SonicVoyageFest Comes to Dunellen, March 13

Though their music is as eclectic as day and night, there is one thing ProgRock friends –Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius, Dark Beauty (featuring 3rDegree’s Bryan Zeigler and his wife Liz Tapia) and Potter’s Daughter agree on. Playing the NJProgHouse, at Roxy & Dukes, tonight, Friday, is something they’ve been looking forward to for months.

Now with audiences practicing social distancing, prog is making a vast difference in many ways these days. These talented friends’ music includes Stratospheerius’ Jamband radio/Relix-top 5 album, Guilty of Innocence, Dark Beauty’s mystical symphonic-goth album, Fall From Grace, and Potter’s Daughter new song “Blood and Water,” which features leadsinger Dyanne Potter duetting with Renaissance’s Annie Haslam.

Bryan, Joe, and Dyanne spoke with Patch about the yin and yang—the simultaneous greatness and personal reflection that progressive rock does for themselves and their fans.

Patch: We’ve noticed that when we go to Prog concerts that the audience is quiet, and listens to the bands on stage. What is something you like about the scene and the audiences, and why?

Bryan: That’s absolutely true. If you’re performing at the bar down the street, even the people who came to see you are looking at their phones, or watching the game, or trying to hook up half of the time. And it can lead to a certain laxness in the performance. But at a festival, or in a series like SonicVoyageFest, you know the audience is paying attention, so it really forces you to put on a better show. Not just musically, although that’s certainly a big part of it, but you have to put on a show that’s worthy of the attention and respect that you’re being paid. And I love that we have that opportunity, and want to put on the type of show that deserves that attention.

Joe: I used to be cynical, but the prog audience is really seeking out good music that is sincere and honest. They don’t want something that is contrived and over-commercialized. Prog audiences are intelligent people who are always looking to expand their horizons, musical and otherwise.

Dyanne: The prog audience is filled with people who genuinely love music and are open to new ideas and new approaches. What more could a creative artist ask for!

Joe: What I’ve learned from working in the prog industry is that people want you to take chances. There are no rules and you can let your musical freak flag fly. The audience will take the ride with you, and the possibilities are endless… I used to be cynical, but the prog audience is really seeking out good music that is sincere and honest. They don’t want something that is contrived and over-commercialized. Prog audiences are intelligent people who are always looking to expand their horizons, musical and otherwise.

Patch: Dyanne, who are one or two of your role models, and what are you learning from them?

Dyanne: I learn a lot through my job as collaborative pianist at Shenandoah University. I work primarily in the musical theater department, and the students there are encouraged to be fiercely authentic. That speaks to me.

Patch: What has marriage brought to Dark Beauty?

Bryan: It took us over a decade of marriage to be able to work together musically. And part of that is just the difficulty of being newlyweds, but a big part of it is our very different musical styles. I am largely influenced by the more traditional progressive rock, the classics like Yes and newer acts like Porcupine Tree, as well as satirical musicians like Frank Zappa. Liz on the other hand mostly listens to opera, classic rock and pop. There wasn’t a whole lot of overlap. But once our personal communication got better, and we really started to work with it, we found a way to mix the complexity of prog, with the hooks of classic rock and pop, and the vocal quality of opera. And while there isn’t a lot of satire in what we do, we laugh at rehearsal more than any other band I know.