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| Welcome to the official home on the web of Iona, the UK based band, and Open Sky Records. Here you will find the most definitive and authoritive guide to all things Iona related with all the latest news on gigs and album releases. |
IONA
HAS MYSPACE PRESENCE:
Thanks to friend of the band Stewart Hilton (from SIT strings -
www.sitstrings.com - makers of fine guitar strings as used by Dave,
Troy and Phil), there
is now an Iona MySpace site - www.myspace.com/ionauk We hope this will be a great addition to the Iona website and will help
to
raise the band's profile. Check it out and join the community! |
|
|
26 January 2008: IONA NEWS UPDATE JO'S NEWS I have also been getting involved in some worship leading ... something i never imagined a few years ago that I would be doing. but I am excited about it and have already written an albums worth of songs some of which I've been teaching to the church that we attend. I also had the wonderful experience of being involved in worship at a conference in Holland in December with Frank, Marlou (Frank's wife) and Dave. We had a great time and are planning to work together again in this capacity at a major conference (Heaven on Earth - see www.trin.nl) in Holland in May. I participated in a BBC programme which was recorded a few months ago and is to be shown sometime soon. I think its only on BBC Northern Ireland though. I sing one of the songs off the new solo album. So thats about it for now. Will keep you updated with developments. Bye for now from an extremely wet Northern Ireland Jo TROY NEWS The album is available from all record shops and the net. Meanwhile Troy and Dave got together for a very enjoyable one off duo gig in December at Newbury Arts Centre, along with The Mandolinquents. DAVE NEWS I've been really busy on a number of recording projects recently. In October 'Breaking of the Dawn', the album I did with Nick Fletcher (commissioned by the Kingsway label) was released. This is an album of contemporary hymns written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend which I co-arranged and produced with Nick at my Open Sky studio. It was one of Cross Rhythms top 20 albums of 2007 and recently album of the week on UCB radio. It is available through various outlets on the net. I've been getting more involved in music to picture. In November 'The Lost Princess', a short silent (apart from the music!) film I wrote and recorded the score for was premiered at the National Media Museum in Bradford. You can now see the film along with another short film I wrote the score for called 'Wilfred' at www.duchyparade films.com. Just finishing some music for a promotional video for a college and there's a children's TV theme coming up. Work should finally be commencing on a feature film later this year that I'll be scoring called 'The Last Coiner' (also from Duchy Parade Films). I'm just about to be mixing a jazz trio album - the excellent Pete James Trio and the I'll be musician in residence for a 4 day retreat in London organised by Canon Ed Newell of St Paul's Cathedral. I've also started work on a new album with Iona co-founder David Fitzgerald, called 'Life Journey' - commisioned by Mary and Mary Fleeson of the Lindisfarne Scriptorium (see www.lindisfarne-scriptorium.co.uk). The album will be an accompaniment to Mary's fantastically illustrated book in the Celtic tradition on a call to Christ-centred living. So far we've been working on 9 tracks and David and I will be together again in a few weeks to carry on the recording. This very much follows on from the work we did together on 'The Eye of the Eagle', though the album will be completely instrumental. Another exciting project I'm involved with is classical guitarist Nick Fletcher's solo album 'Cathedral of Dreams'. You may have heard Nick's playing on 'Songs for Luca 2'. This new album features some wonderful solo guitar compositions, all written by Nick, plus a suite for guitar and (virtual!) Orchestra that we are collaborating on. This album will be released on our own 'Open Sky Records' label - something I'm very excited about. Have been recording recently with Azalya - an excellent new jazzy sort of band (though with me in it there are also rock, folk and progressive influences!). The band has a superb line-up of musicians - the debut album should be finished in a few months time. See www.myspace.com/azalyaband for more details. After a slow start due largely to illness and general busy-ness, I'm hoping my own new band 'Open Sky' will commence gigging later this year. We'll be playing material from my solo album 'Veil of Gossamer' as well as brand new stuff from the album we're working on and maybe even a few Iona tunes. There will also be plenty of room for improvising and sponteneity! See www.myspace.com/openskyuk for developments. I'm also taking a more hands on approach with my myspace page - which was originally set up by the splendid Stewart Hilton over in the USA - so you'll now find regular updates on all the above and more at www.myspace.com/davebainbridgeuk I'm looking forward to working again with Frank in April at an event and recording in Holland, and then with Frank and Jo at the Heaven and Earth event in Holland in May. |
| 23
NOVEMBER 2007: LONG
AWAITED SONGS FOR LUCA 2 NOW AVAILABLE ON SECURE STORE Please check out our new secure store offering the complete Open Sky
Records catalogue as well as We also are saying a fond farewell to Angela who has been running our
merchandise for a long long In her place we would like to welcome Heather who will be dealing with all your orders from now on. There is still time to order for Christmas, so get those orders in and let us know what you think of our latest release! |
 12
November 2007: SONGS FOR LUCA 2 RELEASE IMMINENTWe are excited to announce that the long awaited Songs for Luca 2 double album is due to be released very soon, (currently being manufactured). Keep your eyes fixed on this space! and be one of the first to order a copy or 2!! - would make a great Christmas gift! At c2hrs 20mins long and containing 25 exclusive tracks (out of 30 in total) it has definitely been worth the wait and is tremendous value for money. You will find contributions from a myriad of talented artists including: Moya Brennan, Joanne Hogg, IONA, Phil Keaggy, Troy Donockley, Mostly Autumn, Martyn Joseph and many many more, along with some intriguing collaborations. Where else will you hear Heather Findlay from Mostly Autumn, Roine Stolt from the Flower Kings and Nick Beggs from Kajagoogoo all guesting on a newly recorded version of Iona's song 'Journey into the Morn', or Dave Bainbridge and Phil Keaggy playing together? All proceeds go towards helping Dave & Debbie's autistic son, Luca continue on his Son-Rise Programme (Autism Center of America). Luca has been doing his Son-Rise programme at home for 5 years now and has made amazing progress; the proceeds of this album will enable Dave & Debbie to continue working with Luca in this way and pay for the essential support services that Son-Rise offer. |
