Palimpsest

17/12/2025

Production Crew Announcement!
Kari Estes: Producer, Engineer, Bass

We are lucky to have Kari Estes as our bassist, sound engineer, and producer for Highgate Wood’s music. In addition to her production skills and sharp musical instincts, Kari brings real prog cred to the project. She is the bassist for progressive metal band Atomic Guava, whose 2024 ep Beach Episode was nominated for ep for the year by ProgSpace. Check out their song “Shrimp Scampi” on the streaming service of your choice and listen to Kari’s bass solo at the 2:13 time mark. She’s also a seasoned season player and live performer, having shared stages with Sheila E and The Roots, among others.

15/12/2025

Casting Announcement!
Alasdair Stuart as Peter Van Conklin

Highgate Wood’s lead guitarist and longest-serving member aside from Sean. A delicate-featured, almost elfin guy, Peter gave the impression of being fragile and diffident when you met him. On stage was another matter–he came alive with a guitar in his hands, and his ability to skate between tightly-woven guitar lines and savage improvisation became one of HW’s greatest strengths. He was deeply and irrevocably in love with Corrine Kennedy, the only thing that ever caused him to stand up to Sean. They were a couple for a while, but Corrine was afraid of his intensity and called it off after the Darkening tour. Peter’s resigned himself to a life of unrequited passion.

Peter was in the studio when the fire happened, and never recovered from Corrine’s death or what he saw that night. He began talking about Sean and “the deal,” and said that he had seen the devil and He was coming for all of us. He spent years in and out of psychiatric treatment facilities, often self-admitted, and is still occasionally seen on the streets of London. It is unclear if he’s homeless or just living hand-to-mouth.

14/12/2025

One week left for the Highgate Wood Kickstarter!

12/12/2025

Casting Announcement!

Dan Bottomley as Victor Kennedy

Corrine’s brother Victor was the drummer Sean had been looking for. The two previous occupants of the HW drum throne couldn’t handle either the music or the weirdness. Victor didn’t write, or arrange. He felt the drummer to be the most respectable position in any band, as drummers weren’t called upon to, as he put it, “waggle their ass in front of the audience.” He was interested in the music, and in playing the protective older brother. This second role irritated Corrine, who often felt stifled by her brother’s hovering.

After Corrine’s death, Victor established the Corrine Kennedy Foundation, which provides instruments and music instructions to at-risk girls. He no longer drums, but has become an in-demand producer, working in a custom studio he had built in the countryside near Oxford. He blames Sean and Peter equally for his sister’s death, and refuses to participate in anything connected with HW. Fans call him “the Ogre.”

Dan Bottomley is a UK based creative, actor, and musician.

Theatre credits include: Mother Goose (Theatr Clwyd); The Glee Club (Stockroom); Never Lost at Home (New Wolsey); Once (1st UK tour); Hello, Dolly! (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Moll Flanders (Mercury); Operation Julie (Theatr na nÓg); Pinocchio (Curve); Aladdin (City Varieties Music Hall).

Film credits include Mike Leigh’s Peterloo.

Audio credits include: Dr Who, Torchwood, Vienna, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Big Finish). He has also voiced a number of commercials, audiobooks and video games; most recently Baldur’s Gate III.

Dan has recently co-written the new play Romjul, playing the Norwegian Church in Cardiff this Christmas.

He’s also an award-nominated sound designer and composer for theatre and audio. Recent credits include A Christmas Carol Rewritten (Viaduct Theatre); The Unkillable Mike Malloy (Bridge House); Northanger Abbey (Minack).

10/12/2025

CAST ANNOUNCEMENT:
Please give it up for Jack Ayres as Sean Underwood!

Lead singer, writer, and mastermind, Sean evoked mixed responses from people. He was definitely a talented musician, writer, and performer, and he was largely responsible for orchestrating the HW sound, and especially the stage shows. His slightly manic stage persona was balanced, so to speak, by his broody and unpredictable personality offstage. Although he welcomed input from band members, and encouraged Peter in particular to take musical risks for the benefit of the collective, he was also controlling and particular about the band’s image and sound. Rumors of demonic deals swirled around him, especially after Corrine’s death. After the band dissolved, Sean had a successful solo career that was cut short by su***de.

Jack Ayres is a Welsh voice actor specialising in a wide range of character voices across video games, animation, audio drama and commercials.
As of 2025 he has recorded on more than 100 video games including highlights such as Zhu Bajie in Black Myth Wukong, Daniel McGovern in Karma: The Dark World, the Male Druid in Diablo Immortal and roles in Baldurs Gate 3, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy Tactics, Duet Night Abyss, Wuthering Waves and more.
Jack is no stranger to audio drama having worked on numerous titles for Big Finish in several Doctor Who collections and a mix of independent productions and projects with Audible.
He can also be found as part of the cast of animated series Transformers Cyberworld, voicing Sky-Byte, Scorponok and Mirage.
Jack is also a huge lover of music, as well as folklore and mythology, making Highgate Wood an incredibly exciting prospect

08/12/2025

Over on Bluesky, we have reached the magic number of followers.

03/12/2025

Our incredible logo and album art is being designed by Richmond-based artist Emily Warner, who brings real love and knowledge of prog rock to the project. We wanted authentic 70s art, and Emily delivered. Signed art prints are among the rewards available for supporting the show through our Kickstarter. Check out the link in our bio to find out more.

02/12/2025

It’s Giving Tuesday! We’d love to have you be part of our band. Go to the link in our bio to check out the Kickstarter for Highgate Wood, and discover the tragedies that propelled them to notoriety, the passions that drove their creativity, and the possibly demonic forces that tore them apart. All while making some cool tunes. Help us bring them to life.

02/12/2025

If you have six or seven minutes, let Jamie, Hayley, and Ian tell you about our new show, Highate Wood, and about how *you* can help bring it to life.

Highgate Wood rose to prominence in the early 1970s, propelled by the triple threat of dynamic front man Sean Underwood, wunderkind guitarist Peter Van Conklin, and keyboardist Corrine Kennedy.

01/12/2025

Here’s a quick tour of Ian and Kari’s studio in NYC, where the music production for Highgate Wood is happening. Also a little behind the scenes of Ian tracking the synth part in the middle section of Into the Gloaming.

Kickstarter link is in the bio. Come join the band!

25/11/2025

The Lost Tape. One of the secrets Patti finds in the old studio. You want to hear this.

But you’ll wish you hadn’t.

Donate to our Kickstarter at the link below. So the world can hear.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/palimpsestprod/highgate-wood

23/11/2025

This is Mabel the Studio Dog. She thinks you should check out the Kickstarter in our bio. And then maybe we’ll post pics of the other Studio Dogs…