Scott's Spotlight # 29-- Unitopia
Originally posted to Facebook on April 17, 2025
Link to post:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/12BW7uqXPFz/
Welcome to Scott’s Spotlight (#scottsspotlight) issue #29. For more information about this series, please click here:
For this week’s spotlight we are going down under for the first time and checking out modern prog-meisters Unitopia. The roots of Unitopia go back to 1996 when musicians/songwriters Mark Trueack and Sean Timms were introduced via a mutual friend in Adelaide, Australia. These two are essentially the core members of the band, Mark is the singer while Sean is the keyboardist. The two are also known for writing the band’s material. The first song that they would write together is "Take Good Care.” As the two of them had other professional commitments, progress was slow. But by 2005, the first album, called “More than a Dream” was complete. The album contained contributions from conductor/arranger Timothy Sexton and the Adelaide Art Orchestra, Pat Schirippa, Constantine Delo, Bradley Polain and Ian 'Polly' Politis. The album was generally well-received by the prog community, and after an initial independent release, Canadian label Unicorn Records (which, as discussed in the spotlight on Mystery, –https://www.facebook.com/share/15uBytZtpV/– is owned and operated by Michel St-Père) released it internationally. In addition to “Take Good Care,” and the title track another standout track is the nearly 13 minute long “Justify”.
After the duo began playing live gigs with support from various musicians, the two decided to fill out the band with a steady line-up that included Matt Williams (guitar/vocals), Monty Ruggiero (drums), Shireen Khemlani (bass) and Tim Irrgang (percussion), all from their home base town of Adelaide. Working with their new members, Unitopia set forth to work on a second album. Additional musicians Kiki Celarik / vocals, Amanda Timms / flute, Mike Stewart / tenor & soprano saxes, and The Amicus Strings / violin, viola & cello made significant contributions to the finished album as well. They secured a worldwide publishing deal with Shock Music Publishing in February of 1998. By August of that year, they signed a 3-album deal with Inside Out Music, who released “The Garden” in November of 2008. “The Garden” was a quantum leap forward from the debut, as it was released as a double CD of over one hour and 40 minutes in length. This is the album that told the prog world that these guys from down under are indeed the real deal, more than fulfilling the promise shown on the first album. The 22:35 epic title track alone makes this album worthwhile, but it has been said that the best way to enjoy “The Garden” is start-to-finish and that the album “unfolds” in a pleasing way. Another major piece on the album is disc 2 opener “Journey’s Friend” at 16:29. Unitopia had now arrived in a big way!
By 2009 however, Shireen Khemlani and Mike Stuart had exited the band to be replaced by Shaun Duncan (bass) and Peter Raidel (sax). This line-up would record the follow up album, “Artificial” released in 2010, on which the drummer was Jamie Jones instead of the apparently departed Monty Ruggiero. “Artificial” was a scaled down affair, especially after following a major epic album like “The Garden”. There is one longer song in the 13 + minute song “Tesla,” but everything else is under 7 minutes in length, and this is a single album of under an hour. That isn’t to say it’s not good, however, as it certainly is good! In actuality, it is more in line with the first album. But for those who wanted another double album on a grand scale, there was a bit of disappointment. But not too many bands have done more than one double concept album (spoilers). “Artificial World” and “The Great Reward” are also standout tracks IMHO. Following the release of “Artificial,” more line-up changes were afoot as Jones, Duncan and Raidel were replaced, respectively, by David Hopgood, Craig Kelly and Ian Ritchie. This line-up would tour with Trueack and Timms in 2010, including the well-known Summer’s End prog festival in the UK.
By 2012, Ian Ritchie was replaced on sax by Daniel Burgess. This line-up released the 4th Unitopia album, which was Unitopia’s interpretations of classic prog songs and other rock songs that inspired the band called “Covered Mirror Vol. 1 - Smooth as Silk”. Songs covered include “Easter,” by Marillion, “Even in the Quietest Moments,” by Supertramp, and Led Zeppelin’s “The Rain Song.” Additionally, there are two medleys: one of Genesis songs, and one of Yes songs. They do a great job of interpreting these songs with their own unique spin, but one has to wonder why a songwriting team as strong as Trueack and Timms would release an album of covers.
Either in 2012 or 2013, depending on the source, Trueack and Timms dissolved Unitopia, and both have very different accounts of what happened. As the facts are not clear, suffice it to say that Trueack said it was an amicable split, while Timms strongly disagreed.
After they went their separate ways Trueack founded a band with additional Unitopia members called United Progressive Fraternity (UPF) who released 3 albums between 2014-2023. UPF albums tended to have numerous guest appearances from notable proggers such as Jon Anderson, Steve Hackett, Jon Davison, Hasse Fröberg, Michel St-Père, Colin Edwin, Jonas Reingold, among many others. UPF albums were appeals to treat the planet well and take care of the environment.
