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.

Please check out Iona on Facebook & MySpace

5 JULY 2010

New Switzerland gigs confirmed!: See our gigs page for all the latest UK & US dates

ALSO ... check out the IONA PHOTOS FROM NEARFEST 2010: There are some great pics from our appearance at NearFest by the official Festival photographer at http://www.studiomlive.com/NEARfest2010/

12 APRIL 2010

USA TOUR NEW GIG CONFIRMED!! (IN CANADA!). See Gig News page

SECURE STORE
About a month ago we had someone hack into the Rest of the World section of the Iona store which led to some text being altered. It took a while to get to the bottom of this but we are pleased to say that the situation was resolved a couple of weeks ago. No personal or financial details of any sort were compromised and the store is now running as normal.

NEW IONA ALBUM - PROGRESS REPORT
A few weeks ago the whole band assembled at His Master's Noise Studio in The Netherlands to continue work on the new Iona album. It was a very productive week and the album is coming on really well. As well as working on existing material for the album a new song was also completed and recorded. We documented the time in the studio with some diary entries on the Iona Facebook page - something we'll continue to do during the next studio session later in April. There is now an album of photos from the session also up on the Facebook page. In the meantime here are the edtited highlights from the last studio session diary:

SATURDAY 20TH MARCH
Set up all the gear yesterday and today and mic'ed and sound checked everything. Then recorded a track called 'The Ancient Wells' - all playing live together - though Martin had to be out in the kitchen for sound separation purposes! (but still in headphone contact with the rest of us!). ...Jo has come up with some great words for a new end section. Just doing some editing of the takes this evening and a little bit more bass / vocal and guitar recording.

MONDAY 22ND MARCH
Quick note from the studio. Great days yesterday and (so far) today - recording 'Let Your Glory Fall', 'Clouds' and 'And the Angels Dance' - a song we just finished writing today! A few minutes break now - phew!

TUESDAY 23RD MARCH
A new day in the studio - about to record Martin playing pipes on 'White Horse', then Joanne doing some vocals on the same track. Today will be a pipes / vocals day before Martin and Joanne head back to Ireland tomorrow, leaving Phil and I (Dave) to do a few bass tracks.

WEDNESDAY 24TH MARCH
Yesterday I (Dave) recorded an improvised piece with our good friend Wytze Valkema - Wytze was playing 2 different shofars (rams horns) an I improvised along on (orchestral sounding) keys. One take, no overdubs - we captured something really special - very humbling.

Just finished the session here at His Master's Noise Studio in Holland - 6 very productive days. Recorded some more lead vocals this morning with Jo before she headed home, some bass tracks with Phil and a few bits of electric guitar. The songs are really beginning to take shape.

 

10 MARCH 2010 - Martin Nolan biography added to the Musicians section. Also there is a link to Martin's website on our 'Links' page.

10 MARCH 2010 - New USA date confirmed.
Sunday, June 27, 210
West Ridge Community Church, 3300 Encounter Lane, Elgin, IL 60124. www.westridgechurch.net
Tickets will go on sale Friday, March 12th, 2010. For further details
check out the Gigs page now!

9TH JANUARY 2010 - NEWS UPDATE

MARTIN NOLAN JOINS THE BAND!
After the successful gigs in the autumn, we are pleased to announce that Martin has joined the band and we look forward to his contribution on the new album and on forthcoming gigs. Martin is a fine uilleann piper and whistle player with a great Irish sense of humour to boot. In the meantime our old friend Troy is going to be having a very busy year with The Bad Shepherds and other artists and has recently had some of his great music played by a symphony orchestra over in the USA in a project for hi-fi manufacturers Bose. See www.troydonockley.co.uk for Troy's news.

USA TOUR
The band will be undertaking their first US tour for many years in June. With appearances already booked at Near Fest (19th June) and Cornerstone Festival (30th June) our USA booking agent Kathy Bunker is currently working on filling the space in between with a number of other gigs and possibly a TV appearance or two. See the gig guide for further details - which will be updated as news comes in.

NB If you are involved in the media in the USA and would like to arrange an interview with the band whilst we're there, please contact Kathy at music4world@netzero.com

UK DATES IN MAY
We're currently booking 3-4 dates in May - so far confirmed is North Hykeham, near Lincoln on 22nd (tickets are now on sale - see Gig guide). Others should be confirmed on the same weekend soon. More European dates will be scheduled for the autumn.

