From 1990 - 2006, Kev Rowland ran Feedback fanzine in the UK, writing about bands that were never covered in the mainstream press, many of whom were in the progressive underground. He built close ties with many of the British groups in particular, including writing the newsletter for Freewill, getting gigs for Credo and writing the introduction to Galahad's OCMDII compilation. He reviewed literally thousands of cassettes and then CDs from bands from throughout the world, and was lucky enough to interview many of them. During this period he was also asked to contribute to the French progzine Acid Dragon, and also wrote for the infamous Rock 'n' Reel, as well as the Ghostland website.
In 2006 he moved to NZ, and stopped running Feedback (which was then renamed Amplified) having produced over 80 editions with more than 11,000 pages of print and heaven knows how many reviews and interviews.
Although Rowland stopped writing and reviewing when he came over to NZ, he was gradually brought back into the scene (initially kicking and screaming until he accepted his fate) and started contributing to many different sites and magazines. Rowland was heavily involved with the Crossover sub-genre team on PA, wrote the booklets for the Red Jasper reissues, and generally tried to be as involved in the scene as he had some 20 years previously. However, he stopped this in 2014 to start work on a book containing all of his progressive reviews from Feedback, and finally finished this at the end of 2016, after more than half a million words!
This is now being released by Gonzo Multimedia in three separate volumes, all of which contain the original artwork reproduced in full colour. Volume 1 contains artists A-H, Volume 2 artists I-S, while Volume 3 contains T-Z, plus all dvd, video and live reviews as well as interviews.
He still reviews on styles of music from acoustic and jazz through all types of progressive rock, melodic rock and hard rock, through to the most extreme metal and most out there avant garde and noise that people can imagine.
These appear in the hard copy UK fanzine Amplified (still going after more than 30 years), and are also submitted to the weekly e-magazine Gonzo, plus www.mlwz.pl, the mighty PowerofProg.com, HouseofProg.com, Progressor.net and others. He also contributes to www.Background.com, the French progzine Acid Dragon, and the Slovakian site Rocktopia, and if the band is listed then reviews also appear on ProgArchives and Metalmusicarchives. Phew!