1 Oct 2007: We are pleased to announce that pictures of our gig in Bath (22 Sept. 07) are available to view by following this link: |
| 21 June 2007: Ticket details for the Bath gig on 22nd September 2007. The Forum, Bath. Tickets: £15 available from Bath Festivals Box Office 01225 463362 or email on boxoffice@bathfestivals.org.uk great if these details can go on the Iona website. Bath venue details are on http://www.bath.co.uk/theforum/ Bath Christian Trust are promoting the gig as part of the "Live at The Forum" series. |
| 18th
June 2007:
IONA IN BIRMINGHAM 21st
September. Birmingham
Irish Centre 14-20 High St, Digbeth, Birmingham, B12 0LN. For further information contact East West on 0121 632 4462. www.eastandwest.co.uk East + West Trust - Registered Charity No 1076444 |
|
4th May 2007: BATH GIG
CONFIRMED. Iona are playing at The Forum in Bath, 22nd September 2007 |
8th January 2007: WWW.SPIRITUALPROG.COM MY SPACE VIDEO ADDITIONS: Some more video clips to check out on both the Iona and Dave myspace sites (www.myspace.com/ionauk and www.myspace.com/davebainbridgeuk). Two New Years greetings from Dave plus a few clips of him playing guitar and piano in Open Sky Studio. |
29th December 2006: We have added more gig photos from the Zoetermeer concert. Also some more very impressive photos have been added to the Iona Island page. We have also added a lyrics section to the site. |
| 20th
December 2006: IONA ON YOUTUBE.COM You can now view several Iona video clips on the popular youtube.com website, including the rare Iona Treasure video. Also on there courtesy of Voiceprint our distributers, are clips from the Iona 'Live in London' DVD ('Strength'), the first Iona DVD release ('Here I Stand'), Troy and Dave's 'From Silence' DVD and Bainbridge/Fitgerald/Adam's 'Eye of the Eagle' DVD. |
| 13th
December 2006: START THE YEAR WITH IONA - IONA RADIO SPECIAL! There will be a one hour IONA-Special on new years day 2007 at 7pm (UK time) on Radio Ems-Vechte-Welle (www.ems-vechte-welle.de) which broadcasts from Germany. Presenter Stephan Glück has put the show together and it will feature new interviews with Joanne and Dave plus lots of Iona music. Tune in and email Stephan with your responses! IONA NOVEMBER GIGS The candlelit album launch at St James'
church in Warter shook a few cobwebs away (literally!) - as
the sound vibrations shook old birds nests and dust down
onto our heads during the soundcheck. It was a great, atmospheric venue for an album launch and it was especially good to see the church Zoetermeer in Holland was particularly notable for the audience of around 650, who crammed into De Borderei. Special thanks too, to Edwin, who afterwards presented all the band each with their own box of his excellent home brewed beer and wine - each bottle of which carried pictures of the band members and names like Joanne's White Beer, Frank's Brown Ale, Barker's Bitter, Iona Irish Red, Troy's Scotch Ale and Dave's Barley Wine!! Thanks to Tim Martindale, Ronald Kolman and Jean-Luc Crewels we also have some excellent photos from all the gigs, which will soon be included in the Iona Gallery. in the meantime you can view Jean-Luc's photos from The Spirit of 66 gig at http://jeanluc075.aceblog.fr/ |
| 22nd November 2006: New pics added. Visit the gallery page to see some new pictures of recent gigs including Dave Bainbridge & Dave Fitzgerald's recent concert for Albania. |
13th November 2006: Various Updates CONCERT NEWS UK Friday, 17th November UK Saturday, 18th November Holland Friday, November 24th, Belgium Saturday, November 25th, RECENT CONCERTS The recent reunion concert with David Fitzgerald and Dave Bainbridge at the venue of the very first Iona concert in Suffolk was also a lovely, warm occasion, despite a smaller than hoped for turnout. The two Dave's shared stories behind many of the band's and their solo compositions and played a wide ranging set, which included the first live performance of three parts of Dave's epic 'Everlasting Hills' from his 'Veil of Gossamer' album. Guesting were David's children Andrew Fitzgerald on additional keys and Sarah Fitzgerald, who sang 'Here I Stand'. Interest has been expressed from a promoter in Holland about staging some D & D duo gigs over there, so watch this space. MY SPACE Special thanks to Stewart Hilton from Sit Strings (www.sitstrings.com) for hosting the Iona and Dave myspace sites and helping to increase awareness of our music. IONA WEBSITE UPDATES We'd also value your feedback on other things you'd like to see on the
site, so get tapping on those keyboards and drop us a line! IONA ON YOUTUBE.COM DAVE'S NEW WEBSITE IONA - THE CIRCLING HOUR "Iona is that rarest of quantities in music today...a group creating music that is original and unique. The Circling Hour features over 60 minutes of beautiful and magical music that springs from the hearts, minds and intruments of the group known as Iona. After a much too long 6 year wait Iona presents perhaps their finest performance, a haunting, ethereal and majestic masterpiece that you will return to again and again..... Iona is adept at weaving enthralling songs filled with instrumental and vocal passages that transport the listener. They intended to make the music more "rhymic and joyous" on this release (as opposed to some the extended ambience and instrumental passages of their previous release Open Sky). The end result pushes the music to a new level with more punch, strength (and rocking parts!) compared to previous releases. The bass is up in the mix, there are some wonderful orchestral bits, and glorious organ parts in abundance on The Circling Hour (along with the usual amazing guitar, keyboard textures, drums/percussion & various Celtic instruments the band is known for). It is still very much Iona, but a new focus and overall theme celebrating the gift of life lift the music and lyrics to an exciting and fresh place. There is truly no weak song on The Circling Hour......Iona
has created deep magic pointing to the Creator on The Circling Hour...and
this is my
pick for best of 2006 so far. Unique, powerful, dramatic, and devotional...The
Circling Hour is all of these things and more." IONA "The Circling Hour is something very special.
