Guy Manning is an English multi-instrumentalist and singer, best known for his own album releases (Manning), the DAMANEK band albums and for his membership of

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

bands Parallel or 90 Degrees,

The Tangent The Tangent is a progressive rock group formed in 2002, led by keyboardist and singer Andy Tillison. History Formation The band was formed in 2002 by Parallel or 90 Degrees keyboardists Andy Tillison and Sam Baine and multi-instrumentalist Gu ...

and The United Progressive Fraternity (UPF).

Biography

Manning was the founding member of two Leeds based bands in the 1980s, Let's Eat! and Bailey's Return. He was also recruited in 1987 to be the keyboards player (joining Julie King) in art-rock band Through The Looking Glass. This band split up a year later and a more pop based offshoot, KingGlass, emerged which continued for a further year. Manning and local keyboardist/vocalist Andy Tillison had an early unsigned band called Gold Frankincense & Disk Drive. This band's final line-up included David Albone on drums and a guest spot from

Van der Graaf Generator Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Judge Smith, Chris Judge Smith. They were the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much ...

organ player

Hugh Banton Hugh Robert Banton (born 25 April 1949) is a British musician and electronic Organ (music), organ builder, most widely known for playing organ and keyboards with the group Van der Graaf Generator. Career Banton was born in April 1949 in Yeovil, ...

. One piece by this line-up, "A Gap in the Night", was later included on Parallel or 90 Degrees' ''The Corner of My Room'' before being reworked for the second album by

. Tillison and Manning also recorded the album '' No More Travelling Chess'' at this time, which consisted of a set of covers of material by

Peter Hammill Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English musician and recording artist. He was a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Best known as a singer-songwriter, he also plays guitar and piano and ...

plus a couple of original pieces. This album was first released as a mail order cassette item (before an augmented and remastered version was eventually released by Cyclops Records in 2001 under the band name of Parallel or 90 Degrees). Tillison and Manning then formed the new band, Parallel or 90 Degrees, with Sam Baine also on keyboards. Manning has gone on to release his own albums, five for the Cyclops label and three more for USA label, ProgRock Records. With a further change of record label, the 2007 release, ''Songs From The Bilston House'' was released on the Festival Music (F2) label based in the UK (as have all subsequent Manning album releases). Tillison played on several of these albums, while special guests have included

Martin Orford Martin Orford (born 10 June 1959, Bitterne, Southampton) is an English keyboard player and singer. He is best known as the founder of progressive rock bands IQ and Jadis. He also worked with former King Crimson, U.K. and Asia bassist John Wetton ...

( IQ), Ian 'Walter' Fairbairn (

Hedgehog Pie Hedgehog Pie were a British folk rock group from the north-east of England, that evolved between 1969 and 1971. Despite frequent line-up changes, they built up a considerable regional and national following and produced three highly regarded a ...

Jack the Lad Jack the Lad were a British folk rock group from North East England formed in 1973 by three former members of Lindisfarne (band), Lindisfarne, the most successful band of the period from the region. They moved from the progressive folk rock o ...

), Stephen Dundon (Molly Bloom), Leon Camfield (

Tinyfish Tinyfish is an English progressive rock band, founded in 2004. The band members are Simon Godfrey (lead vocal, guitar), Jim Sanders (lead guitar, backing vocals), Paul Worwood (bass), Robert Ramsay (spoken word, harmonica) and Leon Camfield (d ...

), Marek Arnold (Seven Steps to the Green Door, Toxic Smile & Cyril), Chloe Herington (

Knifeworld Knifeworld was a British-based psychedelic rock band led by Kavus Torabi. Originally a Torabi solo project, it became a full band in summer 2009. Knifeworld had connections with various English musical projects both inside and outside the rock ...

), Hugh Whittaker (The Housemartins), John Young ( Lifesigns, John Young Band,

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, Scorpions, Bonnie Tyler & more),

Phideaux Phideaux Xavier (born Scott Riggs; January 14, 1963) is an American television director, and composer of modern technological music that he describes as 'psychedelic progressive gothic rock', who grew up near New York City but now lives in Los ...

and Angela Gordon (

Mostly Autumn Mostly Autumn are an English rock band. The group formed in 1995 and have built their reputation through constant touring, never signing to a major label. They produce music heavily influenced by 1970s progressive rock. According to the BBC, M ...