NEW IONA ALBUM
Prior to the brilliant Dutch gigs in October, Dave, Jo, Frank and Martin had an excellent day at Frank's studio demoing some of the powerful new songs that have been written so far for the next IONA album. Writing and recording will be continuing throughout January to May at various locations in England, Ireland and Holland and will continue after the USA trip. At the moment the band are hoping for the album to be out around September, but things will become clearer over the next few months. We will continue to bring you album updates as news filters through, including some in depth notes on the tracks. Make sure you're on our mailing list to receive the Iona enewsletters (and please check that your spam filter allows it through!).

IONA FACEBOOK PAGE
It has been great reading all your comments and when possible interacting with you on the new IONA Facebook page and we’re encouraged to have over 1,000 friends is such a short time. Already this is an invaluable resource to connect with many IONA fans both old and new. You can find us at www.facebook.com/pages/IONA/133955679394?ref=mf
There are loads of great Iona photos on there too. Spread the word!

INTERVIEWS
Towards the end of last year Dave did several interviews for various websites and magazines which are well worth checking out:

http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Dave_Bainbridge_and_
David_Fitzgerald_Taking_a_Life_Journey_with_Lindisfarne_art/37125/p1/

This is an interview with Dave and Iona co-founder David Fitzgerald about their recently released collaborative album ‘Life Journey’.

www.backgroundmagazine.nl/
Dave talks about the re-release of Iona’s ‘Journey into the Morn’, his collaboration with Nick Fletcher on ‘Cathedral of Dreams’ and all things Iona.

http://fansiter.com/2009/11/01/exclusive-interview-with-IONA/
Dave talks about all things Iona

iO Pages Magazine (Holland)
A two page in depth interview on a range of subjects (in Dutch of course!)

www.musicstreetjournal.com
Dave talks in depth about his life in music.

GIG REPORTS
The band's 2 gigs in October in The Netherlands, at Hedon in Zwolle and De Boerderij in Zoetermeer were a huge success, with big crowds at both adding to a very special atmosphere. We were fortunate to have several excellent photographers at both gigs, so there are a number of great photos up on the internet - in particular on the NEW Iona Facebook page. See:

www.mooninvirgo.nl/, www.ericdebruijn.com,
http://home.kpn.nl/treep000/iona/,

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9931&id=1788385417,


www.myspace.com/henkjanvanderklis and

http://petergroveswebsite.com/IonaDeBoerderij2009.htm


There are reviews of the Zoetermeer gig at www.progwereld.org
http://petergroveswebsite.com/IonaDeBoerderij2009.htm and
www.backgroundmagazine.nl/
Here's one of Monica Duffels superb photos (www.mooninvirgo.nl) taken at the recent gig at De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Holland.

15 SEPTEMBER 2009

END OF THE RIVER FLOWS
We have just heard from distributors Authentic Media that stock of the Iona box set 'The River Flows' is now exhausted and that they won't be manufacturing any more. The box set was intended as a limited edition release and now all 8,500 or so copies have been sold. There are still a few copies for sale on various websites if you look around, but these are likely to be snapped up quite quickly. The River Flows box set was a landmark release for us - the first on our own 'Open Sky records' label (in conjunction with Alliance Music Records). It received tremendous praise from critics - in no small part due to Chris Sands' stunning and evocative artwork contained within its 60 page booklet.

Cross Rhythms Magazine wrote: "In the years ahead this box set will be the benchmark against which all other Christian music reissues and returns-to-the-archives will be measured."

So hang on to your copy!!

9 SEPTEMBER 2009

BAND NEWS UPDATE - LIVE REPORT / NEW STUDIO ALBUM!
Iona has recently returned from 4 excellent gigs - especially the ones in Germany and Belgium, which saw a great unity, joy and excitement within the band. Incredibly celebrating the 20th anniversary of Iona this year, the set included some songs that have not been performed live for a long time, such as 'The Island', 'Divine Presence' and 'A Million Stars'. An opening improvisation, featuring Frank on violin and Dave on Keys developed into a glorious full band sound as Dave switched to electric guitar, setting the scene for a very special evening of inspired music. 'Hinba' from the Open Sky album was played live for the very first time along with powerful new songs 'The Ancient Wells' and 'Let Your Glory Fall'.

