Rob Reed of Magenta Interview
I was fortunate enough to have been given access to hearing the new Magenta Album; Tarot, Several months ahead of its official release date of 10th April 2026, I also talked with Rob about this album and his other projects,
Here's what he had to say about all this
Jws Good afternoon Rob thank you for making t8me to talk with me, How have you been since we last spoke ( around the time of the last Cyan album -" Pictures From The Other Side)
RR I've been ok, busy as normal going all this prog related stuff, I've been doing this for over 30 years now and everyday still excites me, I love making this music, Its my passion, Creating, making music and performing it live to an audience of people who love it as much as I do, its a privilege that I relish and never take for granted.
Jws So there's a new Magenta album coming out in April, I've heard it and have to say I thought it was a wonderful sounding album, what's different this time around?
RR Well firstly I've taken everything i love about Prog and distilled in down i777n this album so you want some epic sings, Orchestrations, a full band and a very prominent bass like Chris Squire and Jon Camp of Renaissance, both those pllayers had a very upfront toppy bass sound that pushed the music along loved Renaissance and the sound they got,when we started Magenta in the early 2000's Prog was out of fashion, you would probably get one album a month nowadays its totally different.and buyers have a slew of releases to choose from, Prog is on the rise again, That makes me very glad that I can be a part of that resurrection, in the 1980’s Prog was a dirty word,, thankfully that's not the case nowadays.
So that new album Tarot is a series of interlinked stories in which the appropriate Tarot card represents the character and their story, itsx Aalso coming out in an all sInging all dancing edition in a metal case with lotsvofbb9nus materials, cds and Dvd etc as well as some Tarot cardsmthat tie in with whole concept, its a very nice looking package. Only available from Our Bandcamp site. It's out in April 10th I think.
Jws so what's happening with Cyan at the moment?
RR Well I have plans for a third album which will complete the trilogy of albums I originally recorded and released in the 1990’s Although with the degree of reworking and Rewriting these have been through they bear little resembleance to those earlier albums as we have far better technology these days plus I am far better musically than I was back then so,I’ve been able to better realise the vision I had envisaged for those albums and with Luke and Peter on board those albums sound like I originally wanted them too. So there is definitely activity going on, Expect a release later this year.
I SAtarted Cyan after Coving completely scuppered the plans were had for Magenta, We had to cancel an entire tour and wrote off a year of activity, Magenta meets my prog yearning and if I tire of that I can do some Mike Oldfield 8nspir3dcstuff like Sanctuary and if I Tire of that I can do some Cyan stuff, we need to write some original music fotvCyanntontwckle though as the 3valbums were all used for the current Cyan albums (Including the forthcoming one) With player like Luke Machin and Peter Jones you need good material that challenges them to new highs.
Jws So you're playing at the Camden Club 8n April tell me about that?
RR Well the idea is to do an acoustic show and and electric show covering all eras of Magenta, including this new album possiblyna Q &A 8fvwe can itvwill becavgreatb8ntimatevandvuniquecehow , we're only doing this and the one at the 1865 in Southampton so these shows will be a bit special really.
Jws I'm hoping to be able to get to the Camden show myself I think its worth the making the trip from Cheshire for.
RR Excellent zit will be great to meet you there if you do make it.
JWS So is the tarot album connected with Steve Hackett’ Voyage Of The Acolyte which has a tarot theme?
RR No its not connected I've just used a similar theme but in a different way, Renaissance had an album that used Tarot Cards (Turn Of The Cards in 1974) but whilst in loved that album i wanted to develop the story slightly differently by used the card to define the character so whether it was Mozart, Mary Magdelene of Judas Iscariot the card told the tale of the character.
Jws Well Rob my time has gone so thank you for talking with me I look forward to getting the album and seeing you in London in April
RR Thank you John good talking to you today. Thank you for your interest i in the music.