A week after returning from the previous tour we went straight into the studio to capture whatever came. As a result, the majority of the album was written in a day writing orgy where the band got together and jammed for a full day and night… “March of Ghosts” was surprisingly easy to write.' Such was the success of these early sessions that a lot of the material that can be heard on the final album comes from this original jam session. This material was then honed, dissected and refined throughout the summer and autumn of 2011 to create a coherent whole.

While Missa Atropos can be viewed as a concept album, following the story of one person leaving everything behind, Thomas sees March of Ghosts is much more as a collection of short tales; 'The idea was to have the lead character spend a night where all these ghosts (dead and alive) would march past him to tell their stories.'

Characters include Haitian war criminals, the crew of the Marie Celeste, a returning American WWI soldier who finds himself in 2012 and the ghost of an English comedy writer who was wrongly accused of treason and who will sit for eternity listening to gramophone recordings of the broadcasts he did on enemy radio. As lead singer Jan-Henrik explains, 'They are short stories. They are a march of ghosts. They are tales that need to be told.'

London captures the band’s gig on this tour at the legendary Dingwalls venue in Camden. This 2 CD limited edition release covers 2 hours of music and an attempt to capture the essence of gazpacho's music through a live setting. Classic Rock Prog described the evening as ‘sublime’ going on to state, ‘with new album Missa Atropos to draw from as well as a catalogue of songs that draw favourable comparison with both Radiohead and a more sedate Muse, they fill the best part of two hours with invention and brio.’

Missa Atropos is about someone who decides to cut off all ties to the world and relocate himself to an abandoned lighthouse where he intends to write the final mass for the greek goddess Atropos one of the daughters of night. Atropos chose the mechanism of death and ended the life of each mortal by cutting their thread with her "abhorred shears". She worked along with her two sisters, Clotho, who spun the thread, and Lachesis, who measured the length. Embracing solitude as a "relief from the others" and a "defense mechanism" the album includes three of his attempts to write the mass as well the final version. Inbetween we catch glimpses of what brought him to the decision as well as some of his experiences living in this remote location with only the sea and his mind for company. Gazpacho has for the last three albums been increasingly proficient at writing concept albums intended to be soundtracks to films without pictures where the goal of the music is to allow the listener to create his or her own pictures to the songs. Missa Atropos is another album in this series and is a turn towards darker rock than the previous two albums. It still has all the bells and whistles of a Gazpacho album with ambient passages, violin and classical music, elements of world music and real samples of coded information sent during the cold war on short wave radio.

10 July, 2009 Gazpacho head off to Germany to perform as headliners for the night of the progressive festival. This concert was recorded for a live album and limited edition DVD.

December 29, 1935 Antoine de Saint-Exupery took off in an attempt at a long distance flight from Paris to Saigon. He crashed in the Desert many hours later stranded with his co pilot Prevot. Later he recounted his experience in a book called Wind, Sand and Stars and this story forms the basis of the Tick Tock album. After Night the monotonus repetition of a single bar of music that is changed by the chords and the songs on top of it still held a seductive charm for Gazpacho and though Night dabbled in this, Tick Tock wallows.

The metaphor of a desert walk represented by a ticking clock may not be sublime but by golly the music is in moments. The apathetic underscore of a sweltering almost synthy loop which really is a b4 organ played through a guitar amp and a sequencer brings at first boredom then desperation then more boredom and then something happens and you get sucked into a glassy mood.

Almost as if you were walking a long and lonely walk in the desert where there is only you, the stars, wind and sand, the sound of your footsteps softened by the burning sand and heard only through the bones of the body.

Clocking in a 53 minutes, titled "Night", this is our first true concept album where initially it's one song split into 5 parts.

We are extremely proud of the result and believe this to be our best album to date (isn't that what they all say... well we mean it... isn't that what they all say as well... well... I give up). "Night" is a musical description of a dream or a stream of conciousness. It explores the question of where dreams end and reality begins and the mind as the tool that has to decide what to believe. The character goes through various memories real and imagined and sees the world from the angles of different people. He travels through time and visits places across the world including old New Orleans and Ancient woods with Pagan rituals being performed. Night is about life and the various ways of interpreting existence. Pretentious? Oh yes but delicious as well... very delicious.

For anyone interested in recording we have used over 200 tracks in our recording studio and over a thousand sound files have been recorded. So, alot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into the making of the album.

