Progressive Rock > It Bites
Cross your heart: we’ve seen quite a few reunions which weren’t really necessary and tend to jeopardise the myth of a formerly great band rather than rekindle it. In the case of It Bites, however, the situation is entirely different. In their comeback album, The Tall Ships, the British prog rock act surrounding drummer Bob Dalton and keyboardist John Beck, who released three amazing studio albums and a remarkable live recording between 1986 and 1991, are about to present an awesome offering at the interface of prog, rock, pop and fusion. Bob Dalton and John Beck have enlisted two renowned colleagues in their band, namely guitarist John Mitchell (Arena, Kino, Frost) and bassist Lee Pomeroy (Rick Wakeman), who complement them perfectly both on a musical and on a personal level. The Tall Ships forges an artistic arc between the present and the group’s successful past, proving at the same time that It Bites still have a wealth of new inspiration and fresh impulses in store for the contemporary music scene.
It Bites were originally formed in 1982, when school friends Francis Dunnery, Dick Nolan and Bob Dalton met John Beck. After playing gigs at working men’s clubs and nightclubs locally for a year, the band decided to call it a day. Six months later, the musicians met by chance in a pub, and the idea of reforming was discussed. Their debut album, Big Lad In The Windmill came in July 1986 and dented the album charts at number 35. The band toured with Go West, then Marillion in late 1987, and Robert Plant in early 1988. The follow-up album Once Around The World was produced by Steve Hillage and released in March 1988. It showcased their more progressive musical influences. The band toured successfully across the UK, USA and Japan. Eat Me In St. Louis was released in 1989, but in 1990 – during the process of writing their fourth album - Dunnery announced that he was leaving It Bites. Thank You And Goodnight, a live recording, was the band’s last record which came out in August 1991.
In August 2003, Dunnery held a fan club convention at the Union Chapel in London, and invited Beck, Nolan and Dalton along, culminating in them joining him on stage – for the first time in 13 years. After a year of no further action but continued interest from the fans, Beck and Dalton approached Kino`s singer and guitarist John Mitchell (a huge It Bites fan since his teenage years) and proposed reforming the band with him taking on Dunnery’s role. The band toured successfully in 2006, releasing the live album When The Lights Go Down. In 2008 Dick Nolan was replaced by Lee Pomeroy.