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3/7/08 Well those of you who were at the Sprog fest will have heard a track off the new album, it was it's first outing and went down a storm so we're ploughing on with the album as fast as we can.

Jim our bass player is in Turkey playing with his Chillies tribute band next week and Daz is currently on tour with his band The Fabulous Cover Sluts, featuring Lizzie and Janine.

So schedule allowing we carry on writing, I can assure you it's gonna be worth the wait.

12/02/08 I just read the previous post and it's been even longer since I put any news up so huge apologies to anyone who visits. We've been busy  writing, it's taking a while but we want to get it right so we can have maximum chuckles when classic rock ( the magazine, not the wonderful Yorkshire bunch) slag us off again. The new material is sounding great (we think so anyway) and hopefully we can give you a sneak preview soon...

We're gonna be playing the Somerset Prog Rock Festival in Frome so check the gigs page for full details.

Expect to see more gigs posted as we're gonna be playing some new material before to long. If anyone can get us an Italian gig we'd love to do the Roam from home to Frome then Rome and home tour.......ho ho.....

29/10/07   Well it's been a while since we posted any news so apologies for that and thanks for your patience.

The songs we've got so far for the fourth album sound fantastic, we've taken   an acoustic approach to the writing and it's paying off, it seemed to work for Rush so we're having a crack also. (speaking of Rush we've all enjoyed multiple gigs over the last few weeks, awesome cheers boys)

Here's some shots of us writing at Jim's place

Andy, Gareth and Jim are now all tooled up with Logic pro 8 and Mac pros ready to get all the new stuff recorded.

Jim says of the new gear " It makes it easy to fly files around between us so we can concentrate on the writing, with us all using the same setup things are made easier. I've never been one to let technology get in the way of writing and this just lets us get the job done hassle free".

Lizzie and Daz have also been busy with their other band The Spectaculars releasing their debut album Vicious pop

The only way to describe it is if you imagine that Quentin Tarantino did rock 'n roll instead of movies.....this would be the result

As if they wern't busy enough Daz and Lizzie have joined up with Janine to form the Cover Sluts band with ex Ezra bass player Gareth (Gaff) Jones. Their first gig was last night at Gaff and Jo's wedding, congrats to both.

Let's not forget Jim, Gareth and Chris' project " The Doug Mountjoy Trio" Together with ex Gargantua drummer Jon Kinsey they will soon be releasing a jazz album from hell.

As well as the writing keeping us of the gig circuit for a while, the addition of a new Ezra fan has kept guitarist Andy occupied. He and his wife Trina have a new addition Grace Olivia Edwards.

29/04/07  Thanks to everyone who came to see us at the CRS gig in Rotherham last night, we had a great time and it was good to catch up with some old friends and also make some new ones. Cheers to Martin, it's been a while since our last CRS gig and it was nice to return for our 7th time........

Big thanks to our fellow Welsh pals Magenta, always a pleasure to gig with them.

We've not got any gigs for a while now as we are heads down into writing the new album.

Ezra and Martin Hudson at the CRS

16/04/07  Hello all, I'm very knackered writing this, having just got back from touring Poland, where I was mixing sound for ledgendary Welsh rock band Budgie. Had agreat time out there, Budgie were amazing and the Polish fans were awesome. We were driven by  Piotr Grudzinski and Piotr Kozieradzki from Polish band Riverside who introduced us to the delights of wisniowka (cherry vodka), they're gonna be touring with Dream Theater later this year, so good luck with that guys. While over there I met up with Artur Chachlowski dj for MLWZ and Metal Hammer journalist, I last met Artur 12 years ago, myself and Rob Reed (Magenta) had a couple of beers with Artur in a Port Talbot pub. This time the venue was Krakow and with Polish beer and more Cherry vodka.....

So back in Wales and back to rehearsals for the show with Magenta at the CRS in Rotherham on April 28th, our other guitarist Chris is away for this gig, having already booked a holiday in the sun...... so hopefully we'll see you all in sunny South Yorkshire...with cherry vodka...aaaaahhhhhh........

