Francis Dunnery
Encyclopedia
Francis Dunnery is an English musician, singer-songwriter, record producer
and record label owner. He is best known as a solo performer (since 1990), and for fronting the original lineup of the band
It Bites
between 1982 and 1990 (including co-writing and singing their #6 UK hit single
, "Calling All the Heroes", in 1986).
Dunnery served as a sideman and musical contributor for artists as diverse as Robert Plant
, Ian Brown
, Lauryn Hill
, Santana
and Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
. He has worked as producer and/or collaborator with David Sancious
, Chris Difford
(of Squeeze), James Sonefeld (Hootie and the Blowfish), Erin Moran
(better known as A Girl Called Eddy
), Steven Harris (ex-The Cult
, Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction), and Ashley Reaks (Younger Younger 28s, among others. Dunnery was a candidate invited to audition as a lead singer and frontman for Genesis
following Phil Collins
’ departure in 1996 (although the position ultimately went to Ray Wilson
) and was a member of the reformed 1960s beat/prog band The Syn
between 2008 and mid-2009. Dunnery owns and runs his own Aquarian Nation record label.
and hard rock
. His solo work has continued to express these influences but added further elements including soul
, disco, folk music
, blues
, hip-hop beats, chamber pop and electronica
. Most of his tours have been solo and acoustic-based, and this has increasingly influenced the sound of his albums.
His early musical influences were progressive rock
(with Genesis
being a particular inspiration) and jazz-rock fusion musicians including John McLaughlin
, Soft Machine
, Focus
, Return to Forever
and Jeff Beck
.
During the late 1980s Dunnery acquired a reputation as an up-and-coming British guitar hero based on his aggressive and dramatic playing style (which merged diverse hard rock, pop and funk stylings with a fluid, spiralling hammer-on lead-guitar technique inspired by Allan Holdsworth
). He has since criticised his lead guitar approach at that time as having been immature and has sometimes affectionately parodied it, most notably on his live album Hometown 2001. (He does, however, still occasionally use the style at various points on his later recordings.)
He has also mastered numerous other styles - including jazz, classical and country fingerpicking - to serve the arrangements for his songs.
As well as singing and playing guitar, Dunnery also plays drums, bass guitar
, organ
, various keyboards
, percussion and the Tapboard
(a guitar-related instrument which he co-invented in the late 1980s). He plays the majority of the instrumental parts on his records.
, Cumberland
, England
, Dunnery is the younger son of Charlie Dunnery (a former member of the Jimmy Shand
band) and his wife, Kathleen.
Francis Dunnery's elder brother was the late Barry "Baz" Dunnery, a highly-respected Cumbrian rock guitarist who would make a name for himself with heavy rock band Necromandus
and subsequently Ozzy Osbourne
's first post-Black Sabbath
band (preceding the formation of the Randy Rhoads
-led Blizzard of Oz band) and the ELO
-spinoff Violinski
. Dunnery has claimed Baz was his biggest musical influence, and that the brothers remained close until Baz's death in June 2008. Baz joined his brother on stage several times during Francis's solo career, and was credited by Francis with coming up with the riff for the song "Riding On The Back".
Dunnery's other sibling, his sister Faye, is married to music producer Dave McCracken
(Ian Brown, Depeche Mode and others). McCracken has gone on record as saying that Dunnery taught him “everything I know” and has collaborated with his brother-in-law, most notably on Dunnery's Man album, and on Ian Brown
's Music of the Spheres. Dunnery's nephew, John Dunnery (son of Barry Dunnery, and currently half of the folk-rock duo John & Wayne), has contributed to his uncle's live concerts and recordings.
Francis Dunnery has three daughters. He married American singer Julie Daniels on December 8, 1990 in Las Vegas, Nevada
, when he was fronting the rock band Star 69. The marriage ended in divorce.
Dunnery grew up at 28 Queens Drive on the Gulley Flatts estate in Egremont and has expressed mixed memories of his childhood. He remembers his family home as having been like “a bustling cafe” full of musicians and family friends of all generations, and recalls “my Mam and Dad were the greatest. They were kind, funny and gracious in a working class way. They were giving people. They had a way about them that made everyone feel welcome in our home... My Mam and Dad would feed them great food, share cigarettes and partake in humorous and interesting conversation.” Dunnery displayed an interest in music from an early age, showing promise as an embryonic drummer, with his mother later recalling that "he was always drumming with his hands. Asking him what he wanted for his tea, he'd be drumming on something the whole time."
Forced to escape from his chaotic family life, Dunnery bolstered his independence and living expenses by work as a musician. Initially working as a self-taught drummer, Dunnery began his musical career at the age of 11 as half of a duo with organist and singer Peter Lockhart which played local venues including the Tarnside Caravan Club and various cabaret venues.
Dunnery recalls that "we were the cute little duo that would open up for the main act... I would just bash along as Peter sang Elvis songs and played the organ.” Adding guitar and singing to his musical skills, Dunnery moved on to other projects of varying levels of commitment - “ I played in a few local bands and with lots of different musicians, especially a group called Waving at Trains I was in with Don McKay, who is a fantastic musician. He wrote some really good songs, too.”
in 1982 (taking the role of lead singer and guitarist
). The other members of the band were his Egremont schoolfriends Bob Dalton (drums, vocals) and Dick Nolan (bass, vocals) plus John Beck
(keyboards, vocals) who came from Mirehouse; a suburb of Whitehaven
. Following a career playing the pub and youth club circuit the band temporarily split, with Dunnery moving to London. The band reformed some time later and left Egremont entirely to relocate to London in 1984, eventually signing a record contract with Virgin Records
.
Playing an unfashionable but energetic blend of progressive rock
, hard rock
and pure pop
, It Bites released three studio
album
s, The Big Lad in the Windmill (1986), Once Around the World (1988) and the critically acclaimed Eat Me in St Louis (1989). It Bites' biggest hit
single
was "Calling All The Heroes
" in 1986, which reached #6 in the UK Singles Chart
. During their lifetime, It Bites became a successful band (able to fill the Hammersmith Odeon in London and undertaking tours with The Beach Boys
and Jethro Tull
).
It Bites split up in 1990 in Los Angeles on the eve of recording their fourth studio album. Various factors were cited in the break-up, which Dunnery recalls as being a case of the fact that "the band had come to the end. It was a natural process. We fell out over a few things, there wasn’t one big issue or problem, it was daft little things. We had just drifted apart. It wasn't anyone's fault, but we split.."
Following Dunnery's departure, It Bites briefly continued with a new frontman (Lee Knott) and a succession of new names (Navajo Kiss, Sister Sarah) but split up after failing to sign a new recording deal. A post-breakup It Bites
live album (drawn mainly from 1989 concerts and called Thank You and Goodnight) was released in 1991. In 2004, the original It Bites
lineup briefly reunited on stage (playing two songs) as the finale to a Dunnery live concert at the Union Chapel, Islington
, London
on 30 August 2003. A full reunion was attempted, but eventually foundered in 2006 with no further recordings and concerts. Parting company with Dunnery again, the remaining members of It Bites
retained the band name and continued with a new frontman, John Mitchell
.
, Dunnery settled in Los Angeles for what he has subsequently admitted was a disastrous period of sex, drugs, alcohol and the rock’n’roll lifestyle.
