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Hello folks! We’ve just returned from playing the Progdreams Festival in Holland at the first class venue Boerderij Cultuurpodium. 
The hospitality and crew there were the best I’ve ever experienced in all the years I’ve been playing live music. Arie Verstegen and his staff know how to do it right!
The lineups, the organization, the food and drink were all incredible. Above all, the crowd, people from all over were one of the best audiences we’ve ever had. Serious music listeners! From myself and the band, we’d like to thank you all for such an incredible experience. You are a shining example to the world on how it should be done.
We’d also like to thank Manuela Willems and The Dame for the introduction and sharing the experience with us. A big thanks to BJ (John Woodard) for accompanying us and helping with driving duties and merchandise sales. And of course Progressive Gears for the never ending hard work and support!
It is likely this will be the last of live gigs for IT this year, as our focus is now in the studio to bring you a lot of new music, whilst making extensive touring plans starting early next year. Stayed tuned folks.
Peace!
IT
The shows for 2019 are coming in thick and fast! Below you can see the shows we have confirmed already!
Tickets to all the shows can be found here: https://itband.tv/gigs
It has been a busy busy few weeks surrounding the band, with many shows! So I thought I would take the time do do a round up of the last few shows!
Starting off at The Rock Den, Hatfield. To be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect from this event, however Dean over at the venue was one of the first promoters to get back to me with any enthusiasm. This show was with our good friends The Gift, and that is never a bad thing, so we agreed with an open mind. I am glad we did, it was a great show, despite getting off to a shaky start with the opening act deciding to pull out at showtime!
A review of the show can be read here, and here is a brief run down:
“Saturday, February 24th saw Prog come to town at the Den in the guise of IT and The Gift. And what a gem of a gig it was too.
Opening proceedings, and making their debut at the Den, was London based IT (pronounced ‘it’). Wow! Not to sure where to start with this. ‘It’s Prog Jim but not as we know it.’ There were the obvious melodies associated with classic prog, but it combined this with a sort of doomy, metally, vibe. Even dreamlike in places. Excepting tracks, Standback, God is Dead and Departure (Departure 2009), the set focused on tracks from their stunning 2017 album ‘We’re All In This Together.’ While a sort of socio-political commentary on today’s world which, for the most part, has a dystopian feel, it paradoxically, leaves you feeling happy! Dulux would struggle to offer more shades of light and dark. Tracks, The Working Man, Last Chance, Gamble The Dream, Voices, House and the excellent Power and Revolution, have it all. Great vocals (Nick Jackson also guitar) catchy choruses, awesome guitar riffs (Andy Rowberry), powerful bass (Ricky Kinrade), clever, intelligent lyrics and all ably backed by Tom Ashcroft on drums. Even without Ryan McCaffrey on keyboards, this was an excellent set. The band has obviously worked hard on the production of this album and has managed to transfer its intensity to the stage. Considering the complexities of the album, not an easy task. The use of a backing track to assist in this was done to perfection. You could shut your eyes at times and almost feel you were listening through headphones while simultaneously having the ‘live feel’ course through every inch of your body. A powerful, stunning and highly addictive sound. This band should not be judged on a quick listen to the odd track online, but rather fully immersing yourself in their work. Better still, get out and see them live and stand in awe as the band grows on you quicker than a turbo-charged triffid. Fantastic.”
The following Sunday saw the band head down to The Talking Heads, Southampton. Again, with the fantastic Gift gents, to play to an enthused crowd, at a venue that was a total first for us, but a great place! We will look forward to doing it all again there at some point!
Pictures from J6 Pix
Finally we hit London last week, with a headline show to remember at the 229 Club, with the fantastic Taikonaut and Servants Of Science! Both supports were excellent, and full of enthusiasm despite it being a cold Wednesday night, and the audience left happy and excited. It was great to meet so many new people, and so many friends! We were also given an award from those lovely folk at The Wrinkly Rockers Club for our performance at the Progtoberfest Show last October. You can see their video from 229 below!
So this leaves just the last show of this current round, Fusion – A one-day celebration of music without boundaries on the 31st March. This is looking to be a top class event, with excellent acts, including our new Label mates We have Apostles of Chaos and Quiet Wish, alongside the mighty Godsticks! Tickets here
So we hope to catch up with you all, and be sure to keep an eye out for more dates coming soon, you can always check our GIGS page for details!