). The ProgRock Records album covers and also the later "Margaret's Children" (as the sequel to "Anser's Tree") were created by notable graphics artist,

Ed Unitsky Ed, ed or ED may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ed'' (film), a 1996 film starring Matt LeBlanc * Ed (''Fullmetal Alchemist'') or Edward Elric, a character in ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' media * ''Ed'' (TV series), a TV series that ran fro ...

. Manning and Tillison also teamed up as fictional Italian band

La Voce Del Vento La Voce Del Vento is a fictional Italian band created by Guy Manning Guy Manning is an English multi-instrumentalist and singer, best known for his own album releases (Manning), the DAMANEK band albums and for his membership of progressive roc ...

to provide two long pieces for the Colossus Project Discs (''The Spaghetti Epics #1'' and ''#2''). Manning has also provided an unreleased track "Top Of The Mountain" for KINECTIONS, the US ProgDay festival support album. In 2016, Manning assembled Marek Arnold, Dan Mash & Sean Timms to form a new band, Damanek. Damanek have released 3 albums to date on the GEP (Giant Electric Pea) Label. In March 2022, Guy Manning announced a new collaborative project "The Patchwork Alliance" In May 2024, Manning launched a crowdfunder for a limited vinyl 25th Anniversary edition of his debut album, "Tall Stories for Small Children".
A special '25th Anniversary' Birthday Show' with an 'All Stars' took place on October 6th 2024 at the Summers End Festival

The band comprised Guy Manning plus Marek Arnold, Ulf Reinhardt & Andreas Gemeinhardt (all from Seven Steps to the Green Door), Simon Rogers (Also Eden), Dan Mash (Damanek, Maschine), Ariel Farber (Phideaux) & Julie King (Manning)

Manning (the Bands)

In April 2008, news appeared on the

Classic Rock Society Classic Rock Society, also known as CRS, was founded by Martin Hudson in 1991 in Rotherham, England, at the Florence Nightingale public house, and quickly progressed to become a large and well recognised organisation helping to forward the cause ...

website stating that Manning had recruited a new band consisting of Kevin Currie, Kris Hudson-Lee, Julie King, Danny Rhodes and Phil Wilkes. The band (minus Julie King) debuted at the Classic Rock Society's Tribute to Rob Leighton concert in June 2008. Drummer Danny Rhodes left soon after and was replaced by former colleague, David Albone in 2009. The band performed at the prestigious Rites of Spring (ROSFest) Festival in Gettysburg, PA on 1 May 2010 debuting material from their album 'Charlestown' which was released in October 2010. The MANNING live band was put on hold and retired in January 2014.

Guy Manning and Damanek

The new band (DAMANEK) was formally announced at the start of 2016. Led by Guy Manning, Marek Arnold, Dan Mash (all of whom had worked together in UPF) plus Sean Timms (ex-

Unitopia Unitopia is an Australian music group using progressive rock as a framework, but also including elements of world, classical, jazz, hard rock, and groove. Unitopia reformed in 2021 and began work on a new album. Biography Unitopia began when ...

and now with his own new band, Southern Empire). Other guest contributors have been Nick Magnus, Brody Thomas Green (Southern Empire), Cam Blokland (Southern Empire), Antonio Vittozzi (ex-

Soul Secret Soul Secret is an Italian progressive metal band that formed in 2004 in Napoli, Italy. They started as a cover band but as the years passed they started thinking about writing some original material. Thus they wrote a song called First Creature ...

), DavidB,

Luke Machin Luke Machin (born 22 November 1988) is an English guitarist, composer and record producer known as a member of The Tangent, Francis Dunnery's It Bites and Karnataka, as well as founding member of Maschine and Soulshine. He has been named in Prog ...