During this period he recorded his first solo album, Welcome to the Wild Country, which was released on Virgin Records in 1991. Produced by David Hentschel
(Genesis
, Elton John
) this was a much more rough-and-ready album than the heavily-engineered and technically fastidious It Bites records, consisting mostly of hard rock songs performed by a power trio (although the record did also contain an extended blues-jam song and a keyboard-heavy ballad called "Jackal in Your Mind"). The record enjoyed little success, being released only in Japan. (He regained the rights to it in 2001, re-issuing it on Aquarian Nation Records.) He has since described Welcome to the Wild Country as “having been recorded at a time when I didn’t know who I was” although he disinterred the album and its songs for a tour over ten years later. Towards the end of his time in Los Angeles, Dunnery addressed his drugs and alcohol problems and cleaned up his lifestyle. He has subsequently been open about his problems with alcohol addiction and drug abuse during this period, and a number of his songs refer to the effects that these experiences have had on his life.
singer Robert Plant
’s live band. He performed on several tracks on Plant’s 1993 album Fate of Nations and played on the accompanying world tour, acting as Plant’s main onstage foil. Plant made a guest appearance on Dunnery’s second solo album, Fearless, which was released on Atlantic Records
in 1994. This performed considerably better than its predecessor, and showed a much broader range of styles. "American Life in the Summertime", the lead single from the album, received considerable airplay in the States.
Dunnery promoted Fearless with his first solo tour of the UK (an all-acoustic affair in small venues). The Glasgow date of the tour was recorded for a live album, One Night in Sauchiehall Street, which was released on the tiny Cottage Industry label in 1995. This album documented Dunnery's change to an acoustic approach, playing solo accompanied only by occasional second guitarist and harmony singer Ashley Reakes (later to briefly find success as the prime mover behind Younger Younger 28s). It was also the first evidence on record of Dunnery’s live approach as raconteur as well as musician (which incorporated a surprising degree of confessional story, philosophical musing and salty stand-up comedy).
. His third studio album - Tall Blonde Helicopter - was released on Atlantic that year, and abandoned the predominantly pop-oriented sound of Fearless in favor of an eclectic mixture of soft ballads and acoustic rockers. It also displayed a much greater confidence in songwriting.
In 1996, Dunnery was approached to audition as lead singer for his old heroes Genesis, but ended up continuing with his existing solo career. Dissatisfied with Atlantic's promotion of his work (and beginning to suspect that he would need to take more responsibility for making things work in the future) Dunnery formed a power trio which played various dates in America. The sound of this band was captured on Dunnery's next album, 1998's Let's Go Do What Happens, which was released on Razor and Tie Records. The album featured rockier numbers and experimentation with more electronic sounds as well as a pronounced focus on more esoteric subjects including metaphysics and the Seth entity. Due to Razor and Tie’s limited resources, Let's Go Do What Happens was initially only released in the United States.
During this period, Dunnery played on Lauryn Hill
’s acclaimed 1998 debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and Carlos Santana
’s 1999 comeback album Supernatural.
, the notorious “horse whisperer”) as well as carpentry, training as an astrologer and developing his interest in Jungian
psychology (which he would later study to a Master’s degree level). Dunnery’s second daughter, Ava, was born during this period.
Dunnery continued to write songs as and when the inspiration took him. He has sometime commented that his songwriting is a periodic activity, stating in a 2009 interview with the PhillyBurbs online newspaper: "I cannot write songs on a nine-to-five basis. At the risk of sounding pretentious, my songs come from somewhere else and I have to wait for them, so it's not up to me when I receive them. When the songs start to come, they all come at the same time. I may get 20 songs in three to four days and then it all stops again."
concert (featuring his old hero John McLaughlin
), Dunnery had a change of heart. He later admitted that he had "realised there was still a musician in me, and that I had to be as true to that side of my character as I was being to the other sides." Dunnery decided to re-engage with the music business, although this time he decided to do it entirely on his own terms and to take as much responsibility for the outcome as he could. His first step was to refresh himself by returning to the UK for the first time in five years to play a few concerts, and his second step was to set up his own internet-based record label, Aquarian Nation, with the intention of releasing his future albums on it (as well as albums by other artists).
For the UK tour, Dunnery formed a new backing band called The Grass Virgins, featuring second guitarist Dave Colquhoun, bass guitarist Matt Pegg
, and singer/keyboard player Erin Moran. Surprised and gratified that he remained a live draw popular enough to sell out venues, Dunnery returned soon afterwards for a much larger tour and support slots with Hootie and the Blowfish. The Grass Virgins continued as his back-up band over the next few years, despite changes in the lineup (John Dunnery would replace Dave Colquhoun, John Williams and Wayne Wilkinson joined on keyboards and laptop respectively, and Dorie Jackson replaced Erin Moran once the latter had gone on launch her solo project A Girl Called Eddy
).
The first Aquarian Nation release was Dunnery’s comeback album Man, released in 2001. Recorded in Vermont
and Oswestry
, UK, the album’s music developed some of the electronic aspects of Let’s Go Do What Happens (via keyboards and programming by Dunnery and his brother-in-law Dave McCracken
but featured much more acoustic instrumentation (guitars and cellos), a strong vocal interplay between Dunnery and Moran, and pared-down percussion (with almost no drums and with the rhythmic drive provided primarily by Matt Pegg’s bass guitar). Man was also Dunnery’s most personal and direct album to date, heavily influenced by autobiographical and spiritual matters (in particular parenthood , manhood and reflections on finding a sense of home as well as featuring a strong element of Jungian psychology).
Dunnery has since commented "I was very depressed when I wrote the Man CD. It was a difficult birth. I was going through such turmoil in my life. My mother was dying, my relationship was ending, and in complete contrast, my daughter Ava was being born. [But] I think I'm at peace with that side of my life now." Despite the weight of the subject matter, Man proved to be one of his most successful and popular albums.
Dunnery toured the UK to promote Man, accompanied by Matt Pegg on bass guitar (with occasional guest appearances by other musicians). A live album - Hometown 2001 - was recorded 14 June 2001 at the Whitehaven Civic Hall in Cumbria and released around Christmas time the same year: it featured the Dunnery/Pegg duo plus a guest appearance from John Dunnery and Wayne Wilkinson.
for the creation of original film/video programming.
The first of these releases was Chris Difford (ex-Squeeze)’s I Didn't Get Where I Am. In keeping with the Aquarian Nation method, Dunnery played on the record, and also produced and co-wrote the material with Difford. which Dunnery also toured as part of Difford’s band to promote the album, playing on a tour with Chris Rea
and Elvis Costello
. The next Aquarian Nation releases developed the label’s tone as a platform for songs of a more personal nature. The first of these was Nearly Killed Keith (the debut album by John & Wayne, aka John Dunnery and Wayne Wilkinson from The Grass Virgins), a collection of folk-tinged songs drawn from the duo’s day-jobs as jobbing carpenters in the building industry. This was followed by Songs From the Mission of Hope, the debut album by Stephen Harris
, a former hard rock bass guitarist who had previously been known as “Kid Chaos
” (while with Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction and The Cult)) and as “Haggis” (while fronting his own band The Four Horsemen). In contrast to his past work, Harris wrote a quiet, mediative and predominantly acoustic album dealing with his own chequered history as an adoptee. Once again, Dunnery produced and co-wrote both albums (and played various instruments on them including keyboards, guitars and drums).
Dunnery’s next major British concert (at the Union Chapel, London, 2003) was in part a showcase for Aquarian Nation, featuring performances by Dunnery, Stephen Harris, John & Wayne (with Dorie Jackson), plus a guest appearance by Chris Difford
. The concert finale was a two-song It Bites
reunion, with Dunnery playing "Hunting the Whale" as a duet with John Beck and the whole band playing "Still Too Young to Remember". The event was recorded and released on DVD as Live at the Union Chapel (credited to Francis Dunnery & Friends) in 2004, with a wider release the following year.
