US band project HERMETIC SCIENCE is the creative vehicle of music teacher, author, mallet enthusiast, composer and keyboardist Ed Macan, who for some best known for his books Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and Endless Enigma: A Musical Biography of Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
The formation and continuation of the Hermetic Science project came to be for a number of different reasons. Macan wanted the band to be something of a testing ground for young, aspiring musicians, a place where they could hone and expand their skills and craftsmanship. What would be described as an apprenticeship in the days of yore. He also wanted to have an ongoing band project where he could explore and experiment with the use of mallet percussion, the use of and how to use and utilize them within various compositional frameworks as well as experimenting with different instrumental varieties of it and various manners on which to play them were equally important. Last but not least, Macan wanted this band project to be a true to nature progressive musical ensemble. One that stretched boundaries and crossed musical borders, adhering to the original philosophy of progressive rock rather than the reinterpretation of the style and approach previous artists had explored from the 60's and onwards.
The result was a band with multiple line-up alterations over the years, but planned and natural rather than forced by circumstance. To date this ensemble have issued four original full length studio productions and one double compilation album containing remixed versions of previously released material. The former being Hermetic Science (1997), Prophesies (1999), En Route (2001) and These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruins (2008), the latter Crash Course: A Hermetic Science Primer (2006).
- Ed Macan / mallets, keyboards
- Jason Hoopes / bass, guitars
- Angelique Curry / drums, percussion