Andy

Cherry Vodka

Andy and Artur

25/03/07 Big Smiley thanks to everyone who came to the Blackwood gig it was nice to catch up with some old friends as well as meet some new fans. Thanks to Rob Southall for booking us. It was the first gig with new boys Gareth and Chris so thank you all for making them feel so welcome, it was a shame we were asked to cut the set short, we had Everyday and Big Smiley Sun to play you all but I know that we all needed to hear that extra Harmony in Diversity track though. Looking forward to the next gig at Rotherham and hopefully we'll be arranging some more gigs soon.

If anyone out there would like to book Ezra for a gig please contact us to make arrangements.

New Ezra keyboard player Gareth talks after the gig with super fan Howard

15/03/07 Ezra video diary 2 with new members Chris and Gareth .......see press release below

15/03/07 We are pleased to welcome Chris Jones (guitar) and Gareth Hill (keys) to Ezra. We have ditched the sequencer and replaced it with real people.Those of you who have followed us over the years will have seen various lineups of the band, some with keys some with sequencer, but it's the first time we've had another guitarist in the band, theres plenty of guitar parts on the albums that we can now play live for the first time. Both Chris and Gareth play in bass player Jim Bradley's second band, The Doug Mountjoy Trio, so they seemed the natural choice to join the Ezra lineup, which now makes us a seven piece. Both have fitted into the band perfectly and you can see their first performance with Ezra at Blackwood Miners Institute on March 23rd.

Chris won't be able to make the CRS gig in April due to prior arrangements, for some reason he'd rather be in the Med than in Rotherham.....Eeee by 'eck .

New video diary coming soon ( when youtube is back on-line)

28/02/07 Big thanks to Mick and Jon for organising the gig at The Peel and thanks to those who came to the gig we had a great time and possibly the best after gig pizza ever, which we enjoyed under the Peel's canopy while the rain hammered down.

We are starting a new video diary featuring clips of us rehearsing and writing for gigs and the new album. Don't expect HD quality or censorship as this will be ruff 'n ready. The sights the sounds.....the smells of a working rock band...a rockumentary if you will....Oh my-god I hope we don't come across too Spinal Tap but it might be worth tuning in to find out. I hope you enjoy it.The videos will appear on this news page.

2/2/07 Well we've got the gig with Galahad on feb 24th at The Peel so we hope to see you all there, it should be a great night so come and support the event, there are gonna be prog acts there every month so get down to the gig.

We've been busy writing for the fourth album and there are some nice tunes in development.

10/01/07 Happy New Year to all you Ezroids and a big thank you to those who came to see us in P.S Bar in Bridgend last week, Matt and Rach (The Posh & Becks of Prog) from The Reasoning were there and tell us that their album is currently being mixed, so watch out for that one. Also good to see Troy, Keith Pugs and Sarah, cheers guys,and thanks for the pics.We were filling in for some friends who had to cancel so it was a bit of a rush to get it together , but we had a great time, it was nice to re-introduce "Under The Bed" into the set, so I expect we'll be doing that one at The Peel in Feb. Lookout for Fireworks Magazine this month as we have some tracks on the cover cd plus there's an interview with Andy inside the mag. We've got some new developments coming up, obviously they are top secret, but as soon as the time is right we will tell you, it should be good....so 'til next time see ya all.

18/12/06 Well I've just got back from ten days in New Jersey/New York so having to settle into the comparative pedestrian pace of Porthcawl, at least there's less tipping.... We've got a gig with Galahad, who we last played with in either Whitchurch or Rotherham a long time ago so it will be nice to catch up with them. It's been organised by Mick Lloyd, a fan, who has decided to put on some gigs in his locality so make sure you support his efforts. We'll be playing The Peel in Kingston-Upon-Thames on Feb 24th

Mick (+ ppp penguin)

29/11/06 Thanks to those of you who came to the Robin for F2 night, we had a great time and it was good to meet so many friends. A big hi to Paul Smith who interviewed us for Fireworks magazine, we're gonna be in the Jan 07 issue along with two tracks from the new album. Paul's review of the album can be found on our reviews page. (obvious one that really......) We are currently booking gigs so if there's anywhere near where you live that you want us to play give us a call or better still, organise the event and book us. see you all soon.