The CD has a great variation between "Just wanted to let you know that this new CD "The Circling Hour" is amazing! Thank you for all of the music over the years. I hope we can meet someday and have the group IONA come into the XM Studios for a performance. Keep thinking up the music and words of life!" Cheers, Ben Pilosi Smith ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ....The album continues Iona's left turn into fresh ideas that began with the emotive Celtic/ambient/progressive record Open Sky. Leaving behind much of their trademark folk, ambient and even pop trappings, this is their most upbeat and progressive record to date. For 65 minutes, The Circling Hour bursts with swirling keyboards, driving bass, and thumping drums, accentuated by fiery electric guitar solos and generous helpings of pipes and violin that swell with emotion. Joanne's ethereal voice continues to cut through the music with crystalline purity, and Troy's trademark Uilleann pipes craft the musical themes, but its Dave's electric guitar and Frank's potent drums that lead the charge. There's even some surprising new twists from Troy's bag of tricks. Not only can he blow into a dozen different musical gadgets and entertain a crowd with a runny nose (as seen on the Live DVD), on this record we discover he can sing lead vocals as well as play some serious guitar! ....The Circling Hour left me breathless and ecstatic,
knowing I had just experienced something akin to a first kiss with a
soul mate. I anticipate
a long and intimate relationship with this exceptionally fine record. It
is time to hit repeat and let the hours circle indeed. Hats off, Iona.
You've done it again." |
| 19th
October 2006: UK GIGS. There are still plenty of tickets available for all four forthcoming UK gigs (Eastbourne 28th Oct, Warter 16th Nov, Leeds 17th Nov, Rotherham 18th Nov). There is still time to book in advance and tickets will also be available on the door. |
| 30th
September 2006: IONA ALBUM LAUNCH - TICKETS GO ON SALE Tickets will go on sale on 2nd October for Iona's special Candlelit Circling Hour Album Launch Concert at St James' Church, Warter, near Pocklington, East Yorkshire. The concert starts at 7.30pm (doors 7pm). Tickets, which are all priced at £15, are available from Open Sky Records, PO Box 195, Market Rasen, LN8 9AL, UK. Please make cheques payable to Iona and send along with a stamp addressed envelope. Tickets are also available from Warter Post Office. |
| 20th September 2006: Live review and interview. A review of the recent concert in Thun in Switzerland along with interviews with Dave and Troy can be found at www.proggies.ch. Part 2 of Dave's interview will be appearing on their site shortly. |
| 14th
September 2006: IONA - THE CIRCLING HOUR We now have the album IN STOCK! Be one of the first to buy the album direct from our secure store. |
| 15th August 2006: CIRCLING HOUR MP3 FILES TO DOWNLOAD. We have now put extracts of all the tracks from The Circling Hour on the site. Go to our download tab and click 'song samples' ... OR CLICK HERE |
17th July 2006: JO, FRANK AND DAVE IN IRELAND. Jo and Frank have been working together this week on material for a new solo album from Jo. Frank is arranging, recording and co-writing some tracks with Jo. Meanwhile Dave joined them on Monday to help on the arrangements for the songs Jo will be singing on their forthcoming 'Songs of Praise' appearance.
Photo captions (l to r): |
|
13th
June 2006: SONGS FOR LUCA 2 - NEWS UPDATE
Dave relates: "After the album being on the back burner for some time,
I'm gradually getting all the tracks together now, and I think it's going
to be a great album. There's still quite a bit of work to do, but this
time round most of the tracks are exclusive, ie previously unreleased.
Just to give you a flavour of what we have so far" |
|
12th June 2006: IONA LIVE DVD REVIEWS: We're beginning to get some very good reviews trickling in from our first promotional mailout. Check out the following links: 2 www.musicaldiscoveries.com (review of concert and separate review of the DVD and also a nice review of the first Iona DVD) www.babyblaue-seiten.de (in German - if anyone fancies sending us an English translation we'd be very grateful!) http://virtuosity.home.att.net (also a review of the Eye of the Eagle DVD) http://progrock.homestead.com/ProgReviews-IonaDVD.html You can also read a review of the band's recent festival appearance in Belgium at: http://home.hetnet.nl/~nickgielkens/who_symfoindex.htm (there's also a photo here from the concert) There's a review (with photos) of the band's recent gig in Altenkirchen in Germany at www.treffpunkt-fuer-christen.de (plus reviews of the 'From Silence' and 'Eye of the Eagle' DVDs. Again, it's in German. so if anyone fancies sending us an English translation we'd be very grateful!) Please let us know if you come across any other reviews! |
| 26th May 2006: We have now added some pics of the Holland and Belgium concerts from April 2006. Click here to see them |
| 9th May 2006: Dave website coming soon! DaveBainbridge.com is currently being developed by Tim Martindale. As well as up to date news on Dave's current projects, what gear Dave is currently using, a question and answer section, info on Open Sky Studio and plenty of archive photos and press cuttings pre Iona etc, etc, it is hoped the site will eventually include tablature to download of some of Dave's acoustic guitar pieces and arrangements. We'll let you know when the site will be active. |
| 4th May 2006: Dave Bainbridge interview: There is an interview with Dave in the current Classic Rock Society mag - click here for the website: classic rock society. |
| 26th April 2006: DVD Reviews. The first fan reviews of the new DVD have started arriving on the Guestbook pages. For those of you who would like to know what Iona fans have been saying please visit the Guestbook |
|
12 April 2006: New DVD's in stock! 'The Eye of the Eagle' (Bainbridge / Fitzgerald / Adam) DVDs arrived this morning with the 'Iona Live in London' DVD due to arrive on April 13th. Pre-orders will be shipped out over the next few days. Once again huge apologies for the long delay especially with the 'Iona - Live in London' DVD. It has been a nightmare for us with various circumstances beyond our control - machine breakdown at the pressing plant, then the first pressing of 1,000 arriving with disk 1 not playing back properly. Anyway we are finally there now and our sales lady Angela will be glad to be rid of the huge pile of jiffy bags that have dominated her hallway for the past several weeks!
