This was the late 80’s… MTV and its constant onslaught of music videos, each trying to outshine the other, launched a visual revolution for bands and made local acts take a hard look at their overall image. It was now the age of “camera friendly”.
Parousia thrived in this new artistic medium. This was a particularly creative period. The band was growing artistically in leaps and bound, evolving in every way from song writing to performing. The art that surrounded the band became regular fixtures on stage. Video projectors and televisions, floor to ceiling backdrops, sculptures and painted mesh created a unique environment to compliment Parousia’s music and enhance the visual experience.
Robert Lowden visible on screen from the 5th dimension
…..H-m-m-m, some very strange yet somehow intriguing behavior?
The set of photos posted here were taken to include band member Bill (Frank) Simms, who recently moved from Los Angeles and joined Parousia to play keyboards. Bill and Parousia go way back. He played bass guitar for the band in 1977-1978.
Parousia veteran Bill “Frank” Simms, is back to play keyboards, 1986
This photo session reflects the band’s current willingness to open up and experiment with the band’s art-rock style both musically and visually. Bill’s extra set of musical hands emancipated Patt Connolly, allowing Patt to move about the stage to sing and play flute like a free-range chicken, no longer ‘caged’ to one spot to play keyboard parts.
Could Parousia possibly be responsible for the devolution of society..?
With the addition of Bill, the band had more freedom to develop songs in new ways and fine-tune existing songs like, “Life Is The Real”, “Lie Awake”, “Egos”, “Northway/Vermont” and “The New Overture”.