Piper Martin Nolan's presence was apparent on a great set of silp jigs (Goodmans set - which featured Iona's trademark pipes and electric guitar unison sound) and also on two beautiful slow airs 'Taimse Im Chodladh' and 'Air from France'. After problems with laryngitis at the band's appearance in May at Heaven on Earth in Holland, Joanne's voice on these gigs was crystal clear and has never sounded better. The band are now really looking forward to the two concerts in Holland next month (see gig guide). More concerts are being planned for 2010 and recording will commence on a new studio album later this year (more news on this soon!).

There are some excellent photos from the recent gigs at
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=140252&id=521563034&l=ef92b55c2f
and at
http://www.progrockfoto.de/

28 JULY 2009

TROY LEAVES IONA
After being a member for 14 years, Troy has left the band. Here is a statement from Troy;

"I have had a wonderful time with my friends in Iona and am very, very proud of the albums we made together. But, as in all of life, things change. After extended periods of no activity we have found ourselves with a very different musical and philosophical direction. We have parted as great friends should, with a sad-happiness and I truly wish , without cliche, all the very best for the future".

Whilst we are sad at the parting of ways, we (the other band members Jo, Dave, Frank and Phil) are excited at what the future holds for the band. After a long period of inactivity we all feel that God is leading us into new paths together and with a new, renewed vision and focus. We are happy to have guesting with us on forthcoming gigs Martin Nolan (uilleann pipes & whistles) from Dublin. We also wish Troy well in his various musical endeavours. He is a totally unique musician and composer and his music deserves a wider audience.

We are also working on tracks for a brand new IONA studio album, for which we have a clear 'concept', and which we hope will come out sometime in 2010, though we currently need to find some funding from somewhere for this!!

INTERVIEWS COMING UP
An interview with IONA co-founders Dave Bainbridge and David Fitzgerald has just been done for the Cross Rhythms website (www.crossrhythms.co.uk). Dave and David talk about their current release 'Life Journey'. An interview with Dave Bainbridge will also feature in the next edition of the Dutch progressive rock magazine iO Pages (www.iopages.nl). In this Dave talks about both the 'Life Journey' and 'Cathedral of Dreams' projects and current happenings with IONA.

LIFE JOURNEY WEBSITE
Mark Fleeson from the Lindisfarne Scriptorium, who have released 'Life Journey' (see previous news items below for further info) has set up a website dedicated to info about the album and Mary Fleeson's book of the same name. Included on the website (which is being added to over the coming weeks and months) are in depth discussions with Dave and David about the tracks on the album and electronic 'turning page' versions of both the book and album. The full length version of the Cross Rhythms interview with the two David's will be posted on there soon. See www.life-journey-cd.com.

NB; The album, as well as being available direct from us on the Iona website is now also available as an MP3 download from iTunes and Amazon.co.uk

NICK FLETCHER ALBUM FEATURED ON CLASSIC FM
Several tracks from our most recent Open Sky Records release, 'Cathedral of Dreams', the debut solo album from guitar virtuoso Nick Fletcher have been featured on Classic FM, the UK's most popular classical music radio station (see www.classicfm.co.uk/on-air/blogs/new-releases-blog/july-2009/contemporary-guitar-music/). Recorded and produced by Dave Bainbridge and featuring Dave and Nick's guitar concerto 'Iberian Fantasy', the album is also beginning to get some very positive reviews;

"Classical guitarist Nick Fletcher is a rare talent, a gifted guitarist with a unique style that mixes urgency with deep contemplation. His album Cathedral of Dreams is a beautiful album of original solo guitar compositions. Fletcher’s nimble fingers coax both beautiful melodies and breathtaking riffs from his 2001 Amalio Burguet El Maestro cedar top and rosewood guitar. His precise and smooth playing on songs like the fast-paced “The Clap”-like Cornucopia or the lyrical Sirocco makes Steve Howe sound clumsy and unrefined. Other tunes like Visage weave a South American dance influence with gorgeous flamenco stylings. The four part epic finale, Iberian Fantasy for Guitar and Orchestra, features spontaneous duets between Nick and producer Dave Bainbridge (the brainchild behind the stellar progressive Celtic-Christian band Iona) on keyboards, augmented by flute and timpani. All four parts are lovely, and really highlight Fletcher’s talent as an improviser. Instrumental albums are often a mood setter or relegated to background music. Cathedral of Dreams is a mood elevator that will continually draw itself into the foreground. You cannot help but engage with Nick Fletcher’s beautifully haunting technique and melodies. Nick is also featured on Bainbridge’s compilation Songs For Luca Volume 2. Highly recommended for fans of Phil Keaggy, Dave Bainbridge, Steve Howe, and Christopher Parkening."
Dave Taylor - www.spiritualprog.com

