THE TRIP is a rock band originally formed with the participation of Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple), featuring English lyrics and both British and Italian roots. The band later became known worldwide with the huge success of the album Atlantide (1972), which marked a decisive turning point toward Progressive Rock. The trio consisted of Joe Vescovi (original member), Wegg Andersen (one of the band’s founders), and Furio Chirico (future founder of Arti & Mestieri).

Fifty years after Atlantide, Furio Chirico’s THE TRIP was born, led by Furio Chirico, the only surviving member of the legendary trio. He breathed new life into THE TRIP with Equinox (2022), their first studio album featuring entirely new material. Released by the historic major label King Records in Japan, the album appeared on the cover of the prestigious music magazine Euro-Rock Press and received overwhelming acclaim from major international media outlets, praised for the quality of its compositions, musicianship, and performance.

The band has been constantly active since their debut live performances at the Salone Internazionale del Libro (Turin, May 2022), In Progress One (Sardinia, September 2022), Il Giardino 2.0 (Lugagnano, Dicember 2022), Trasimeno Prog (Castiglione del Lago, August 2023),   Prog and Frogs (Milan, May 2025), Monferrato On Stage (Cocconato, June 2025), Progfest at Porto Antico (Genoa, August 2025), Alchemica Music Club (Bologna, October 2025), and The Best of Italian Rock XIV (Tokyo, April 2026).

“The power of live performance is the true essence of THE TRIP” — a statement that only Furio Chirico’s THE TRIP can truly embody.

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Furio Chirico tells…

My own story with the British-Italian rock band The Trip started way before I became a member of the band in 1972.

In the Sixties, the great guitarist Ritchie Blackmore was part of the band and in that period they often came to play in Italy, especially in Turin, and they also hit a club of my uncle Alfonsino Chirico, who was one of the first Italian promoters and disc jokey.

I was very young at that time, but I was already active in professional bands such as Ragazzi del Sole and often passing by my uncle’s club, so I met and listened to bands coming from all over the world and therefore also The Trip.

The band at that time was not composing yet, we will have to wait for the departure of Ritchie, who had flown to Germany to form Deep Purple, and the entry of Joe Vescovi, talented keyboardist and excellent composer:

after a first phase of composition and record productions dedicated to psychedelic rock, such as The Trip, and the rock / blues of  Caronte, Joe asked me in 1972 to join him in order to take The Trip to a new level, developing a new project, making a genre turning point and a new lineup for the band, together with Wegg Andersen – one of the founders of the band, bassist singer and star of Swinging London in the early 60s, who participated in formations with Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore and others of their caliber – he was also decisive regarding the choice to have me in the new lineup.

Joe explained to me the importance of embarking on the path of Prog, which we still didn’t call that at the time, but we talked about Rock songs with symphonic contaminations, jazz, folk and soul, we talked about suites, concept albums, and he began to explain to me what then it became Atlantide in 1972.

We began working, and Joe quickly realized that he needed to let me arrange and interpret the drum parts in my own unique way, without conditioning me. The musical parts of the songs were all written by Joe, while the lyrics were written by Wegg. Everything was a flawless collaboration from all perspectives, both human and professional.

Later in 1973, we released Time of Change, a complex and sophisticated album in terms of harmonies, melodies, and rhythms, and truly Progressive in a very real sense. The band disbanded after Wegg’s serious car accident, which confined him to bed for an extended period of time.

Joe, Wegg and I then lost touch for many years, each of us undertook different musical and professional paths: Joe worked with bands such as Acqua Fragile and DikDik and singers such as Umberto Tozzi, Wegg went on archaeological expeditions to Egypt and other countries, both as an entertainer and in charge of catering, and I was primarily involved with Arti & Mestieri and other solo productions, but also as director and teacher at the Accademia Musica Moderna in Turin.

Then in 2010, there was the great opportunity to meet again and try to start over, thanks to the support of some important friends but undoubtedly thanks to the organization and creative contribution of the management, SFERA entertainment.

It was a spectacular comeback, two excellent musicians joined the line-up: Fabrizio Chiarelli on guitar and vocals and Angelo Perini on bass. All of this led to three extraordinary events: live in Italy in 2010 at the Prog Exhibition festival in Rome; for the first time in history, the band flies to Japan for the 2011 tour participating in the Italian Progressive Rock Festival, and finally, again in 2011, Sony Music publishes the reissue of Atlantide, which includes the Live in Tokyo 2011 recorded at the above-mentioned festival in the box set. Unfortunately, after a while, Wegg’s health deteriorated and he left us.

We continued to play live for a while, but then Joe also got sick and fate wanted him to embark with Charon too, and so in 2014 everything stopped.

After 5 years, in 2019, I decided to resume the journey of the 1972 “turning point,” with the main idea of continuing to open new paths through research and experimentation, without any nostalgic approach but staying true to the most genuine “progressive rock” texture of the original band but with a new line-up.

After the death of Joe and Wegg, the two historical columns of the band, the compositions of these two great musicians were missing, so in fact Trip no longer existed.

I thought it would be more respectful not to just use the name The Trip, so I added my name to it – as a historical member since 1972 – making this also my “journey” and thus paying homage to their memory, continuing our journey from where it left off prematurely.

And so, in January 2022, fifty years after Atlantide, “Furio Chirico’s THE TRIP” has born, a new line-up made up of brilliant and inspired musicians who accompany me in this new journey. We play, feel and write with the same passion as the original band, with our gaze and “ear” turned… towards the future.…

Equinox (2022) the debut album featuring our new compositions, is a clear demonstration of this.

– Furio Chirico –

Furio Chirico’s THE TRIP

Lineup:

Furio Chirico – drums and percussion

Paolo “Silver” Silvestri – Hammond, piano, keyboards

Alessio Trapella – vocals, bass

Marco Rostagno – guitars