20/10/06   Amazing.....A women found a guitar in a case in some bushes on New Rd. Porthcawl and handed it to the police. It turns out to be Jim's telecaster!   the question now is , who's case is it cos it ain't Jims. Either the case belongs to the thief or some other victim, so here's a pic of it to see if it leads us to the thief and the still missing Fender jazz.

13/10/06            Bastards.........I am of course refering to the scum who broke into Jim's house and stole his Geddy Lee signature Fender Jazz bass, also taking his new fender telecaster. Needless to say you now need a retina scan to get into his house and all women must be frisked. CCTV footage has revealed a van parked outside the house that leads us to believe that it was Geddy Lee coming to get his bass back.

01/10/06 A huge thanks to everyone who came to see us at The Summers End Festival we had a great time and caught up with some old friends as well as making some new ones.

We'll be back in Bilston on 26th of Nov with Credo and Magenta for a special F2 night so we hope to see you all then.

We've got some other gigs coming up so be sure to check the gigs page, we shall be returning to Rotherham for the CRS in April and playing with ex yes member Peter Banks in March at Blackwood Miners Institute

14/09/06 Brand new Ezra merchandise is now available, visit our store page for a selection of Ezra stuff, there are t-shirts, sweatshirts and mugs available.

10/09/06 Hi to everyone, we are getting closer to the Summers End Festival, Ezra are on at 1pm on the Saturday Sept 30th  so make sure you're there early to smash the doors open. Looking forward to seeing you all, make sure you come up to us and say hello as we love to meet our fans.See you all soon.

We've got some new pages coming soon including profiles on the band members, find out what makes them tick, plus news and extracts from our very own Ezra biography, Daz our drummer has decided to write a book on the history of Ezra from it's birth in the eighties to present day. we will be posting extracts on the site so expect some great tales of band antics and buffoonery.

2/09/06   A big thank you to everyone who came to see us at The Sebank Hotel in Porthcawl for the book launch of "Knights To Remember" the story of the Knights Arms pub.

We look forward to seeing you all at the Summers End Festival at the Robin in Bilston on Sept 30th

15/07/06

Here we go --- in slo-mo
Video vertigo
Test for echo

Words by neil peart and pye dubois

Yep Vertigo, apologies to anyone who missed us at the Pencoed gig but I was off sick suffering with vertigo, my whole world was spinning and so I was unable to play.

29/6/06 rehearsals are going well for the upcoming gigs, there's a new date for the Queens hotel in Porthcawl on July 21, check the gigs page for all our dates.

There's reviews of the new album Songs From Pennsylvania coming in all the time so check the reviews page before you buy.

We've got a few songs written for the next album so don't expect the wait you had last time between albums.

See you all soon.

4/6/06 Well hello Ezroids, we played our first gig with the new lineup at Daz's birthday bash the Dazfest, Ezra past and present were there to enjoy the music food and drink.We set up the staging and marquees earlier in the day and rocked in the night. Ezra were joined on stage by The Naughty Boys (so naughty they had to be locked in the shed) The Spectaculars, The Viv Jones Experience, Les, Bim and Will, and Gazza with his flamenco awesomeness.There's a load of photos on a new gallery page Gallery 3

Ezra past and present

Les, Yip, Janine,Jim, Lizzie, Andy, Max, Gazza, Daz.