"A varied and involving collection of tracks with an invigorating scent of uniqueness.....If this disc reflects any particular influence, to these ears it must be Steve Hackett. Fletcher’s guitar tone and style here several times....take me to Hackett’s live duo album, There Are Many Sides to the Night – only Fletcher’s sound is far crisper.... Just when a normal disc might think of winding down, we get the four-part, 24-minute “Iberian Fantasy” suite. Over and around this improvised section, Dave Bainbridge has carefully orchestrated some restrained and complementary keyboard lines. Andrea and Gabriel Alonso add flutes and a dash of percussion. This extra layer of sound takes the disc to another level, without diminishing the earlier tracks. “Appasionata,” its final part, has a simple, stirring theme, and is a true climax to the album. My guitar music collection includes a Julian Bream / John Williams collaboration that I have not played for years. This disc, by contrast, will surely get a regular workout."
Derek Walker - www.tollbooth.org

The British composer Nick Fletcher is a new name for us – but his guitar album 'Cathedral of Dreams' is definitely worth a listen.

A talented guitarist and composer of music for solo guitar, Nick Fletcher has recorded a number of acclaimed CDs of classical guitar music and numerous Celtic music recordings, but this is the first CD release of his own solo compositions.

Featuring a range of influences from Baroque to traditional music from the Hebridean islands, the highlight is 'Iberian Fantasy' - a 24 minute long Guitar Concerto which is the perfect soundtrack for the summer months.

Says Nick, ‘I don’t consider myself to be a composer in the traditional sense. I am simply an improvising musician. It is out of this spontaneous creativity that my compositions take shape – and it would be fair to say that composing and improvising are two sides of the same coin’.

Listen out for this album on Smooth Classics and Relaxing Classics over the next few weeks.
Sam Jackson, Classic FM's Executive Producer for Music and Events

Nick Fletcher is an English classical guitarist discovered Dave Bainbridge of Iona. Fletcher has been playing classical pieces for a long time but finally saw his chance, with the aid of Bainbridge, to make a CD of his own compositions. These pieces were recorded by Bainbridge in St. Luke’s Church in Lincolnshire, England. Bainbridge can be heard on keyboards in Iberian Fantasy For Guitar And Orchestra. Fletcher’s music is sometimes improvised but absolutely not experimental. His solos are beautiful and relaxing. He explores many musical fields but maintains a rather classical approach. Here, a link can be heard to the acoustic guitar-CD’s of Steve Hackett and, to a lesser extent, Anthony Phillips. Iberian Fantasy For Guitar And Orchestra, the piece that Nick and Dave wrote and performed together, contains of four pieces and is a guitar concerto with a slightly Spanish atmosphere. It is hard to tell that the orchestral parts come from Bainbridge’s keyboards. The pieces has quite a number of fascinating passages. The collaboration of the two works very well. I would want to hear a whole album of their music. ©2009 Paul Rijkens. Dutch progressive rockmagazine iO Pages.

4 JUNE 2009: UK GIG and DUTCH GIGS CONFIRMED / LIFE JOURNEY ALBUM & BOOK NOW IN STOCK!!

The band will be returning to The Netherlands for dates in Zoetemeer and Zwolle in October - see GIGS page for full details. Meanwhile on Monday 31.08.09 at 4pm IONA are to play an exclusive UK date at the Grapevine event (in the Big Top), Lincolnshire Showground, nr Lincoln, England.
See www.grapevinecelebration.org.uk for further details.

NB Troy will not be with us on the upcoming gigs due to his heavy touring schedule with Nightwish and The Bad Shepherds. However, we have guesting with us on uilleann pipes and whistles the excellent Martin Nolan from Dublin (see www.martinnolan.com).

We are also pleased to announce that we now have 'Life Journey', the deeply moving new album from IONA co-founders Dave Bainbridge and David Fitzgerald in stock. Thanks to Mark and Mark Fleeson from the Lindisfarne Scriptorium we also have a special package offer of the cd plus Mary's amazing book of the same name which inspired the music. Order online at our webstore now!

*NOTE The cd and book package deal will be only for a limited time, until our stock of the book runs out.

