Today on Captain Phil's Planet join us as we celebrate the next ProgStock presents (https://www.progstock.com/2020/) featuring OVRFRWD and District 97 on October 3rd (https://www.ovrfwrd.com/)
OVRFRWD will be zooming in the the 3pm hour to discuss their new album Star Stuff and the upcoming virtual show on Stageit.com
In the 4pm hour Jonathan Schang of District 97 will talk about the upcoming D97 show on Stageit.com as well as the bands new music, an animated music video to the track Ghost Girl, Jonathans story behind that supernatural song and more!
Also special guest ZATHRAS will make an appearance from the Great Machine on Epsilon III or maybe one of his brothers were really not 100% sure. All this and the best Prog Rock on any planet only on Captain Phil's Planet!
OVRFWRD is a four piece American band that plays instrumental progressive rock. They were formed in Minneapolis, Mn in 2012 with drummer Richard Davenport, guitarist Mark Ilaug, bassist Kyle Lund and keyboardist Chris Malmgren. They came together with diverse and complex backgrounds with heavy musical influences from 70's Prog Rock to the Jazz Rock genres. Their music is an adventurous listening experience with many paths of sonic textures and soundscapes to explore. OVRFWRD has performed and toured with King's X, Stick Men featuring Pat Mastelotto and Tony Levin of King Crimson, John 5, and in 2018 was the featured new band at North Carolina's ProgDay Festival. Together the members of OVRFWRD have a common goal; to create, perform and push forward their unique brand of powerful and engaging instrumental music.
District 97 is undoubtedly the most musically adventurous rock band in the world to feature an American Idol Top 10 Female Finalist. Formed in the Fall of 2006 by drummer/primary composer Jonathan Schang, keyboardist Rob Clearfield, bassist Patrick Mulcahy and guitarist Sam Krahn, the band drew upon influences from heavy metal to avant-garde jazz. The foursome from Chicago honed a no-holds barred style of eclectic and intricate Instrumental Rock before deciding the right vocalist was needed to complement their sound: enter 2007 American Idol Top 10 Female Finalist, Leslie Hunt. With a look, sound, and stage presence comparable to a young Ann Wilson from Heart, Leslie's dynamic performances pushed the band into a new direction that forged a unique marriage between accessible, catchy vocal melodies and an adventurous instrumental prowess. She was followed shortly thereafter by one of Chicago's finest guitarists, Jim Tashjian. With this new blend of charisma and stellar musicianship in place, their live shows over the past several years at festivals such as RoSfest, Prog Dreams II and V, and numerous appearances across the USA, UK and Europe cemented the band as a force to be reckoned with onstage as well as in the recording studio.
Hybrid Child, the band’s 2010 debut on record label Laser’s Edge, immediately made a big impression worldwide. The album garnered praise such as “District 97 is a wildly ambitious progressive-rock group whose youth belies its accomplishments onstage and on its new Hybrid Child CD” (Jim Derogatis of NPR's "Sound Opinions" and Rolling Stone Magazine). The release of 2012's critically-acclaimed followup Trouble With Machines proved the band was the real deal. They had attracted the attention of legendary bassist and vocalist John Wetton (King Crimson/UK/Asia), who sang the role of Chicago serial killer H.H. Holmes on Schang’s “The Perfect Young Man.” With the collaboration heralded as a “tour de force” (dprp.net), the band and Wetton joined forces in 2013 for tours of both Europe and the US, later documented on 2014's live release, One More Red Night: Live in Chicago. 2013 also saw the band nominated for a Breakthrough Artist Award by Prog Magazine. Rather than rest on their laurels, District 97 took to the studio in 2014 to record the new material they'd been honing at home and on the road. The resulting album, In Vaults (released June 2015), continued and accelerated the upward trajectory of great songwriting and incredible musicianship that had become their hallmark.
In August 2015, Rob Clearfield and Patrick Mulcahy left the group and were succeeded by Andrew Lawrence and TIm Seisser, respectively. The new lineup debuted in highly successful tours across Europe and North America in 2016 and 2017, with highlights including joining the trailblazing prog rock band Yes on their Cruise To The Edge and supporting Pain of Salvation on the In The Passing Light Of Day North American tour. In 2016. District 97 launched the Inside The Vault Club via their website, a monthly subscription series featuring exclusive audio and video downloads, as well as physical releases, the first of which being their stunning Live At De Boerderij DVD. They joined the Dave Kerzner Band for the joint STATIC VAULTS US tour in Fall 2017, and ended the year with a pair of shows with the NYC-based Consider The Source.
2018 saw the band complete a much-lauded North American 10th Anniversary Tour, as well as completing tracking for Screens, their highly-anticipated fourth studio album, and first with the new lineup. Released October 2019 through the UK's venerable record label Cherry Red, the band featured music from it to great acclaim on Cruise To The Edge, and will continue to do so at Marillion Montreal Weekend, Seaprog, Summer's End, and other dates throughout North America, UK, and Europe in 2019. One listen perfectly illustrates why iconic drummer Bill Bruford (Yes/King Crimson/Genesis) told Rolling Stone Magazine (10/29/19), "There’s a great band out of Chicago called District 97, who are very good, and they’re here in the U.K. right now. And you know, it’s the next generation of so-called progressive guys who played much better than we ever played." Mike Portnoy (drummer extraordinaire of Dream Theater/Transatlantic/Liquid Tension Experiment) adds "District 97 continue to prove to be one of the most unique bands in modern Prog!

Zathras
Zathras was a humanoid of unknown origin who took care of the Great Machine on Epsilon III. His brothers, including Zathras, were all named Zathras, but with minute differences in pronunciation.
Born in approximately 2150, Zathras grew up with his brothers to become a caretaker of the Great Machine.
He was first encountered on Babylon 4 and again when Jeffrey Sinclair returned to that station with the purpose of stealing it.
By 2260 Zathras, 110 years old, was the oldest living caretaker of the Great Machine. During his many years of working with Varn and then Draal, Zathras had studied the machine. Over the years Zathras became so familiar with the machine that he knew things about the machine that even Draal had not yet learned. Draal was also familiar with Babylon 5 and its personnel, learning much about Ambassador Delenn, Ambassador Sinclair, and Captain John Sheridan.
He stayed behind with Sinclair on the journey back to use Babylon 4 as a base of operations during the last Great War, 1000 years in the past. Once Kosh and Ulkesh were satisfied that Sinclair was who he said he was, and entered a Chrysalis, Zathras began wiping the station systems to remove anything that could pinpoint their origins to safeguard the future.
Though he initially appears as a silly and somewhat clumsy creature, Zathras was very dedicated and loyal to the cause as well as wise and technically proficient. His most repeated phrase is "no one listens to Zathras".