Stu Nicholson
An autumn mid-afternoon finds Galahad vocalist Stu Nicholson and keyboardist Dean Baker in a reflective mood. Nicholson is the Dorset-based band’s sole ever-present. While the singer has toiled away in the Galahad trenches since 1985, Baker is comparatively a mere stripling, having served only since 1997.
Galahad are not far shy of their 40th anniversary and their new album, The Last Great Adventurer, is their 11th studio release (not including the scores of tapes they issued earlier in their career). It’s a record that largely belies not only their longevity but also their early 1980s roots.
Following in the wake of early 80s prog bands such as Marillion, IQ, Pendragon and Twelfth Night – utter ‘neo-prog’ within Nicholson’s earshot at your peril – Galahad have certainly never attained anything remotely approaching the commercial success of Marillion nor the prog cognoscenti kudos enjoyed by Twelfth Night. However, for the band to have survived the slings
