Crazy World of THE CRAZY JUGGLER’s PROG ORCHESTRA

By Alex on December 7, 2015

Swiss progressive rock band going by the name of The Crazy Juggler’s Prog Orchestra has been working on their “Utopia” projects for a few years now. Guitarist, singer and keyboardist Neo Smith introduces the Prog Sphere readers to the work of this great band.

The Crazy Juggler’s Prog Orchestra is a very effective name, I must say. Who presents the crazy juggler?

It was important for us to choose an unique name that already gives a lot of information. The Crazy Juggler is a character in our story and he conducts the Prog Orchestra alias ourselves, the band, playing Progressive Rock. The music the band plays is the Juggler’s media to narrate the big Utopia story.

I would love you open more about the project “Utopia.” What’s the inside story?

It’s a huge fantasy story with continued chapters from album to album. Now, we are just at the beginning of the story that describes different characters on the search of paradise in endless universe. Until now, every album narrates the characters’ adventures on different planets. How the title says, it’s the story about the world’s utopia, that maybe will arise in the end…

It seems that The Crazy Juggler’s Prog Orchestra’s creates concept albums which together create a story for itself. It’s like a puzzle within a puzzle. Tell me more about it.

Yes, the lyrics had to be as same complex as the progressive music is. And so we created a big story first. Every album seems like a chapter in a big fantasy book. First we had to present the characters and their own little stories on “The Utopia EP”. And then the story continues from album to album until the Utopia Story comes to end, but not always in chronological order. We had the idea to hide riddles in the lyrics, and first in the end it will come together and make real sense in the final disclosure. That’s the plan we’re working on.

The Crazy Juggler’s Prog Orchestra is a pretty crowded band. What are the positive and negative sides of working in this project? I suppose that you never lack of ideas? How hard is it to channel all that ideas? What about the economical side?

The positive side is the boundlessness we have in writing progressive music. But because of the conceptional side, we have some limitations and specifications to follow. We wouldn’t call it negative, but it’s more difficult to work with and to channel it of course. But I think because of that challenge we are never lack of ideas, another positive side.

The latest release of the band is “Planet Euphoria – Part 1.” Let’s talk about it. How did the creative process go?

It’s the first album all the different characters find together on beautiful Planet Euphoria anywhere in the universe. It’s only one epic song during 79minutes, separated in 19 tracks, which tell about the adventures the characters experienced there. Because of working over two years with this album, we had enough time and ideas to bring out the best work yet. It’s the most progressive and varied album we ever made, and it was absolutely worth the hard work. And we can’t wait to record the second part…

Which song from the album describes your sound the best?

Definitely the title track “Kingdom Of Mythrodia”. It’s the longest track which includes all the different styles of our sound, from hard to soft parts, from crazy to simple parts, including blues sessions and a final crescendo that describes that wonderful planet called Euphoria.

What would you tell to potential new fans to convince them to give a listen to your album(s)?

I would say, that the special thing in our sound is that we try to unite all the different rock genres and to unify the 70’s prog with modern prog elements. Because of that the sound is very varied and you never know what to expect next.

Which bands have impact on the sound of The Crazy Juggler’s Prog Orchestra?

We all grew up with the sound of the 70’s prog bands like Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, but also rock giants like Queen, Led Zeppelin, etc. And there’s great modern prog music playing by bands like The Flower Kings, Dream Theater, The Tangent, Ayreon and many more.

Do you feel somehow lucky about making this music in Switzerland?

You won’t believe, but our rehearsal “house” is surrounded by the mountains of the Swiss Alps, it’s right in the middle of a beautiful valley, and it’s very motivating to write music with these views. I think it’s because of that special landscapes play an important role in our story. Otherwise, it’s very difficult to bring progressive rock music to little Switzerland which more prefers the Swiss Folk Music.

What does the future hold for The Crazy Juggler’s Prog Orchestra?

At first, we will re-record “The Utopia EP”, which is sold-out and needed to be rearranged. That will happen next year, for the first time in our own little studio. We also plan to make a little tour in 2016. In early 2017, we will continue the recordings for the second part of “Planet Euphoria”; we have already recorded the first half of the demo recordings.

Stay tuned for more The Crazy Juggler’s Prog Orchestra news via their Facebook page.