Prog rocker Lewis Gill knuckles down to become serious composer

PROG rocker Lewis Gill is knuckling down as a serious composer and is planning to release a CD of the Warrington inspired pieces called Parochial Chamber Works – Music inspired by Warrington (volume 1).

The 55-year-old Avant Garde Composer based in Latchford has been active as a musician since the late 1980’s, essentially as a guitarist but then purely as a composer since mid 2023.

He was in a progressive rock band called Cheeky Atom during the early 90’s with three other guys from Warrington and produced a mini-album called ‘Jodrel Bank Here We Come’ which was praised by the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen in the form of a hand written letter in 1999, in response to Lewis sending him a CD.

Lewis then got involved in free improvisation and joined a band called The Psychiatric Challenge in around 2001-2006. This group played the Pyramid in Warrington several times and played instrumental free prog/noise/avant garde. They recorded several albumsaAround the same time he was in a progressive rock duo with Tony Harn (from Warrington) called Resindust, there were no gigs but an album was recorded.
Lewis was also in a Prog/Electronic duo called Vivahead with Neil Packer (from Warrington) and while there were no gigs they recorded six albums.
He was also simultaneously in an electronic/ambient duo with Ian Simpson called Sebastian (from Warrington) and recorded another two albums.

Lewis said:” I was very active between 2001 and 2006, all these projects happened within that time period.
“Then there was a lack of activity till last year (2023) when I decided to knuckle down and become a serious composer. I’d been toying with the idea and studying music theory privately for roughly 10 years before actually doing anything about it. I’ve composed over 30 pieces so far, mainly in an Avant Garde style and all now on YouTube. I am heavily influenced by Schoenberg, Stockhausen, Steve Reich and 70s Prog Rock.
“I have received praise from former King Crimson member Markus Reuter and he has even subscribed to my youtube channel. A lot of the pieces were inspired by (and named after) particular areas of Warrington where I spent a lot of time in my youth.”

Talking about his future plans Lewis added: “I plan to compose a piece for solo piano and also approach various chamber groups regarding future performances of new pieces in the future and maybe gain some experience as a conductor.
“I also plan to work in collaboration with an Austrian Installation Artist called Marianne Maderna in the near future. She has expressed an interest in working with me on a future project of hers.
“I would also like to write film scores in the future as well. I have made enquiries into this but nothing definite is planned as yet.
“There is a planetarium in Alaska that has expressed an interest in using some of my music during their shows but this has not been confirmed yet.”

Check out Lewis’ work at his youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@lewisgill5312