The Official Fates Warning thread v. Elsydeon hasn’t been around

[Samsara]

Ripped the audio from the Live in Athens DVD and I must say, I love the energy of this live show. It has NDV on drums as well and Kevin Moore on Still Remains. A great show from the FWX tour.

It is an amazing live show. Everyone so into it. What's a good program to do that, by the way? I've been meaning to for a long time, but just never got around to it.

[goo-goo]

Ripped the audio from the Live in Athens DVD and I must say, I love the energy of this live show. It has NDV on drums as well and Kevin Moore on Still Remains. A great show from the FWX tour.

It is an amazing live show. Everyone so into it. What's a good program to do that, by the way? I've been meaning to for a long time, but just never got around to it.

I use this one: DVD Audio Extractor

https://www.dvdae.com/

[Samsara]

Thank you. I'll rip that bad boy tonight.

[wolfking]

Ripped the audio from the Live in Athens DVD and I must say, I love the energy of this live show. It has NDV on drums as well and Kevin Moore on Still Remains. A great show from the FWX tour.

It's a great show with an amazing setlist but holy hell the camera is just ruins this thing.

[RodrigoAltaf]

I have a chat with Jim Matheos this Friday, to talk about his new band, "Kings of Mercia". The album is pretty cool!

[TAC]

I have a chat with Jim Matheos this Friday, to talk about his new band, "Kings of Mercia". The album is pretty cool!

Rodrigo, if you have a chance, I'd love to know how he met Joey Vera, and how was it that they started working together.

[WardySI]

Ripped the audio from the Live in Athens DVD and I must say, I love the energy of this live show. It has NDV on drums as well and Kevin Moore on Still Remains. A great show from the FWX tour.

It's a great show with an amazing setlist but holy hell the camera is just ruins this thing.

I've gotten used to it so much so I actually love the footage 😂 and yeah I actually prefer the audio and this show of all theirs, really wish they'd thought (or afforded) to include an official audio/CD along with the DVD.

Have started on the Destination Onward book now so outside of new releases listening is dedicated to Fates right now. Also finally got myself a copy of Ray's What The Water Wants on vinyl too, so winning!🤘

[wolfking]

I have a chat with Jim Matheos this Friday, to talk about his new band, "Kings of Mercia". The album is pretty cool!

I'd love to know the circumstances behind Frank not being on the latest album. 

[jammindude]

I have a chat with Jim Matheos this Friday, to talk about his new band, "Kings of Mercia". The album is pretty cool!

I'd love to know the circumstances behind Frank not being on the latest album.

After reading the book, I think I’ve already got a pretty good idea.

Nothing bad…it’s just that you get the impression that when it comes to the band, it’s all business and it’s nothing personal. If it’s going to work out that you’re involved, ok. If not, no biggie. Strictly business. Found some time for Frank and the schedules align? He’s in. Can’t get schedules to match? No biggie. The machine rolls on without you.

[wolfking]

I have a chat with Jim Matheos this Friday, to talk about his new band, "Kings of Mercia". The album is pretty cool!

I'd love to know the circumstances behind Frank not being on the latest album.

After reading the book, I think I’ve already got a pretty good idea.

Nothing bad…it’s just that you get the impression that when it comes to the band, it’s all business and it’s nothing personal. If it’s going to work out that you’re involved, ok. If not, no biggie. Strictly business. Found some time for Frank and the schedules align? He’s in. Can’t get schedules to match? No biggie. The machine rolls on without you.

As kinda thought as much mate, thanks for the info.  Makes sense though.

[WardySI]

I have a chat with Jim Matheos this Friday, to talk about his new band, "Kings of Mercia". The album is pretty cool!

Cool really digging the singles and can't wait for album!

[RodrigoAltaf]

I have a chat with Jim Matheos this Friday, to talk about his new band, "Kings of Mercia". The album is pretty cool!

I'd love to know the circumstances behind Frank not being on the latest album.

A lot of musicians who were once in a band are now happily taking on other roles, still connected to music, but not necessarily on the spinning wheel of "album-tour-album-tour". Frank worked at D'Addario and Dunlop, and I think he's happy with that choice.