Firebird is the first album to be launched under a label, "Intact Records". Gazpacho have kept faithful to melancholy-filled artistic music with it's somewhat serious themes, but renew themselves with a rougher edge and fuller soundpicture. Appearing on Firebird is none other than Marillion's guitar legend Steve Rothery contributing with stunning melodic guitars in 'Do you know what you are saying?'. In 3 years, Gazpacho have released 3 albums. An achievement any full time band would be proud of, however Gazpacho members all have full time jobs. One would think this would go at the expense of quality of songs, but on the contrary as claimed by reviewers:

 

Music in Belgium "...buy it without hesitating!" - 4/5
1. DPRP
"...yet another strong album" - 8.5/10
2. Babyblaue-seiten
"..their ripest and strongest album" - 13/15
3. Rock Hard
"..equivalent of impressionism in painting - 8.5/10
4. Melodic.net
"...and let me tell you - IT´S VERY GOOD" - 4/5
5. Progarchives
"...This is my album of the year so far"- 5/5
6. Progwereld
"...a strong ace to (their) impressive discography."

It seems as though the people who know of Gazpacho, and have given the time and effort to find out out a little more about this band, get hooked.. The band also prove to have an appreciation for their fans, which can be highlighted in a recent event: Fans were encouraged to send in sound recordings & music for inclusion in Firebird, and as a result are now placed as complementing sounds in the recordings of Firebird. It gives a sense of contibution, interaction and a community feel to Gazacho's world. It's still a vast world out there, and they're still promoting independently to grow their family. In the end of 2005, they'll be touring Europe again supporting Marillion.

Gazpacho's second album WELG, released in 2004, provided a new twist of fate. They were joined by Drummer Robert Johansen, and took the step from being a "studio band" to a "live band". While still an independent band, were contacted by producer Steve Lyon (Depeche Mode, The Cure, Paradise Lost, Reamonn, etc). This ended up as a collaboration on one of the tracks featured on WELG, 'Substitute for Murder'. There has been a debate among fans as to which version is actually better, the Steve Lyon version or the Gazpacho's own production. You're able to compare the both through the SoupKitchen. WELG is seen by many as a rougher edged album than Bravo, a direction Gazpacho wanted to take without repeating themselves.

2004 also gave a giant leap in awareness for Gazpacho, as they toured 11 countries throughout Europe supporting Marillion. 31 concerts performing to outstanding response for in total 30,000 people at respectable venues from 013 in Holland, Elysée Montmartre in Paris, to Razzmatazz in Barcelona. Gazpacho's fanbase started to evenly grow throughout Europe.

Bravo, approx. 1 (although the origination of some tracks were from 2 years prior to release) year in the making, has a unique story behind every track. All tracks featured on 'Get it while it's cold' were re-mastered and some tracks were remixed to get 'that' right feel it. Gazpacho did absolutely everything themselves on Bravo: from writing, recording, production, mixing, manufacturing, mastering and graphic design. Everything was carfully planned and worked on to the nearest detail. Nonetheless, there are over 17 people contributing to the making of this album, all being within the circle of friends and having the belief in what gazpacho do (and asking them politely for a favour..:)). No session players, no rented extra's, no agencies. They share one common thing: they love music.

Some of the more unique stories in the making of Bravo would be gazpacho's collaboration with Esther Valentine (California: worked with amongst others, David Kershenbaum (prod., Tracy Chapman), Paul Buckmaster (arr., Elton John), and Richard Burgess (keyboard prog., Kate Bush), and has numerous CD (platinum), film and television credits.) and Peter Kearns (New Zealand: Since the eighties he has written and recorded with various Australasian acts and for a year or two collaborated with legendary American record producer Kim Fowley. He has also worked as keyboard sideman to such New Zealand acts as Shona Laing (ex Manfred Mann's Earthband) and Dave Dobbyn). These friends from 3 seperate continents have never met face to face. All files were written and shared via the internet and mixed into a jumble to create what is known as 'Novgorod', 'Ease your mind' and parts of 'Desert' to

Comments :
Demand for gazpacho's original 4 track demo CD was increasing dramatically day by day, and they figured 'get it while it's cold' ould be a good way to distribute their music to people throughout the world that in particular did not have access to downloading mp3's. This album is now no longer available as it was meant as an interrim solution before gazpacho launched Bravo, their debut album.

Nevertheless, the success of 'Get it while it's cold' superseded all expectations. They received rave reviews in many sites, they found that radios from Columbia to Siberia were showing an interest, they were winning song competitions, venues abroad were interested in booking them for shows, distribution companies, magazines, and even established bands were taking an interest in their work. That other people believed in their music as well was a true conerstone in continuing with what gazpacho do.. to create different music. Nemo, Ghost and Sea of Tranquility have all won song competitions and have been features on various websites as well as reaching nr. 1 in their respective category of music on mp3.com.

Comments :
This compilation, featuring "Sea of Tranqulity" can be purchased from makeastar.com