REHEARSALS: The band were together last week rehearsing for the forthcoming gigs (see photos below). Six of the nine tracks from 'The Circling Hour' are to be included in the set initially. The other tracks may be added for the Autumn gigs.
BAINBRIDGE & FITZGERALD TOGETHER AGAIN ON 15TH APRIL: The two Dave's are playing a late night set (approx 10.30pm) at the Spring Harvest event in Skegness on Saturday 15th April along with Frank van Essen and other guest musicians. The performance will probably include a mix of early Iona material, solo and improvised tracks - "It's likely to be quite spontaneous!" said Dave B. IONA LEEDS CONCERT ANNOUNCED: The band will be playing at St George's city centre church in Leeds on 17th November - further details to be announced shortly. |
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2 Mar 06: LATEST CD/DVD/ NEWS. Dave writes: A few more gigs are being planned for later in the year in Switzerland and the UK. We hope to add a few more UK dates and will keep you posted. See Gig page for latest additions. IONA LIVE IN LONDON DVD: This has been with the manufacturers for several weeks now and we expect finished copies any day now. IONA - THE CIRCLING HOUR (+ pics from recent recording sessions): It's been a very busy time, but the next couple of weeks will see the last few bits of the album recorded. I'm currently finishing off my last few electric guitar parts and tying up a few other lose ends on the tracks. Last Wednesday I was in DB Studios in Lincoln transferring the bulk of the tracks to a hard disk drive which should have arrived today (28th Feb) with John Kellogg in Los Angeles. John will be loading the music into his computer and setting up some rough mixes prior to me arriving in Los Angeles (with the last few overdubs on disks) on 11th March. Hopefully we can finish mixing the album in the time I'm there.
It's been exciting hearing the tracks really come together in the past few weeks but a bit scary too as I'm the only member of the band who's heard what I've been adding /changing over the past 5 weeks (Troy is away on tour with Barbara Dixon, Jo is in Ireland, Frank in Holland and Phil in London. However, Troy will be popping in the week before I go to LA for some much valued feedback on the bassoon quartet overdubs, my debut on swanee whistle and the re-recording of Jo's vocals I've done using a microphone attached to a vacuum cleaner hose! But seriously folks, it will be good to hear me Northern mate's comments and suggestions before heading off into the LA smog.
Today I've been working on the track 'Wind off the Lake', which is really sounding as epic as anything we've ever recorded. There are some tricky unison passages with Troy's pipes which I've been attempting to master on guitar, and one incredibly fast unison run (I only have myself to blame for this - it was my idea and seemed a good one at the time ... Not sure how easy it will be to do this bit live! The track we almost ditched (originally called 'Faith', now 'No Fear in Love') is fast becoming one of my favourite tracks from the album. There are some very nice sonic textures in it and it now includes some electric guitar solo passages, some great drums and bass and a surprising middle 8 section - certainly not typical Iona, but Jo's empassioned vocal is very powerful. The last track on the album ('Fragment - of a Fiery Sun') now features the only guest artist we have on the whole cd - namely Heather Findlay, singer with Mostly Autumn. Heather was in the studio singing on a track for the new 'Songs for Luca 2' album. The day before, I'd had an idea that I wanted to end the last track with a semi whispered female voice, but it would have been impractical to fly Jo over to sing just a few words. Heather kindly agreed to have a go and her fragile vocal delivery brings the track to a really moving, tear jerking close. Should be able to fit in a few more hours work on the tracks tomorrow afternoon - next up some electric guitar on the track 'Strength'. By the way, although I was joking about the vacuum cleaner hose, we did once try recording Frank's violin with a mic stuck on the end of one! It was during the 'Book of Kells' album recording and we were after a particularly unusual 'distant' effect and we'd heard that this had been done succesfully before. What we ended up with sounded absolutely - TERRIBLE! Still, you never know until you try....