[abydos]

So, is FW pretty much done now?

[SoundscapeMN]

they may still do some live appearances/tour, but their work as a Studio band seems like it may be done or on an indefinite hiatus.

[Samsara]

So, is FW pretty much done now?

Pretty much. No official announcement was made to that fact, but the book (which was authorized) pretty much says that as of right now, Fates is complete in terms of creating new music. I think live shows have a chance of happening under the right circumstances, however.

[abydos]

That's terrible as their last albums have some oft her absolute best work. And there's something special in FW as none of the music the members make outside of it seems to click with me, nowhere near the same amount (Other than OSI and Arch/Matheos, the latter I consider FW2). It's kind of strange, I would understand if they quit the music business, but it seems like there's much more music in them left to write, just not under that umbrella.

[Samsara]

I'm not Jim, obviously. But the sense I get is that there's just not a lot of new ground left to cover that would resonate with Fates fans. I mean, where else do they go? And if Jim doesn't financially need to tour (no idea, I'm assuming here), and the rest of the guys in the band do, then why keep it going? They can easily get festival dates if they wanted them and be a part-time band, not much different than everything else Jim does these days.

I'm very grateful I got into Fates when I did. I wish it was earlier, but in some ways, it was the absolute perfect time that led to some experiences I probably wouldn't have had otherwise. And if this is indeed the end, I have some killer memories of traveling around the last couple tour legs to support them.

If I had my way, as I suggested whenever I could, I'd love to see Ray and John sing together on an album as a united Fates Warning. It's the one thing, fan-wise, that I think, at least for me, needs to be realized. Even if it is a Fates EP of three songs (one Ray, one John, and one combined), to me, that would be the ultimate capper. May never happen, but I still hope for it, regardless of the band's current status. It would seem the "right" thing to do, to me. But obviously there are a lot of things that factor into that.

[SoundscapeMN]

that would be a super cool idea, although I think it's a longshot at best at this point.

So, I finally finished the YouTube review series of all the albums (incl. all the Arch-related releases).

Playlist of all the Videos Reviews on YouTube

Next week I plan to make the final ranking/countdown of the albums video.

[wolfking]

I'm not Jim, obviously. But the sense I get is that there's just not a lot of new ground left to cover that would resonate with Fates fans. I mean, where else do they go? And if Jim doesn't financially need to tour (no idea, I'm assuming here), and the rest of the guys in the band do, then why keep it going? They can easily get festival dates if they wanted them and be a part-time band, not much different than everything else Jim does these days.

I'm very grateful I got into Fates when I did. I wish it was earlier, but in some ways, it was the absolute perfect time that led to some experiences I probably wouldn't have had otherwise. And if this is indeed the end, I have some killer memories of traveling around the last couple tour legs to support them.

If I had my way, as I suggested whenever I could, I'd love to see Ray and John sing together on an album as a united Fates Warning. It's the one thing, fan-wise, that I think, at least for me, needs to be realized. Even if it is a Fates EP of three songs (one Ray, one John, and one combined), to me, that would be the ultimate capper. May never happen, but I still hope for it, regardless of the band's current status. It would seem the "right" thing to do, to me. But obviously there are a lot of things that factor into that.

The band don't need to go anywhere or break any new ground.  The last two albums are brilliant, more of the same would be fine with me.

[Samsara]

The band don't need to go anywhere or break any new ground.  The last two albums are brilliant, more of the same would be fine with me.

Yeah, the last two are great. But I'm pretty sure Jim doesn't write to satisfy fans. He writes to satisfy himself, and if fans dig it, so much the better. The last two Fates records, while outstanding, have a lot of creative overlap, much like Parallels and Inside Out. Maybe Jim just feels there's...nothing left to say?

[Awaken]

The band don't need to go anywhere or break any new ground.  The last two albums are brilliant, more of the same would be fine with me.

Yeah, the last two are great. But I'm pretty sure Jim doesn't write to satisfy fans. He writes to satisfy himself, and if fans dig it, so much the better. The last two Fates records, while outstanding, have a lot of creative overlap, much like Parallels and Inside Out. Maybe Jim just feels there's...nothing left to say?