20/05/06 Hope you are all enjoying the new album,if you havn't got it yet click here to buy it

We've got some gigs coming up

July 9 - Decks, Drums 'n Rock 'n Roll- free festival at Pencoed agricultural college showground

( we can assure  football fans that we're not on til it's over)

September 30th - Summers End festival at the Robin in Bilston 

(Ezra on stage in afternoon)

November 26 - The Robin in Bilston with Credo and Magenta

(Ezra onstage 18.30)

If any one out there wants to play keyboards for Ezra get in touch , 'til then we are using sequencers.

Rehearsals are going really well and the new singers Janine and Lizzie are fitting in great

08/04/06  Well the record company tells us that the release date fo the new album is now the 17'th of April to pre-order go to www.progrock.co.uk we've got two tracks from the new album on our my space site, click the cd to go there

We are busy rehearsing with the new singers and are looking to book gigs soon. Hope you all enjoy the new tracks.

16/03/06    Hey guys we've got a track from the new album on our site www.myspace.com/ezrawales   for you to listen to hope you enjoy

Daz, Geddy, Lizzie, Andy, Janine and Jim

Ezra complete with new backing singers and Geddy on squeaky toys after a rehearsal.

new album out on 3rd of April!!!

27/02/06 Hey the new cd will be released on 03 april 2006 below is the F2 press release:

EZRA

The new Ezra CD 'Songs from Pennsylvania' is finished and has an official
release date of 03 April 2006! Pre-release orders can be placed on
www.progrock.co.uk from early March. Andy Edwards of Ezra recently told us:

"Songs from Pennsylvania is our third studio album, and we are really
pleased with it. It feels like one of those classic albums you listened to
that took you to another place, something you can put on and just get away
from it all.  You may hear influences of Pink Floyd, Yes and Rush, and like
those bands, we feel it's important to use strong melodies. It's generally
more laid back than our previous albums but there's still some good rocking
on it!"

28/01/06 The album is being mixed!!!!! Yes finally , it should be released in March.We hope you think it will have been worth the wait as we think it's sounding fantastic. Live rehearsal continues with a sequencer handling the keys so gigs should coincide with the album release.See you all soon.

26/12/05  As the year draws to a close we can look forward to 06 with a new album(eventually) and gigs.We've been rehearsing with the sequencer 'til a keyboard player comes along , but it's sounding good.Some of you will remember we used to gig with seqs as a three piece, if it's good enough for Rush!!

So hope you've all had a good Christmas and we wish you a happy new year

26/11/05   Carl Sagan once said "We are the stuff of stars". He then went on to say , except for keyboard players, who are made out of rubbishy asteroid stuff.

Yep......another Ezra keyboardist  bites the dust, Huw Weston has left the band. So anyone out there who wants to play keys for Ezra who is not made out of rubbishy asteroid stuff send us an e-mail.

23/10/05 Hi everyone, the new boys are settling in fine and we are rehearsing for live shows, it's sounding great and we all agree the songs sound as fresh as the day they were recorded.

18/09/05      Well it's all change again at the Ezra camp, keyboard player Colin Edwards has decided to leave the band to pursue his jazz intrests........nice.   But fear not, taking his place is Huw Weston who has been busy learning the set and is perfect for the keyboard wizard role, he is  even keen to wear a cape for the live performances. We've been rehearsing the new live set and you can expect to hear a selection from the first two Ezra albums and the new album "Songs From Pennsylvania" we'll be out gigging before long and look forward to playing to you all.

The new CD is due out soon , no release date can be confirmed yet, as it's all in the hands of the record company F2 Music so give them a call to pre-order your copy.

30/07/05    Some of you might have noticed that we have a different bass player with Ezra. Jim Bradley has joined us due to the departure of Gareth(Gaff)Jones. We parted company with Gaff so that he could devote more time to his sporting intrests, he now plays in the welsh pool squad and we wish him all the best. Gaff plays on the soon to be released third album "SONGS FROM PENNSYLVANIA"

Gaff yesterday.

Commander Bradley the new Ezra bass player.

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