. Also the re-release of the album on CD by Cherry Red has been very successful and caused people to seek us out again. Folks seem to be a lot more open minded musically than they were back then, had some of the festivals that exist now been around, life would have been a lot easier for bands such as us. We had a couple of gigs lined up last year, but were plagued with bad luck. The venue closed down on the one we had scheduled for Southampton, which was a real bummer.
"We’re not under any allusions of fame and fortune, we’re four middle aged blokes now, but we still have the juice when we get up there and play, and that’s what it’s all about. We’re doing this because people have asked us to, what better reason could there be than that to play. There’s no pain in arse little A&R idiot to please anymore, all that crap we had to deal with back in the 80’s on Sony seems like such a joke now. “Guys I can’t hear a single, do you think that song should shorter and have more choruses?" So anyway, we’re just going to see where the road leads and take each gig as it comes. What will be will be, but it’ll be a blast!"
As mentioned, the band's sole album, Different Breed, was reissued by Cherry Red Records in September 2016.
Tickets for the Waters Rats show cost £15 and are available via the venue Facebok page.