Hopefully it's more 'hiatus' than 'done', but either way - this band has produced an amazing body of work over their career.  If they are done, they went out on as high a note as anyone can expect with TOF and LDGN.  Both are excellent records front to back IMO.  Would absolutely love to see them tour more and play some tracks from LDGN!!

[goo-goo]

This is what is weird with Fates Warning...creatively Jim and Ray have put solo albums that are just top notch especially late in their musical careers (OSI, Arch/Matheos, Ray solo, A-Z, Kings of Mercia sounds very promising). I just don't know why can't they use those ideas in Fates Warning. Financially, they have the legacy name instead of starting from scratch. I know Ray didn't like the Arch/Matheos music for Fates but TOF was all balls to the wall prog metal (kind of what the 1st A/M album was). Just a mixed bag of feelings for me since they keep writing and recording under different acronyms but seems like their creative fire is still there. Don't know why they wouldn't capitalize that with the FW name on it.

Long Day was a masterpiece in a sense that they captured all of FW different eras in one album but TOF is perfect for me (higher than a masterpiece if that makes sense).

[Samsara]

This is what is weird with Fates Warning...creatively Jim and Ray have put solo albums that are just top notch especially late in their musical careers (OSI, Arch/Matheos, Ray solo, A-Z, Kings of Mercia sounds very promising). I just don't know why can't they use those ideas in Fates Warning. Financially, they have the legacy name instead of starting from scratch. I know Ray didn't like the Arch/Matheos music for Fates but TOF was all balls to the wall prog metal (kind of what the 1st A/M album was). Just a mixed bag of feelings for me since they keep writing and recording under different acronyms but seems like their creative fire is still there. Don't know why they wouldn't capitalize that with the FW name on it.

Long Day was a masterpiece in a sense that they captured all of FW different eras in one album but TOF is perfect for me (higher than a masterpiece if that makes sense).

TOF for me was a better record than Long Day. I felt they really captured what Fates was, in its entirety in the Alder era with TOF. LDGN sort of repeated that but fell a little short.

I have no idea regarding why they are stepping away. What you said makes a ton of sense - obviously the creative fire still burns. Maybe they (Ray and Jim) just burnt out on creating together.

[gzarruk]

Jim recently gave an interview to the Prog Report about the new Kings of Mercia album, this is the last question on it:

What’s next for you?

With Fates I’m kind of leaving it up there and try not to make any definitive statements because I don’t really know. I would still at this point love to do some dates for that last record. We haven’t done that yet so who knows when or if we’ll be able to do that, but that’s that’ certainly a possibility. As far as new music, none of us are getting any younger. I’ve been doing this for a long time, part of me kind of feels like anything that you do for 40 years is probably enough. But, you never know, I could wake up tomorrow and have this urge to start writing something more progressive and heavy. If I do, that not going to be a side project. There’s no reason for me to write something in that style and get other guys, because I have the perfect vehicle with these guys. I love these guys, so if I’m going to do anything in that it’s going to be a Fates record. I’m just not sure that I have that in there at this point. If I do, then sure.

https://progreport.com/jim-matheos-on-the-new-kings-of-mercia-album-interview/

[Samsara]

Nice find.

I'm glad Jim is completely open to continuing, both new music and touring. Life is better with an active Fates Warning. 

[wolfking]

That's kind of comforting.  He's putting no pressure on himself and whatever comes, comes.  I like that.  Play on.

[jammindude]

At the end of the day, how many times has Jim said FW was done? It’s been at least 3-4 by my count. They were done when the rug got pulled out after Parallels, it was over when IO felt uninspired (paraphrasing band commentary from the book) then it was over after FWX. So by my count this would be “we’re done” #4.

[WardySI]

Jim recently gave an interview to the Prog Report about the new Kings of Mercia album, this is the last question on it:

What’s next for you?

