Long Earth is a progressive rock band based in Glasgow, UK.  Formed in 2016, the lineup has links to long established proggers Abel Ganz, at one point involving 4 former members. 

In 2017, Long Earth released their debut album The Source, which received warm praise from critics and prog fans alike, and saw them established on the Scottish live scene, gigging alongside bands such as Abel Ganz, Crystal Palace and Alan Reed, who also featured on The Source as a guest narrator.

Following the introduction of former Abel Ganz vocalist Martin Haggarty in 2018, the band wrote and subsequently released their second album Once Around the Sun in March 2020 to universally strong reviews from DJs, journalists and bloggers, and featured heavily among many "best of 2020" lists.  More gigs alongside Wobbler, Abel Ganz, Crystal Palace, Stuckfish and others followed before being cruelly interrupted by the Covid pandemic, and then regrouping for a gig with Franck Carducci & the Fantastic Squad in March 2022.  The band most recently appeared at the 2023 Prog For Peart event. More gigs are lined up for 2024 and in the meantime, work continues on the recording of album 3. 

 

reviews

What the media say about Long Earth's Once Around the Sun

Jim Lawson, Prog Rock MusicTalk – “just go and get a copy........ a masterpiece of modern prog with huge leanings to the “old style,” played by musicians who have dreamed the dream and have now delivered the dream. The dream has a name, and the name is Once Around The Sun” 

 Rob Fisher – The Progressive Aspect  - “It’s bloody brilliant.After that, frankly, there’s not much more that needs to be said… (a) seductively magnificent album”  

 Eddie McFadden,  ProgCore Radio, Manchester Rock Radio & ListenLanarkshire – awarded “Album of the Year 2020"  

Chuck Simons, Progrock.com - in the top 3 albums of 2020 

AJ Bradford, House of Prog Radio - DJ choice top ten album of 2020  

Mark & Rayna Monforti, Music in Widescreen/Progrock.com - one of the top 20 albums of 2020   

Martin Hutchinson, Progradar  - We see a band nearing their creative zenith. Take my advice, go and listen to what may well be one of 2020’s sublime releases  

Geoff Penn, House of Prog Radio - A top-rated album that is sure to please all aficionados of well-constructed progressive rock including those who would normally favour a more metal infused offering 90/100

Nemo Dre, Future Feature Radio (Canada)  - One of the top 10 albums of 2020     

Peter Jones, Tales from the Tigermoth, Progzilla Radio - one of the year's top 5 albums 

The Prog Mill, Progzilla Radio - voted by listeners as one of the top 30 albums of 2020 

 Progcritique (France) - Thank you for this beautiful music, powerful but never aggressive, and above all optimistic… 4.5 out of 5.

 Dutch Progressive Rock Pages -  one of the top 50 albums of  the first half of 2020 (as chosen among all 11 writers) & one of the top ten albums of 2020 as chosen by writer Andre de Boer 

 The European Perspective  – one of the best releases in UK & European progressive rock of 2020 

 Larne Peters ProgAlley (Germany) reviews –  Loved The Source already, but this one’s another story: love it big, big! Well Done!!  

Jacopo Vigezzi,  Progressive Rock Journal - symphonies merged with Rock. Guitar and keyboards,….. For all lovers of the more symphonic and soft part of Prog  

Strutter Magazine, Holland -  All the fans of Pallas, IQ, Pendragon, Abel Ganz and such will absolutely love this album! 8.2/10 

Steve & Lou's World of Prog show - It is a real triumph & the boys should be really proud of this one, this extended musical journey goes through so many musical styles and passages that it never once gets boring ...8.5/10 

NEWS

Breaking Radio Silence 

Well, it's been a while since the last news post, mainly because we've been busy. First, just before Christmas Martin released a charity single in aid of War Child which featured a number of guest musicians. This was preceded by Mike Baxter appearing on musician and best-selling author Peter May's album. Peter is a long-standing friend of both Mike and our drummer Alex, and one of the characters in a series of Peter's books is actually inspired by Mike as a result of his career in Forensics.  

Otherwise, work has continued on the new album An Ordinary Life. We broke with tradition on this album, seeking to inject a different vibe into the sound by recording the basic tracks “live” in the studio rather than piecing it together like a jigsaw as was done on The Source and Once Around the Sun. We mixed the last album in Maybank Studios, Glasgow and enjoyed the experience so much we returned there for all the tracking this time around, with the exception of all the vocals which will be recorded in Martin's own studio.  So far, it is sounding immensely powerful, and by the end of February, all the instrumental recording should be finished along with most of the vocals too. All looking good for release in Spring ahead of our gig with The Emerald Dawn at the end of May, and our appearance at the Soundle Festival on 1st June (see SHOWS page for details). 

More updates from the studio soon.

Prog For Peart 2023 - What a weekend! 