(Maschine, Francis Dunnery,

, Kiama), Jonathan Barrett (

), Nick Sinclair, Ulf Reinhardt (Seven Steps to the Green Door), Tim Irrgang (UPF), Stephen Dundon (Molly Bloom), Julie King, Chris Catling, Kevin Currie, the Sanducci Horns, Raf Azaria (UPF), Tzan Niko, Amanda Timms, The Gospel Collective & Jones Commentary. Recording for the debut album "On Track", was started in February 2016. The band debuted live on 2 October 2016 at Summers End Festival with the line-up announced 09/09/2016 of Guy Manning, Marek Arnold, Dan Mash, Sean Timms with Special Guests: Luke Machin and Henry Rogers. On 14 March 2017, it was announced that the band had signed to top UK Independent label

Giant Electric Pea Giant Electric Pea (often abbreviated as GEP) is an independent music label based in London and Berlin. Their releases consist of progressive rock, neo-prog and progressive metal music albums. History Giant Electric Pea was formed in 1992 by ...

(GEP) and that "On Track" would be released in May 2017. In mid 2018, it was announced that the follow-up album "In Flight" would be released by GEP on 5 October 2018. A short tour of Europe and UK followed in November/December with joint headliners Southern Empire. Dan Mash left the lineup after the tour. The third album "Making Shore" started into recording in May 2020, though it was severely delayed by the COVID pandemic. It was released on 13/01/2023 (again on the GEP label)

Guy Manning and The Patchwork Alliance

In March 2022, Guy Manning announced a new collaborative project "The Patchwork Alliance" made up of himself as principal composer/lyricist plus other musical friends. The first track "The Baobab Tree" was released 01/03/2024 exclusively on Bandcamp. Musical Friends/collaborators include: Simon Godfrey (Tribe of Names, Shineback,

), Marek Arnold (Seven Steps to the Green Door, Cyril, ArtProject), Steve Unruh (

), Jon Axon (Genius The Fool), Joe Cairney (Comedy of Errors), Huw Lloyd-Jones & Simon Rogers ( Also Eden), Gareth Cole (The Bardic Depths), Phil Stuckey (Stuckfish), Phideaux Xavier & Ariel Farber (

), John Southerden, Julie King, Kevin Currie

Guy Manning and Cyril

Damanek colleague Marek Arnold asked Manning to compose the majority of lyrics for Cyril's 2016 "Paralyzed" album. Following the critical success of this album, Guy was asked to provide all the lyrics and the concept narrative for 2019's "The Way Through". Manning also provides a cameo spoken dialogue on the recording.

In 2022, Cyril released a new album, "Amenti's Coin - A Secret Place Part 2", Guy once again provided the English lyrics and updates to the narrative storyline, plus a cameo spoken vocal.

Guy Manning and The United Progressive Fraternity (UPF)

On 31 March 2014, a new band was formally announced, led by Mark 'Truey' Trueack, Matt Williams, Tim Irrgang and David Hopgood (ex-members of

) plus involving Guy Manning, Marek Arnold and Dan Mash (all from Damanek). The debut album ''Fall in Love With the World'' was released and included guest appearances by

Jon Anderson Jon Anderson (born John Roy Anderson, 25 October 1944) is a British, and latterly American, singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassis ...

Steve Hackett Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English guitarist who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis (band), Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis studio albums, three l ...

, Steve Unruh, Ian Ritchie, Jonathan Barrett and Claire Vezina, among others. The band did a short promotional tour of UK/Europe in Autumn 2014 including that year's Summers End (X) Festival, Guy left the line-up shortly after that

Guy Manning and The Tangent

In 2001/2, plans for a solo album by Andy Tillison transformed into the first release by

, ''The Music That Died Alone'' (2003). This initial line-up included Manning and Sam Baine plus

Roine Stolt Roine Stolt (born 5 September 1956) is a Swedish guitarist, vocalist and composer. A major figure in Sweden's rock history, Stolt led two of his country's most successful progressive rock bands: Kaipa in the 1970s and The Flower Kings in the ...

Jonas Reingold Jonas Reingold (born 22 April 1969) is a Swedish bass guitarist from Malmö. Biography Reingold started to play bass in 1986 when he subbed for a friend in the locally-famous act WIRE. The band was happy with his performance and offered him t ...

and Zoltan Csorsz from

The Flower Kings The Flower Kings are a Swedish progressive rock band formed in 1994 by guitarist and singer-songwriter Roine Stolt. The group began as Stolt's touring band to support his third solo album ''The Flower King''. They continued performing after the ...

