A new Karnataka

An announcement out of the blue from the Karnataka official website:

We are very pleased to announce the return of Karnataka with an exciting new line up:

Ian Jones - bass/guitars

Gonzalo Carrera - keyboards/vocals

Nick May - lead guitar/keyboards

Bob Dalton - Drums/vocals

Alquimia - vocals/multi instrumental

For those who don't know the history, Karnataka were a six piece progressive rock band, who suddenly and unexpectedly announced they were splitting last year, cancelling the tour they'd already booked. The band never gave any reason for the sudden split. The excellent double live album Strange Behaviour turned out to be the band's swansong.

Reactions on The Storm, the Karnataka mailing list, have been decidedly mixed. The viewpoint of many is 'wait and see'. Others wonder whether Ian Jones, although the legal owner of the name, should really be resurrecting it for what's effectively a completely new band.

Not sure what the other five members of the original Karnataka are making of this.