Listen to extracts from the album at www.myspace.com/davebainbridgeuk
and www.myspace.com/davidfitzgeraldwoodwindreeds

Life Journey extracts on the web
Dave has now uploaded short extracts from most of the tracks on new collaboration album with David Fitzgerald on his my space site. Got to www.myspace.com/davebainbridgeuk to have a listen. We're hoping to have the album in stock in the next week or so. This is another epic, at just over 71 minutes long!!

15 MAY 2009: FOUR GREAT ALBUMS JUST RELEASED!!

We have just returned from a great time at the Heaven on Earth event in Holland, where IONA played together live for the first time in 18 months, a set which included two great new songs written by Joanne.

In the meantime, we have news of not one, but FOUR album releases that we believe will be of great interest to followers of IONA's music:

JOURNEY INTO THE MORN - IONA
We can finally announce that 'Journey into the Morn' - IONA's best selling album to date has now been re-released on our own Open Sky label, complete with great new artwork from Tim Martindale.

Originally released towards the end of 1995, 'Morn' was one of Q Magazine's top 50 albums of 1996 and one of their top 5 Folk Albums. Featuring many of Iona's best loved songs (see the Iona website for more details) we are thrilled to have this landmark album back in stock after being unavailable for a number of years.

Available now from our web store

 

CATHEDRAL OF DREAMS - NICK FLETCHER
We would like to introduce you to the music of Nick Fletcher with this, our latest release on Open Sky Records. Nick is an incredibly talented guitarist, improviser and composer of music for solo guitar and we are thrilled to have this release included in the Open Sky catalogue. As well as being a first cd release of Nick’s own solo acoustic guitar compositions, the album will be of huge interest to fans of IONA as it features Nick playing ‘Iberian Fantasy’, a 24 minute long Guitar Concerto co-written and orchestrated by IONA’s Dave Bainbridge and Nick himself. Those of you who bought our ‘Songs for Luca 2’ double cd release will already have heard Nick’s beautiful playing on two tracks on that album - ‘Silver Moon’ and Red Sun’. The music spans a wide range of influences from the Baroque era to Iberian, Argentine and Brazilian dance forms. Also rhythms from Eastern Europe and traditional music from the Hebredian Isles. Fans of the acoustic guitar playing of guitarists such as Steve Hackett, Steve Howe, Andrew Yorke and Carlo Domeniconi will love Nick's beautiful playing. For more info please see the attached pdf press release.

Available now from our web store

Nick will be playing at Sheffield Cathedral on 16th May at 7pm. Tickets £7 (£4 conc).
Contact: Tel 0114 264 9051 Email: nguitarman@talktalk.net
For more info on Nick, visit: www.myspace.com/nickfletcherguitarist

 

THE MADNESS OF CROWDS - TROY DONOCKLEY
The latest epic release from a man who needs no introduction! With amazing fold out artwork from Tim Martindale that defies the normally accepted restrictions of the cd box, this is Troy's third and most ambitious solo album to date. Here's what Simon Jones has to say about it in his Froots Magazine review;

Troy Donockley delights in throwing people curve balls, so far he’s done it on two albums, the first “ The Unseen Stream,” was a glorious rush of pastoral influence and high, folk art, his second “ The Pursuit Of Illusion” more individual but way beyond any meaningless attempt to hang a label on.

Now we’ve his third opus – opus isn’t a word I permit to be banded about loosely either- “The Madness of Crowds,” which in my humble opinion is the most distinctive yet. It opens with the title track which, within minutes reminds you of either a soundtrack for a lost cut of “Lord of the Rings,” music for a high brow BBC 2 documentary or the finest concert hall symphony. All this and another six items to boggle your critical facilities! To try and describe everything would be futile, this man loves to play with sense and sensibilities, yet not in any ad hoc way more in a way that says ‘look I know this shouldn’t work, but let’s live dangerously shall we?’ Thankfully Troy taking risks is one of the pleasures that “The Madness of Crowds,” displays with pride, it wears non conformity like a medal of honour, there is nothing else like it in the racks and probably won’t be until Mr. Donockley releases his fourth offering. Each track shifts and morphs into new shapes and sounds like a kaleidoscope; for instance “Orkhaugr,” opens like a Bulgarian, dance before ushering on industrial sound effects and huge guitar sustain, melting into Arabian textures, then comes a gorgeous melee of Vaughan Williams pastoral influence and soaring moments of Gustav Holst, all pushing out to a free form coda of high octane rock’n’reeling. Truly this man knows no boundaries.

