Progtopia

It's only a few days from the annual installment of ProgPower USA, and although your humble host won't be in attendance this year, he's still in the spirit by speaking with someone who will be shifting from attendee to performer this time. Vikram Shankar's dance card is quite full at the moment, because not only will he be on the ProgPower stage with stalwarts Redemption as their new keyboardist, he and his band Lux Terminus have just released their debut album The Courage to Be. In his chat with Mark, he runs through how Tom Englund's enthusiasm for his piano cover song videos got him the Redemption gig, his many upcoming projects, and why he wanted the only song with vocals on the new album to be voiced by his favorite singer, Anneke van Giersbergen. Then we go back to the archives with an interview with ProgPower promoter Glenn Harveston from 2015, in which he goes into detail (often forcefully!) about the challenges surrounding visas and how much he appreciates his staff and fans of the festival for su