Galahad
Galahad performing live, December 2018
Background information
Origin	England, United Kingdom
Genres	Neo-progressive rock, progressive metal
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Avalon, Voiceprint/Gonzo Multimedia, Oskar Productions/Independent Music Market, Blue Stone, PRM, Pony Canyon International
Members	Stuart Nicholson Spencer Luckman Dean Baker Mark Spencer Lee Abraham
Past members	Mark Andrews Tim Ashton Karl Garrett Mike Hewetson Nick Hodgson Mike Hooker Roy Keyworth Mike Kneller Pat McCann John O’Callaghan Paddy O’Callaghan Steve Pearson Neil Pepper Peter Wallbridge Paul Watts Craig Wilson
Website	www.galahadonline.com

Galahad are an English progressive rock band formed in 1985. They have released 12 studio albums, 6 live albums and 3 rarities collections as well as a couple of offshoot project albums in the guise of the Galahad Acoustic Quintet and the Galahad Electric Company. Over the last 38 years they have played with the likes of Pendragon, IQ and Twelfth Night. Galahad have performed their own shows and at festivals in Europe and North America, and have sold tens of thousands of albums despite never having had a major record deal. All releases are on their own 'Avalon Records' imprint other than some re-issues which are released in association with Polish label 'Oskar Productions'.

In 2012 and after 27 years of existence Galahad released their first ever vinyl LP 'Battle Scars' in conjunction with Ritual Echo Records, on high quality 180 gram vinyl, in a gatefold sleeve, as a limited edition pressing of 300 which is already fast becoming a collectors item.^[1] Since then the band has released several more albums on vinyl i.e. 'Beyond the Realms of Euphoria' (a double LP/EP album available on red/orange vinyl), 'Empires never Last' (double LP including an 'orchestral' version of the title track, available on blue or black vinyl), 'Seas of Change' (Standard single LP on black or turquoise blue vinyl and also on limited edition picture disc in a die cut sleeve) and in 2020 'Sleepers' on a double gatefold LP (available on standard black or white vinyl).

History

The band's vocalist Stuart Nicholson described Galahad's early days thus: "...the band was formed just after the so called second wave of ‘Prog’ bands such as Marillion, Pallas, IQ, Twelfth Night, Pendragon etc. of Prog bands came to the fore in the early Eighties. They all started around 1978 – 1981 and we started in 1985 after the bubble had effectively burst, but didn’t really get going seriously until 1990 onwards. To be honest we really did play just for fun in the early days and weren’t really that concerned about record deals etc. It was only after playing with some of the bigger bands when we thought. Actually, we are just as good as these guys so why not give it a go..."^[2]

Founder member Roy Keyworth left the band in March 2017. Producer Karl Groom filled in for Keyworth on the band's Quiet Storms album released in May 2017,^[3] but will not join the band full time.

Lee Abraham was officially announced as the new Galahad guitarist on 23 October 2017 after having already recorded all the guitar parts for their 2018 Seas of Change album, which was released in January 2018.

In 2020 Galahad released what was, ostensibly, a 21st anniversary edition of 'Following Ghosts. This expansive release brings together all of the ‘Following Ghosts’ related material and consists of a three CD package containing a completely new re-mix of the original ‘Following Ghosts’ album by Karl Groom who used digitised versions of the original 2" analogue multi-tracks in order to create the new 2019 mix. CD2, ‘Alternative Ghosts’, contains alternative versions of every track from the original album, again engineered and mixed by Karl Groom and featuring Mark Spencer playing bass guitar on a Galahad album for the very first time.

Also included is a re-mastered version of the rather experimental ‘De-Constructing Ghosts’ album which was originally a separate companion release to the main album in 1999 under the guise of the ‘Galahad Electric Company’. This CD contains tracks written and arranged by various other musicians, DJs and re-mixers pieced together from the original Galahad ‘Following Ghosts’ multi-tracks resulting in completely different songs in most cases! In all this expanded release contains a whopping 37 tracks!

In many ways this was a comeback album, a fresh start after the difficult trials of the previous ‘Sleepers’ album. An album which seemed to polarise opinion at the time within Prog circles, mainly because of its diverse and, ironically, truly progressive nature. Two decades years later, we think it actually still sounds pretty fresh and perhaps will be assessed in a positive way in today’s more accepting musical climate as far so called ‘Progressive Rock’ is concerned.

This package includes new artwork, rare photos and notes by various band members and others who were involved at the time. The re-mixed version of the original album will also be released as a double LP on 180gm Gold vinyl in a gatefold sleeve at some point in the near future.

2020 also saw the re-release of 'Sleepers' on vinyl for the first time, 25 years after the original CD release, in conjunction with Oskar Records in Poland and including several extra tracks. The album was released as a double gatefold 2xLP on standard black or white vinyl.

October 2020 saw the release of the first 'Galahad Electric Company' album in 21 years, which was effectively a 'Covid lockdown' album written and recorded by Dean and Stu at their respective homes. Entitled 'When the Battle Is Over', it is one of the quickest Galahad related albums to have been written, recorded and released, writing having been only commenced in late April 2020. A second GEC album 'Soul Therapy' was released on 20 October 2021.

Galahad's eleventh studio album 'The Last Great Adventurer' features the band's longest-lasting line-up and was released on 24 October 2022. Another new studio album 'The Long Goodbye' was released in October 2023 on CD and November 2023 on LP and digital platforms.

Members

Timeline

Discography

References

External links

• Official website;
• Galahad discography at MusicBrainz