please click here
 

 

 

THE DECCAN TRAPS

Release Date: 21st November 2025
 CD Catalogue No: ESM406
 CD Bar Code: 503128100406 2
 Vinyl catalogue No: ESMV1036
 Vinyl Barcode: 503128101036 0 

 The Deccan Traps are:

 Ricardo Afonso – Vocals , Neil Fairclough – Bass Guitar/Backing vocals, John Dagnall –  Piano/Guitar/Drums/Backing vocals,  Lois Dagnall – Backing vocals , Johnny Heyes – Guitar, Neil  Edwards – Piano/Hammond/Keyboards, Andy Treacey - Drums

 With very Special guest appearance Sir Brian May!

 Track List Vinyl:

 Side One
 1. Sun & Moon  4:36
 2. Chain Me (To The Wall)  4:29
 3. Spellbound  4:51
 4. Until You Love Me 4:46
 

 Side Two
 1.The Great Divide  6:47
 2. Are You Ready To Rock  2:48
 3. Moonlight  4:38
 4. Live It Up  4:29 

 Side Three
 1. Beautiful  3:25
 2. Dream Of A Thousand Nights  10:10 (Featuring Sir Brian May on Guitar and Speech)! 

 Side Four
 1. All You Need   4:45
 2. Beautiful (The Salford Session Live)  3:25
 3. Live It Up (The Salford Session Live)  6:44 (Bonus Track LP Only)
 4. Spellbound (The Salford Session Live)  4:49

 Track List CD.
 1. Sun & Moon  4:36
 2. Chain Me (To The Wall)  4:29
 3. Spellbound  4:51
 4. Until You Love Me 4:46
 5.The Great Divide  6:47
 6. Are You Ready To Rock  2:48
 7. Moonlight  4:38
 8. Live It Up  4:29
 9. Beautiful  3:25
 10. Dream Of A Thousand Nights  10:10
 11. All You Need   4:45
 12. Beautiful (The Salford Session Live)  3:25
 13. Spellbound (The Salford Session Live)  4:49

 

 

 THE DECCAN TRAPS BIOGRAPHY - The beginning

 Neil Fairclough, Lois Dagnall, John Dagnall, Neil Edwards, Andy Treacey and Johnny Heyes met at Manchester Music College in early 1990s. In addition to becoming lifelong friends, they have worked together on and off ever since.

 The Deccan Traps project began when Neil F, Lois and John started writing songs together over a decade ago. As Lois is Neil’s sister and now John’s wife, the chemistry was immediate. Between them, they had a shared passion for Rock, Funk, Jazz and Classical  music, having grown up listening to everything from Queen and Rainbow to Stevie Wonder and Weather Report, to Mozart and Prokofiev. However, they were writing epic Rock songs and wanted to create an brilliant Rock band with the guys to do the music justice;  not only to record but to play live. Only one thing missing…

 Ricardo! 

 Big songs needed a big singer; enter Ricardo Afonso. Ricardo was born in Angola, Africa but grew up in Portugal. After singing in local bands, he made the move to London to take up the lead role of Galileo in Queen’s musical We Will Rock You at the Dominion theatre, London and blitzed the role of Judas in Andrew Lloyd Webbers Rock Musical Jesus Christ Superstar at the Barbican.

 Neil had been the touring bass player for Queen + Adam Lambert since 2011, a position he still occupies today. Through some mutual friends, Neil reached out to Ricardo and following a meeting in a back street pub in London, it was immediately obvious  that Ricardo was not only a phenomenal vocalist but also the musical soulmate that they were looking for. The Deccan Traps was born.

 Initial recordings with the now completed line-up began at Parr Street, the legendary Liverpool recording studio, but shortly after disaster struck when Ricardo suffered a career ending medical problem with his vocal cords. It looked like The Deccan Traps was  over before it had begun.

 Ricardo returned to Portugal to recuperate and reassess his options. In between tours, the rest of TDT continued recording the backing tracks, backing vocals and solos, with the sad realisation that eventually, they would have to find a new singer.

 However, unbeknownst to the rest of The Deccan Traps, Ricardo had been secretly, slowly and patiently working with a vocal specialist in Portugal to bring his voice back so he could complete the recordings  ̶  it worked. He flew into Liverpool and after an  incredibly hardcore vocal recording session (9 tracks in two days!), the songs could be completed. The guys put finishing touches to the recordings, rehearsing in Manchester ready to launch in the early part of 2020 after Neil completed the Queen + Adam Lambert tour in the Far East. Then the pandemic hit…

 With Ricardo in Portugal and the rest of the guys split between Manchester and London, rather than being defeated by the disappearance of gigs and international travel and postpone release, TDT decided to release some of their music as singles, one track at  a time with a video until such time as the completed album could be released and the vision finally realised