The entire Progscape ’94 concert from November 20th, 1994 at Stephens Hall, Towson, MD is now up on YouTube… only 28 year later! Go have a look!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaSSTTEDef6TnbCJSOseXKr8IggUIxyqZ

November 20th, 1994. The first live performance of the Tragic Symphony album with Phil Antolino returning to the original trio line up at Progscape ’94 in Towson, MD, USA. The album had not been released in the USA (only in Japan) so no one there had really heard it yet.

Video & audio quality is poor, ancient bootleg quality at best, but this is all there is. Remember this was before cell phone digital video, etc. What you see here is from VHS copies of Hi8 analog video which is no longer accessible.

There were two cameras running, one on the floor and one in the balcony. The combined audio gives a “you are there” surround quality of LOUD music in a big room, if not crystal clear. Especially in headphones. Enjoy it for what it is and thanks for watching!

• 01. Child of Technology
• 02. On The Wings Of Mercury
• 03. Tiger! Tiger!
• 04. The Power and The Passion
• 05. All The King’s Horses
• 06. Tragic Symphony
• I. Sea of Tears
• II. Nothing Left to Say
• III. Into the Void
• 07. William Tell Overture
• 08. BRAINSTORM (inc. drum solo)
• 09. Looking Ahead (encore)

Approx 93 minutes total running time.

*****

This site is no longer being updated on a regular basis (obviously). Visit billberends.com for updates and further information. Signup to the Bill Berends / MASTERMIND mailing list to be apprised of any new activity.

Since 2019 Mastermind guitarist/composer Bill Berends has been performing the music of MASTERMIND in Brazil with a band of talented players keeping the music alive at gigs and festivals as recently as April 2021. It will never be MASTERMIND proper without Rich Berends drumming, but the band is good and the music lives on. “Bill Berends plays the music of Mastermind” is simply too unwieldy, so it carries on as Mastermind (Brasil). Rich Berends keeps himself busy with a variety of projects back in the States. Perhaps one day the two will come together again. Anything is possible.

Although this is more or less a legacy site at this point, for fans and those new to the music of MASTERMIND there is still a variety of information presented here. Thanks for visiting.

Visit Bill Berends Music on Facebook, see NOTES for details. (English & Português).

English: Revisiting the music of American progressive rock band MASTERMIND with founding member; guitarist, vocalist, and composer Bill Berends. 2019 marks the 30th Anniversary of MASTERMIND “Volume One” on CD. Now a resident of Brazil, Bill Berends has put together a lean, raw power trio of capable Brazilian musicians to bring this music back to life. MASTERMIND 2019 will appear in concert at the Totem Prog Festival at Teatro UMC, Sao Paulo, Brazil, on November 3rd, 2019 performing select cuts from the early Mastermind trio catalog.

Português: Este projeto vem revisitar a música da banda americana de rock progressivo MASTERMIND com seu membro fundador, guitarrista, vocalista e compositor, Bill Berends. 2019 marca o 30º aniversário do álbum MASTERMIND “Volume One” em CD. Agora residindo no Brasil, Bill Berends montou um power trio afiado com músicos brasileiros para trazer essa música de volta à vida. MASTERMIND 2019 vai se apresentar no III Festival Totem Prog no Teatro da UMC, em São Paulo, Brasil, em 3 de novembro de 2019, executando canções selecionadas do catálogo dos primeiros trabalhos do Mastermind como um trio.

Please stand by. More info coming soon.

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2017!!

To start off the new year the entire Mastermind discography is now on sale on bandcamp at a special 50% discount when you purchase the entire catalog. Full fidelity audio or choose from several audio formats, FLAC to mp3, it’s quite a bargain for $37 USD! Simply click on any album and purchase info is below the album price. Take advantage of this deal now!

In other news, Mastermind guitarist Bill Berends has set up a new bandcamp music store called BENVALIA MUSIC to make solo works and other non-Mastermind recordings available. Both Benificial to the artists and of Value to the discerning listener, please take a moment to check it out and like Benvalia Music on Facebook while your at it. Thanks! 🙂

“Benvalia Music showcases works performed, produced, and/or curated by resident musician/producer Bill Berends. Home to a careful selection of styles, bands and artists, it was set up to bring quality music to fans world-wide.”

Titles on Benvalia Music include BIll’s 1988 solo new age electronica EP Life Cycle, pianist brother David Berends’ prog-pop band THE NAME, prog keyboardist Micheal West, and other carefully selected artists Bill has worked with or produced over the years. More interesting music and more Bill Berends solo material both new and old is coming in the near future.

That’s it for now! Please join the Berends Music Mailing List if you have not already.

Here’s to a wonderful New Year!

ps: the Broken EP will be added sooner or later along with other vintage live recordings and various oddities and out takes. So much to do, so little time, please check back often!