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10/01/06: The Circling Hour - Iona's new studio album: Dave's diary update. BASS PLAYER'S CORNER! Had a brilliant time at the weekend with Phil up here at the studio. All of Phil's bass parts are now recorded, just a bit of editing of various takes for me to go through. What's great about working together with other musicians is that they often bring a perspective or ideas on things that you (or me in this case) haven't previously considered. I love replacing my programmed guide bass parts with the real thing. Suddenly the parts take on a personality and have a much more distinctive character. It's been great being able to spend more time on Phil's parts this time round, away from the greater financial pressures of recording in a big expensive studio. We've really been able to concentrate on getting some great sounds and Phil has felt more liberated to really establish his own personality in the music. Phil commented that this is how he used to play - with more passion and drive - before being affected by the many constraints he's been under on the numerous sessions he's done. On the new track 'No Fear in Love', we went for an atmospheric, textural approach to the bass, with a different sound for almost every section (ranging from clean to very overdriven), using lots of effects and different playing techniques. On 'Children of Time', Phil brought out his customised 'stick', which he uses to give a harder more metallic edge to his sound (you can see him using this on the new Live DVD on Castlerigg). This worked great and Phil also came up with a lovely little riff for the choruses - the kind of thing that it's impossible to play using a bass sample on a keyboard. The album's longest track 'Wind, Water and Fire' is really sounding great now with Frank's finished drum track and Phil's newly added bass parts. The 'Fire' part has a very fast 5/8 section with a unison pipes / electric guitar melody reminiscent in a way of 'Flight of the Wild Goose'. This will be an exciting one to play live. Frank is recording some more stuff on this track this week - there's a fast line on which he's going to add some unison violins - which should sound very exciting. One of the interesting things from a bass player's point of view is that on most of the tracks Phil has been using a plectrum rather than fingers - a big change from 'Open Sky'. This has definately suited the new songs much better and really added a greater sense of excitement and drive. So, over the next few weeks Frank's last few contributions should be arriving on cds through the post and I'll be completing all my parts. Then I need to prepare and send all the individual tracks over to John Kellogg in LA on a hard disk drive so they can be loaded into his recording system and rough mixes set up before I go over there to oversee the final stages of the album mix at the end of February. Dave. |
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VEIL OF GOSSAMER PLAYED ON RICK WAKEMAN'S RADIO SHOW. Dave: 'Rick just contacted me today to say that he will be playing a track from my 'Veil of Gossamer' solo album on his Saturday morning radio show tomorow. This is broadcast from Norwich - more details on Rick's show should be found on his website www.rwcc.com THE CIRCLING HOUR - LATEST Dave's studio diary; Over the last few days I've just finished recording all my bouzouki parts for the album - phew! The instrument is featured much more than on 'Open Sky' with both Troy and I playing rockin' bouzouki together on several tracks. Our instruments differ in that mine is an 'Octavius' (ie 8 strings with the bottom two sets being in octaves) whereas Troy's has a larger body (like Troy now I come to think of it - but don't tell him I said that!), and all unison strings. anyway the two instruments sound great together - as you'll be able to hear in tracks like 'Strength' and 'Factory of Magnificent Souls'. That's just reminded me - when Phil heard the song title 'Factory of Magnificent Souls', he was worried that we were going to name the album after that song and insist on a 'Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band' type cover - with us all dressed up accordingly. Talking of Phil, he's up in Lincolnshire as we speak and over the weekend will be finishing his last few bass parts at Open Sky studio. All for now, Dave. |
 6/01/2006:
EYE OF THE EAGLE DVD RELEASE After a long delay
due to contractual issues, the Eye of the Eagle DVD (Bainbridge, Fitgerald
& Adam) will soon be ready to go to manufacture. We now have the new cover
artwork, which we feel captures something of the mystical feel of the music
and words (Click in this for a bigger image). You can pre-order the DVD
of this significant work by Iona's founders through our secure
store. |
|
06/12/05: Dave Talk ... new interview online! Dave has recently completed an interview for the www.progressor.net (www.progressor.net/interview/dave_bainbridge.html) website based in Uzbekistan! Dave has also done an extensive interview for Virtuosa Magazine - which will be out soon. Also Dave was recently interviewed (along with Terl Bryant) for an article on Christian Rock music for 'The Irish Catholic' publication and will be doing an interview for the French music website AmarokProg.Net shortly. |
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28/11/05: NEW IONA ALBUM UPDATE & SONGS FOR LUCA 2 UPDATE. Dave's album diary - November 28th. This weekend we made some significant progress on the album at Open Sky studio. Both Troy and Phil were here on Saturday, with Phil here yesterday too. Phil's bass parts for all but 3 tracks are now recorded and we're both very pleased with the sound and vibe - very rocky and edgy - much more so than on the 'Open Sky' album. For those bass players out there, Phil brought his Musicman Stingray 5 string, which he played through his Gallean (or was it Freddie?) Kruger bass combo amp, which I mic'ed up. We also took a direct signal from Phil's Sansamp DI pedal and his Octava pedal. The result is a great, gritty but well defined sound which really makes the tracks rock! The completely new arrangement of 'Wind off the Lake' (one of the tracks we premiered on last years gigs) is really sounding amazing - with both Phil and Frank excelling themselves in the rhythm department. I think it's destined to be one of the most exciting Iona tracks to date. There's some brilliant bass and drum tight unison phrasing at one point, with huge cathedral organ (yes, that's right!) chords behind which sounds truly majestic. Troy put down his finished pipes, whistle and vocal parts on the track too this weekend, so once my guitar parts and the rest of Jo's vocal harmonies are recorded, the track will be just about ready to mix. Troy also put some great pipes down on the other album 'epic' track - 'Wind, Water and Fire' - which now clocks in at just under 14 minutes! The end section of the piece features a very uplifting unison pipes / electric