“There’s a spirit in CHINA that really moved me!”

In 2012, drummer Anthony Vanacore made the life-changing choice to migrate from the US to China. The band he started there, OU, became the first Chinese prog act to sign with a major western label and have just collaborated with Devin Townsend. Vanacore tells Prog about his collective’s boundary-breaking journey so far.

Matt Mills

Anthony Vanacore was only supposed to be away for a few weeks. After finishing his studies of music at Queens College, New York, in 2010, the American drummer joined an orchestra for a tour of China. He enjoyed it so much that he did it again the following year. Upon his second return home from the Far East, he realised something: it didn’t feel like home any more. “When I came back – I was in Flushing, Queens – I gained a whole new perspective on where I was living,” the musician tells Prog over a video call from his current hometown of Beijing. “I became more and more fascinated, and very passionate about learning Chinese. It’s hard to describe, but there is a resilience about the people here, and…

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Prog Italia (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 151

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