Troy Donockley is idiosyncratic, a true one off, somebody who doesn’t follow the rules, a benign musical rebel who enriches whatever he touches with a certain class and unmistakeable individuality. “The Madness of Crowds,” is pretty well unique. It will endure. Simon Jones fRoots.

We can only agree!
Available now from http://www.troydonockley.co.uk

 

LIFE JOURNEY - DAVE BAINBRIDGE & DAVID FITZGERALD
IONA's - co-founders reunite once again for another inspirational soundtrack to a book, taking up where 'The Eye of the Eagle' left off back in 1998. The music on this album was originally commissioned and conceived as an interpretation in sound of the incredibly inspiring imagery and prose contained within Mary Fleeson's wonderful book 'Life Journey' (available from www.lindisfarne-scriptorium.co.uk). In that it has undoubtedly succeeded, but has also transcended the original brief as the unique chemistry between the two musicians that co-founded Iona has once again produced a deeply spiritual, timeless work. A completely instrumental album (apart from some choral samples), the two Davids came together and spent several days improvising as they poured over the book and responded to the words and pictures. Over the next year, these improvisations were gradually shaped into complete compositions which follow the chapters of the book. Dave B relates; "In many ways this felt like we were returning to the source of the inspiration that birthed IONA the band. IONA was born out of David and I improvising together during soundchecks on Adrian Snell gigs back at the end of the 1980's and David's mystical experience of God's powerful Presence one dark night on the Island of Lindisfarne. This book was also birthed by Mary on Lindisfarne and much of its imagery is inspired by that amazing place. At certain points during the album you can hear sounds that Mary's husband Mark recorded on the island - the St Mary's church bell, the sea lapping on nearby St Cuthbert's Isle, the sound of the seabirds." Listen to the track 'Graceful Trinity' from the album at http://www.worshipjournal.com

Available in a few weeks time from our web store

30 March 2009: New Iona Concert Date.
Sunday 6.09.09, 19h00. BE4800 Spirit of 66, Verviers, Belgium, Tel (00) 32 8735 24 24
11 March 2009: JOANNE INTERVIEW FROM THE PAST!
Click the link (www.heavenonair.de) to access a very old interview with Joanne.
2 FEBRUARY 2009: IONA TO PLAY GERMAN DATES IN SEPTEMBER 2009
After what will be a two year hiatus from playing live, the band are doing a few German dates in September this year, which, incidentally is the band's 20th anniversary year! Two concerts are so far confirmed, but it is hoped that one or two more will be added, and possibly one or two Dutch concerts later in the year.

September IONA Celebrating 20 years

Friday 4.09.09, 20h00. DE-65795 Hattersheim, Stadthalle, Tel (00) 49 61 96 560120

Saturday 5.09.09, 20h00. DE-57610 Altenkirchen, Stadthalle, Tel (00) 49 2681 71 18

2 FEBRUARY 2009: DATE SCHEDULED FOR RE-RELEASE OF JOURNEY INTO THE MORN
Finally, after a lot of delay we can announce that Iona's best selling album 'Journey into the Morn', which has been unavailable for a couple of years, is scheduled for a Spring re-release on 6th April. Featuring evocative new artwork from Tim Martindale, the album includes the original versions of many Iona favourites, such as 'Irish Day', 'Encircling', 'Inside My Heart' and 'Heaven's Bright Sun'. Stock will be available from the Iona store.

24 November 2008

IONA - 'LIVE IN LONDON' CD: We are pleased to announce that the secure store now includes the latest Open Sky records release - the 2cd version of Iona ' Live in London', which we have in stock NOW!

5 June 2008

Dave's new band Open Sky has first UK dates!

Dave says; "I'm really excited about these first few gigs with Open Sky, and looking forward to seeing how the project progresses. The band is now a 5 piece, with the recent addition of Steve Lawson on basses / looping textures (see www.myspace.com/solobassstevelawson). There will be a lot of improvisation on these first few gigs - partly because everyone has been so busy recently! But we hope to include a few pieces that you'll recognise as well! you can find out more info on the band at www.myspace.com/openskyuk."

