Stoggam – Expecting Different Results

Stoggam

Some bands release a new album every year. Others disappear into the studio for five or six years before eventually returning with the words: “Sorry, it took a little longer than expected.”

And then there is Stoggam.

These gentlemen decided that there is absolutely nothing wrong with releasing a debut album 49 years after forming the band. I am fairly certain that even Peter Gabriel must have thought several times during that period: “Perhaps we really should reform Genesis after all.” Honestly, when I first read this story, I had to check whether somebody had accidentally added an extra digit.

From Maggots to Stoggam

In 1977, Peter Fallowell and his fellow musicians formed a band with the wonderfully charming name Maggots. This was right in the middle of the punk explosion, when three chords were considered perfectly sufficient and a Mellotron was probably regarded as a dangerous luxury. Yet, as happens with so many young bands, life eventually got in the way. The project quietly faded without ever officially coming to an end. There was no dramatic explosion, no public feud and no guitars smashed to pieces on stage. The musicians simply remained loosely connected.

Almost half a century later, something happened that none of them had probably expected. In 2022, Peter Fallowell was working on a new song entitled Feel Life. While writing it, he began thinking about his former bandmates and wondered whether it might be worth giving them a call. One idea became a recording. One recording became an album.

By then, however, another band was already using the name Maggots, so a new name was required. The solution could hardly have been more British: they simply turned their original band name around.

Maggots, read backwards, became Stoggam. Honestly, that made me smile. Sometimes the best ideas are not created in marketing departments, but with a raised eyebrow and a suitably dry sense of humour.

More Than Just Nostalgia

The real surprise, however, begins the moment the music starts. To be perfectly honest, I expected a nostalgic album. One of those records that lives more on memories than fresh ideas. Thankfully, that is not what happens here.

Expecting Different Results sounds remarkably vibrant. Not like a group of musicians getting together one last time after decades apart, but like a band that has only just rediscovered how much fun making music together can actually be.

Of course, you can hear the band’s musical roots. Genesis, Yes and King Crimson drift through these songs from time to time without ever dominating the overall picture. What fascinated me even more, though, is the album’s unmistakable Canterbury flavour. I repeatedly found myself thinking of Caravan, Gong and Hatfield And The North. There is a relaxed elegance throughout these songs, playful arrangements and that wonderful feeling that the music never has to prove how complicated Progressive Rock can be.

Progressive Rock Without Ego

That is exactly what makes this album so likeable. It never shows off. It does not chase modern trends. And it certainly does not try to sound progressive simply for the sake of sounding progressive.

Instead, four musicians have written genuinely good songs. Songs with room to breathe. Songs that are allowed to unfold naturally. Songs filled with little details that often reveal themselves only on the third or fourth listen.

Expecting Different Results is one of those albums that quietly grows stronger every time you return to it—not because it is difficult to understand, but because it always seems to have another little surprise waiting around the corner.

Expecting Different Results – the debut album by Stoggam

Songs That Grow With Every Listen

The opening track Feel Life immediately makes one thing clear: nobody here has settled into musical retirement. Powerful guitars, excellent dynamics and a melody that lodges itself in your head surprisingly quickly give the album exactly the energetic start it deserves.

The further the album progresses, the more it seems to grow beyond itself. We Carry On, In The Nick Of Time and the beautiful Wonderful kept drawing me back again and again. The closing section of Wonderful, in particular, has a warmth and grandeur that lingers long after the final notes have faded.

The album reaches its conclusion with the epic fifteen-minute How Do You Put Up With This? / What Can They Say?. Then again, perhaps only a band that had almost fifty years to think about it could come up with a title like that.

The piece itself is everything I hope for in a Progressive Rock epic. Changes in tempo, shifting time signatures and countless musical ideas fit together naturally without ever feeling forced or self-indulgent. The music remains coherent throughout and never loses its sense of direction.

That, for me, is Stoggam’s greatest strength.

They play complex music without ever sounding as though complexity was the objective.

The production deserves praise as well. Considering that the album was recorded over several years in various home studios across the United Kingdom and France, it sounds remarkably cohesive. Quite the opposite of what one might expect. Everything feels warm, open and wonderfully organic. John Webber’s mastering at the legendary Air Studios in London gives the entire album an additional level of polish that suits this music perfectly.

Say hello to Stoggam guitarist John Duffy

Why the Wait Was Worth It

In the end, what stayed with me wasn’t a particular song or even the album’s technical excellence.

It was the story.

Four musicians who never completely lost touch with one another. Decades passed. Families were raised. Careers changed. Countries changed. And then, one day, almost half a century later, they finally found themselves holding their very first album in their hands.

Perhaps Expecting Different Results really did need forty-nine years to mature.

Perhaps this music simply needed exactly this journey through life.

Whatever the reason may be, the wait was absolutely worth it.

And if the gentlemen happen to read these lines, I have just one small request: please don’t take quite so long before recording the next album. I’ve reached an age where I’d rather not wait until 2075 to write the follow-up review.

Track Listing

Feel Life (Single)
Last Night
We Carry On
In The Nick Of Time
Wonderful
A Last Goodbye
How Do You Put Up With This? / What Can They Say?

<a href="https://stoggam.bandcamp.com/album/expecting-different-results" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Expecting Different Results by Stoggam</a>

Album: Expecting Different Results
Release: May 22, 2026
Genre: Progressive Rock / Canterbury / Melodic Progressive Rock
Label: Independent
Country: United Kingdom / France