INdisciplineD were progtastic at the Scream Lounge in Croydon

Since secondSight morphed into INdisciplineD that fates had not been kind to me and I had only managed to catch them once, at the Fighting Cocks in December 2012, so when they played the Scream Lounge in Croydon I jumped at the chance.

I had seen secondSight at the Scream Lounge twice but it took me a little while to work out that a) the Scream Lounge had moved slightly and b) the way in was via a nondescript door in a nondescript alley. I even thought that I had the wrong place at first as another band were playing when I arrived around 8;30pm and the doorman denied all knowledge of INdisciplineD. Then he checked his piece of paper and came after me to confirm that this was indeed the right place and I duly paid my £3 admission.

I caught the last song of a laddish metal band who were loud, energetic and quite pleasing and then watched a Jamish three-piece play a softer style of rock backed by a harsh staccato drumbeat.

Then it was time for INdisciplineD.

The line-up had changed since I last saw them. I remarked then how well they did without a keyboard player and they ignored that and went out and got one. I had to admit that he made a big difference to songs like ELP's Karn Evil 9 (Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends) and Genesis' Supper's Ready (A flower!).

INdisciplineD only had time to play a shortish set, a little over an hour, so they sensibly mixed it a lot and we had one song each from the likes of King Crimson, Pink Floyd, The Cardiacs and Porcupine Tree. Of course as one of those songs was Supper's Ready we got rather more Genesis than anybody else, not that anybody minded at all. They closed with Aqualung.

INdisciplineD played the familiar songs with professionalism, style and a sense of fun which was echoed in the outfits of the two central men, Chris on vocals and Nick on bass. The venue's lighting was not kind to the rest of the band and even the other front men, lead guitar and keyboards, were almost invisible. At least they could be heard clearly.

It was a lovely set from INdisciplineD and even the atrocious two and a half hour journey home did nothing to disturb my happy mood. There had been too little progressive rock in my life at that time and it was good to hear those songs again, especially when they were played so well.

INdisciplineD at the Fighting Cocks

Some forced line-up changes meant that secondSight took a break for a while before re-emerging as INdisciplineD.

Annoyingly their first few concerts clashed with things that I could not get out of and my first chance to catch them was also the most convenient being at the Fighting Cocks in Kingston.

Technically INdisciplineD were the support act but they were the main reason that I was there so I made sure to arrive promptly, which meant leaving the office in Cardiff around 3pm to do so.

That was a good plan as their set started soon after I got my first beer.

INdisciplineD is 2/5 of secondSight, Chris York on vocals and Nick Loebner on bass, with the addition of Barry Woolard on guitar and Sam Dunthorne on drums. The biggest change from secondSight is the absence of a keyboard player which given that most of the bands that they cover had one sounds as though it ought to be a problem, but it isn't.

The sound might be slightly different but the song remains much the same.

This was a shortened support set, it lasted about an hour, and in that time we got some Jethro Tull, Genesis, Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Porcupine Tree.

This was connoisseurs' prog rock with just a few greatest hits (e.g. Pink Floyd) strewn among lesser know songs.

Their version of King Crimson's Epitaph was my highlight of the evening though the one that I sung along to the most was the crowd-pleasing closer Comfortably Numb.

I missed secondSight and now with INdisciplineD I have a new band to follow. Let's hope that our diaries do not clash as badly in 2013 as they did in 2012.