Thanks
Andy
2017 has been a huge year for the band, and in particular, the album ‘We’re All In This Together’. Here we have compiled who put IT on their albums of 2017. We are grateful for the ongoing support all these people have given us, and continue to give us! I have tried to provide links to the relevant FB pages, give them a follow! Thanks again!
THE PROG MILL LISTENERS ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2017 11 of 25
Prog Magazine writer Chris McGarel’s top 20 list 16 of 20
The Sentinel’s Marvellous Kaleidoscope – Radio Program Personal Best Albums of 2017 – The Top 50 Chart 46 of 50
Emma Chrysoprasia Roebuck from Progzilla Radio TOP 5 albums of the year
Progtoberfest has come and gone, and it was a blast! The band enjoyed a great show, and all the bands put on quite the spectacle. It was a pleasure to share the stage with Habu, The Rube Goldberg Machine, The Far Medow and The Gift, and we look forward to see all the guys again!
Our good friends at the Wrinkly Rockers Club were at the show, and you can read the full review of all the bands here. Below is the extract about IT’s performance.
If we needed a lift after that bombshell – what better current Prog band to step up to the plate than IT. Beginning life as a Psychedelic Multi-Media group, Harrow-based artists IT (pronounced ‘it’) is a band with a colossal sound that shakes the bones and with a barrage of images that feeds the mind. The 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. They released their long awaited fifth album ‘We’re All In This Together’ in March 2017 to critical acclaim with writer/producer Nick Jackson on vocals and guitar, co- writer/producer Andy Rowberry on lead guitar and backing vocals, James Hawkins on bass, Will Chism on Drums and Ryan McCaffrey on keyboards. Hawkins bass intro on opener ‘Power’ – also the opener on ‘WAITT’ – saw the bespectacled black ‘straightjacketed’ presence of Jackson take control of proceedings – the band immediately making a musical statement of intent as well as a political one. Their excellent single ‘The Working Man’ – cue Jackson’s political flag waving – although based on the drive to accumulate possessions and the wastefulness that often follows, was beautifully counterbalanced by the delivery of a couple of guitar solos from Rowberry. Two years ago the band released their next number ‘Last Chance’ for the charity CD compilation ‘Voices for Hospices’, which featured – amongst others – a brand new track from Steve Hackett. A protest against what’s happening to our NHS – I’m sure Mr. Hackett would not have protested about another stand out solo from Mr. Rowberry – with Nick getting us Proggers to join in on the chorus – “together”. By this time Harrison Wells lookalike Jackson had removed his the aforementioned straightjacket revealing a ‘God’ t-shirt before he introduced the next song – “It’s a mover” – and he wasn’t wrong as he smashed his percussion about on ‘Gamble The Dream’ – reinforcing their unique sound with its welcome Floydish tinge. If I was to pick my favourite from ‘WAITT’ it would be a close contest. A longer set would see the twelve minute ‘The Path Of Least Resistance’ as a classic finale, however, they did thankfully include the superb ‘Voices’ which not only encapsulates what IT is all about including outstanding keyboards from McCaffrey plus the driving engine room of Hawkins and Chism, but it also features a George Galloway speech about Iraq which according to Nick, George did in one studio take. A great way to challenge/change our political beliefs George! The Floyd influence on both the intro and outro of new single ‘House’, sandwiched the apt Halloween chorus of “Like a ghost in this house” before the guys rounded off their take from ‘WAITT’ with another cracker ‘Revolution’, with its heavy riff and ‘Timewarpish’ chorus. Brilliant. And in one of those – ‘you couldn’t make it up moments’ – their finale was taken from their previous ‘Departure’ album, namely the driving ‘God Is Dead’ – just as two of our friends arrived – one of which was a Catholic priest who had just returned from Sunday Mass! All I can say is that the Gods are currently with IT. What a set.
We would like to thank Tom Ashcroft, who stepped in with only four rehearsals to play the show, and this gig was the first for Ryan on keys since he joined the band at the later stage of recording WAITT. Both guys were excellent on the day, and we loved having them join us on stage finally! And of course a huge thank you to those who made the trip down to see us!
There will be more interesting things coming soon from this show, so keep your eyes and ears open for updates about that, as well as news regarding more gigs in the New Year!
Till next time!
Hey guys and gals. Gig alert! So we are part of Progtoberfest at The Bedford, Balham on 29th October. This is likely to be the only London date this year, so we would love to see you all there, it’s a going to be a great Sunday with great bands!
We are joined by The Gift, The Far Medow, Habu and The Rube Goldberg Machine.
