Unitopia is an Australian music group using

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

as a framework, but also including elements of

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, classical,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

, and

groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station * ...

. Unitopia reformed in 2021 and began work on a new album.

Biography

Unitopia began when a mutual friend introduced Trueack and Timms after realizing the two had similar musical tastes. In late 1996, the duo began work on a track which was to become "Take Good Care" and a songwriting partnership developed that led to the band's debut album ''More Than a Dream'', which included contributions from conductor/arranger Timothy Sexton and the Adelaide Art Orchestra, Pat Schirippa, Constantine Delo, Bradley Polain and Ian 'Polly' Politis. The album was independently launched in October 2005 to a sell out audience at The Cavern Club, Adelaide. Further live work followed in Australia, including supporting

Daryl Braithwaite Daryl Braithwaite (born 11 January 1949) is an Australian singer. He was the lead vocalist of Sherbet (1970–1984 and many subsequent reunions). Braithwaite also has a solo career, placing 15 singles in the Australian top 40, including t ...

and playing the Norwood Food and Wine Festival. In March 2006, Canadian label

Unicorn Records Unicorn-Kanchana is a British independent record label founded by John Goldsmith (died 2020), a former London police officer. Originally known as Unicorn Records, the name Kanchana was added later to distinguish the company from Unicorn Digital o ...

re-released ''More Than a Dream'' internationally. Wishing a consistent team both live and in the studio, Trueack and Timms recruited Adelaide instrumentalists Matt Williams (guitar/vocals), Monty Ruggiero (drums), Shireen Khemlani (bass) and Tim Irrgang (percussion) to complete the Unitopia line-up. Trueack and Timms then started writing in earnest new material for their next album, ''The Garden''. In February 2008, Unitopia signed a worldwide publishing deal with Shock Music Publishing. In July 2008, the track "Lives Go Round" from ''More Than a Dream'' was included on the CPR Volume 3 compilation CD. In August 2008, Unitopia signed a 3-album deal with

InsideOut Music Inside Out Music is a German independent record label originally based in Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, and dedicated to the publication of progressive rock, progressive metal and related styles. In 2009, it formed a partnership with Century Me ...

. On 18 November 2008, InsideOut Music released Unitopia's second CD, ''The Garden'', internationally, a double CD with 15 tracks and over 100 minutes of music. According to Review Busters "This double disc release is defiantly one for the ages. Unitopia offers a unique blend of progressive rock with some symphonic parts that are incredible. If you never heard of this band then you will want to pick up everything they have to offer, The Garden is a non stop ride into a progressive sound that is easy on the ears, yet at the same time it offers everything you would have ever wanted from a progressive release." Shireen Khemlani and Mike Stewart left in 2009 but the band was joined by Shaun Duncan on fretless and fretted bass, and Peter Raidel on saxophone. With this new lineup Unitopia released their third album ''Artificial'' in 2010. Jones, Duncan and Raidel were replaced, respectively, by David Hopgood, Craig Kelly and Ian Ritchie, who performed on the More Than A Garden Of Dreams tour of Europe in 2010 which included Summer's End Festival, a progressive rock festival in England. In 2012 with Ritchie replaced by Daniel Burgess on saxophone, the band released its fourth album ''Covered Mirror Vol. 1: Smooth As Silk'', a cover album containing interpretations of classic progressive rock tracks. The band dissolved shortly thereafter. According to Trueack, he and Timms agreed to split demos for a planned double album. Trueack, with Unitopia members Matt Williams, Tim Irrgang and David Hopgood, assembled a new band called United Progressive Fraternity (also involving

Guy Manning Guy Manning, born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England is an English multi-instrumentalist and singer, best known for his own album releases ( Manning) and for his membership of progressive rock bands Parallel or 90 Degrees, The Tangent, The United P ...

and Steve Layton among others) and released an album titled ''Fall In Love with the World''. The band's sound continues in the vein of Unitopia, with some notably heavier passages; Trueack's lyrics have also progressed, further exploring his concerns with environmental matters and mysticism. Timms formed a new band called Southern Empire, who released their debut album in 18 March 2016 release. Trueack has stated that he would like to work with Timms again but Timms insisted that this would never happen. In July 2016 Timms and Trueack put their differences aside and reconnected. They are currently working on the remastering of the ''More than a Dream'' album and adding unreleased songs for an extended box set. They have also written a brand new song especially written for the set, called ''Dream Complete''. Timms and Trueack have also put a band together called U.N.I.T. dB. This a special acoustic tour band that is made up of Southern Empire, Unitopia, Resistor, and United Progressive Fraternity. Southern Empire were playing gigs in Adelaide in February and March 2017, and touring Europe between September and October 2017. Meanwhile, Trueack is working with Steve Unruh on the next UPF albums called ''Loss'' and ''Hope'', collaborating with artists such as Steve Hackett, Jerry Marotta, Colin Edwin, Nick Magnus, Chris Lebled, Jon Davison, Charlie Cawood, Lisa Wetton, Michelle Young, Angus Kay, George Perdikis, Hasse Froberg, Fraternity Symphonic Orchestra (60 piece) and along with some of the biggest names in the environmental space. The album will be released in Feb 2019. Trueack is also working with Chris Lebled on a chill album called ''The Romantic''. In 2021 the band reformed and started work on a new album titled ''7 Chambers''.

Members

;Final Line-Up * Mark Trueack –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

and Production (1996-2014) * Sean Timms –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, acoustic and

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

(1996-2014) * John Greenwood –

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

and acoustic guitars, backing vocals (2020–Present) *

Steve Unruh ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

–

Violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

, acoustic guitars and backing vocals (2020–Present) * Chester Thompson –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, backing vocals (2020–Present) * Alfonso Johnson – bass, backing vocals (2020–Present) ;Former members * Matt Williams –

and acoustic guitars, mandolin, backing vocals (2008-2014) * Tim Irrgang –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(2008-2014) * David Hopgood –

, backing vocals (2010-2014) * Craig Kelly – bass, backing vocals (2010-2014) * Daniel Burgess –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

(2011-2014) * Monty Ruggiero – drums (2008-2009) * Shireen Khemlani – bass, backing vocals (2008-2009) * Mike Stewart – saxophone (2008-2009; died 2014) * Jamies Jones – bass (2009-2010) * Shaun Duncan – drums (2009-2010) * Peter Raidel – saxophone (2009-2010) ;Former Touring Members: * Ian Ritchie – saxophone,

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...

(2010 European Tour)

Discography

;Studio Albums * ''More Than a Dream'' (2005) * ''The Garden'' (2008) * ''Artificial'' (2010) * ''Covered Mirror Vol. 1: Smooth as Silk'' (2012) * ''7 Chambers'' (2022) ;Live Albums * ''One Night In Europe'' (2011) ;Singles * "There's a Place" (2005) * "321" (2007)

References

External links

Unitopia at AmarokProg
{{Authority control Australian progressive rock groups Musical groups from Adelaide Unicorn Digital artists Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups disestablished in 2014 Inside Out Music artists