Edison's Children
Edison’s Children are an "Epic" science fiction-oriented progressive rock trio, featuring Rick Armstrong, Pete Trewavas and Eric Blackwood.
Edison's Children is known for writing "Epic" concept albums with songs that can reach over an hour in length which are divided up into many smaller "movements" or sections. They are considered by many to be in the "neo-prog" genre that combines elements of Pink Floyd, Marillion, Porcupine Tree, Genesis and Rush but are known for having their own unique and distinctive "sound".
Edison's Children have released four albums to date as well as two EPs and one "Making of" release... the latest being the 68 minute long "The Disturbance Fields" released on July 20th, 2019 on the anniversary of Apollo 11 and Rick's dad Neil Armstrong landing on the moon. A Double-LP 180g Vinyl release of The Disturbance Fields was officially released on October 23rd, 2019, re-mastered by Andy VanDette who was chief mastering engineer of Masterdisc and is known for remastering Rush's back catalog along with Porcupine Tree, Metallica, Aerosmith, Nirvana, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Muse, Alicia Keys and many others.
Edison's Children are an official "side-project" of the Rock band Marillion who began in 1979 and have sold over 15 million albums worldwide. Edison's Children's 1st album "In The Last Waking Moments..." is the only album to feature all of the members of Marillion and not be an actual "Marillion album"..
Rick Armstrong, Pete Trewavas and Eric Blackwood all play lead and rhythm guitars and synth guitars and bass while Trewavas and Blackwood handle the lead vocals. Drumming is led by Henry Rogers of Touchstone / Mostly Autumn / DeeExpus fame and includes Lisa Wetton and Iluvatar's Chris Mack.
Recording engineers include Mike Hunter, Jakko Jakszyk, John Mitchell, Robin Boult and Pete Trewavas.
Every song the band has ever written has an accompanying piece of artwork. These pieces of artwork as well as their Album Covers and interior photographs have all been photographed by Wendy "Darling" who also does backing vocals for Edison's Children.
Between 2007 and 2013 Pete Trewavas and Eric Blackwood with help from Rick Armstrong, wrote approximately 7 albums. The less intensive musical endeavors were released first with In The Last Waking Moments… coming out in 2011. Their single from that album: "A Million Miles Away " was released as a single in June 2012 and reached the FMQB Top 40 for 10 weeks, peaking on 18 October 2012 at #32 for most played song on United States Commercial Radio.
The second release was a concept album that was written in 2012 called The Final Breath Before November. The "edge of midnight on Halloween" theme provided a dark canvas and a step away from the more "commercial" sounding In the Last Waking Moments..., The album featured a prominent role by drummer Henry Rogers of Touchstone and DeeExpus. Nineteen-year-old Henry Rogers had won the award for "World's Best Drummer" by England's "Classic Rock Society" for 2 years in a row, beating out Dream Theater/Transatlantic's Mike Portnoy who had long held the honor.
Their most recent release, their epic fourth album was The Disturbance Fields, an ecological album about our overuse of the earth's resources leading to a battle with Mother Nature to take back the earth from Human Nature. "The Disturbance fields are the physical manifestations that mother nature's wrath can take against the human race due to our mistreatment of the oceans, rainforests and overdevelopment of urban landmasses, This has resulted in dramatic climatic changes in the temperatures of the earth and the sea and is the cause of far stronger and more violent storms and destructive natural events. " is a 68 minute epic piece of music that takes you on a journey of a man fighting all of the forces of Mother Nature's wrath. It is also personally based on the fact that during these recording sessions of all of Edison's Children's current and upcoming albums that they were hit by a hurricane, a 6.0 earthquake, a tornado and a massive blizzard which caused a state of emergency. Having experienced first hand much of what Mother Nature's wrath can deliver... It was natural for the band to write a concept that maybe... We've crossed that line and perhaps Mother Nature has come to purge the world of what has become its biggest liability... human nature." Pete Trewavas.
There had been several years when Edison's Children went dormant. Eric had suffered a debilitating and permanent injury to his arm and shoulder while on set as a Major Motion Picture Special FX technician. A bout with Lyme disease also left Blackwood in a wheelchair and tethered to an IV for over a year. Eric Blackwood stepped away from any further recording and concert activity. Rick Armstrong however finished up anything left undone by Blackwood on Edison's Children's 3rd CD "Somewhere Between Here and There" featuring songs that were not part of any upcoming "Epic's" before tackling the intricate back catalog of over 100 pieces of songs that Pete Trewavas and Eric Blackwood had written during the "In The Last Waking Moments..." and "Final Breath Before November" sessions in Maryland, Massachusetts, the United Kingdom, Quebec Canada and "Castle Edison".
