Protos

Discography

All albums available from the music store.

have an extraordinary story to tell. After playing live for only two years, their members pursued musical and civilian careers with no idea their recordings had started to gain an international reputation. In 2006, the release of the album by keyboardist triggered renewed interest in their music. They worked with Japanese distributors, and established their legacy, by re-releasing on CD. Their second offering has also been well received, and celebrates their emerging status as “the top progressive rock group since England (Garden Shed, 1977)” (Marquee Magazine).

Steve and Rory released their third album on 18th October 2007.

The band formed in 1977 when Rory and Steve, only 15 years old at the time, started meeting at weekends to write music. By the early 1980s, they had been joined by Nigel Rippon on bass guitar and Neil Goldsmith on drums (soon to be replaced by Iain Carnegie). Protos gigged for two years while Rory, Iain and Nigel studied music at the Chichester College of Technlogy and Arts (West Sussex, England), but drifted apart after Rory and Iain went to London to continue their music studies, and Nigel begin studies at a Teacher Training College.

In 2006, Rory released 'Passing Decades' a solo album containing some previously unreleased material by Protos. To promote this, he listed a copy of Protos's album 'One Day a New Horizon' on eBay. This generated such interest that within weeks he was offered a distribution deal in Japan by Marquee Inc. This has resulted in the official release of five albums on CD, two by Protos, two by Rory Ridley-Duff and one featuring the keyboard talents of Rory across his entire career. These have been published by New Horizons Music Ltd to rave reviews around the world (see www.protosmusic.net/reviews.htm).

We did between 1981-1983 (with one reunion gig in 1984) and there is a good chance we'll play again in 2008 now we have committed to producing a new studio album in 2007. Undoubtedly our special moments - to date - were two 'Rock at the Regis' gigs in 1982, and the Chichester Arts Festival where we played each year from 1982-84 outside the Cathedral.

Steve was influenced primarily by Steve Hackett and Gordon Giltrap, shown in his use of both acoustic and electric guitars. Rory was influenced by Mike Oldfield, the organ playing of Jon Lord (Deep Purple) and Tony Banks (Genesis), both in terms of keyboard style and approach to composition. Iain Carnegie's influences are so many that it is difficult to list them, but in the early 1980s, Yes, Genesis, the Sex Pistols, Puccini and Stravinsky probably capture their diversity. Nigel Rippon was more into heavy metal (particularly Deep Purple), but as a student of classical music his musical influences were also broader than most. He now writes in the style of Frank Zappa/King Crimson with a band called Stone Cold.

In the past Rory had a Logan String Synthesiser, Casiotone keyboard, Korg Sigma (for synth leads), a Korg Polysix for an array of tasks, plus Roland sound modules for studio work. His most recent addition is a Roland E-50. Steve had an array of guitars and pedals, including a much loved Shergold.