guitar melody and Jo sounding like a whole choir! Another track that's sounding particularly exciting now that Phil has added his splendidly rocking bass part is the album opening track 'Empyrean Dawn'. With its several changes of intensity and instrumentation and Jo's lovely melody this one has all the hallmarks of the Iona sound - but not neccesarily in the order you'd expect! So, back to work on the tracks tomorrow - plenty of stuff for me to do before Jo comes over in just over a week to complete her vocals - oh yes and we've also got lyrics and a melody to re-write on one of the songs...! Songs for Luca 2 Update November 28th: Dave writes: At the studio today was fantastic guitarist Nick Fletcher, who has written a lovely acoustic guitar piece called 'Silver Moon' which we recorded especially for the Luca 2 album. We also spent some time jamming this afternoon (me on keyboard and Nick playing my electric guitar). I recorded everything and once I have time will listen through it all. Nick played some brilliant stuff and I think we have the makings of a great new piece which could also make it onto the Luca 2 album. Thanks Nick for taking the time to come over! We now have great contributions from a few more artists, including our friend from the USA and fine dulcimer player Keith Baker, who has especially recorded a track for the album and my friends from the wonderful US/Indian band Aradhna. Other tracks to arrive include one from Oliver Wakeman, a nice folky track which includes Steve Howe from Yes on rhythm guitar, and a very atmospheric track by Invisible Opera of Tibet (who are actually from Brazil!) - which features the unique and lovely sounding 'glissando guitar' of Fabio Golfetti. Debbie and I are really touched by all the who are contributing to the album! |
| 25/11/05: 'FROM SILENCE DVD IN STOCK': We are happy to announce that we now have our latest Open Sky / Voiceprint release 'From Silence - the DVD' in stock. This fly on the wall film of Troy Donockley and Dave Bainbridge recording the music for the cd of the same name in the splendid surroundings of Lincoln Cathedral would make a perfect stocking filler! Interviews with Troy, Dave and binaural sound expert Dallas Simpson give some interesting insights into the recording. The DVD features the binaurally recorded version of the music as featured on the cd - which is optimised for headphone listening, and also a standard stereo version, more suited for listening on speakers. Pre-orders will be sent out in the next week or so. |
| 25/11/2005: 2006 TOUR DATE LATEST: We can announce details now of a very special concert taking place in Zwolle, Holland on 28th April 2006. This will be a special, exclusive Dutch launch concert for both the new Iona studio album 'The Circling Hour' and the 'Live in London' DVD. Two other Dutch bands will be featured before Iona take to the stage playing material from their new album. The band will have a great pa and lighting system especially for this concert. A night not to be missed! See the gigs page for details |
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21/11/05: Dave Bainbridge & IONA will be a "Featured Artist Of The Day" at Whole Wheat Radio on Friday, December 9th, 2005. Different songs from IONA and Dave's CD are played throughout the day, usually once every hour. You can listen on the low-speed (dialup) line at: http://64.62.252.134:2670/listen .pls or on the high-speed (DSL, cable) line at: http://64.62.252.134:2680/listen .pls. If they (or you) have trouble tuning in, this page may help: http://www.wholewheatr adio.org/WWR2/listen.htm. Our main
website is at: http://www.wholewheatradio.org. |
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20 Nov 05 IONA LIVE DVD LATEST: Jo and Dave will be spending a long day with the Live in London DVD editor Tom Grimshaw in Manchester on the 7th December, overseeing the final video edits. Once that's done, the DVD will be finally (!) ready to go to the manufacturing stage. The DVD artwork, which has been designed by Tim Martindale, who also took the excellent photos on the night of the concert, is all finished and ready to go. We will soon be able to announce a release date. Thanks again for your patience - we never imagined it would take this long to get the DVD out! Good news for those of you without DVD players. We can also announce that there are plans to release the concert as a double cd live album set quite soon. This will contain the main set the band played on the night, but not the additional acoustic set. More on this as the news comes in. View the latest photos: Troy and John Kellogg working hard (or hardly working!) at Future Disc Systems in LA ... Troy ponders the future of the music industry in the presence his new idols - Metal Skool. 'THE CIRCLING HOUR' - NEW IONA ALBUM LATEST: Dave's diary notes; 'Work is still progressing well on the album, with Troy, Phil, Jo and Frank all visiting the studio here during the next four weeks, so it will be a busy time in which the bulk of the remaining parts will be recorded. I still have some of my parts to do too (some guitars, keyboards, bouzouki and mandolin), which will probably end up being finished off last. I tend to put my parts down very quickly as I come up with ideas, so that the creative flow isn't interrupted. Then, when a piece has taken shape, I usually go back to revise the parts. Sometimes the original ones are good enough to be kept, sometimes I ned to redo them with better sounds, or with no mistakes! This will be only the second Iona album on which I've played mandolin. I played a bit (on a borrowed one) on 'Journey into the Morn', but acquired a lovely second hand instrument from Fylde about 2 years ago, which sounds great. The mandolin will probably be used an two tracks - 'Wind, Water and Fire' and 'Faith' - the latter of which is undergoing something of a makeover! Some last minute reservations about the track resulted in a flurry of emails between us all and has prompted a rewrite, so we are looking at revising the lyrics and melody on this one and changing the title (aargh!). The changes will definately be for the better though - we're really keen that there are no padding tracks anywhere on the album and it's good to see that everyone in the band is so concerned to this end. The new feel is a bit 'acoustic Led Zeppelin' in the verses, and a bit 'Clannad' on the choruses, but most definately 'Iona'! I'm hoping Jo will have a sudden rush of inspiration when she's over here in 2 weeks time, to complete the new lyrics! This often happens with Jo, when she's got time and space away from home to really concentrate on something without distractions. We have also been looking at the running order and made a change - 'Strength' now comes before 'Wind off the Lake' - which will mean absolutely nothing to those of you who haven't heard the tracks yet! Phil suggested this change after I'd compiled and sent rough mixes of all the tracks in order to everyone. I think he's