, dividing his time between studying for a psychology degree at Goddard University, session and production work and developing Aquarian Nation as a company. In newsletters, he promised that his next three projects would be a solo album, Dorie Jackson's debut album and new recordings with the reunited It Bites.
In 2005, Dunnery released the first of these, a solo double album called The Gulley Flats Boys. This was a more sedate and acoustic album than its predecessor - featuring next to no drum or percussion parts and sparse use of electric guitar, it was recorded by Dunnery with piano/keyboard player David Sancious
and Dorie Jackson on backing vocals. While the album included a number of mellower remakes of previously released songs (such as "Heartache Reborn" and "Good Life") most of the subject matter continued in the autobiographical vein of Man - this time drawing strongly from Dunnery’s childhood on the Gulley Flatts estate in Egremont
(down to featuring cover art composed of present-day photos of his childhood friends and schoolmates) and casting light on Dunnery’s thoughts and subconscious as he headed into middle age. Dunnery readily admitted that the album was the product of a mid-life crisis, but embraced the fact.
In 2005, Dunnery embarked on a "house concert" world tour, suggesting to fans that they book him to perform in their own homes for a paying audience, in a drug and alcohol-free environment. The concept proved to be very popular, not least with Dunnery himself, who has described them as "phenomenally successful". Dunnery continues to perform house concerts to this day and describes a typical performance as "(showing up) as a friend — you can’t show up as a rock dude or something — and it’s just me and my acoustic guitar, no amplification, singing my songs and holding a 90-minute lecture on the human condition. I sing songs and tell stories of my life. It’s not a party; it’s more like going to church, but church with swearing!... (There is) an exchange of energy that I call a 'jacuzzi'. At the end of 90 minutes, everybody has dropped their ego. They don’t even realise that has happened, but they have gradually taken off their clothes and gone into that energetic jacuzzi together. Something like that is a lot harder to achieve in a rock music arena."
In 2006, it was confirmed that the reunion of the original It Bites
lineup had foundered and that Dunnery had been replaced by singer and guitarist John Mitchell
(Frost*, Kino
). In October 2007 Dunnery released a free download of a song called "Feels Like Summertime", which had initially been written for It Bites
shortly before the band's original split in 1990 and was reworked as part of the unsuccessful 2003 reunion. Dunnery had rearranged and reworked the song for a third time (with new players), and made it available to promote a full-band "electric" tour which - although based mostly around his 1991 solo album Welcome To The Wild Country - featured several It Bites songs.
In the same year, Dunnery joined singer Steve Nardelli
’s revived 1960s progressive rock/beat band The Syn
as guitarist, playing alongside Nardelli, keyboard player Tom Brislin
and bass player Jamie Bishop as well as two members of American progressive rock band Echolyn
(guitarist Brett Kull and drummer Paul Ramsey). Dunnery also brought in his backing vocal foil Dorie Jackson. He was musical director for the band’s 2009 album Big Sky. This line-up of The Syn began an American tour in April 2009 but broke up after six dates.
, and the second being to develop a new approach to progressive rock. The project was to feature a core band centred on Dunnery plus the involvement of various collaborators from various periods of progressive rock history. The core band featured Dunnery on lead vocals, guitar, keyboards and tapboard and drew on the same lineup he had assembled for The Syn the previous year, minus Nardelli (Tom Brislin, Jamie Bishop, Dorie Jackson, Brett Kull and Paul Ramsey).
Dunnery's next album - There's A Whole New World Out There, released on 3 October 2009 - was centred around the New Progressives (plus guests) and featured a succession of reworking of old It Bites songs, plus a variety of similarly rearranged cover versions. The New Progressives toured the UK, American and Australia to promote the record, with guest appearances from other musicians where possible. In 2009, Jem Godfrey
(Frost*) announced on the Frost* Forum that he and Dunnery had both contributed solos to the title track of Big Big Train's
upcoming album, The Underfall Yard
.
In early 2010 it was announced that Dunnery would play guest guitar on one track on the forthcoming album by Bordeaux progressive rock band XII Alfonso, alongside other contributors including Mickey Simmonds (Fish, Camel, Mike Oldfield, Paul Young), John Hackett (Brother & Steve Hackett Band), John Helliwell (Supertramp), Ronnie Caryl & Amy Keys (Phil Collins Band), Raphael Ravenscroft (Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, ABBA, Gerry Rafferty) and Ian Bairnson & David Paton (Alan Parsons Project).
On August 12 2011, Dunnery announced the release of a new album called Made in Space and an accompanying "Astrology Theater Show " tour of the UK, which would feature himself and Dorie Jackson. He also announced that he would be recorded a cover version of Peter Gabriel
's The Rhythm of the Heat as part of Sonic Elements, a new "fantasy rock" band put together by Dave Kerzner of Sonic Reality.
The fund raises money for projects and activities supporting the health, wellness and educational needs of children and young people in the Egremont area. He continues to support the charity via regular concerts in Egremont as well as participation in and publicity for various sponsored events.
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and record label owner. He is best known as a solo performer (since 1990), and for fronting the original lineup of the band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
It Bites
It Bites
It Bites are an English progressive rock and pop fusion band, formed in Egremont, Cumbria, England in 1982 and best known for their 1986 single "Calling All The Heroes", which gained them a Top 10 UK Singles Chart hit...
between 1982 and 1990 (including co-writing and singing their #6 UK hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
, "Calling All the Heroes", in 1986).
Dunnery served as a sideman and musical contributor for artists as diverse as Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
, Ian Brown
Ian Brown
Ian George Brown is an English musician, best known as the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses, which broke up in 1996 but are confirmed to reunite in 2012. Since the break-up of the Stone Roses he has pursued a solo career...
, Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
, Santana
Santana (band)
Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
and Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe was a project of four progressive rock musicians, vocalist Jon Anderson, drummer Bill Bruford, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and guitarist Steve Howe . They had played together in Yes in the early 1970s...
. He has worked as producer and/or collaborator with David Sancious
David Sancious
David Sancious is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on the 1992 album Human Touch. Sancious is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known as a keyboard player and...
, Chris Difford
Chris Difford
Chris Difford is a singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer....
(of Squeeze), James Sonefeld (Hootie and the Blowfish), Erin Moran
A Girl Called Eddy
A Girl Called Eddy, real name Erin Moran, is an American soul pop singer/songwriter born in Neptune, New Jersey, USA and currently residing in England....
(better known as A Girl Called Eddy
A Girl Called Eddy
A Girl Called Eddy, real name Erin Moran, is an American soul pop singer/songwriter born in Neptune, New Jersey, USA and currently residing in England....
), Steven Harris (ex-The Cult
The Cult
The Cult are a British rock band that was formed in 1983. They gained a dedicated following in Britain in the mid 1980s as a post-punk band with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love...
, Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction), and Ashley Reaks (Younger Younger 28s, among others. Dunnery was a candidate invited to audition as a lead singer and frontman for Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
following Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
’ departure in 1996 (although the position ultimately went to Ray Wilson
Ray Wilson (musician)
Ray Wilson is a Scottish musician, best known as vocalist in the post-grunge band Stiltskin, and in Genesis between 1996 and 1998.Wilson started off in a band called Guaranteed Pure in the early 1990s...
) and was a member of the reformed 1960s beat/prog band The Syn
The Syn
The Syn are an English band that were active from 1965 to 1967, and then reunited as a progressive rock band in 2004. Chris Welch, in his book, Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes wrote, "The Syn were very similar to Yes in fact...
between 2008 and mid-2009. Dunnery owns and runs his own Aquarian Nation record label.