Recently uploaded a video of Brainstorm live from our 1997 US tour with Fish. Enjoy.

Mastermind live at the Odeon, Cleveland, Ohio

Bill Berends: guitar, MIDI-guitar, vocal
Rich Berends: drums & percussion
Phil Antolino: bass, MIDI-pedals

I can’t believe it’s 20-fucking-16. Damn.

Nothing new to say, really. I would love to get this going again in some form, but I can’t do it all by myself. So, although I still don’t consider Mastermind to be dead, it is in a deep coma. Will it ever awaken again is yet to be seen. It was never intended for Insomnia to be the last Mastermind album and still may yet not be, but people and things being as they were made it difficult to carry on. We kept it going for 20 years, maybe a 30th Anniversary of sorts could be possible. Then again, I’m not so sure I really want to go backwards in time. We shall see.

I’ve updated a few blog entries here since the site still gets a lot of hits to older entries. I’m halfway tempted to delete them all, but for now I’ll leave them as a historical record of sorts. Quite a lot of attempts at log-ins too, as I see from the site stats. WTF? That’s crazy. The rest of the site is mostly static and kind of a cluster fuck, like the streets of London. It grew over time and meanders around all over the place, but lots of interesting stuff to find poking around. I’ve thought of scratching it all for another boring wordpress site. Nah. lol.

Anyway, the recordings are still there for you to enjoy (and purchase) and new folks are still discovering the music all the time, which is nice. I continue to write and record music on my own and am shooting for some kind of new release in 2016. Some of that includes reworked Mastermind stuff. Most of it is brand spankin’ new material. Life goes on.

Visit billberends.com and sign up to the mailing list to be notified when something happens.

Thanks for looking in.

Yours in music,
Bill Berends
March 01, 2016

February 19th, 2015 marked the 5th anniversary of Mastermind’s 7th full length studio album release – Insomnia – featuring vocalist Tracy McShane’s album debut and Jens Johansson returning for his third outing with the Berends brothers progressive rock outfit. The darker, heavier sound is something of a departure from previous titles, but continues an evolution that began with the explosive instrumental fire of Excelsior, morphing into the female fronted symphonic prog-metal of Angels of the Apocalypse, and evolving yet further into something unusual and quite unique. This was a 21st Century Mastermind for sure, yet many elements of the Berends signature sound are still present and identifiable.

However, Insomnia almost never saw the light of day. After a long and arduous search for a suitable new label, the album was eventually released worldwide by Lion Music in Finland, run by Swedish guitarist Lars Eric Mattsson. Changes in personnel, changes in the record business, broadband internet, the global economy, all contributed to the delay. Most of the recording was done years earlier between 2002 and 2004 with two songs released as a preview on the Broken EP of 2005 along with several live tracks. Almost a full album in itself. The band gigged often during the early 21st Century building a receptive new audience on the live circuit, so a lot of the material road tested and gaining traction with new fans.

Some of the older prog fans didn’t really follow, but overall the album was well received and critically accepted (reviews) with many folks applauding a fresh new approach and some even calling it the best Mastermind album to date. Things being as they were, however, with departing members and frustrations with the business side of things, the band had ceased performing live by early 2007 and the album was released without proper live support even though the songs were being performed live during the preceding years.

It was never intended for this to be the last of Mastermind’s album output, but without finding suitable new players and no real support from the outside, Mastermind slipped into a coma of sorts and has been on indefinite hiatus since 2007. Bill and Rich continued to perform as The Berends Brothers Band and Bill Berends stepped out on his own with an instrumental solo album in 2012 and continues to create new music, some of which was – and yet may still be – destined to become Mastermind VIII. This my still happen at some point.

So it is somewhat with mixed emotion that we view things 5 years on. We made a good album that not enough people heard and it’s a shame we couldn’t manage to go out and support it live. For those who have listened and purchased a copy, we thank you for your support. Everyone else, get listening! As for the future… anything is possible.

Mastermind: Insomnia on CDBaby

Season’s Greetings and happy holidays!

Mastermind’s Fearless Leader Bill Berends has posted a new holiday video on his web site. Of particular interest to Mastermind fans is the second half of the video is based on a demo for a possible potential 8th Mastermind album.  youtube.com/watch?v=it0eiZAeN7M

If you missed Bill’s FNP interview back in November (see below), the show is now archived so you may listen on demand: Friday Night Progressive: Bill Berends interview and award show. Mastermind fans may find some of the commentary enlightening.

That’s it for now. Bill continues to write new music and everyone else is doing whatever it is they do. Be sure to bookmark billberends.com and join the mailing list for future updates.

Best wishes to all for a happy holiday season!