PHEEEW! A busy 2026 for French TV. I’ve been a bit remiss in documenting our misadventures over the last few years, I’ve been advised by my wife and various band mates that I really ought to remedy this. Soooo….
PROGDAY 2026:
In spite of my better judgment, I decided to throw our hats into the ring and suggest to Michael Bennett and the other organizers of ProgDay that having FTV play this year would be a splendid idea, even though we’d be heading to Europe for some shows a week later. They said sure, and so the sleepless nights began.
Touring FTV drummer Jordan Holiman was unavailable for the PD show due to a conflicting tour with another band, so it was up to FTV veteran Jeff Gard to come to our rescue. Jeff and I had weekly merriment-filled rehearsals for 2 months leading in to the gig. A few days prior to the show, we then arrived at Pat Strawser’s domain for almost-full band rehearsals (minus trumpeter Bret Proseus). On Friday, Lane, Jeff and I departed for Chapel Hill, North Carolina, somehow missing the hideous traffic the other guys endured that day. Got to the air b’n’b’ Brent and our good buddy Chris Jones provided, grabbed some needed groceries and Devil’s Brew, and chilled until our rehearsal. Met up with Pat at the rehearsal place Jeff had helpfully lined up for us for the night before PD, whose owner was a super nice guy and let us stay well beyond the allotted time we (well, Jeff) paid for. Lots of laughs during getting these tunes in good working order and felt pretty good about our ability to pull them off the next day.
Storybook Farm was a little over a half hour from our dwellings. Got there, parked, set up merch table, and killed time until our appearance on stage. Caught up with a bunch of old friends, including Cuneiform head honcho Steve Feigenbaum and organizer Michael Bennett, who is as big a nut about all those late 60s-early 70s rock bands as I am, really enjoyed discussing the finer points of Bloodrock and Steppenwolf (among others) with him. Got to hear a lot of of “I saw you guys in 1997—or was it 2009?” “Which cd would you recommend?”, and my favorite “So why the name French TV—what’s the story?” from most of the other ProgDay patrons. A prelude to the upcoming tour.
SHOWTIME! Shoveled our instruments of destruction on stage, a quick soundcheck (a good thing, considering the way things unfolded), a nice introduction, and away we go! Ferociously whipped through the set, Pat and I worked the crowd (almost as much fun as playing), and maybe halfway into our set, the temperature dropped, and the winds kicked in. I make a crack about the weather being under our command, and 3 distant lighting strikes later, we were temporarily bounced from the stage until the weather conditions improved. Rained briefly, and maybe 30 minutes later, we were back at work. Played another 3 songs, and somebody unwisely asked the stage crew if they were behind schedule. Of course they said yes, and we ended up finishing 2 songs early with Pat’s tune “Spirit Of The Age” that’s almost impossible to navigate cleanly in one go. Good thing it has a nice closing section! Back to the merch table, and was very happy to see our cd stacks diminish, accompanied by many compliments on our set. And boy, did Matthew Parmenter (singer for Discipline) like us! Also got to know our Louisville neighbors Isolation Tank Ensemble, who I mistakenly thought I had seen do a free show in town at a Shakespeare festival a couple of years ago. Good thing they weren’t as I didn’t really dig that other band AT ALL.
One “interesting” conversation I had was with a decrepit fellow (who I noticed sat in the front row of our set and read a book) who helpfully pointed out that we needed to add a sax player, as our trumpet player wasn’t “pulling his weight”. All while the trumpet player was standing there. Needless to say, he didn’t buy a cd. Somehow I resisted the temptation to snap his “grandpa” suspenders.
Somehow we disengaged from the festival and zipped back to the FTV clubhouse (or maybe “frat house” would be more appropriate). Many beer-enhanced touring tales unfolded as we waited for Brent’s incredible roast lamb and veggies to emerge from the oven he slaved over. Pretty cool to hang out with a bunch of pals listening (and arguing) about music, wish I lived in a world where we could do it more often. Somehow we ranged from debating the Canterbury-ness of Supersister to “how on Earth did the Grateful Dead pull off “Terrapin Station?” to the sheer musicality and arranging abilities of “soft rock” bands like Seals and Croft, Loggins and Messina, Bread, etc. Sack time around 3am.
Pleasant morning of coffee, bagels, and reading on the deck, interrupted occasionally by various attempts of laying out a game plan for the day by my bleary-eyed compatriots. Left around 10 for Day Two. Set up merch table again, chit-chatted with various attendees, and were told on multiple occasions that we were the highlight of the weekend so far.
I was fully prepared to dislike Isolation Tank Ensemble (even though they’re such nice guys), as the vast majority of modern prog bands I find myself too nit-picky to fully enjoy (probably says more about me than those unfortunate objects of my disdain), but I have to say I totally dug them, they covered quite a few bases. Just when you had them pegged as being a thrashy Hawkwind clone, they’d throw a curve and do something atmospheric. Just when you thought, okay, 90’s metal, they’d go funk. And so on. Any band that has that many arrows in their quiver, I’m down with.
PKT went on next, and did not disappoint, watching an iconoclastic bassist like Percy Jones work is always a treat. Throughout the set, you could see Percy trying to get their phenomenal drummer Kenny Grohowski to crack up (and succeeding) by playing little odd “replies” to what Kenny was doing. Throughout the set, there was an annoying hum during the quiet sections, and eventually it became obvious that it was emanating from Percy. However, they oddly didn’t attempt to do anything about it. Funny enough, I was told afterwards that it was due to Percy’s hearing aid!
We were unable to stay for Discipline’s set as Lane had to work the next day, so we reluctantly packed up and off to Atlanta we returned, but not before getting a tap on the shoulder and being presented with a couple of gift cigars from a nice guy I chatted with quite a bit earlier, whose name unfortunately ended up in that untidy black hole I laughingly refer to as my memory.
Got back to Atlanta around 10pm or so.