Rick's father's 50 anniversary concert celebration of Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11 landing on the moon brought the band out of its concert playing retirement with John Wesley and Mark Prator joining Armstrong, Trewavas, Blackwood and Lisa Wetton together on stage for the first time in 7 years. This co-insided with the release of their new CD "The Disturbance Fields" on that day.
History
All of Edison's Children's current albums and future album releases were written and recorded in and around Pete Trewavas' recording and touring sessions with Transatlantic and Marillion and was recorded during 7 major sessions from March of 2010 until February of 2013 and included sessions at Black Dirt Studios in Sugar Loaf, New York, in between the Atlantic and European legs of Transatlantic's Whirlwind Tour.- March 2011 at Saint-Sauveur, Quebec and Montreal, Quebec at "Le Chateau" in the weeks before and after the Marillion Montreal Convention of 2011.
- August 2011 at two separate beach houses in Ocean City, Maryland.
Edison's Children released their second album "The Final Breath Before November" on 1 January 2014 featuring Pete Trewavas, Eric Blackwood and Henry Rogers on drums. The album features only 3 songs but is 79:28 long. Edison's Children also featured Rick Armstrong on guitar/bass/keyboards and Lisa Wetton on drums/percussion for live performances along with Henry Rogers.
On 1 August 2015, the group released their 3rd album "Somewhere Between Here And There", featuring Chris Mack and Henry Rogers, Wendy "Darling" Farell-Pastore, Rick Armstrong
Edison's Children released their 4th Album on the 50th Anniversary of Rick Armstrong's father Neil Armstrong, landing on the moon with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.
Lineup
Current line-up:- Pete Trewavas – basses, lead and backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, samples and effects, drum programming, VST programming, keyboards, orchestration
- Eric Blackwood – lead and backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, bass, keyboards, drum programming, orchestration
- Rick Armstrong - synth guitar / Rickenbacker Bass / lead and rhythm guitars
- Henry Rogers - drums and percussion
- Lisa Wetton -
Guest members
- Steve Hogarth – vocals – "The Awakening"
- Steve Rothery – electric lead guitars – "Spiraling"
- Mark Kelly – vocals – "The Awakening", keyboards – "The "Other" Other Dimension"
- Ian Mosley – drums – "The Awakening"
- Robin Boult – backing power rhythm guitar – "In The Last Waking Moments..."
- Andy Ditchfield – vocals – "The Awakening"
- Wendy Darling – Backing Vocals – "The Final Breath Before November" and "Where Were You " and all official Artwork/Photography
- Chris Mack - Drums
Live band members
- Pete Trewavas - lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards, bass
- Eric Blackwood - lead vocals, lead synth guitar
- Rick_Armstrong - rhythm guitar, keyboards, bass
- Lisa Wetton - percussion, backing vocals, drums
- John Wesley - Guitars
- Mark Prator - drums
- Anna Koropchak - violin
- Dean Morekas - bass
- Chris Mack - drums
- Henry Rogers - drums
- Dennis Mullin - guitar
- Mike Gusway - Bass
Mixdown
- Mike Hunter – Mixdown of Dusk, Fracture, Fallout, Outerspaced, Spiraling, The "Other" Other Dimension, Across The Plains, Lifeline, Fallout, The Awakening
- Robin Boult – Mixdown of "In the First Waking Moments…", "A Million Miles Away ","In The Last Waking Moments…", "Fallout
- Mike Hunter – Mastering
- John Mitchell – Mastering track 5 on "Somewhere Between Here And There"
- Jakko Jakszyk – Mixdown of tracks 8, 11, 14 on "Somewhere Between Here And There"
Discography
Studio albums
''In The Last Waking Moments…''
- Dusk - 6:42
- Fracture - 5:50
- # Fracture
- # Fallout
- # The Last Refrain
- In The First Waking Moments… - 0:44
- A Million Miles Away - 5:01
- Fallout - 4:55
- Outerspaced - 3:14
- Spiraling - 5:01
- The "Other" Other Dimension - 4:45
- Across The Plains - 2:26
- In The Last Waking Moments… - 7:25
- Lifeline - 3:17
- Fallout - 4:00
- The Awakening - 15:33
- # The Awakening
- # Slow Burn
- # The Awakening
- Fallout - 1:46
''The Final Breath Before November…''
- Final Breath - 4:04
- Light Years - 6:05
- # The Fading - 1:27
- Silhouette - 67:23
- # Silence Can Be Deafening - 6:47
- # Welcome To Your Dreamland - 3:16
- # Where Were You? - 12:05
- # The Longing - 7:48
- # The Morphlux - 3:12
- # I Am Haunted - 2:51
- # What Do You Want? - 2:04
- # Seventh Sign - 7:01
- ## The Wrong
- ## The Acolyte
- ## The Hollows
- ## The Road
- # The Second Coming of the Morphlux - 3:08
- # Silence Can Be Deafening - 5:13
- # Welcome to Your Nightmare - 3:07
- # Music for the End Credits of an Existence - 9:10
- # The Clock Strikes November - 1:41
''Somewhere Between Here and There''
- Light Years
- Stranger in a Foreign Land
- Ever Be Friends
- Solstice
- Growing Down in Brooklyn
- Someone Took My Heart Away
- A Million Miles Away - Live from Wolves UK
- The Seventh Sign
- The Longing
- Sinners Minus
- Light Years
- Light Years - The Fading
- The Darkness
- Where Were You?
