Rain______________
We check out new the melodic prog outfit that reunites old IQ and Frost* bandmates.
There’s a new supergroup in town and they’re hoping to make a big splash with their debut album, Singularity. Prog catches up with Rain’s Andy Edwards and John Jowitt who, between them, have played with IQ, Frost*, Arena, Jadis and Robert Plant – and we find out the story behind their melodic new project.
“We’re really onto something with Rain,” drummer Andy Edwards enthuses via Zoom. “I hope we’ll give prog a bit of a shot in the arm.” That’s a bold statement, but Edwards is far from a naïve newcomer to the progressive rock scene. His musical CV documents stints drumming for prog stalwarts IQ and Frost* and, less proggy but most prominently, Robert Plant. And bassist John Jowitt is a bona fide prog veteran, who cut his progressive teeth way back in May 1975, seeing Gryphon support Yes at Stoke City football club.
This millennium has seen Edwards and Jowitt intersect in IQ (for Frequency) and Frost* (for Milliontown and Experiments In Mass Appeal). However, they had subsequently ploughed disparate creative furrows.
Their reunion came in 2019 when Quill – the enduring Birmingham-based folk rockers featuring former Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan – sought a new bass player. Having joined Quill in 2016 to play alongside Bevan, Edwards swiftly recruited his former bandmate Jowitt.
“I hadn’t seen Andy for 10 years,” Jowitt says. “But when we met up, after a five-minute hug and a kiss, we remembered that we’ve got a great relationship playing together.”
“We started to discuss the possibility of doing a prog thing again,” Edwards continues. “John hadn’t done any prog in a long time. I started playing him some of the songs I had written and he said they were great.”
Edwards and Jowitt explored forming a band with Bevan and Quill vocalist Joy StrachanBrain. According to Jowitt, that configuration faltered at the writing and rehearsal stage:
“It didn’t quite gel. The complexity of the music didn’t suit that line-up.”
However, their abortive endeavours not only solidified the Jowitt/Edwards rhythm section once more, but also supplied a band name, with Bevan having suggested Reign, which subsequently morphed into Rain.
The quartet are completed by vocalist/ guitarist/keyboardist Rob Groucutt and vocalist/guitarist Mirron Webb. Since previously largely stepping back from the progressive scene post IQ and Frost*, Edwards has focused principally on his career in musical education in Kidderminster in the West Midlands, and as a result has worked alongside Groucutt and taught Webb.
“I’d been itching to do something with Rob and we had chatted about doing some proper prog, but also having all those vocals and harmonies like Yes do,” Edwards explains. Groucutt is the son of late ELO bassist Kelly Groucutt, and Edwards also cites ELO as one of the inspirational touchstones for Rain. “From playing with Bev, I listened again to ELO. ELO are prog, but they’ve got these very beautiful vocal harmonies and strong melodies.”
Edwards’ teaching at Kidderminster College also introduced him to Webb. “I’ve had hundreds of students over the years, but Mirron is a genius. He’s an incredible singer, writer and guitarist. When he came under my wing at age 16, I played him Frank Zappa, Genesis, Yes, King Crimson and he soaked it all up. He brings in a real progressive attitude – his ideas are off the chart.”
Jowitt’s first exposure to Webb occurred when the bassist was backing Tim Bowness at a show in Worcester in May 2019. The support band was Webb’s Hey Jester. Jowitt was impressed by both Webb’s material
“We wanted to stretch things. Prog doesn’t have to be a particular sound. Rain’s music is prog, but that doesn’t mean it has to sound like a particular bag of clichés.” John Jowitt
Andy Edwards
and his personality: “Mirron struck me as a tremendous guitarist and his band’s songs seemed like a cross between Led Zeppelin and King Crimson in terms of the arrangements. He also seemed really confident for his age.”
Webb also brings some youthfulness to Rain. “The main reason we brought Mirron in was to bring down the age profile!” jokes Jowitt.
Edwards also identified significant potential in combining two contrasting vocalists in Groucutt and Webb. “Pink Floyd had two fantastic singers and I started to think about what makes a lot of the classic prog bands great. The answer is that you can bring all these different elements together.”
Having previously jammed and made some rough recordings, the first UK lockdown in 2020 served as the catalyst to expedite Rain’s debut album. Or as Jowitt pithily puts it, “Every situation has its consolations.”
Progress was swift, with Edwards, Groucutt and Webb all recording in their respective existing home studios, while Jowitt had to be inducted into the world of home recording.
With Groucutt and Webb possessing backgrounds that strongly contrast with those of the rhythm section, Singularity is a highly distinctive set of five lengthy songs that unashamedly navigate numerous stylistic twists and sonic turns.
“In the old days, the whole point of prog was that bands could do whatever they wanted to do. Prog to me is bands like Gentle Giant, Yes and King Crimson,” Edwards states. “They’re wild, crazy and outlandish and they blow your mind! We wanted to make an album that did all of that. So with Rain, what you’re hearing is lots of different prog influences and not a band just trying to be like Genesis or like Yes. IQ were a big influence for me on the album too.
What made it work is that Mirron and Rob are coming from a different place. Having all these different skills seemed to fill the gaps.”
“We approached the songs in a very prog way,” Jowitt continues. “We wanted to stretch things. Prog is about how you arrange songs. It’s not straight verse/chorus/verse/chorus/ bridge/whatever. It’s about where you can take a song. And prog doesn’t have to be a particular sound. Rain’s music is prog, but that doesn’t mean it has to sound like a particular bag of clichés. Mark Westwood, who played with me in Dirtbox, did the production and his approach is much more hard-edged.”
By way of example, Singularity’s opening track Devils Will Reign is initially light, melodic and very accessible before taking a sharp left turn. The song is a neat summation of the diverse melting pot of Rain’s music. It was also the first one that Edwards circulated for his bandmates to work on.
Jowitt celebrates an unintended consequence of being forced to record remotely, as he, Groucutt and Webb independently added their parts in isolation before returning them to Edwards. “One of the joys being able to record this way, which I’ve not experienced
“From playing with Bev Bevan, I listened again to ELO. ELO are prog, but they’ve got these very beautiful vocal harmonies and strong melodies.”
before, is the freedom it gives you. I’m so used to sitting in a studio where I’m putting a part down, the clock is ticking and people are watching you.”
As such, the songs on Singularity evolved during the recording process, resulting in a diverse listening experience. “The whole album was made on a very agreeable basis,” Jowitt continues. “Andy’s done such a lot of work putting it all together. Usually when somebody’s in that position, they say, ‘No, I want it to be like this.’ But Andy hasn’t done that. It’s the acceptance of ideas that’s made it work. It’s been about saying yes to things rather than protecting one’s own position. And that’s been quite a revelation.”
For Edwards, Rain has been cathartic. “Usually in prog bands one person is basically running it and has final say. That can be great, but because I play all the instruments and I write, I’ve sometimes found it frustrating just being the drummer in a band. I realised I needed my own band where I could write and it’s been a real revelation.”
Singularity is out now via Giant Electric Pea.
See www.facebook.com/RAINprogband for more.