Musical style
Dunnery’s musical approach is diverse. While with It Bites, his songs mixed an outright love of varied pop music with a solid grounding in progressive rockProgressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
and hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
. His solo work has continued to express these influences but added further elements including soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, disco, folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, hip-hop beats, chamber pop and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
. Most of his tours have been solo and acoustic-based, and this has increasingly influenced the sound of his albums.
His early musical influences were progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
(with Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
being a particular inspiration) and jazz-rock fusion musicians including John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
, Soft Machine
Soft Machine
Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...
, Focus
Focus (band)
Focus is a Dutch rock band which was founded by classically trained organist/flautist Thijs van Leer in 1969, and is most famous for the instrumental pieces "Hocus Pocus" and "Sylvia"...
, Return to Forever
Return to Forever
Return to Forever is a jazz fusion group founded and led by keyboardist Chick Corea. Through its existence, the band has cycled through a number of different members, with the only consistent band mate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke...
and Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
.
During the late 1980s Dunnery acquired a reputation as an up-and-coming British guitar hero based on his aggressive and dramatic playing style (which merged diverse hard rock, pop and funk stylings with a fluid, spiralling hammer-on lead-guitar technique inspired by Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth is an English guitarist and composer. He has released twelve studio albums as a solo artist and played many different styles of music over a period of four decades, but first drew attention for his work in jazz fusion...
). He has since criticised his lead guitar approach at that time as having been immature and has sometimes affectionately parodied it, most notably on his live album Hometown 2001. (He does, however, still occasionally use the style at various points on his later recordings.)
He has also mastered numerous other styles - including jazz, classical and country fingerpicking - to serve the arrangements for his songs.
As well as singing and playing guitar, Dunnery also plays drums, bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, various keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, percussion and the Tapboard
Tapboard
The term Tapboard is used to describe two separate guitar-based instruments designed to employ variations of the tapping technique.-Origins:The first recorded Tapboard instrument was devised by former It Bites guitarist Francis Dunnery between 1988 and 1989...
(a guitar-related instrument which he co-invented in the late 1980s). He plays the majority of the instrumental parts on his records.
Roots and family background
A native of EgremontEgremont, Cumbria
Egremont is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Copeland in Cumbria, England, south of Whitehaven and on the River Ehen. The town, which lies at the foot of Uldale Valley and Dent Fell, was historically within Cumberland and has a long industrial heritage including dyeing, weaving and...
, Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Dunnery is the younger son of Charlie Dunnery (a former member of the Jimmy Shand
Jimmy Shand
Sir James Shand MBE was a Scottish musician who played traditional Scottish dance music on the accordion.-Early life:...
band) and his wife, Kathleen.
Francis Dunnery's elder brother was the late Barry "Baz" Dunnery, a highly-respected Cumbrian rock guitarist who would make a name for himself with heavy rock band Necromandus
Necromandus
Necromandus were a rock band from Cumberland, United Kingdom. They were formed in 1970 and were discovered by Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath in 1972. After recording one album in 1973, they split up. The album was not released until 1999. In 2007 they were mentioned in an article in Classic Rock...
and subsequently Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
's first post-Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
band (preceding the formation of the Randy Rhoads
Randy Rhoads
Randall William "Randy" Rhoads was an American heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. A devoted student of classical guitar, Rhoads often combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style. While on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, he would seek out...
-led Blizzard of Oz band) and the ELO
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
-spinoff Violinski
Violinski
Violinski is a rock band formed in 1977 by Electric Light Orchestra member Mik Kaminski on violins, and former member Mike de Albuquerque on guitar and vocals; plus Barry Dunnery , John Hodgson , Paul Mann, John Marcangelo and Iain Whitmore...
. Dunnery has claimed Baz was his biggest musical influence, and that the brothers remained close until Baz's death in June 2008. Baz joined his brother on stage several times during Francis's solo career, and was credited by Francis with coming up with the riff for the song "Riding On The Back".
Dunnery's other sibling, his sister Faye, is married to music producer Dave McCracken
Dave McCracken
Dave McCracken is a British songwriter and music producer under the Roc Nation management. He is well known for his production on Ian Brown from The Stone Roses solo albums, Golden Greats, Music of the Spheres and Solarized...
(Ian Brown, Depeche Mode and others). McCracken has gone on record as saying that Dunnery taught him “everything I know” and has collaborated with his brother-in-law, most notably on Dunnery's Man album, and on Ian Brown
Ian Brown
Ian George Brown is an English musician, best known as the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses, which broke up in 1996 but are confirmed to reunite in 2012. Since the break-up of the Stone Roses he has pursued a solo career...
's Music of the Spheres. Dunnery's nephew, John Dunnery (son of Barry Dunnery, and currently half of the folk-rock duo John & Wayne), has contributed to his uncle's live concerts and recordings.
Francis Dunnery has three daughters. He married American singer Julie Daniels on December 8, 1990 in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, when he was fronting the rock band Star 69. The marriage ended in divorce.
Childhood and formative years (including early bands)
Dunnery's childhood was blighted by his parent’s alcoholism: he once described them as “binge drinkers, two weeks on and two months off.” In later years, Dunnery would himself succumb to heavy drinking and eventual alcoholism. He overcame his addiction in the early 1990s, but many of his songs would reference his struggles with alcoholism and the behaviour that surrounded it.Dunnery grew up at 28 Queens Drive on the Gulley Flatts estate in Egremont and has expressed mixed memories of his childhood. He remembers his family home as having been like “a bustling cafe” full of musicians and family friends of all generations, and recalls “my Mam and Dad were the greatest. They were kind, funny and gracious in a working class way. They were giving people. They had a way about them that made everyone feel welcome in our home... My Mam and Dad would feed them great food, share cigarettes and partake in humorous and interesting conversation.” Dunnery displayed an interest in music from an early age, showing promise as an embryonic drummer, with his mother later recalling that "he was always drumming with his hands. Asking him what he wanted for his tea, he'd be drumming on something the whole time."
Forced to escape from his chaotic family life, Dunnery bolstered his independence and living expenses by work as a musician. Initially working as a self-taught drummer, Dunnery began his musical career at the age of 11 as half of a duo with organist and singer Peter Lockhart which played local venues including the Tarnside Caravan Club and various cabaret venues.
Dunnery recalls that "we were the cute little duo that would open up for the main act... I would just bash along as Peter sang Elvis songs and played the organ.” Adding guitar and singing to his musical skills, Dunnery moved on to other projects of varying levels of commitment - “ I played in a few local bands and with lots of different musicians, especially a group called Waving at Trains I was in with Don McKay, who is a fantastic musician. He wrote some really good songs, too.”
It Bites (1982-1990, plus 2003 reunion)
Dunnery formed It BitesIt Bites
It Bites are an English progressive rock and pop fusion band, formed in Egremont, Cumbria, England in 1982 and best known for their 1986 single "Calling All The Heroes", which gained them a Top 10 UK Singles Chart hit...
in 1982 (taking the role of lead singer and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
). The other members of the band were his Egremont schoolfriends Bob Dalton (drums, vocals) and Dick Nolan (bass, vocals) plus John Beck
John Beck (musician)
John Beck is an English musician in progressive rock band, It Bites.-Work:John Beck is a writer, producer, keyboard player and guitarist known for his work with Tasmin Archer and Corinne Bailey Rae....
(keyboards, vocals) who came from Mirehouse; a suburb of Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...
. Following a career playing the pub and youth club circuit the band temporarily split, with Dunnery moving to London. The band reformed some time later and left Egremont entirely to relocate to London in 1984, eventually signing a record contract with Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
.