, and

David Jackson David Jackson or Dave Jackson may refer to: Academics *David Jackson (art historian) (born 1958), British professor of Russian and Scandinavian art histories * David J. Jackson, American political scientist * David M. Jackson, Canadian mathematics ...

from

. Other later Tangent members have included

Theo Travis Theo Travis (born 7 July 1964) is a British saxophonist, flautist and composer. He is a member of Soft Machine which he joined in 2006 while the group was still using the "Legacy" suffix and was a member of Gong from 1999 to 2010. Biography Tra ...

Jaime Salazar Jaime Salazar Gutiérrez (6 February 1931 – 14 March 2011) was a Mexican professional football midfielder who played for Mexico in the 1958 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Club Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); oft ...

, Krister Jonsson,

Jakko Jakszyk Michael "Jakko" Jakszyk ( , born Michael Lee Curran, 8 June 1958) is an English musician, record producer, and actor. He has released several solo albums as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as lead singer and se ...

, Jonathan Barrett, Luke Machin, Daniel Mash, Steve Roberts and Tony Latham. On 11 May 2010, a statement appeared on the Guy Manning website indicating that he would no longer be partaking in any future Tangent activities, although he has provided Acoustic Guitar ameo onlyfor 2013's "Le Sacre du Travail". In all, Manning played on six official studio, two unofficial studio and one live album by The Tangent. ''See main article on

.''

Discography / contributions

Guy Manning / Manning

* Tall Stories For Small Children (1999) as Guy Manning / (Remaster 2010) as Manning / 25th Anniversary Vinyl Edition as Guy Manning (2024) * The Cure (2000) & (Remaster 2010) * Cascade (2001) & (Reissue 2008) * The Ragged Curtain (2002) & (Reissue 2013) * The View From My Window (2003) * A Matter Of Life & Death he Journal Of Abel Mann(2004) * One Small Step... (2005) & (Remaster 2010) * Anser's Tree (2006) * Songs From The Bilston House (2007) & (Reissue 2010) * Number Ten (2009) & (Reissue 2013) * Charlestown (2010) * Margaret's Children (2011) * Akoustik (2012) * The Root, The Leaf & The Bone (2013) * Akoustik #2 (2014)

Damanek

* On Track (2017) * In Flight (2018) * Making Shore (2023)

The Patchwork Alliance

* Stitched Up (Started 2024)

Cyril

* Paralyzed (2016) - rote lyrics for majority of album* The Way Through (2019) - rote english lyrics for the whole album plus created the concept/narrative / Cameo Spoken Word performance* Amenti's Coin - A Secret Place Part 2 (2022) - rote English lyrics for the whole album plus updated the concept/narrative / Cameo Spoken Word performance

Marek Arnold's ArtRock Project

* Marek Arnold's ArtRock Project - rote lyric for track "Papillion"* Marek Arnold's ArtRock Project - rote lyric for track "Aiden"

Seven Steps to the Green Door

* Fetish (2015) - rote lyric for track "Set in Motion"

Mark Rowen

* Radiance (2018) - rovided synth on track "Lure Of The Siren"

The United Progressive Fraternity (UPF)

* Fall In Love With The World (2014)

La Voce Del Vento

* The Spaghetti Epic #1 (2005) * The Spaghetti Epic #2 (2006)

The Tangent

Studio albums

* '' The Music That Died Alone'' (2003) * '' The World That We Drive Through'' (2004) * '' A Place in the Queue'' (2006) * '' Not as Good as the Book'' (2008) * ''

Down and Out in Paris and London ''Down and Out in Paris and London'' is the first full-length work by the English author George Orwell, published in 1933. It is a memoir in two parts on the theme of poverty in the two cities. Its target audience was the middle- and upper-cla ...

'' (2009) * '' A Place on the Shelf'' (2010) * ''Le Sacre Du Travail'' (2013) ameo Only* ''L'Etagère Du Travail'' (2013)

Live albums

* '' Going Off on One'' (2007)

Parallel Or 90 Degrees

* ''The Time Capsule'' (1998) * '' No More Travelling Chess'' (1999) * ''A Can Of Worms'' (2009)

References

Eclectic Moonlight interview