Well that was enormous fun!  A wonderful weekend of music came and went in a flash. So many new friends and fans, quite a few CDs, T Shirts & badges sold, and so many memories. This was a superbly organised event (take a bow Mark Cunningham), and everyone from the crew, sound, light, video, photography and venue staff were brilliant. The quality of the bands was superb, from the first on stage at noon to the headline acts. And the audience…. ? Appreciative, knowledgeable and enthusiastic to a person.  We went down rather well, despite a couple of technical gremlins. I think we've played better, but we haven't had more fun (gremlins aside). And of course, all in aid of brain cancer charities.

Here's what David Edwards of The Progressive Aspect had to say:

LONG EARTH

I’ve been waiting to see Scottish melodic prog rockers Long Earth come over the border for several years, so I was really pleased to see them at last. Based in Glasgow and formed in 2016, they have two albums under their belt, although it was 2020’s Once Around the Sun that made up the majority of the set. They started off energetically with We Own Tomorrow, followed by an impressive new song entitled Sand – which bodes well for the third album. The contemplative power ballad My Suit of Armour really showed off Martin Haggarty’s expressive vocals, with some stunning guitar from Renaldo McKim. The whole band really excel on Spring/Summer with Mike Baxter’s keyboards adding some lovely proggy texture and David McLachlan and Alex Smith so solid rhythmically. Sadly, a bass guitar technical issue meant no Winter, but a stunning version of the dark A Guy From Down the Road – with Martin’s clear vocals and story-telling skills to the fore – ended a very well-received set of quality melodic rock with prog flourishes. Hopefully more people will discover this friendly, talented, and enthusiastic band soon.

The weekend was boosted even further by the announcement that we are to feature at next June's Soundle festival in Peterborough, alongside some fantastic bands. There will be at least one other high profile gig to be announced once all the formalities are addressed, and we continue to look out for more. Watch this space….

 Now we are back to working on album 3, An Ordinary Life. 

One door closes, another door opens 

Well, the Emerald Dawn gig didn't happen - their whole tour was cancelled due to Covid hitting the drummer with a few days to go, and as they'd booked the venue & sold the tickets, we couldn't take on the gig without starting from scratch with just a few days to the event. Sad, but thankfully their drummer is on the mend. Then our gigs in Edinburgh & Sheffield with Also Eden were both cancelled due to their singer having throat problems necessitating surgery. Are we a jinx?

However, we managed to fix a local gig at 14 days notice - the Glad Cafe in Shawlands, Glasgow (see the Shows page for details). We've also asked the very talented Maaike Siegerist to support. A Dutch artist now resident in Glasgow, she straddles several genres, from dark folk & jazz to more electronic music, sometimes under the alter-ego Dora Lachaise.

Should be a fun night!

Return of the Mac  

We are delighted to say that we are once again joined by our original guitarist, Renaldo McKim. He returns in time to add his skills to the new album, on which the backing tracks for keys, drums and bass are mostly complete, together with most of the guide vocals.  However, we also have the joy of our first gig of 2023 to look forward to/rehearse for (April 16), with the added bonus of sprinkling some of the new songs into our set. See our Shows page for ticket links to all our Spring gigs. 

December will be magic again 

As the end of the year looms, we are excited by what 2023 holds for us. 

We started recording album 3, with a handful of basic backing tracks done and lyrics written, several more demo'd (plus draft lyrics), and a few other tracks in rough instrumental demo form. We're going to have the luxury of having to  choose what we leave off this album. Hopefully ready to release sometime in Spring, the album does have a theme, but no title as yet. 

Spring also sees us hit the road in earnest, with gigs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Abingdon already confirmed, and other offers on the table or awaiting confirmation. We're gigging with The Emerald Dawn and Also Eden, plus we're on the same bill as the likes of Doris Brendel, Cosmograf, Zio  Ft Hayley Griffiths, Grace & Fire, Lee Abraham, Band of Rain, Trilogy, and our good friends Abel Ganz - all at Prog For Peart 2023, the annual festival in aid of the Peart family's Brain Cancer charity. 

We've also had to defer/decline a couple of brilliant festivals due to clashes with existing commitments - hopefully we'll do them in 2024. 

In the meantime, we hope to recruit some assistance, ie "friends/fans with skills" to help us out with PR, Social Media, Video/multimedia, and live sound, so if anyone wishes to throw their hat in the ring for any of these roles, please contact us. You will make as much money as we do out of it, ie nothing, but you'll see some really great bands, meet some fabulous people, and have fun along the way. Some of these roles can be done remotely if preferred, so distance needn't be an object. 

 

In four - one, two, three..... 

November already and what's been happening? Well, plans for our Xmas gig at the Backstage, Kinross have been scuppered by health issues within the band that are preventing us from rehearsing a live set. We hope to return there next year. However, we have been able to plan some gigs for Spring 2023 onwards, with a few festival appearances pencilled in (dates, places and other acts to be confirmed), and confirmed gigs with two fantastic prog bands; The Emerald Dawn are coming all the way from Cornwall for their first Scottish gig, and long established Welsh band Also Eden are also venturing North. Check the Shows page for details and tickets, or join our mailing list for alerts

More soon.

Martin