Playing an unfashionable but energetic blend of progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
and pure pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, It Bites released three studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s, The Big Lad in the Windmill (1986), Once Around the World (1988) and the critically acclaimed Eat Me in St Louis (1989). It Bites' biggest hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
was "Calling All The Heroes
Calling All The Heroes
"Calling All The Heroes" is the second single by It Bites. It was written by frontman Francis Dunnery, and charted at #6 on the UK charts in August 1986....
" in 1986, which reached #6 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. During their lifetime, It Bites became a successful band (able to fill the Hammersmith Odeon in London and undertaking tours with The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
and Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
).
It Bites split up in 1990 in Los Angeles on the eve of recording their fourth studio album. Various factors were cited in the break-up, which Dunnery recalls as being a case of the fact that "the band had come to the end. It was a natural process. We fell out over a few things, there wasn’t one big issue or problem, it was daft little things. We had just drifted apart. It wasn't anyone's fault, but we split.."
Following Dunnery's departure, It Bites briefly continued with a new frontman (Lee Knott) and a succession of new names (Navajo Kiss, Sister Sarah) but split up after failing to sign a new recording deal. A post-breakup It Bites
It Bites
It Bites are an English progressive rock and pop fusion band, formed in Egremont, Cumbria, England in 1982 and best known for their 1986 single "Calling All The Heroes", which gained them a Top 10 UK Singles Chart hit...
live album (drawn mainly from 1989 concerts and called Thank You and Goodnight) was released in 1991. In 2004, the original It Bites
It Bites
It Bites are an English progressive rock and pop fusion band, formed in Egremont, Cumbria, England in 1982 and best known for their 1986 single "Calling All The Heroes", which gained them a Top 10 UK Singles Chart hit...
lineup briefly reunited on stage (playing two songs) as the finale to a Dunnery live concert at the Union Chapel, Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 30 August 2003. A full reunion was attempted, but eventually foundered in 2006 with no further recordings and concerts. Parting company with Dunnery again, the remaining members of It Bites
It Bites
It Bites are an English progressive rock and pop fusion band, formed in Egremont, Cumbria, England in 1982 and best known for their 1986 single "Calling All The Heroes", which gained them a Top 10 UK Singles Chart hit...
retained the band name and continued with a new frontman, John Mitchell
John Mitchell (musician)
John Mitchell is guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the UK band It Bites. He also plays guitar for a number of other progressive rock bands including Arena, The Urbane, Kino, Frost*, and John Wetton.In 2008, Mitchell joined A, playing bass in place of original bass player Daniel P...
.
1990-1991: Los Angeles period (addiction, cleanup and Welcome To The Wild Country)
Following the 1990 breakup of It BitesIt Bites
It Bites are an English progressive rock and pop fusion band, formed in Egremont, Cumbria, England in 1982 and best known for their 1986 single "Calling All The Heroes", which gained them a Top 10 UK Singles Chart hit...
, Dunnery settled in Los Angeles for what he has subsequently admitted was a disastrous period of sex, drugs, alcohol and the rock’n’roll lifestyle.
During this period he recorded his first solo album, Welcome to the Wild Country, which was released on Virgin Records in 1991. Produced by David Hentschel
David Hentschel
David Hentschel is an English recording engineer, writer and music producer who engineered on George Harrison's All Things Must Pass and Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, as well as with artists including Genesis, Elton John, Ringo Starr, Queen, Marti Webb, Andy Summers, Mike Oldfield, Peter...
(Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
) this was a much more rough-and-ready album than the heavily-engineered and technically fastidious It Bites records, consisting mostly of hard rock songs performed by a power trio (although the record did also contain an extended blues-jam song and a keyboard-heavy ballad called "Jackal in Your Mind"). The record enjoyed little success, being released only in Japan. (He regained the rights to it in 2001, re-issuing it on Aquarian Nation Records.) He has since described Welcome to the Wild Country as “having been recorded at a time when I didn’t know who I was” although he disinterred the album and its songs for a tour over ten years later. Towards the end of his time in Los Angeles, Dunnery addressed his drugs and alcohol problems and cleaned up his lifestyle. He has subsequently been open about his problems with alcohol addiction and drug abuse during this period, and a number of his songs refer to the effects that these experiences have had on his life.
1993-1995: Back to the UK (Fearless and One Night In Sauchiehall Street)
In 1993 Dunnery returned to the UK and took up the position of guitarist in former Led ZeppelinLed Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
singer Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
’s live band. He performed on several tracks on Plant’s 1993 album Fate of Nations and played on the accompanying world tour, acting as Plant’s main onstage foil. Plant made a guest appearance on Dunnery’s second solo album, Fearless, which was released on Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
in 1994. This performed considerably better than its predecessor, and showed a much broader range of styles. "American Life in the Summertime", the lead single from the album, received considerable airplay in the States.
Dunnery promoted Fearless with his first solo tour of the UK (an all-acoustic affair in small venues). The Glasgow date of the tour was recorded for a live album, One Night in Sauchiehall Street, which was released on the tiny Cottage Industry label in 1995. This album documented Dunnery's change to an acoustic approach, playing solo accompanied only by occasional second guitarist and harmony singer Ashley Reakes (later to briefly find success as the prime mover behind Younger Younger 28s). It was also the first evidence on record of Dunnery’s live approach as raconteur as well as musician (which incorporated a surprising degree of confessional story, philosophical musing and salty stand-up comedy).
1995-1998: New York period (Tall Blonde Helicopter and Let’s Go Do What Happens)
By 1995, Dunnery had relocated yet again, this time to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. His third studio album - Tall Blonde Helicopter - was released on Atlantic that year, and abandoned the predominantly pop-oriented sound of Fearless in favor of an eclectic mixture of soft ballads and acoustic rockers. It also displayed a much greater confidence in songwriting.
In 1996, Dunnery was approached to audition as lead singer for his old heroes Genesis, but ended up continuing with his existing solo career. Dissatisfied with Atlantic's promotion of his work (and beginning to suspect that he would need to take more responsibility for making things work in the future) Dunnery formed a power trio which played various dates in America. The sound of this band was captured on Dunnery's next album, 1998's Let's Go Do What Happens, which was released on Razor and Tie Records. The album featured rockier numbers and experimentation with more electronic sounds as well as a pronounced focus on more esoteric subjects including metaphysics and the Seth entity. Due to Razor and Tie’s limited resources, Let's Go Do What Happens was initially only released in the United States.
During this period, Dunnery played on Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
’s acclaimed 1998 debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
’s 1999 comeback album Supernatural.
1998-1999: Vermont period (in retreat)
Increasingly dissatisfied with the music industry, Dunnery went into semi-retirement as a musician later in 1998 and set up a new home in the Vermont mountains with his girlfriend. He devoted the next few years to breeding and training horses (for which he studied under John LyonsJohn Lyons (horse trainer)
John Lyons is one of the nationally-known horse trainers in the field of natural horsemanship. Lyons has been presenting training clinics and horsemanship symposia since 1980, has written several books on horses and horse training, and is the founder of John Lyons' Perfect Horse magazine...
, the notorious “horse whisperer”) as well as carpentry, training as an astrologer and developing his interest in Jungian
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
psychology (which he would later study to a Master’s degree level). Dunnery’s second daughter, Ava, was born during this period.
Dunnery continued to write songs as and when the inspiration took him. He has sometime commented that his songwriting is a periodic activity, stating in a 2009 interview with the PhillyBurbs online newspaper: "I cannot write songs on a nine-to-five basis. At the risk of sounding pretentious, my songs come from somewhere else and I have to wait for them, so it's not up to me when I receive them. When the songs start to come, they all come at the same time. I may get 20 songs in three to four days and then it all stops again."
