Kyree Vibrant: We have been very busy since the last time we talked to you:

Half Past Four now has a new drummer, Marcello Ciurleo, who is freaking awesome. Think John Weathers meets Terry Bozzio, but uniquely himself, too! And he makes his own drums, being a carpenter.  

We released our new album, Good Things. The CD release party was great, and we have got terabytes of live footage. We are editing it now and the live videos will soon be released.

Coincidentally, we have been playing as much as possible to promote our new album! Most notably we played a rather successful show in Ottawa recently. It was a tribute to the late Frank Zappa and a fundraiser for prostate cancer. It was wonderful to be able to contribute to such a great cause.

Kyree Vibrant: We are holed up in our studio over this winter writing new music for the next album. We are also working on putting together a few great shows in the spring, locally and as a part of us trying to infiltrate the Quebec music scene.

Dmitry “Les” Lesov: We’ve been listening to a lot of Zappa lately due to this recent fundraiser show, and lots of new progressive rock on our favorite radio show, Delicious Agony, such as the amazing 3RDegree.

Igor “Iggy” Kurtzman: I have recently discovered Sparks and I love Snarky Puppy.

Dmitry “Les” Lesov: Yes, I have been reading the Oryx and Crake trilogy from Margaret Atwood, and Gustav Meyrink, The Angel of the Western Window.  The Third Reich by Roberto Bolano.

Igor “Iggy” Kurtzman: The Black Count by Tom Reiss, The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.

Constantin Necrasov: I just happened to re-read Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre.

Constantin Necrasov: I went to see the “Ian Anderson plays Thick as a Brick 1&2.’” It was a fantastic show with excellent musicians and, well, the great music!

Kyree Vibrant: Steve Hackett – and I got to speak with him too.

Constantin Necrasov: I occasionally indulge myself in early techno-pop, like Kraftwerk.

Kyree Vibrant: 60s lounge on moldy vinyl.

Constantin Necrasov: Syd Barrett, Robert Moog and Tom Scholz.

Constantin Necrasov: Mushrooms. Regular mushrooms. Bit of toast. And some weeds. And grasses.

Constantin Necrasov: Being a band that works in a radically non-mainstream genre, we don’t usually get that much opportunity to communicate with the fans directly. This interview certainly helps us to put a little bit of a persona behind the music that we write. We really appreciate this opportunity and would like to thank you for it.

It takes a lot of work to be in a band. It is hard and becomes harder every day. People age, become busier, more stressed out, older, more disenchanted. The time may come when there will be very little non-synthetic music left. Inspiration is scarce in the world where one only needs to whip out an iPad to start cranking commercial dance tunes. The founding fathers of prog are fast approaching the age when, like all humans, they will pass away. It is up to us in a way to keep this music alive. For this reason I would like to urge everyone to find their local progressive band and visit their shows. It is like a language. If the last one of the tribe dies and no-one is there to learn their tongue, the language disappears. Keep the prog alive.