Beginning life as a psychedelic, multi-media group, IT is a band with a colossal sound that shakes the bones and, with a barrage of images, feeds the mind. Based both in London England and Sault Ste. Marie Canada, IT is part of a new movement in Progressive Rock that includes such bands as Porcupine Tree and Nine Inch Nails, among others. IT’s sound fuses the classic melodies of prog rock’s past with a passion and intensity usually only found in punk or metal bands. Politics, religion, war and sexuality all come under the Band’s lens for critical examination. Lyrics are intelligent, challenging and occasionally darkly humorous. The bottom line is that the IT experience will inform your thinking, feelings and memory long after the last notes have ended.
IT formed in 1994 when Nick Jackson recorded and produced the Band’s first full-length album, The Stranger Inside the Self. This was also when the Band first began using multimedia during live shows with the inclusion of short films playing behind the group on stage. IT’s next album, Two Worlds, was released in early January 1995, and that year also saw IT appearing on the James Whale TV Show, a television program highlighting new bands. Between 1996 and 1998, Nick built Spacehouse Studios in London, a purpose built recording studio where the Band has made every album since. The Band’s third album, Over & Out, was released on June 21st 2002. It was created as a concept with a story line and was performed by IT live in its entirety accompanied by projected visual montages created by Nick Jackson using the technique of ‘Video Sampling’. Live actors also played out one of the album’s main themes, the ‘live talk show’, in the single, Good Morning America. The Band toured Great Britain and Canada with Over and Out sharing live creative performances with fans on both sides of the Atlantic.
In 2004 IT began to redefine itself as Band leader Nick Jackson experimented with new images of sight and sound that would inspire and challenge IT members and audiences alike. They defined generally and conceptually what the Band members as a group have successfully actualized in IT’s fourth album, Departure. Guitarist Andy Rowberry, who joined the band after Over and Out, add’s the power and strength of metal to this redefine IT.
Many guests also joined the recording of Departure, coming from genres ranging from metal to bluegrass. Although rooted in progressive music, IT knows no boundaries in realizing ideas. For example, the track Burn fuses country and metal into an unlikely yet unforgettable synthesis. Stand Back is a melodic pop song, while the single Killing Me, with its double-kick attack is hard rock all the way. The Album combines an audio CD with each track, carefully crafted over the past 3 years, along with IT’s first DVD including two music videos, a 30 minute documentary and several live tracks capturing the Band’s high energy live sound and multi-media show.
