Comfortably Prog were originally known as Tiresias' Children (named after the prophet of Greek mythology, from Genesis' song Cinema Show, or rather his children at least), but the name was hard to pronounce, to remember and to spell. After being introduced on stage as Teresa's Children for the umteenth time (which didn't go down well with Paul's wife Theresa, nor with his kids), we decided to change our name in November 2023 to Comfortably Prog, which describes well how we are.
We first formed during the dark days of the 2020/21 winter Covid lockdown. The original lineup was a 7-piece, led by Paul Harrison, with Dave Jutton on guitars, Keith Rossiter on Keys, Becky Patterson on Clarinet, Alex Wilson on drums, George "Big Ginge" Smith on bass, and Laura Leeson on backing vocals. The initial goal of the band was a debut public performance at ScorpionFest21. At first, rehearsing had to be done home alone, but as the lockdown rules began to lift, we were able to rehearse outside in groups of gradually increasing numbers. The band indeed emerged for their first public performance at ScorpionFest21, which eventually took place on the first weekend after the end of lockdown on July 23/24 2021. The band's performance was met with huge acclaim and most band members committed to continue in the longer term. However, Alex and Laura left the band in late 2021.
Pete Barry joined as drummer in November 2021 and Amanda Warhaftig on vocals and flute in January 2022. Further lockdowns over the winter, and the personnel changes had prevented further gigs during 2021 and the band returned to individual practice pending the end of Covid restrictions. We were able to restart face-to-face rehearsals in early 2022 and soon after, we returned to regular gigging.
In Autumn 2022, Chris Davis joined as our new bass player and has brought his life-long passion for prog rock to the band, as well as his electric twelve-string.
The band continue to go from strength-to-strength.
Gig History
- Sat July 24th 2021, ScorpionFest21, Compton Scorpion.
- Wed Feb 9th 2022, The Bull Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon.
- Sat April 2nd 2022, The Bull Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon.
- Sat April 30th 2022, The Four Alls, Welford-on-Avon.
- Fri July 8th 2022, Friday night headliner, the 20th Hawkesbury Festival, Hawkesbury, near Stroud.
- Sat July 16th 2022, ScorpionFest22, Compton Scorpion.
- Wed Aug 3rd 2022, OCC Club, Malvern.
- Thu Dec 15th 2022, Red Lion Inn, Malvern.
- Sat June 17th 2023, Shipston Proms, Howard Arms, Ilmington.
- Fri July 7th 2023, Friday night headliner, the 21st Hawkesbury Festival, Hawkesbury, near Stroud.
- Thu July 13th 2023, OCC Club, Malvern.
- Thu Nov. 2nd 2023, The Tower of Song, 107 Pershore Rd S, Birmingham B30 3JX, UK.
- Sat July 13th 2024, 22nd Hawkesbury Festival, Near Stroud.