Edison’s Children are an "Epic" science fiction-oriented progressive rock trio, featuring Rick Armstrong (Son of Astronaut Neil Armstrong), Pete Trewavas (Marillion and Transatlantic) and Eric Blackwood.
Edison's Children is known for writing "Epic" concept albums with songs that can reach over an hour in length which are divided up into many smaller "movements" or sections. They are considered by many to be in the "neo-prog" genre that combines elements of Pink Floyd, Marillion, Porcupine Tree, Genesis and Rush but are known for having their own unique and distinctive "sound".
Edison's Children have released four albums to date as well as two EPs and one "Making of" release ... the latest being the 68 minute long The Disturbance Fields released on July 20, 2019 on the anniversary of Apollo 11 and Rick's dad Neil Armstrong landing on the moon. A Double-LP 180g vinyl release of The Disturbance Fields was officially released on October 23, 2019, re-mastered by Andy VanDette who was chief mastering engineer of Masterdisc and is known for remastering Rush's back catalog along with Porcupine Tree, Metallica ("One"), Aerosmith ("Living on the Edge"), Nirvana, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Muse, Alicia Keys and many others.
Edison's Children are an official "side-project" of the Rock band Marillion who began in 1979 and have sold over 15 million albums worldwide. Edison's Children's 1st album "In The Last Waking Moments..." is the only album to feature all of the members of Marillion (h, Mark Kelly, Ian Mosley, Steve Rothery and of course Edison' Children founder Pete Trewavas) and not be an actual "Marillion album". (The lead guitarist of their former lead singer Fish appears on that album as well).
Rick Armstrong, Pete Trewavas and Eric Blackwood all play lead and rhythm guitars and synth guitars and bass while Trewavas and Blackwood handle the lead vocals. Drumming is led by Henry Rogers of Touchstone / Mostly Autumn / DeeExpus fame and includes Lisa Wetton (wife of the late Asia/King Crimson singer John Wetton) and Iluvatar's Chris Mack.
Recording engineers include Mike Hunter (producer of Marillion), Jakko Jakszyk (lead singer of King Crimson), John Mitchell (singer of Arena, Kino, Frost*, It Bites and Lonely Robot), Robin Boult (guitarist with Fish (singer) and Pete Trewavas.
Every song the band has ever written has an accompanying piece of artwork (which appears throughout the 20 page "Lyrics and Images" booklets of their CDs and LPs of all of their major releases). These pieces of artwork as well as their Album Covers and interior photographs have all been photographed by Wendy "Darling" who also does backing vocals for Edison's Children.
Between 2007 and 2013 Pete Trewavas and Eric Blackwood with help from Rick Armstrong, wrote approximately 7 albums. The less intensive musical endeavors were released first with In The Last Waking Moments… coming out in 2011. Their single from that album: "A Million Miles Away (I Wish I Had A Time Machine)" was released as a single in June 2012 and reached the FMQB Top 40 for 10 weeks, peaking on 18 October 2012 at #32 for most played song on United States Commercial Radio.
The second release was a concept album that was written in 2012 called The Final Breath Before November. The "edge of midnight on Halloween" theme provided a dark canvas and a step away from the more "commercial" sounding In the Last Waking Moments..., The album featured a prominent role by drummer Henry Rogers of Touchstone and DeeExpus. Nineteen-year-old Henry Rogers had won the award for "World's Best Drummer" by England's "Classic Rock Society" for 2 years in a row, beating out Dream Theater/Transatlantic's Mike Portnoy who had long held the honor.
Their most recent release, their epic fourth album was The Disturbance Fields, an ecological album about our overuse of the earth's resources leading to a battle with Mother Nature to take back the earth from Human Nature. "The Disturbance fields are the physical manifestations that mother nature's wrath can take against the human race due to our mistreatment of the oceans, rainforests and overdevelopment of urban landmasses, This has resulted in dramatic climatic changes in the temperatures of the earth and the sea and is the cause of far stronger and more violent storms and destructive natural events. "[The album] is a 68 minute epic piece of music that takes you on a journey of a man fighting all of the forces of Mother Nature's wrath. It is also personally based on the fact that during these recording sessions of all of Edison's Children's current and upcoming albums that they were hit by a hurricane, a 6.0 earthquake, a tornado and a massive blizzard which caused a state of emergency. Having experienced first hand much of what Mother Nature's wrath can deliver... It was natural for the band to write a concept that maybe... We've crossed that line and perhaps Mother Nature has come to purge the world of what has become its biggest liability... human nature." Pete Trewavas.
There had been several years when Edison's Children went dormant (not releasing an album for 4 years after their "bridge album" Somewhere Between Here and There). Eric had suffered a debilitating and permanent injury to his arm and shoulder while on set as a Major Motion Picture Special FX technician. A bout with Lyme disease also left Blackwood in a wheelchair and tethered to an IV for over a year. Eric Blackwood stepped away from any further recording and concert activity. Rick Armstrong however finished up anything left undone by Blackwood on Edison's Children's 3rd CD "Somewhere Between Here and There" featuring songs that were not part of any upcoming "Epic's" before tackling the intricate back catalog of over 100 pieces of songs that Pete Trewavas and Eric Blackwood had written during the "In The Last Waking Moments..." and "Final Breath Before November" sessions in Maryland, Massachusetts, the United Kingdom, Quebec Canada and "Castle Edison" (located in the Endless Mountains region of Pennsylvania).
Rick's father's 50 anniversary concert celebration of Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11 landing on the moon (with the Alan Parsons Project) brought the band out of its concert playing retirement with John Wesley and Mark Prator (both of Porcupine Tree fame) joining Armstrong, Trewavas, Blackwood and Lisa Wetton together on stage for the first time in 7 years. This co-insided with the release of their new CD "The Disturbance Fields" on that day.