right and the album now begins with three very strong songs, before heading off into more 'folk - rock, progressive' instrumental territory. I've spent ages recently going through all the vocal takes Jo recorded last time she was over here at the end of October. We put down so much stuff that it's been a bit of a labyrinthine process to sort them all out (getting rid of the sound of Jo clearing her throat before each take and such like). There are some amazing harmony and 'ethereal choir' like vocals on some of the tracks and we've probably spent longer on the vocals layers on this album than any of the other Iona albums. Sometimes they're spread over about 12 tracks on the hard disk recorder, which I'll need to bounce down to one or two stereo pairs to make them more manageable. I've been having fun adding some interesting digital fx too, to make 12 Joannes sound like about 40 Joannes singing in the Cistine Chapel, rather than my small vocal booth! The next month or so will be quite a juggling act to fit in Jo, Troy, Phil and Frank's sessions around their other commitments. Troy is also working on arranging a new album for Barbara Dixon, so he's away a lot at the moment - in fact we have only about 3 possible days between now and the 16th January to finish his remaining parts on the album! Frank is booked up with arranging work until March - so he has only small windows of time too - but he has a drum kit set up permanently now in his home studio in Holland, so he can easily record and send stuff over to me. We're still on course though to mix the album around the end of January so that it will be out in time for our European gigs in the spring. NEW JOANNE ALBUM PROJECT: Troy and I will also be doing some recording for Frank when he's over at my Open Sky Studio in December. This is for two projects, one for a German singer, the other is for a new album he's producing for Jo - more details when we have them on Jo's album. |
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8/11/2005: SONGS FOR LUCA 2: Dave and Debbie report that they're getting a fantastic response from artists wanting to be involved in the album. Artists on board to date include: Moya Brennan (Clannad vocalist) who's sent a beautiful exclusive track from a radio recording, Dave Beegle (davebeegle.com) - a superb US guitarist, whether playing flamenco or blistering rock! Joanne Hogg (our very own!) - with a new version of 'Journey into the Morn', featuring (we hope) some very special guests... Nick Fletcher - brilliant classical guitarist who's coming over to Open Sky Studio to record one of his own compositions exclusively for the album, Mssrs Donockley and Bainbridge (probably an exclusive live track), Debbie Bainbridge - (haunting piano piece), Brian Hopper & Richard Fenner - (Brian was one of the originators of the Canterbury Scene and was also a member of Soft Machine at one time) Other artists whom we hope will be included: Oliver Wakeman (son of Rick), Chasing the Monsoon - (splinter group from Karnataka) Heather Findlay - (lovely singer from Mostly Autumn), Julianne Regan (wonderful vocalist from All About Eve, who's working on an exclusive track), Kenso - fantastic Japanese progressive band, Keith Baker - (US dulcimer player), Jason Williams - (US guitarist, keyboardist) on a collaboration with Frank and Dave, Richard John Thompson - (singer songwriter), Roine Stolte - (wonderful Flower Kings guitarist) and .... (we hope) Rick Wakeman - (keyboardist extraodinaire). There are still other artists being contacted and tracks arriving, so we'll keep you posted on progress. |
| 2/11/05: UPGRADED SECURE STORE NOW AVAILABLE! The secure store has now been updated and it is now possible to purchase the new Troy and Dave cd 'When Worlds Collide' as well as pre-order several other forthcoming products; The New Iona album - The Circling Hour', The Iona - Live in London DVD, From Silence DVD, The Eye of the Eagle DVD. Money from pre-orders helps us to finance our recordings and keep on producing new Iona music! |
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31/10/05: IONA - LIVE IN LONDON DVD LATEST: The last week in September saw Troy heading off to sunny Los Angeles to supervise the final tweaks of the audio mixes by John Kellogg at Future Disc Systems. Dave and Troy can report that the 5.1 surround mixes are sounding fantastic! The final mastered mixes (also done at Future Disc Systems by world renowned mastering engineer Steve Hall) should be arriving in Manchester with the film's director Paul Green this week. Troy has a rough cut of the film which he says is looking really good. He, Dave and Jo will be supervising final edits with the director Paul, hopefully within the next few weeks.
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31/10/05 STUDIO ALBUM LATEST: IONA NEW STUDIO ALBUM - LATEST (31st October) Dave reports. I have just had Jo over here at Open Sky Studio for the past 4 days for her first recording session since her operation in August, and I'm very pleased to report that her voice is sounding as wonderful as ever! Jo said that she feels like she's been given a new lease of life with it. All of the lead vocals on the album have now been recorded and we've also been working a lot on multi-layered backing vocals on a few tracks - which are sounding really amazing. We even found time to write a new song - which gives us something of a quandry - as the album is already likely to be about 70 minutes long! Maybe something for the next album! We'll see. We also recorded a new version of the track 'Journey into the Morn' for the new 'Songs for Luca 2' album. This will be featuring a new extended, rocky instrumental section on which I'm hoping to feature some very special guests..... Jo will be over again in about a month for two or three days to finish off her remaining backing vocals - there are a lot of them on this album! The new tracks we played which will be on the Live in London DVD have been shaping up very well and I think people will be interested to hear this development from live to studio versions - particularly the tracks 'Strength' and 'Wind off the Lake'). One aspect of this album which is very exciting is Frank's drumming. When we did the 'Open Sky' album, we only had quite a limited time in Chapel studios to get the drums done. Frank's playing, as ever, was great but we did feel that the drum mix wasn't as good as it could have been. Now, however, Frank is able to record his drums in his own studio in Holland and is achieving a superb sound. He's also able to spend more time on developing the parts and we're also able to re-record / modify parts when song arrangements change and develop (which often happens during an album recording). There are definately a few 'tour de force' tracks for drum enthusiasts on the new album and today I'm expecting a disc to arrive in the post with the latest tracks from Frank on there to load into my recording system. Work will be continuing on the album throughout November and December with Troy, Phil, Jo and Frank all coming to record at various times here at Open Sky Studio. Meanwhile both Frank and Troy are continuing to working on parts in their respective home studios. Track info so far: We can now give you a little info on what to expect on the album (without giving too much away!) - and here is a provisional running order 1. Opening track (title tbc) 2. The Circling Hour 3. Wind Off The Lake 4. Strength 5. A Dhia Ghleigil (Angel Of God) 6. Factory Of Magnificent Souls 7. Sky Maps 8. Life Is Precious 9. Faith 10. Wind, Water & Fire 11. Fragment (Of a Fiery Sun) Those of you who attended any of Iona's gigs in the latter half of 2004 will have already heard the tracks Strength, Factory Of Magnificent Souls, Wind Off The Lake and A Dhia Ghleigil (Angel Of God). 