Third Quadrant

Keyboard-orientated proggers discuss their second life and fifth studio album

“We’ve always been fiercely independent and that’s one thing we did carry over from the punk scene.”

//Prog// is discussing the early years of Northwest-based band Third Quadrant with drummer Chris Hare, which also acts as a reminder of the DIY aesthetic that informed a lot of the music that came out of teenage living rooms in the late 1970s and early 1980s, whether it was punk, metal or indeed progressive rock.

The band formed over 40 years ago, releasing three well-received albums between 1981 and 1988 that nonetheless failed to solicit the same attention as Marillion, IQ, Pallas or Pendragon. However, the band’s influences were somewhat different to those of their contemporaries, as keyboardist and vocalist Chris Dunn explains. “Although I was into Pink Floyd, Yes, and Genesis, Chris Hare was into Hawkwind, Steve Hillage and Black Sabbath.”

These dual influences – both symphonic and space rock – have informed the bad’s sound ever since, setting them apart from many of the bands on the contemporary progressive scene. The band reformed in 2012 after playing at second keyboard player Clive Mollart’s 50th birthday party, realising to their amazement that there was still a thriving prog scene and some continuing interest in the band. A fourth studio album, //Re-Generator//, followed //Live 2012// in 2016, featuring Shaun Bailey, Mollart’s partner in crime in electronica outfit Monkey Trial, on guitar. However, when logistics meant that Bailey was unable to continue in Third Quadrant, this led to an alteration in the balance of the band’s sound, as Chris Hare explains. “David Forster, our bassist, just sort of stepped up. He’s done amazingly well because he’d be the first one to tell that he’s a bass player at heart, but he’s very happy to learn and progress and play lead guitar, and he does it very well. What it does do is leave space for the band to become very keyboard-orientated, which is very clearly where we are now.”

The band’s 2024 album //Universal Circles//, features six long tracks that, in the main, have complex structures which will be familiar to prog audiences but with a strong leaning towards keyboards and synths in particular. Chris Dunn elaborates. “We’re not one of those bands that relies on a guitar riff. We allow the keyboards to lead the song and be the structure so that the guitars add the texture, unlike most bands that do it the other way around.”

The most unusual piece on the new album is the closer //Big Circle//, which has a rhythmic, repetitive 1980s feel. //Prog// tentatively suggests that it sounds almost like an Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark 12-inch mix and that it’s almost danceable! Chris Hare concurs. “It’s quite an unusual track because it’s the only one we’ve ever done that has the same ridiculously simple pattern the whole way through. So it’s not proggy in that respect. We wanted to make something that’s throbbing and relentless but with positive lyrics that helped us finish the album in an upbeat way.” SL

Prog file

LINE UP: Chris Dunn keyboards and vocals, Chris Hare drums, Clive Mollart keyboards and programming, Dave Forster guitar, bass and vocals

SOUNDS LIKE: IQ filtered through Hawkwind-style electronica with a touch of 80s pop

CURRENT RELEASE: //Universal Circles// is out now via Bandcamp

WEBSITE: https://thirdquadrant.bandcamp.com/

— Stephen Lambe