Meanwhile, Sean Timms put together a new band called Southern Empire. The line up on the first two of the three albums they have released between 2016 and 2023 is: Danny Lopresto on lead & backing vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, Cam Blokland on electric & acoustic guitars, mandolin, backing vocals, Sean Timms on keyboards, electric & lap steel guitars, percussion, backing vocals, Jez Martin on bass, flugelhorn, backing vocals, and Brody Green / drums, percussion, backing vocals. Lopresto was replaced on vocals on the third album by Shaun Holton. Southern Empire’s music had some influences from heavier prog bands and artists such as Dream Theater and Steven Wilson.
In 2016 however, Trueack (aka Truey) and Timms apparently decided to bury the hatchet (thankfully, not in each other’s heads). They came together to re-master the debut album “More Than a Dream” and add previously unreleased material as a boxset titled “More Than a Dream- The Dream Complete.” They then came together in a short-term band called U. N. I. T. dB which included members of both UPF and Southern Empire to perform some acoustic shows. In a press release around that time Timms stated:
We hope this message finds you well. Recently, there has been some speculation regarding the status of the friendship between Mark & myself. As you may be aware, during the making of our (unfinished) album ‘Turn Left’, Mark & I had a disagreement over some issues that were dear to both our hearts. We disbanded Unitopia and we started our own projects, Mark with United Progressive Fraternity and myself with Southern Empire. Both projects have been met with great success and we are respectively very proud of them.
About 6 months ago, Mark & I had the opportunity to talk about a few things unrelated to Unitopia and we found that our respect and care for one another was still there, despite the damages of the past. Mark was extremely supportive throughout a difficult business situation that we were both involved in and this gave us hope that a rekindling of our friendship was possible.
Where does this leave Unitopia you might ask?
As of this writing, there are no plans to re-form Unitopia, but there are some exciting projects that both Mark & I are working on together. These will be announced in due course and we hope you’ll get behind them as you’ve done for every other project that we’ve been involved in.
UPF and Southern Empire are still our primary focus and there will be some very exciting announcements concerning all three bands very soon.
Thank you for your continued support of our music. It means a great deal to us and we are constantly humbled and honoured to have such a wonderful and caring fan base.
Cheers… Sean Timms & Mark Truey Trueack
Fast forward a few years, and what was once believed impossible happened–Unitopia reunited in 2021 with a new and very high-profile lineup. Timms and Trueack pulled together a retired highly respected plastic-surgeon renowned for his work with burn victims who is also an accomplished guitarist named Dr. John Greenwood; a violinist-multi instrumentalist known for his work in the bands Resistor and Samurai of Prog, in addition to his solo work and appearances on albums from both UPF and Southern Empire, Steve Unruh. If that wasn’t enough, the rhythm section consists of two absolute legends in the worlds of prog and fusion: bassist Alphonso Johnson and drummer Chester Thompson. Thompson and Johnson can both list fusion powerhouse Weather Report on their resumes. Thompson has also been part of Frank Zappa’s band as well as being the touring drummer with Genesis for many years–the drum duets that he and Phil Collins performed together were outstanding. Alphonso Johnson has additionally performed with Santana, Phil Collins (solo) among many others. This stellar line-up released the incredible double CD “Seven Chambers” in 2023. The fist disc contains 5 tracks between 6:39 and 12:30 in length, while the second one has only 2 tracks, but they are both between 18-20 minute full prog epics. This one is the band's highest rated album on ProgArchives with an average score of 4.07 out of 5 stars after 92 ratings. Some of the standout tracks are “Bitter Sweet”, “Mania” and the two full-epics, “Helen” and “The Uncertain”. The album’s title refers to the seven ventricles in the human heart, and each of the seven tracks is related to the concept.
Unfortunately, due to “unforeseen circumstances” Alphonso Jounson was unable to tour with Unitopia in 2023. In his place however, Don Shiff, a Chapman Stick master, stepped in. Shiff has played with The Rocket Scientists and Eddie Jobson among others. He was able to learn the set for the live show with only 4 weeks notice. He appears on the newly released live album “Alive and Kicking” in 2025 (recorded in 2023). Let's hope that Truey and Timms are able to maintain the line-up for further releases. The band that recorded “Seven Chambers” are still listed on their website, so there is hope that this incredible line-up cand do more.
I for one am glad that Truey and Timms were able to work out their issues and breathe new life into Unitopia. May they continue to be “Alive and Kicking!”
LINKS FOR LISTENING:
From: “More Than a Dream”
“Take Good Care”
“Justify”
From “The Garden”
“The Garden”
“Journey’s Friend”
From “Artificial”
“Artificial World”
“Tesla”
From “Covered Mirror Vol 1– Smooth as Silk”
“Easter”
“Yes Medley”
From “Seven Chambers”
“Mania”
“The Uncertain”
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