Rocking Horse Music Club Returns with New Album featuring the Words from Jack Kerouac and an Appearance by Genesis Legend Tony Banks
Rocking Horse Music Club returns in 2025 with The Last Pink Glow: An Interpretation of Jack Kerouac’s The Haunted Life. The album is scheduled for release on 9th May 2025.
The album is an interpretation and reimagination of an unfinished Jack Kerouac novella called The Haunted Life. For this project, Rocking Horse Music Club worked directly with Jim Sampas, the Literary Executor of the Jack Kerouac Estate, often using Jack's words from the novella as lyrics.
As one of America’s most influential writers, Jack Kerouac is best known as the father of the beat generation and for his novels On the Road, The Dharma Bums, and Big Sur. He has made a particularly profound impression on multiple generations of musicians; John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd), David Bowie, Van Morrison, Fish (Marillion), and members of the Doors and King Crimson have all cited the author as a primary influence on their writing and philosophical outlook and have paid tribute to him musically over the years.
Rocking Horse Music Club member Brian Coombes and Jim Sampas first began discussing the possibility of working on a Kerouac-related project in 2022, shortly after the release of Rocking Horse Music Club’s previous album, the critically-acclaimed Circus of Wire Dolls. Sampas saw the literary influences of Thomas Wolfe in Circus of Wire Dolls and suggested The Haunted Life as source material for a new music project.
Musically, The Last Pink Glow continues Rocking Horse Music Club’s penchant for eclectic, genre-defying albums, blending symphonic progressive rock with elements of americana, blues, electronic, and orchestral music. There are darker and more aggressive moments on The Last Pink Glow that would have been out of place on Circus of Wire Dolls, but the album still retains the sense of drama and strong focus on melody that has become the band’s trademark.
From a structural standpoint, The Last Pink Glow is not a linear re-telling of The Haunted Life. “This is more of an interpretation of the work than a scene-by-scene retelling of it,” states Coombes. “We just wanted to capture the essence of the story, the themes, and the characters and portray that with the music.”
Unlike Circus of Wire Dolls, which required numerous special guests to tell its sprawling story, The Last Pink Glow features only one special guest. Genesis legend Tony Banks co-wrote and performs on the song The Haunted Life. “Tony doesn’t make many guest appearances, so it’s an honor to have him on our record,” states Coombes.
The album was recorded and mixed at Rocking Horse Studio in New Hampshire, with additional recording at Abbey Road and Angel in London.
The Last Pink Glow will be available worldwide on all streaming services on 9th May 2025. The CD version of the album is currently available for pre-sale through Burning Shed (UK) and at the band’s online shop at rockinghorsemusicclub.com. Other outlets for the CD will be added.
Rocking Horse Music Club will be debuting songs from The Last Pink Glow at shows throughout New England and the UK in 2025. The performance schedule is available on the band’s website.
For more information:
Brian Coombes
Rocking HorseStudio/Rocking Horse Music
bcoombes@rockinghorsestudio.com