MYTHS & LEGENDS

In the absence of a new Spock’s Beard album since 2018’s Noise Floor, keyboardist Ryo Okumoto has made up for lost time with a new solo record, The Myth Of The Mostrophus. He tells Prog about rediscovering his solo groove and how a chance encounter with I Am The Manic Whale’s Michael Whiteman cured his writer’s block.

Nick Shilton

“My problem is that I don’t write lyrics, and without lyrics I can’t finish a song.” Veteran keyboardist Ryo Okumoto is not most readily associated with a solo career. A mainstay of Spock’s Beard, he’s renowned for both his virtuosity and irrepressible stage antics, but as a solo artist? Less so. However way back in 1980, Okumoto released three solo albums within a six-month period, recorded in Japan, London and Los Angeles respectively. Two decades passed before a fourth solo effort, 2002’s Coming Through, emerged. And now a further 20 years on, Okumoto has at last unveiled a fifth solo album, The Myth Of The Mostrophus. So why the lengthy gap? “Well, I’ve kept writing since Coming Through, but I just kept getting stuck,” Okumoto says via Zoom from his…

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Prog (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 132

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