This month, MoonJune Records celebrates its 15th Anniversary. Even though my first three releases were manufactured by my friends at DiskMakers in May of 2001, I consider that MoonJune Records actually started on June 23rd 2001, on the first day of the third annual progressive rock festival NEARFest, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the first public appearance as a news record label and one of the festival’s vendors. Exactly one year before, at the second annual NEARFest, I have discovered what became one of my favorite, and one of the label’s most celebrated bands, progressive rock fusion quartet from Verona, Italy – Duty Free Area, known as D.F.A.
Their stellar performance at NEARFest in the early afternoon on June 17th, 2000, when D.F.A. took the stage for their first-ever live performance in the USA, and It most certainly marked the beginning of the band’s International career, and was their first major exposure outside the confines of their native Italy, a country with a rich progressive music history. Many among the large audience of progressive music enthusiasts at NEARfest were obviously unfamiliar with the Italian band and their music, but as the show progressed it became evident that history was in the making. Each successive song was greeted with a bigger roar of applause. Recorded with crystal clarity, this is an exceptional recording of a very special live performance. “Work In Progress Live” marks the official beginning of MoonJune Records, being one of the labels most successful and critically most acclaimed albums. D.F.A. performed a number of exciting individual and festival shows in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Indonesia, Belgium, Germany and all around Italy. After the release of the studio album “4th” in 2008, another of the great and critically acclaimed MoonJune‘s albums in the label’s 15 years history, a tragic event marked the end of the band’s career. Alberto Bonomi, D.F.A.’s keyboardist, and with the drummer Alberto De Grandis, the band’s main composer, died in a car accident on Sunday, June 28th, 2011, at the age of 48.
To celebrate 15th years of MoonJune Records and to celebrate the legacy of an extraordinary musician and a very dear friend, “Maestro” Alberto Bino Bonomi, – MoonJune Records is offering a FREE DOWNLOAD of their celebrated live album “Work In Progress Live”. This special offer is valid until Sunday, June 26. Despite the band’s semi-legendary status in the progressive rock circuits, many fans of the genre are still unaware of this truly fantastic band, and of the great talent of Alberto Bonomi.
Thanks for the continuous support to the Independent Music cause.
Leonardo Pavkovic
MoonJune Records