- The Second Coming of the Morphlux - Bonus Download
''The Disturbance Fields''
- 180g Ultra Hi-Fi Double-LP Vinyl release in Gatefold with 16 pg Booklet
- Washed Away
- # Captain's Ledger
- # A Random Occurrence
- # Asphyxiation
- ## The Calm Before The Storm
- # Captain's Refrain
- # The Approaching Front
- # Indigenous
- # The Surge
- ## Navigating The Fog
- # A Cold Gray Morning
- # Into The Dead Calm
- # The Tempest
- # A Random Disturbance
- # The Confluence
- ## Convergence
- ## A Rumble in the Distance
- ## Landfall
- ## Emergence of the Eye
- ## Lost at Sea
- ## Whirlpool
- ## Resurgence
Mixed by John Mitchell
Mastered by John Mitchell
24 bit Re-Mastered before release by Andy VanDette
24 bit Vinyl master by Andy VanDette
Single releases and other physical CD appearances
"Dusk" (11.11.11)
- Dusk
- Dusk
"A Million Miles Away (I Wish I Had A Time Machine)" EP SINGLE
- A Million Miles Away
- Spiraling
- Haunted Memories
- Fallout
- A Moment of Zen
- Dusk
- A Million Miles Away
"In The Last Waking Moments" EP SINGLE
- In The Last Waking Moments...
- Through The Ages
- Spiraling
- A Million Miles Away
- In The Last Waking Moments...
Live Tracks recorded by Phil Brown during Marillion Montreal Weekend Convention 2013 and Mixed by Mike Hunter
Robin Boult appears on Rhythm Guitar at the end of Tracks 1 and 5
"In The First Waking Moments..." Demos, Out-takes, Alternate Versions and Remixes of In the Last Waking Moments...
- Dusk
- Fracture 1.0
- A Million Miles Away 3.1
- Fallout 2
- Blackwater
- Spiraling
- The "Other" Other Dimension
- The "Other" Other Elevator Music
- The "Other" Other On Hold Music
- The Doctors
- In The Last Waking Moments...
- Taking Aliens Filter
- Squonkie
- # The Awakening
- # The Longing
- # The Awakening
- Awakening Chorus 4
- Dusk
- Fracture
- Irene
- Rolling...
Limited Edition release of only 500 copies.
Other physical CD releases and CD samplers
- Fracture also appears on the Classic Rock - Prog Magazine CD sampler release for July 2012
- The Awakening also appears on Marillion's Racket Records release "Playing Around"
- Spiraling also appears on the Fireworks UK Magazine CD Sampler for June 2012
Radio charts
- FMQB reports that A Million Miles Away debuted @ 109 on the Hot-AC radio Charts... the highest debut song for any song on the week of 6/26/2012,.
- By Week 12 on 9/12/2012, FMQB reported that Edison's Children's A Million Miles Away had reached the Top 40 on the HOT A/C U.S. Commercial Radio Play charts coming in at #39.
- By Week 17 on 10/19/2012 FMQB reported that Edison's Children's A Million Miles Away had reached its peak position of #32 on the U.S. Commercial Radio chart
- Week 21 11/14/2012 FMQB reported that Edison's Children's A Million Miles Away had maintained its 10th straight week in the Top 40 before dropping out of the Top 40 on 11/21/2012 due to the introduction of the Hot A/C chart's Holiday Music additions.