With Fates I’m kind of leaving it up there and try not to make any definitive statements because I don’t really know. I would still at this point love to do some dates for that last record. We haven’t done that yet so who knows when or if we’ll be able to do that, but that’s that’ certainly a possibility. As far as new music, none of us are getting any younger. I’ve been doing this for a long time, part of me kind of feels like anything that you do for 40 years is probably enough. But, you never know, I could wake up tomorrow and have this urge to start writing something more progressive and heavy. If I do, that not going to be a side project. There’s no reason for me to write something in that style and get other guys, because I have the perfect vehicle with these guys. I love these guys, so if I’m going to do anything in that it’s going to be a Fates record. I’m just not sure that I have that in there at this point. If I do, then sure.

https://progreport.com/jim-matheos-on-the-new-kings-of-mercia-album-interview/

Excellent thanks for posting!

[Ben_Jamin]

Jim recently gave an interview to the Prog Report about the new Kings of Mercia album, this is the last question on it:

What’s next for you?

With Fates I’m kind of leaving it up there and try not to make any definitive statements because I don’t really know. I would still at this point love to do some dates for that last record. We haven’t done that yet so who knows when or if we’ll be able to do that, but that’s that’ certainly a possibility. As far as new music, none of us are getting any younger. I’ve been doing this for a long time, part of me kind of feels like anything that you do for 40 years is probably enough. But, you never know, I could wake up tomorrow and have this urge to start writing something more progressive and heavy. If I do, that not going to be a side project. There’s no reason for me to write something in that style and get other guys, because I have the perfect vehicle with these guys. I love these guys, so if I’m going to do anything in that it’s going to be a Fates record. I’m just not sure that I have that in there at this point. If I do, then sure.

https://progreport.com/jim-matheos-on-the-new-kings-of-mercia-album-interview/

That's a really truthful answer...Who does know what the future may hold? It's a great response which is similar to the response some band members give with "never say never."

I won't mind at all if they never make albums again, that's fine with me as they have a good legacy of albums.

I would love to see them live again, headlining this time. My first time was when they opened for Queensryche, they mentioned how long it's been since they last played Albuquerque (according to Setlist.fm it was 12 years). It was a great show and an amazing setlist. I got lucky though because they ended up playing one song I thought they would never play at all...Falling Further, and once I heard the opening guitar I got excited and rocked out, sang along. Add in Still Remains and Wish, then I would've been satisfied if that ends up being my last show. I still want to see those two songs live, and I hope I get to see at least Still Remains.

[devieira73]

Jim is so good in making prog metal... it's like Steven Wilson making PT's music. Why run away from what they do best? I know, artist's integrity and all, but still...
I hope that we will have at least another Arch/Matheos album in the future. One more FW (and PT) it would be awesome, of course.

[TAC]

I hope that we will have at least another Arch/Matheos album in the future.

I'd be up for that!

[wolfking]

I couldn't really get into those albums unfortunately.  I didn't mind the first one but it didn't really stick.

[SoundscapeMN]

as much as he's in a bazillion bands/projects, I guess I still would love to see Jim work with Mike Portnoy.

There was OSI of course, but I would like to see Portnoy and Jim, and just those 2 guys alone, do the all of the writing.

I suppose the issue would be how would it differ from Fates Warning or OSI?

I still find with OSI and Transatlantic (or what may have been called "Second Nature"), Jim and Portnoy could-have had a much longer, productive, prolific working relationship/partnership that given the circumstances that trannspired with both of those, their working together did not yield nearly as much as it could have potentially.

The only other things I think of are of course A Twist of Fate which I absolutely love, and the 1 or 2 times Portnoy played with Fates live.
And the Rush tribute album which Portnoy co-produced.

[RodrigoAltaf]

https://www.sonicperspectives.com/interviews/interview-with-matheos-jim/?fbclid=IwAR3yImYzP-J4PPUOpNh3Km-OFpo3EV5itx2LNjhWkIk46Nr1Gjo2As-Qk-0

[goo-goo]

https://www.sonicperspectives.com/interviews/interview-with-matheos-jim/?fbclid=IwAR3yImYzP-J4PPUOpNh3Km-OFpo3EV5itx2LNjhWkIk46Nr1Gjo2As-Qk-0

Thanks for the interview. Glad he is still open to tour with Fates. The KoM album is growing a bit more with each listen and I think it is almost there with A-Z.