'Wind Off The Lake' - a largely instrumental track featuring Troy's pipes has undergone a major makeover since being performed live and is now approaching Iona 'epic' proportions, with a much more powerful drum feel throughout and more of Iona's trademark pipes and electric guitar unison sound, and evocative ethereal sections, bringing more into 'Woven Cord' territory. The album's opening track, the title of which has yet to be decided, is definately an attention grabber from the outset and its life affirming theme is something that continues throught the album. 'The Circling Hour' is based around a poem written early in the 20th Century which Dave discovered in a book of Celtic poetry and its mystical imagery looks forward to the life to come. 'Strength' is another live affirming track, with its lyrics very much rooted in the Celtic tradition's love and respect for creation. Judging by the audience reaction to this track it is destined to become a live favourite for the band - and in fact will be seen on the forthcoming Live in London DVD. 'Life is Precious' is a very moving song of Jo's with a beautifully atmospheric accompanyment |
 19/10/05:
UPDATED IONA BIOGRAPHY: The official
Iona biography has now been extensively updated. This now includes some
of the concert pictures from the London DVD gig as well as the new artwork
for the DVD and re-designed Ional albums. Click the image to download the
biography. |
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22/09/05: SONGS FOR LUCA 2: The 'Songs for Luca' album has raised approximately £20,000 to help fund Dave and Debbie Bainbridge's autistic son Luca's home based Son-Rise program, which Debbie and Dave have been running for the past 3 years. Educational experts have been amazed at Luca's progress and at Luca's annual review in July they confirmed that the course was having tremendously beneficial effects for Luca (who will be 8 in November). Whilst acknowledging this, the Education Authorities continue to provide absolutely no funding whatsoever to help fund the program, which, with its many excellent support services from the USA, is expensive to run. It is Dave and Debbie's hope that Luca will one day be ready to re-enter the state schooling system, but in the meantime they both feel that continuing with the Son-Rise program is the best thing for him. As sales from the 'Songs for Luca' album are dropping off now (it is 2 1/2 years since its release), Dave and Debbie are planning to release a follow up album 'Songs for Luca 2' to help with their fundraising. Already several artists have agreed to be a part of the album and Rob Ayling from Voiceprint has kindly agreed to fund the manufacturing. Dave hopes that as well as raise money for Luca, the album will bring new audiences to those artists involved whom listeners may not yet be familiar with. Dave also hopes to have a larger number of exclusive tracks on the album this time round. We'll keep you posted regarding a possible release date. |
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3 SEPT
2005: CONFIRMED IONA CONCERT DATES 2006: |
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25/08/05: JOANNE - OPERATION UPDATE FROM DAVE BAINBRIDGE: 'Debbie my wife has spoken to Jo (I was in the studio at the time) and she said that the surgeon said that the outcome of the operation was the best he could have hoped for and described it as a great result! He couldn't believe Jo's voice - most people after this operation are usually very hoarse - Jo's voice was only slightly so, despite the fact that Jo's condition was actually worse that they'd thought. Jo had said that she'd felt very peaceful throughout the weekend before the operation and was now already feeling the benefits of the surgery - the heaviness and pins and needles she'd been experiencing in her arm for months has gone, for which we thank God.'
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We shall be doing a major update to the secure store very soon and will of course be including this album. |
| 26/07/05: We have now added the lyrics to the Iona albums. These are in pdf format. Visit the albums page to view these. |
| 9/06/05: Click here for the 'From Silence' ECard which has active links to such things as MP3's, press release, interviews/reviews. PLEASE FORWARD THIS ECARD TO ANYONE WHO YOU THINK MIGHT LIKE IONA'S MUSIC. |
| 4/06/05: FROM SILENCE REVIEWS UPDATED: Visit the interviews page for the newest reviews on 'From Silence' and Veil of Gossamer'. If you spot any reviews do please let us know! |
| 2005/6 IONA DATES As the focus of attention for most of 2005 will be working on the new studio album, as well as completing the other DVD and recording projects that are currently on the go, there will only be a few one off concerts this year. Please note that some of these are all still to be confirmed at the time of writing. Click here for the gigs page |
| 29/04/05 : 'From Silence' Press Release |
| 25/04/05 : Band History Update - 2002 to 2005 sections added |
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Other
News
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8th March 05: Visit the gigs page for the latest confirmed Iona dates
17th Jan 05: This latest website addition to Iona on the web contains a history of Iona in German. http://www.radio-euro.de
15th Jan 05: SPECIAL FUNDRAISING CONCERT FOR LUCA: The concert on 7th January that Keith Baker put on in the USA with Dave Baeegle and Danny Oertli has raised over $1,900 (£1,050)! The money raised will go directly towards Luca's Son-Rise program and in particular towards Dave, Debbie and Luca's attendance on the Son-Rise Intensive Course at the Autism Treatment Centre in the USA in February. FOR LUCA UPDATE CLICK HERE
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TROY & DAVE CONCERT REVIEW: Read the review of the Burney & Birmingham Gigs (Oct 2003) gigs. See the photos from the burnley Mechanics concert - 13 October 200
New Frank website: Iona drummer Frank Van Essen has developed a new website (www.stringsattached.nl)offering his services in arranging, performing and recording for strings.
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