THURSDAY JULY 10TH
Bury Christian Fellowship, The Manna House, Irwell Street, Bury, BL9 0HE, nr Manchester (Near the Swimming Baths)
Doors open 7pm
Support Artist 7.30pm Mike Ainscough + Band
Open Sky on stage at 8.30pm
Tickets £6 Tel 07791 865516 for more info / tickets
www.bury.org.uk Email; christianfellowship@bury.org.uk

FRIDAY JULY 11TH
Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod
Royal International Pavilion, Abbey Road, Llangollen, Denbighshire, LL20 8SW
2 performances on the S4C 'Roundabout' Stage; 3.30pm to 4.15pm and 6pm to 6.50pm
Tickets / info Tel 01978 862000
www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk

SATURDAY JULY 12TH
New Life Church, Bridlington Avenue, Hull, HU2 ODU
6.30 pm
Tickets £5 from www.newlifehull.org (click on Events, then Other Events) or Tel 01482 610705 Email office@newlifehull.org

26 January 2008

IONA NEWS UPDATE
Unfortunately there are no Iona gigs planned this year, but here is an update on what some of the band have been up to;

JO'S NEWS
Hi Everyone. Here's a long overdue update from Jo. I am about to go over to Frank's (in Holland) to do some vocal recording for the new solo project I've been "working" on for too long! I think part of the problem is that I have forgotten how to work! At least in any kind of disciplined way. Hopefully it will be worth the long wait. Frank is taking care of overall production this time so there will be lots of lovely strings to sing along to. Have also done a bit more piano playing on this one with a few little instrumental prelude type things thrown in. But dont worry you classic - phobes out there! It's still very much in the contemporary vein, and of course my wonderful Iona counterparts will be adding their distinctive sounds as well. As for the administrative side of the project, well that's all still to be decided as far as distribution etc goes. I will probably give in to internet pressure and get round to a personal web site. I have resisted for a long time but I finally accept that it has to be done to maximise cd sales and I want to sell lots of copies of this album because profits from sales are to be distributed between 3 amazing charities that help children in extreme poverty. I will give more details about these at a later date. Have still not decided for definite what the album will be called but will let you know when I have.

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
After almost half a year's work, Troy has completed arranging and producing a new album for the singer Barbara Dickson, titled 'Time and Tide'. This is the third album he has done with her and consists mainly of new and atmospheric arrangements of traditional and contemporary material and is, by all accounts the best yet featuring all the usual instrumentation from Troy with added guest spots from Pete Zorn, Phil Cunningham and some gorgeous playing from fellow Ionian, the one and only Frank van Essen.

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
Hi All,

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
other related projects. You will notice that we have changed our payment system over to PayPal. However you do not need a Paypal account to use this system as we can accept credit card payments through PayPal.

We also are saying a fond farewell to Angela who has been running our merchandise for a long long
time now. She is moving onto pastures new, training to be a music teacher. We would like to thank her wholeheartedly for all her hard work and commitment to both IONA and Open Sky Records over the years and know that she will make a fab music teacher! All the very best Angela.

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 IMMINENT
We 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
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.

8th January 2007: WWW.SPIRITUALPROG.COM
Check out our friend in Alaska Dave Taylor's website www.spiritualprog.com. New additions include some video footage of 'Castlerigg/Reels', from the recent Eastbourne concert, plus a video interview with Dave. Also on there are reviews of the Iona Eastbourne concert and Troy and Dave's 'When Worlds Collide' duo album.

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.
 
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.
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.
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.
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):
1. Dave, Jo and Frank working at Jo's on a swelteringly hot day - Ireland, 17th July.
2. Jo and Frank playing through one of Jo's new solo album songs - Ireland, 17th July.
3. Jo at the piano - Ireland, 17th July.

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"
CLICK HERE FOR MORE

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.thetrousers.co.uk

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!

THE CIRCLING HOUR: Dave was in Los Angeles working with John Kellogg a few weeks ago on the mix for the new Iona studio album. Dave comments: "We had a great time together - there was a lot of preparation work / transferring of tracks to John's system to do, which took up most of the week. John is now sending over mp3 copies of the mixes as he works on them and Troy and I are sending our comments back to John as we fine tune things. It would obviously have been great to be out in LA for the whole mix process, but time and finances haven't made this possible. Troy, John and I are all very excited at how the mixes are shaping up though. Unfortunately the album won't be ready for the forthcoming gigs in April and May, which was our original plan, but we all feel that it's best to take the time to get it exactly right rather than rush the final stages." The artwork is now completed and Tim Martindale has once again done an excellent job.

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.

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....

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.