2000-2001: Return to Music (Man & Hometown 2001)
In 2000, inspired by watching a televised ShaktiShakti (band)
Shakti was a group which played a novel acoustic fusion music which combined Indian music with elements of jazz; it was perhaps the earliest practitioner of the musical genre world fusion....
concert (featuring his old hero John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
), Dunnery had a change of heart. He later admitted that he had "realised there was still a musician in me, and that I had to be as true to that side of my character as I was being to the other sides." Dunnery decided to re-engage with the music business, although this time he decided to do it entirely on his own terms and to take as much responsibility for the outcome as he could. His first step was to refresh himself by returning to the UK for the first time in five years to play a few concerts, and his second step was to set up his own internet-based record label, Aquarian Nation, with the intention of releasing his future albums on it (as well as albums by other artists).
For the UK tour, Dunnery formed a new backing band called The Grass Virgins, featuring second guitarist Dave Colquhoun, bass guitarist Matt Pegg
Matt Pegg
Matt Pegg is an English musician and bass guitarist.Pegg is the son of Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull bass guitar player Dave Pegg. He is an experienced bass guitarist in his own right and has been known to stand in for his father on Jethro Tull tours...
, and singer/keyboard player Erin Moran. Surprised and gratified that he remained a live draw popular enough to sell out venues, Dunnery returned soon afterwards for a much larger tour and support slots with Hootie and the Blowfish. The Grass Virgins continued as his back-up band over the next few years, despite changes in the lineup (John Dunnery would replace Dave Colquhoun, John Williams and Wayne Wilkinson joined on keyboards and laptop respectively, and Dorie Jackson replaced Erin Moran once the latter had gone on launch her solo project A Girl Called Eddy
A Girl Called Eddy
A Girl Called Eddy, real name Erin Moran, is an American soul pop singer/songwriter born in Neptune, New Jersey, USA and currently residing in England....
).
The first Aquarian Nation release was Dunnery’s comeback album Man, released in 2001. Recorded in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
and Oswestry
Oswestry
Oswestry is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, and A495 roads....
, UK, the album’s music developed some of the electronic aspects of Let’s Go Do What Happens (via keyboards and programming by Dunnery and his brother-in-law Dave McCracken
Dave McCracken
Dave McCracken is a British songwriter and music producer under the Roc Nation management. He is well known for his production on Ian Brown from The Stone Roses solo albums, Golden Greats, Music of the Spheres and Solarized...
but featured much more acoustic instrumentation (guitars and cellos), a strong vocal interplay between Dunnery and Moran, and pared-down percussion (with almost no drums and with the rhythmic drive provided primarily by Matt Pegg’s bass guitar). Man was also Dunnery’s most personal and direct album to date, heavily influenced by autobiographical and spiritual matters (in particular parenthood , manhood and reflections on finding a sense of home as well as featuring a strong element of Jungian psychology).
Dunnery has since commented "I was very depressed when I wrote the Man CD. It was a difficult birth. I was going through such turmoil in my life. My mother was dying, my relationship was ending, and in complete contrast, my daughter Ava was being born. [But] I think I'm at peace with that side of my life now." Despite the weight of the subject matter, Man proved to be one of his most successful and popular albums.
Dunnery toured the UK to promote Man, accompanied by Matt Pegg on bass guitar (with occasional guest appearances by other musicians). A live album - Hometown 2001 - was recorded 14 June 2001 at the Whitehaven Civic Hall in Cumbria and released around Christmas time the same year: it featured the Dunnery/Pegg duo plus a guest appearance from John Dunnery and Wayne Wilkinson.
2002-2003: Aquarian Nation and the It Bites reunion (Francis Dunnery & Friends)
During 2002, Dunnery was involved in the making of several albums released on Aquarian Nation. In addition to releasing Dunnery’s own records the label had been set up to release records by other musicians, pursuing a cooperative approach with a degree of profit share and with all Aquarian Nation musicians contributing to each other’s recordings. The label had a mission statement to "help support and promote artistic integrity" and went on to sign up to an ongoing partnership with Flying Spot EntertainmentFlying Spot Entertainment
FlyingSpot is a graphic design studio specializing in motion graphics, special effects, 2D / 3D animation, video editorial, sound design and video finishing & encoding. The company contracts to provide post-production and visual effects services for corporations, commercials and...
for the creation of original film/video programming.
The first of these releases was Chris Difford (ex-Squeeze)’s I Didn't Get Where I Am. In keeping with the Aquarian Nation method, Dunnery played on the record, and also produced and co-wrote the material with Difford. which Dunnery also toured as part of Difford’s band to promote the album, playing on a tour with Chris Rea
Chris Rea
Chris Rea is an English singer-songwriter, recognisable for his distinctive, husky voice and slide guitar playing. The British Hit Singles & Albums stated that Rea was "one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s. He was already a major European star by the time he finally...
and Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
. The next Aquarian Nation releases developed the label’s tone as a platform for songs of a more personal nature. The first of these was Nearly Killed Keith (the debut album by John & Wayne, aka John Dunnery and Wayne Wilkinson from The Grass Virgins), a collection of folk-tinged songs drawn from the duo’s day-jobs as jobbing carpenters in the building industry. This was followed by Songs From the Mission of Hope, the debut album by Stephen Harris
Kid Chaos
Kid Chaos a.k.a. Haggis is a Welsh rock bassist and guitarist who played in incarnations of hard rock bands Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, The Cult, and The Four Horsemen as well as guesting with Appetite for Destruction era Guns N' Roses.Harris was born in Wales...
, a former hard rock bass guitarist who had previously been known as “Kid Chaos
Kid Chaos
Kid Chaos a.k.a. Haggis is a Welsh rock bassist and guitarist who played in incarnations of hard rock bands Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, The Cult, and The Four Horsemen as well as guesting with Appetite for Destruction era Guns N' Roses.Harris was born in Wales...
” (while with Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction and The Cult)) and as “Haggis” (while fronting his own band The Four Horsemen). In contrast to his past work, Harris wrote a quiet, mediative and predominantly acoustic album dealing with his own chequered history as an adoptee. Once again, Dunnery produced and co-wrote both albums (and played various instruments on them including keyboards, guitars and drums).
Dunnery’s next major British concert (at the Union Chapel, London, 2003) was in part a showcase for Aquarian Nation, featuring performances by Dunnery, Stephen Harris, John & Wayne (with Dorie Jackson), plus a guest appearance by Chris Difford
Chris Difford
Chris Difford is a singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer....
. The concert finale was a two-song It Bites
It Bites
It Bites are an English progressive rock and pop fusion band, formed in Egremont, Cumbria, England in 1982 and best known for their 1986 single "Calling All The Heroes", which gained them a Top 10 UK Singles Chart hit...
reunion, with Dunnery playing "Hunting the Whale" as a duet with John Beck and the whole band playing "Still Too Young to Remember". The event was recorded and released on DVD as Live at the Union Chapel (credited to Francis Dunnery & Friends) in 2004, with a wider release the following year.
2004-2007: The Middle Passage (The Gully Flats Boys, House Concerts, second parting with It Bites)
By this time, Dunnery was based in PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, dividing his time between studying for a psychology degree at Goddard University, session and production work and developing Aquarian Nation as a company. In newsletters, he promised that his next three projects would be a solo album, Dorie Jackson's debut album and new recordings with the reunited It Bites.
