Resistance Is Fertile
“It was dance music that kept vinyl alive,” reckons Michael Holmes. “At the end of the 90s I was DJing in clubs in Earl’s Court, I’d play hard house and trance, and all the records and promos were on vinyl.”
The subject’s on his mind when he speaks to Prog. IQ’s guitarist, principal composer and label head is just putting the finishing touches to the triple-gatefold vinyl edition of their new album, Resistance. It comes complete with a 24-page booklet, and pre-orders for the red vinyl version are outstripping the black by six to one. Wax is back, baby. Even if it ever really went away.
In March, Steve Hillage’s System 7 played the legendary Dutch venue The Boerderij, and Holmes was invited to play a DJ slot in support. He couldn’t make it, so sent a pre-recorded set that was played out at the gig. “People kept posting up videos of all these prog fans dancing to the music,” he says, delighted at the achievement. “Most prog fans are – with the greatest of respect – geeks, like me, and that’s a great thing. They like to have physical product. Back in the 70s I’d buy, say, Led Zeppelin III with the wheel that you’d spin around in the cover. Vinyl’s a great format and the packaging’s great too. We’re really lucky because the prog community like it, and are happy to buy product by the bands they’re into.”
IQ’s 40th birthday may be hoving into view, but Holmes’ enthusiasm for music, in its many forms, remains undiminished. If Kraftwerk were the godfathers of techno, he opines, then Hawkwind were the godfathers of trance. “ is a great album. Like trance, it’s about
