Biography
The Tirith are a Prog Rock band playing original material, this is song based Rock, often described as Power Prog, and more guitar based than most. The band has a long history; but the present band reformed in 2010 and has been playing festivals and selected gigs since 2011. The band is known for playing a wide variety of music within the Rock / Progressive genre and beyond. If you like guitar based rock come and see the bands virtuoso guitarist Tim Cox. The main writers in the band are Tim Cox and Richard Cory, the band being fronted by Richard Cory on vocals and bass. The Tirith feature the stunning guitar playing of Tim Cox, Tim fashions melodic solos and has been described by Geoff Barton of Classic Rock Magazine as evoking the spirit of Gary Moore with his delicious solos and punchy power chords. Paul Williams replaced Carl Nightingale on drums in 2020. The music can be described as a fusion of Styx-like pomp rock with bluesy prog. Rock with a hard crust and a deep tremor in its heart. The bands influences are many but suffice to say if you like Rush, Styx, King Crimson, Pink Floyd and Opeth you will like this. In the past The Tirith has appeared at The Cambridge Rock Festival, Danfest 2 and Danfest 4 (Leicester), Resonance Festival, HRH Prog VI, Fusion Festival and TBlok Holland (2018) and Prog For Peart (2021). In 2023 they are on the bill of HRH Prog 13 at the O2 Academy Sheffield and Sonic Rock Solstice. In the past they have supported Focus, The Enid, Karataka and Gnidrolog.
In October 2022 The Tirith release their 3rd album "Return of the Lydia". This comprises 7 tracks;
- Return of the Lydia
- Dying to Live
- My People
- Go The Drifter
- Crystalwell
- The Uncertainty Principle
- The Meeting of the Ways
On this album The Tirith revisit the space story they featured on their first album “Tales From The Tower” with the epic opening track “Return of the Lydia”. In the song you learn more about this adventure, how they were originally sent to find a new planet and alien life. How they were entrusted with a mysterious ‘key’ which powered and activated the ‘everglide’ (their warp device). How they found aliens, but refused to take their planet, and went to Betelguise instead. How they returned to earth and crash landed in the desert in their highly modified and canabalised spaceship, the Lydia, and how they came to appreciate the earth for what it is. Then at last they walk down that stony road again to the castle by the rock and return ‘the key’, and walk away arm in arm (or so the story goes so far). Incidentally this song is written in Lydian mode.
Dying to Live is a song about Cuba. It contrasts the freedom gained from the revolution with the lack of freedom of the people today, trapped in poverty and economic isolation. It is probably the heaviest track on the album.
My People is a song about family history and roots and how we no longer live in extended family groups. A driving Prog Ballad.
Go The Drifter is a song from the early days of the Tirith, now featuring a riff based approach.
The track “Crystalwell” is a cautionary folk tale, loosely based on the 18th century poem by Robert Southey “The Well of St Keyne”. St Keyne is a small village in Cornwall with an ancient holy well associated with St Keyne. The story of St Keyne is that she was one of the daughters of the legendary King Brychan of Wales. She did good deeds in the West of England. Around the well named after her, she planted four trees - an oak, an elm, a willow and an ash. The waters are said to hold a strange power: If a married couple drinks from the well, the one who drinks first will be the master in their marriage. Is it a Prog Ballad? maybe originally but it rocks out with that big tune.
The Uncertainty Principle relates that scientific principle to modern life. It is very much a rock track but with Prog overtones.
The Meeting of the Ways is the final track on the album. It is an uplifting track with a joyous feel. The song has many sections which are interwoven, before the acoustic breakdown. There then follows an epic instrumental section culminating in the ever building 5/4 section which the band call "Hopscotch"; this rises to the final climax of the album. Then the song returns to the chorus and plays out with the lines, "I'm for you, and you're for me".
As usual The Tirith cover many bases within the Prog Rock genre on this album from powerful riff based sections, through stunning guitar solos , to Prog ballads. The material is often hard to define and many have said the band is not directly comparable with any band either past or present. The album has been expertly produced and mixed by Tim Cox. All in all the band feel that "Return of the Lydia is a step forward for The Tirith.
"What Do You Say to an Alien video for the single (this is part of the epic track "Return of the Lydia")
Studio video of The Tirith playing Crystalwell
Contacts
- Email: info@thetirith.com
- Website: www.theTirith.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/The-Tirith
- Bandcamp: https://thetirith.bandcamp.com/releases
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6maMrnItmcybGcOkYqSQKT
- Twitter: @Tirith_Band
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTirithBand
- Tel: 07771 947175