In 2005, Dunnery released the first of these, a solo double album called The Gulley Flats Boys. This was a more sedate and acoustic album than its predecessor - featuring next to no drum or percussion parts and sparse use of electric guitar, it was recorded by Dunnery with piano/keyboard player David Sancious
David Sancious
David Sancious is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on the 1992 album Human Touch. Sancious is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known as a keyboard player and...
and Dorie Jackson on backing vocals. While the album included a number of mellower remakes of previously released songs (such as "Heartache Reborn" and "Good Life") most of the subject matter continued in the autobiographical vein of Man - this time drawing strongly from Dunnery’s childhood on the Gulley Flatts estate in Egremont
Egremont, Cumbria
Egremont is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Copeland in Cumbria, England, south of Whitehaven and on the River Ehen. The town, which lies at the foot of Uldale Valley and Dent Fell, was historically within Cumberland and has a long industrial heritage including dyeing, weaving and...
(down to featuring cover art composed of present-day photos of his childhood friends and schoolmates) and casting light on Dunnery’s thoughts and subconscious as he headed into middle age. Dunnery readily admitted that the album was the product of a mid-life crisis, but embraced the fact.
In 2005, Dunnery embarked on a "house concert" world tour, suggesting to fans that they book him to perform in their own homes for a paying audience, in a drug and alcohol-free environment. The concept proved to be very popular, not least with Dunnery himself, who has described them as "phenomenally successful". Dunnery continues to perform house concerts to this day and describes a typical performance as "(showing up) as a friend — you can’t show up as a rock dude or something — and it’s just me and my acoustic guitar, no amplification, singing my songs and holding a 90-minute lecture on the human condition. I sing songs and tell stories of my life. It’s not a party; it’s more like going to church, but church with swearing!... (There is) an exchange of energy that I call a 'jacuzzi'. At the end of 90 minutes, everybody has dropped their ego. They don’t even realise that has happened, but they have gradually taken off their clothes and gone into that energetic jacuzzi together. Something like that is a lot harder to achieve in a rock music arena."
In 2006, it was confirmed that the reunion of the original It Bites
It Bites
It Bites are an English progressive rock and pop fusion band, formed in Egremont, Cumbria, England in 1982 and best known for their 1986 single "Calling All The Heroes", which gained them a Top 10 UK Singles Chart hit...
lineup had foundered and that Dunnery had been replaced by singer and guitarist John Mitchell
John Mitchell (musician)
John Mitchell is guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the UK band It Bites. He also plays guitar for a number of other progressive rock bands including Arena, The Urbane, Kino, Frost*, and John Wetton.In 2008, Mitchell joined A, playing bass in place of original bass player Daniel P...
(Frost*, Kino
Kino (UK rock band)
Kino was a British neo-progressive rock band made up of members from other progressive rock acts .The band released their debut album Picture in February 2005.-Line up:*John Mitchell: lead...
). In October 2007 Dunnery released a free download of a song called "Feels Like Summertime", which had initially been written for It Bites
It Bites
It Bites are an English progressive rock and pop fusion band, formed in Egremont, Cumbria, England in 1982 and best known for their 1986 single "Calling All The Heroes", which gained them a Top 10 UK Singles Chart hit...
shortly before the band's original split in 1990 and was reworked as part of the unsuccessful 2003 reunion. Dunnery had rearranged and reworked the song for a third time (with new players), and made it available to promote a full-band "electric" tour which - although based mostly around his 1991 solo album Welcome To The Wild Country - featured several It Bites songs.
2008-2009: The Band Traveller (House concerts, DVDs, plus work with James Sonefeld and The Syn)
In 2008, Dunnery continued to perform numerous solo performances and house concerts, this time centered around material from Tall Blonde Helicopter. His summer and fall schedule included a full-band tour, culminating in a performance in Seattle which was recorded by Flying Spot, Inc. for subsequent release as a special edition concert/documentary DVD. (Originally scheduled for a 2009 release and titled Louder Than Usual, this was finally released in September 2010 as a DVD with accompanying CD) Earlier in the year, Dunnery released an "official video bootleg" DVD from the 2001 Man tour, titled In The Garden Of Mystic Lovers. That same year, Dunnery produced and played on Snowman Melting, the first solo album by James Sonefeld of Hootie and the Blowfish (another Aquarian Nation release).In the same year, Dunnery joined singer Steve Nardelli
Steve Nardelli
Steve Nardelli founded The Syn in 1966 with Chris Squire, Andrew Jackman, John Painter and Martyn Adelman. In 1968, Nardelli left The Syn to carve out a business career in the fashion and sports industries before reforming the band in 2003 with Adelman and Peter Banks...
’s revived 1960s progressive rock/beat band The Syn
The Syn
The Syn are an English band that were active from 1965 to 1967, and then reunited as a progressive rock band in 2004. Chris Welch, in his book, Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes wrote, "The Syn were very similar to Yes in fact...
as guitarist, playing alongside Nardelli, keyboard player Tom Brislin
Tom Brislin
Tom Brislin is an American keyboardist, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from New Jersey. He is the founding member of the rock band Spiraling, and plays or has played keyboards with several well-known acts...
and bass player Jamie Bishop as well as two members of American progressive rock band Echolyn
Echolyn
Echolyn is an American progressive rock band based in eastern Pennsylvania.- Origins and first phase :Echolyn was formed in 1989 when guitarist Brett Kull and drummer Paul Ramsey, members of a recently split cover band called Narcissus, joined with keyboardist Chris Buzby to form a new band to...
(guitarist Brett Kull and drummer Paul Ramsey). Dunnery also brought in his backing vocal foil Dorie Jackson. He was musical director for the band’s 2009 album Big Sky. This line-up of The Syn began an American tour in April 2009 but broke up after six dates.
2009-present: A Blast From The Past (The New Progressives and There's A Whole New World Out There)
Dunnery announced the formation of his "New Progressives" project, which had two stated aims - the first being to reclaim and rework the songs Dunnery had written with It BitesIt Bites
It Bites are an English progressive rock and pop fusion band, formed in Egremont, Cumbria, England in 1982 and best known for their 1986 single "Calling All The Heroes", which gained them a Top 10 UK Singles Chart hit...
, and the second being to develop a new approach to progressive rock. The project was to feature a core band centred on Dunnery plus the involvement of various collaborators from various periods of progressive rock history. The core band featured Dunnery on lead vocals, guitar, keyboards and tapboard and drew on the same lineup he had assembled for The Syn the previous year, minus Nardelli (Tom Brislin, Jamie Bishop, Dorie Jackson, Brett Kull and Paul Ramsey).
Dunnery's next album - There's A Whole New World Out There, released on 3 October 2009 - was centred around the New Progressives (plus guests) and featured a succession of reworking of old It Bites songs, plus a variety of similarly rearranged cover versions. The New Progressives toured the UK, American and Australia to promote the record, with guest appearances from other musicians where possible. In 2009, Jem Godfrey
Jem Godfrey
Jeremy "Jem" Godfrey is a British music producer, keyboardist and songwriter.Godfrey was responsible, with Bill Padley at Wise Buddah music, for many UK number one hits including Atomic Kitten's platinum-selling single, "Whole Again", which earned the pair two Ivor Novello Award nominations, and...
(Frost*) announced on the Frost* Forum that he and Dunnery had both contributed solos to the title track of Big Big Train's
Big Big Train
Big Big Train is an English progressive rock band that was founded in 1990. Based in Bournemouth, England, the band members are Nick D'Virgilio, Dave Gregory, David Longdon, Andy Poole and Gregory Spawton....
upcoming album, The Underfall Yard
The Underfall Yard
The Underfall Yard is the sixth studio album by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train. It was released on 15 December 2009, by English Electric Recordings.http://www.bigbigtrain.com/-Background:...
.