6/01/06: LIVE DVD UPDATE Dave reports; We're definately in the final stages now......at long last!!!! Here are two screen grabs of both the menus from the DVD, the final part to be completed by our brilliant editor Tom Grimshaw (click them for a larger image). These will be animated and I've just today completed and sent to Tom two new pieces of music which will accompany the animations. The first uses part of Frank's powerful drum track from the studio version of the track 'Strength', over which Jo improvised a spine tingling ethnic sounding vocal - which I've left exactly as she sang it - just adding loads of long cave reverb and echo fx! Underneath this I've added some drone keyboard notes and a bit of bouzouki rhythm. The second piece uses a second improvised take that Jo recorded, but this time I've left the drums out and just kept a simple keyboard drone, which makes the whole thing sound very atmospheric. more news hopefully by next week!

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.

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

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.

You can have a customized email sent to you with play stats (which will increase significantly on Friday, December 9th, 2005) by going to http://www.wholewheatradio.org/wwsignup.php?userp=Guest. In addition, you can see play stats anytime by going to http://www.wholewheatradio.org/wwa rtist.php? userp=Guest&artistwanted=Dave+Bainbridge. Our weekly schedule at http://www.wholewheatradio.org/wwemail. php? userp=Guest&nosaveshowschedule=week shows who the Featured Artists are for the upcoming week so you will prominently displayed in that schedule for a week.

Whole Wheat Radio (http://www.wholewheatradio.org) PO Box 872 - "H" Street,
Talkeetna, Alaska 99676.

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.

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!

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.

 

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.

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.

3 SEPT 2005: CONFIRMED IONA CONCERT DATES 2006:
March 3, DE-Altenkirchen GERMANY
March 4, DE-Karlsruhe, Jubez Club GERMANY
April 29, BE-Anthisnes, Festival Les Anthinoises BELGIUM
More info coming soon.

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.'

JOANNE TO BE ON 'SONGS OF PRAISE' Jo will be filmed on 18th August by the BBC on the Isle of Lindisfarne (Holy Island), singing (appropriately!) 'Lindisfarne' from Journey into the Morn. This is for a 'Songs of Praise' special programme about the island that is due to be broadcast in November on BBC1. CLICK HERE TO SEE JO ON THE ISLAND

23/08/05: Troy and Dave's new album 'When Worlds Collide' is now in stock at our distributers Voiceprint and Angela (our merchandise lady) will be sending out pre orders as soon as she arrives back from her holidays.

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
Other News

5th April 05: CPR2 will soon be available. This is a compilation of tracks by progressive rock artists who happen to be Christians (hence the name 'Christian Progressive Rock 2). It has been put together by Randy George, bass player / guitarist from the band Ajalon (Randy also played and co-wrote material on Neal Morse's current album 'One'). The track 'Over the Waters', from Dave's 'Veil of Gossamer' album is one of the tracks on the album. For more info contact www.cprogrock.com

 

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

15th Jan 05: DVD CONCERT - The band were really pleased with the London DVD show in November and especially the amazingly warm response from the audience, which contained many familiar faces. The few new songs the band played were received very well and the film crew were also pleased with their footage. Troy battled on despite having a nasty flu type bug, and was certainly uplifted by the audience on the night. Dave will soon begin the process of editing the music ready for both standard stereo and 5.1 surround mixes. We will keep you posted on progress and the release date. In the meantime you can look at Tim Martindale's excellent photos taken at the gig. Despite quite a small stage, lighting man Paul Kell managed to make it look like we were playing in outer space thanks to his splendid star curtain!

TROY & DAVE NEWSFLASH: WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE A PLETHORA OF NEW RELEASES FROM OPEN SKY RECORDS / VOICEPRINT! Click here for more!


 

CONCERT PICS: We have just received a selection of photos from the Zoetermeer, Boerderij concert in Holland on "4th September. Click Jo's photo to go to the Gallery. Photos courtesy of Anton van Kan.

 

'SONGS FOR LUCA': 'Songs for Luca': album from Dave & Debbie Bainbridge. Featuring over 2 hours of music, and a host of artists. All proceeds will go towards helping their son Luca to overcome the challenge of autism. ORDER NOW. Read the 'Songs for Luca' Review from 'Progressive Soundscapes'



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DAVE INTERVIEW - MARCH 2004

Dave talks at length about various issues including Iona, his debut solo album 'Veil of Gossamer' and the state of the music industry. A must read!

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.