United Progressive Fraternity Newsletter – January 2018

First of all Happy New Year to all of our friends and music followers from around the globe. There has been a lot of activity within the project.

Octavia Brown

When I first met Octavia [UPF bio] back in May 2017 at the RoSfest festival and asked her to be our PR/Touring Manager I never thought that she would take the message that we are presenting (Climate Change) to the level she has. She has recently started a brand new Facebook page called DETRASH THE PLANET. Octavia not only has changed the way she thinks about the planet’s plastic problems, but she is making a massive effort on what she buys and it’s rubbing off on her mainstream of friends. Octavia and I are working on some pretty important projects and hope to be able to present very shortly.

UPF and DETRASH THE PLANET have a very enthusiastic supporter, underwater photographer Francis Pérez, who has graciously given us permission to use his award winning photograph “’Caretta Caretta Trapped”. The photo shows a loggerhead sea turtle swimming entangled in abandoned fishing gear, off the coast of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. When you see this photo on Octavia’s page it is one which is very hard to forget.

More Guests added to Part 1: Loss (Planetary Overload)

Welcome to the fraternity: Angus Keay (Guitar)  [UPF bio], Cornel Wilczek (Production, Mixing Engineering Orchestration, Guitar, and Programing) [UPF bio], and Jesús Gancedo García (Drums) [UPF bio], whose instrumental with Guillermo Cides [UPF bio] captured my attention when it was posted on his Facebook page.  I told them I wanted to add lyrics, melodies and they said wow. The song has become a new track for CD1 of Planetary Overload:  ‘Loss to Lost’.

Igor Khoroshev [UPF bio] contacted me recently and he will start work on a new piece for ‘Loss’ (a piano instrumental). On this note, there is definitely more exciting news coming soon!

I have been quoted as saying that “UPF is the people’s project and that dream is coming to life”. This musical project has always been about being a collaboration with many people who share the same beliefs with regards to our climate, political, and antiwar problems.

The albums Loss & Hope are taking longer than first thought; this is due to settling on the right people, song choice and working with musicians remotely from all over the world.

Planetary Overload on Tour

The plan, although a little sketchy at the moment, is to showcase the album across the globe and work with sponsors of energy efficient products and promote the concepts of the albums to the listeners and influential climate gurus in a big way.

This will be a monumental undertaking and is going take a lot of time, money and energy  – so we hope that everyone gets behind it.

The songs are strong and will please many who like variations in progressive music. We hope to have Part 1 ‘Loss’ finalized by mid-July 2018 and Part 2 ‘Hope’ the same time next year.

Colin Tench

I would like to take this opportunity by saying that my deepest sympathies go out to Colin Tench’s [UPF bio] family and friends. Colin passed away late December 2017 and it was such a shock after speaking to him just before Christmas with regards to our collaboration on the upcoming UPF album. I would like to respectfully pay tribute to all of his friends and collaborators who helped make Colin’s journey fun. RIP

I have written and recorded a UPF tribute song especially for Colin. The title is ‘One Life’, and it features Raf Azaria (guitars) [UPF bio], his brother Joel Baligod (cello), Joe Toscano (drums) [UPF bio], and Opera Singer Grace Bawden (Judge’s Choice Grand Finalist on the TV talent show Australia’s Got Talent in 2008).

UNITOPIA Box Set (2017)

A special page has been added to the UPF website to promote the special deluxe edition release of the original Unitopia debut album “More Than A Dream”. Originally released in 2005 as a single CD, “More Than A Dream – The Dream Complete” is presented in a triple digipak with 24 page booklet, and features the original album re-mastered by Sean Timms and Matt Williams with bonus material and remixes. The special page features the music video ‘The Dream Complete’, produced by Ted Ollikkala [UPF bio], which is a new song written especially for this release. It also features the album artwork, reviews, and ordering information [LINK]