In early 2010 it was announced that Dunnery would play guest guitar on one track on the forthcoming album by Bordeaux progressive rock band XII Alfonso, alongside other contributors including Mickey Simmonds (Fish, Camel, Mike Oldfield, Paul Young), John Hackett (Brother & Steve Hackett Band), John Helliwell (Supertramp), Ronnie Caryl & Amy Keys (Phil Collins Band), Raphael Ravenscroft (Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, ABBA, Gerry Rafferty) and Ian Bairnson & David Paton (Alan Parsons Project).
On August 12 2011, Dunnery announced the release of a new album called Made in Space and an accompanying "Astrology Theater Show " tour of the UK, which would feature himself and Dorie Jackson. He also announced that he would be recorded a cover version of Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
's The Rhythm of the Heat as part of Sonic Elements, a new "fantasy rock" band put together by Dave Kerzner of Sonic Reality.
Charitable work
In 2002, Dunnery founded the Charlie and Kathleen Dunnery Children's Fund, a volunteer-run fundraising charity based in his hometown of Egremont, and named in honour of his late parents. Explaining his reasons for setting up the charity, Dunnery has said "My mother was a wonderful woman... so this is my way of honouring her and my dad. A line in one of my songs is that the only thing you get to keep is what you give away – I like that idea. I think that by the time you are 40 if you aren’t doing something to help others then you probably should be. People take all the time and I think it is nice to put something back."The fund raises money for projects and activities supporting the health, wellness and educational needs of children and young people in the Egremont area. He continues to support the charity via regular concerts in Egremont as well as participation in and publicity for various sponsored events.
Albums
- Welcome To The Wild CountryWelcome to the Wild CountryWelcome To The Wild Country is the debut solo album of British musician Francis Dunnery, released following his departure from his former band It Bites....
(Virgin Records, 1991) - Fearless (Atlantic Records, 1994)
- One Night In Sauchiehall Street (Cottage Industry 1995) (live)
- Tall Blonde Helicopter (Atlantic Records, 1995)
- Let's Go Do What HappensLet's Go Do What HappensLet's Go Do What Happens is the fourth solo studio album of British musician Francis Dunnery, and his first release since his departure from Atlantic Records...
(Razor and Tie Records, 1998) - Man (Aquarian Nation, 2001)
- Hometown 2001 (Aquarian Nation, 2001)
- The Gulley Flats Boys (Aquarian Nation, 2005)
- There's a Whole New World Out There (Aquarian Nation, 2009)
- Made in Space (Aquarian Nation, 2011)
Singles
- "American Life in the Summertime” (Atlantic Records, 1994)
- "What’s He Gonna Say?” (Atlantic Records, 1995)
- "Too Much Saturn” (Atlantic Records, 1995)
DVDs
- Live at the Union Chapel - credited to Francis Dunnery & Friends (Aquarian Nation, 2004)
- In the Garden of Mystic Lovers (Aquarian Nation, 2008)
- Louder than Usual (Aquarian Nation/Flying Spot Entertainment, 2010)
Albums
- The Big Lad in the WindmillThe Big Lad in the WindmillThe Big Lad in the Windmill is the debut album of British progressive pop/rock band It Bites. It contains the hit singles "All in Red", "Calling All The Heroes" and "Whole New World"-Track listing:# All In Red 3:31 # Turn Me Loose 4:11...
(Virgin Records, 1986) - Once Around the WorldOnce Around the WorldOnce Around the World is the second album of British progressive pop/rock band It Bites. It showcased their more progressive musical influences, including their longest composition, Once Around the World, clocking in at almost 15 minutes. Released in 1988, it was recorded at Manor Hill Studios in...
(Virgin Records, 1988) - Eat Me in St Louis (Virgin Records, 1989)
- Thank You and Goodnight (Virgin Records, 1991)
- Live in Montreux (It Bites, 2004)
Singles
- "All in Red" (Virgin Records, 1986)
- "Calling All The Heroes" (Virgin Records, 1986)
- "Whole New World" (Virgin Records, 1986)
- "Old Man and the Angel" (Virgin Records, 1987)
- "Kiss Like Judas" (Virgin Records, 1988)
- "Midnight" (Virgin Records, 1988)
- "Still Too Young to Remember" (Virgin Records, 1989 - remixed and reissued 1990)
- "Underneath Your Pillow" (Virgin Records, 1989 - remixed and reissued 1990)
- "Sister Sarah" (Virgin Records, 1990)
Guest and session appearances
- Anderson Bruford Wakeman HoweAnderson Bruford Wakeman HoweAnderson Bruford Wakeman Howe was a project of four progressive rock musicians, vocalist Jon Anderson, drummer Bill Bruford, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and guitarist Steve Howe . They had played together in Yes in the early 1970s...
– Anderson Bruford Wakeman HoweAnderson Bruford Wakeman Howe (album)Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe is the self-titled album by four alumni of the progressive rock group Yes: Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, and Steve Howe.- History :The project began in 1988...
(1989 , Arista Records) – backing vocals. - Robert PlantRobert PlantRobert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
– Fate of NationsFate of NationsFate of Nations is Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant's sixth studio album. It was released in 1993 and re-released in a remastered edition on March 20, 2007. It features former Cutting Crew guitarist Kevin Scott MacMichael. The lead singer of Clannad, Máire Brennan is featured on the track "Come...
(1993, Es Paranza) – rhythm guitar on ‘Come Into My Life, lead guitar on “Promised Land”. - Lauryn HillLauryn HillLauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
– The Miseducation of Lauryn HillThe Miseducation of Lauryn HillThe Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo album by American musician Lauryn Hill, released August 25, 1998, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place from late 1997 to June 1998, and were held primarily at Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica...
(1998) – guitar on “Every Ghetto, Every City" & "Nothing Even Matters". - SantanaSantana (band)Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
– SupernaturalSupernaturalThe supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
(1999) rhythm guitar on “Do You Like The Way?”. - Ian BrownIan BrownIan George Brown is an English musician, best known as the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses, which broke up in 1996 but are confirmed to reunite in 2012. Since the break-up of the Stone Roses he has pursued a solo career...
– Music of the Spheres (2001, Polydor Records)- guitars on all tracks, also co-wrote “El Mundo Pequeño”. - Big Big TrainBig Big TrainBig Big Train is an English progressive rock band that was founded in 1990. Based in Bournemouth, England, the band members are Nick D'Virgilio, Dave Gregory, David Longdon, Andy Poole and Gregory Spawton....
– The Underfall YardThe Underfall YardThe Underfall Yard is the sixth studio album by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train. It was released on 15 December 2009, by English Electric Recordings.http://www.bigbigtrain.com/-Background:...
(2009) – guest lead guitar on “The Underfall Yard”. - XII Alfonso – (as-yet-untitled triple album based on the life of Charles Darwin) (due autumn 2011) – guest guitar on one unspecified track.
As producer
- Chris DiffordChris DiffordChris Difford is a singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer....
- I Didn’t Get Where I Am (Aquarian Nation, 2002) – also co-wrote and played guitars and keyboards on all tracks. - John & Wayne - Nearly Killed Keith (Aquarian Nation, 2002 – also co-wrote and played drums and organ on all tracks)
- Stephen HarrisKid ChaosKid Chaos a.k.a. Haggis is a Welsh rock bassist and guitarist who played in incarnations of hard rock bands Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, The Cult, and The Four Horsemen as well as guesting with Appetite for Destruction era Guns N' Roses.Harris was born in Wales...
- Songs From The Mission of Hope (Aquarian Nation, 2002 – also co-wrote and played guitar, piano and MellotronMellotronThe Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
on all tracks. - John Gilmour Smith - "The Story We've Been Sold" (Aquarian Nation, 2010) - also co-wrote, and sang on several tracks.