- The current line-up, as pictured above at the Prog-Résiste Convention in Soignies (Belgium), April 2013, consists of (left to right) Igor Brover (keyboards), newcomer Pierre Schmidt (guitar), Dimitri Alexaline (trumpet & flugelhorn), Patrick Forgas (drums), Kengo Mochizuki (bass), Sébastien Trognon (tenor & soprano sax, flute) and Karolina Mlodecka (violin).
Pierre replaces Benjamin Violet who has joined the high-profile band Tryo as extra multi-instrumentalist, playing violin, bass and banjo as well as guitar, and playing to huge crowds in France and abroad - congrats, Ben !
The band have been busy rehearsing for their upcoming appearance at the Convention Prog-Résiste at Soignies in Belgium on April 28th, 2013. FBP will headline the second night of this 2-day event. Headliners on the Saturday are Anglagard and Locanda Delle Fate.
- The band's latest album Acte V was released by Cuneiform Records in January 2012. It is available from Cuneiform's online vending service Wayside Music as well as other online vendors. The package consists of a new studio CD and a 75-minute DVD filmed at NEARfest in the USA in 2010, where the band performed to a capacity audience of over 1,000.
- You can hear an excerpt from the closing track "Midi-Minuit" and see a video medley of the studio CD on the FBP MySpace page ! Cuneiform have a promotional clip with excerpts from the NEARfest DVD.
- FBP flew to the USA to perform at NEARfest 2010 ! The greatest progressive music festival in the world invited the band to appear at its 12th edition in June 2010. It was a great honour and opportunity, as NF has been sold out every year (1000 tickets sold!) since its creation in 1999, and this year was no exception. The band delivered a solid 90-minute set and their performance was greeted by two long standing ovations. Read the Music Street Journal's review of the concert (thanks Bill !).
- Two new pieces intended for the next CD, "Corps Et Ames" and "Feu Sacré", were unveiled at the band's 2009 gigs, at the Sunset club in Paris in September and Sens and Massy-Palaiseau in December, and were ecstatically received by the audience. Another new piece, "Ultraviolet", opened their NEARfest performance. In late 2010/early 2011, the band are focusing on rehearsing three more new pieces, "Loin D'Issy", "George V" and "Midi Minuit", which will form the remainder of the new CD, to be recorded and hopefully released during 2011.
- The band's previous CD, "L'Axe Du Fou" / "Axis Of Madness", was released on Cuneiform Records in January 2009. It consists of four pieces : "La Clef", "L'Axe du Fou", "Double-Sens" and "La Treizième Lune". It is available from Wayside Music and other prog-specialised mail-order outlets.
-
On 29th February 2008, the FBP went into the studio to record
a cover of Magma/Univeria Zekt's "Africa Anteria"
for "Hur !", the sequel to the Christian Vander tribute
album "Hamtai", masterminded by longtime Forgas supporter
Alain Juliac. The arrangement features a full brass section (multiple saxes
and trumpets plus trombone !) thanks to Sébastien and Dimitri's instrumental
mastery. Released February 2009 on Soleil Zeuhl. FBP saxist
Sébastien Trognon is also featured on a version of "Kobah"
by Olivier Wursten Olmos, son of ex-Magma guitarist Claude Olmos.
- The band went on a memorable trip to South Korea (!) in September 2008 where they performed at a festival in the Guro district of Seoul - a video souvenir of the concert is available on this site's video page
-
Muséa recently
reissued the first Forgas album from 1977, Cocktail.
This comes with lots of bonus tracks (home demos from 1973-79, including early
versions of some album tracks, plus the Barclay Studios demo from 1975 with
Didier Thibault), and an in-depth booklet detailing the early career of Patrick
Forgas up to the late 1970s. An English translation
of the booklet text is available on this site !
-
The third Forgas Band Phenomena album, Soleil 12,
was released in September 2005 on the Cuneiform label. Recorded live at Le Triton,
near Paris, in March of that year, it consisted of the 35-minute+ epic "Coup
De Théâtre", which like Extra-Lucide's "Pieuvre
A La Pluie" (also included here in its new live incarnation) had its origins
in the aborted 1978 follow-up album to Cocktail; and two shorter pieces,
the title track and "Eclipse".
-
While the band was on a hiatus in 2000-03, Patrick Forgas recorded and
released another solo album "Synchronicité" in 2002. It is based
on the use of electronics, yet is very different to "L'Oeil" and "Art D'Echo"
as it is all instrumental and features an extremely low amount of electronic
percussion - ambient and very melodic...
- "Roue Libre" and "Extra-Lucide" are both currently out of print, with no plans at this time for a reprint.