Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 1944 – 10 March 2016)

Deeply saddened by the tragic news of Keith Emerson passing. An influence and inspiration, his music will be remembered.

“He was a man. Take him for all in all.
 I shall not look upon his like again.”

RIP Keith.

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

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!

On Friday Nov. 28th Friday Night Progressive honors Mastermind guitarist Bill Berends with the “Indeprog Award” for outstanding prog artistry in recognition of his musical career and commemorating the 20th Anniversary of MASTERMIND III: Tragic Symphony. Featuring a candid interview with Bill, commentary, music & chat. Tune in live at 9pm EST (NYC time). All of us here would like to thank FNP for their ongoing interest and support. Thank you!

Interview (Archive) Originally aired Nov. 28, 2014 | Facebook FNP group

November 2014 marks the 20th Anniversary of Mastermind III: Tragic Symphony, the band’s third studio album. First released in Japan on Nov. 9th, 1994 on the Zero/EMI label, and a few months later in Europe, the USA, and Korea by various labels, Tragic Symphony was the first Mastermind album licensed and released worldwide, bringing the band to a much wider global audience. For many, this was their first introduction to Mastermind.

Twenty years ago today, on Nov. 20th, 1994, the original trio line up presented the premier live performance of the album in its entirety at ProgScape ’94 at Stephens Hall in Towson, MD to a receptive and enthusiastic audience. Many thanks to everyone who helped make this album a milestone in the history of Mastermind.

Home movie teaser of the Stephens Hall performance, 20 years ago today.

PS: The possibility of future lives shows is not out of the question, however, regarding the previous blog entry, the promoter was promising more than they could deliver and nothing came of it. Unfortunate, but never say never.

Greetings and thanks for looking in!

Mastermind has recently been approached about the possibility of playing some live shows this coming Summer of 2014. We are currently considering how that might work in terms of personnel, repertoire, logistics, and so on. We are enthusiastic about the idea, and if it seems feasible, we hope circumstances come together to make it possible. If you’d care comment below, your feedback and some show of support would be appreciated. If you would be interested in seeing this happen, please let it be known.

Meanwhile, winter of 2014 has been kicking our asses. Here is a video from Bill Berends solo album In My Dreams I Can Fly entitled The Longest Winter which seems appropriate right about now as yet another snow and ice storm bears down upon us. It has been brutal.

Once again, please join the mailing list to keep informed about what’s going on. Thanks.

Since the demise of Mindawn as our digital distributor, several Mastermind catalog titles have been officially unavailable anywhere online. This unacceptable situation has now been rectified by adding several new titles to our new & improved Mastermind Nimbit Webstore.

As physical CD’s released by Inside Out (Europe/USA) and Avalon (Japan/Asia) the discs have been out of print & sold out for some time with all rights reverting back to us. Thanks to the internet working for us for a change, the albums are again available as digital downloads.

We’ve made some pretty cool albums that still not enough people have heard! And since we’re not exactly competing in the trendy popular music charts, release dates are almost irrelevant for the most part. The music is timeless and could have been released yesterday.

Our Nimbit Webstore sample clips will give you a good overview of an album, but we’ll also be making albums available streaming in-full on youtube so you can enjoy them and fall in love with them. If you already know these albums; we love you! Now anyone can listen to them anywhere, whenever they please. Mastermind worldwide… for free! You can’t beat that.

The first featured album is Angels of the Apocalypse ….

Angels of the Apocalypse was a dramatic shift for us, adding a female vocalist and moving in a decisively more metal direction. It’s risky and experimental, powerful yet nimble, and quite unique sounding. Give it a listen and decide for yourself! Such wonderful performances from vocalist Lisa Bouchelle and Jens Johansson on keys are truly outstanding. I haven’t listened to this for quite some time now and have to say, it’s making my Mastermind juices flow. Mastermind juices… hahah. eww. Anyway, I am proud of this work, the music, and all the people we worked with in making it happen including my bro’ Rich Berends who’s feet were on fire making this one! Also remembering bassist and departed friend Bob Eckman. R.I.P.

The early Mastermind trio albums are all up on mastermind.bandcamp.com streaming in-full along with some exclusive digital-only releases. Our newest album Insomnia (2010) is under contract with Lion Music. Also check out Bill Berends new solo album In My Dreams I Can Fly.

Listen free! -> Love!! -> *purchase* <- thank you!!! ps: please sign up to the mailing list for exclusive updates & more.

Bb

progressive metal, progressive rock, jazz-metal, acid rock

September 11th, 2001… I will never forget that day. Ever. I was awakened by the sound of Tracy McShane screaming out of my answering machine “Billy, Billy!! Turn on the TV!!!” I turned it on just in time to watch the second plane slam into the south tower. No words can describe how I felt as I watched the towers collapse, live on TV. Absolute horror.

Much of the Insomnia album was written and recorded in the time between that fateful day and the “shock and awe” attack on Bahgdad which I also watched in horror, live on TV. The days that followed were very surreal and unsettling. I tried to put it out of my mind.

Listening to this music takes me right back to that time and in many ways I feel like I have ignored it because of that – still wanting to put it all of it out of my mind. For those who never made the connection – and surprisingly, not one single review ever did – that is why the twin beacons were included on the inner sleeve artwork. It was the zeitgeist, the dark shadow that malingered over everything. We went as a band to ground zero not long after the attack, saw the beacons, witnessed the destruction up close. It felt… personal.

Although this piece of music Last Cigarette wasn’t written specifically with 911 in mind, it was always in the back of my mind. Looking back, I think it probably best captures how I was feeling at the time and even though it’s been 12 years now, it’s still hard for me to listen to sometimes. Along with some other personal issues, it was a very difficult time. I didn’t want to deal with it and because of that, combined with dramatic changes in the music business, it took years to see the album released.  Insomnia almost never saw the light of day.

Musically speaking, this is my personal favorite on the album. The guitar solo-turn-duet with Jens Johansson’s brilliant counterpoint is probably my favorite musical moment. Looking back now with some objectivity, I still think we made a good, solid album. Life goes on.

-Bill Berends 9/11/13

Better late than never? Uploaded a few tunes from the Insomnia album on youtube so you can listen at your leisure anywhere in the world! It took a while to convince the label that maybe people should be able to hear some of the music from the hitherto “invisible” Mastermind album. Of course you’ll enjoy it so much you’ll go purchase a copy right away! Right? Right!

That’s the idea anyway. Here you go… Insomnia playlist (youtube)

Available from iTunes | CDBaby | Lion Music | read the reviews

Thanks for listening! More to come.

Some video from back before the digital revolution, a few clips from the Electric Factory concert in 1997 opening for Joe Satriani. The playlist should run thru all four videos for you.

More to come. Enjoy!