Formation Originally intending to include
Fates Warning guitarist
Jim Matheos, Morse and Portnoy tapped
Flower Kings guitarist/vocalist
Roine Stolt when Matheos was unable to participate. The band completed their lineup by adding bassist and progressive rock veteran
Pete Trewavas from the group
Marillion and
Edison's Children.
SMPT:e and Bridge Across Forever (2000–2002) Their first album, 2000's
SMPT:e (a play on words, as both a combination of the members' last initials, as well as a common
machine time protocol used in high end recording studios) received strong critical reviews, including "some of the best progressive rock music ever written" (Robert Taylor in
AllMusic). A subsequent tour of the United States led to a double live CD,
Transatlantic Live in America, and a video of the same name. The band showed their musical heritage on the live CD, presenting covers of
the Beatles' "
Strawberry Fields Forever", as well as a medley of
Genesis' epic "
Watcher of the Skies" and "
Firth of Fifth". The band also released another double live CD/DVD called
Live in Europe in 2003; one standout is the version of "Suite Charlotte Pike" that includes covers of tracks from The Beatles
Abbey Road album. Though
SMPT:e contained the 31-minute opus "All of the Above", the band's second studio album, 2001's
Bridge Across Forever, found the band flexing their muscles further in the long form for which progressive rock is known. The CD contained just four tracks, the 26-minute "Duel With the Devil", the 14-minute "Suite Charlotte Pike", and the 26-minute "Stranger in Your Soul" making up the bulk of the disc, with the title track coming in at a relatively scant five minutes. The limited edition also contains a cover of
Pink Floyd's "
Shine on You Crazy Diamond". In November 2001, the band toured Europe. As an added bonus for progressive metal fans,
Daniel Gildenlöw of the band
Pain of Salvation sat in throughout the tour, playing keyboards, guitars, percussion, and vocals.
Years of hiatus (2002–2009) Morse left his regular band
Spock's Beard in October 2002, stating "God wants me to do something else," which meant leaving the mainstream prog scene to launch a new career as a
Christian musician. This move also included ending his activities for Transatlantic. Portnoy reacted: "This spells the end of Transatlantic as I wouldn't possibly consider continuing it without him." The album was released in October 2009 and consisted of a single 77-minute title-track
The Whirlwind. A special edition of the album was also released, including a second disc with four additional original tracks and four cover tracks. Additionally, a deluxe edition was released, which included a DVD documenting the making of the album. The album reached No. 21 on the U.S.
Billboard Heatseekers chart. The band toured North America and Europe in April–May 2010 in support of
The Whirlwind. Dubbed the Whirld Tour, the band was again joined by Daniel Gildenlöw on stage. In February 2013, the new Neal Morse band (with Mike Portnoy) and
the Flower Kings started a European tour together which was followed by a gig in Los Angeles in May. Each band performed a set with their own songs and the encore set featured Transatlantic songs performed by Morse, Portnoy and Stolt supported by members of the two bands with special guests
Jonas Reingold and Randy George alternating on bass. The encore ends with eleven musicians on the stage. On 10 March 2013, Pete Trewavas announced at the Marillion Weekend Convention in Port Zélande, the Netherlands, that he would be going to Nashville in the Summer to record new material with Transatlantic. Neal Morse confirmed this to DPRP.
Kaleidoscope (2014-2017) On 30 May 2013, Mike Portnoy announced that they had finished writing a new Transatlantic album. It featured five songs (two epics and three 'normal length' ones) plus eight covers for the bonus disc. The album was released in January 2014. A world tour of the United States and Europe followed, including a performance on the "Progressive Nation at Sea" cruise created by Mike Portnoy. The band played two shows, with the first featuring the entire
Kaleidoscope album and the second including guest performances by famous progressive rock artists such as
Jon Anderson of
Yes. On 11 September 2014, Kaleidoscope won Album of the Year at the third annual Progressive Music Awards. On 7 February 2017, the band performed on the
Cruise to the Edge, with
Ted Leonard filling in for
Roine Stolt, and
Bill Hubauer filling in for
Daniel Gildenlöw.
The Absolute Universe (2019–2022) Transatlantic recorded its fifth album,
The Absolute Universe, and released it on 5 February 2021. On 5 June 2021,
Mike Portnoy announced on his Twitter feed that Transatlantic would be playing at Morsefest 2022 outside of Nashville, TN on 29–30 April 2022 as a warmup gig for Cruise To The Edge. It was subsequently announced that both
The Absolute Universe and
The Whirlwind would be played in their entirety at these shows. ==Members==