Greetings from the IONA / OPEN SKY RECORDS office. After some
great UK dates, the band are gearing up for their trip to
the continent next week with gigs in The Netherlands,
Germany and Belgium. In this newsletter we have all
the latest band news, plus some great new photos.
Read on….
During the UK tour the band took time out with UK booking agent and photographer Jonathan Johnson to take some
new publicity shots. Here!s one of them – as you can see a jolly time was had by all!
SPECIAL OFFER PLUS OUR CHRISTMAS MUSIC SELECTION!
If you’re looking to create an evocative ambience when you have family and friends over this Christmas, or looking for a cd gift for someone special, there is still time to buy from the Iona webstore and for us to ship anywhere in the known
world! Here are our suggestions: ‘Raphael’s Journey’ – soothing Celtic atmospheres with Joanne’s beautiful voice and
great string arrangements by Frank. ‘From Silence’ – evocative sound of Troy’s Irish pipes and whistles accompanied by Dave’s subtle aural landscapes. ‘Cathedral of Dreams’ – now back in stock and this newsletters featured album – the
wonderful solo guitar compositions of Nick Fletcher (as featured on Classic FM), culminating in Nick and Dave’s 24
minute guitar concerto. ‘Life Journey’ – haunting, Celtic / Oldfield tinged soundtrack featuring flutes, whistles,
saxophones amidst a sea of acoustic instruments, sustained electric guitar and otherworldly keys and from Iona’s cofounders.
Then, to get your feet tapping again, the joyous traditional Irish sound of Martin’s ‘Bright Silver, Dark Wood’.
***If you order a copy of ‘Another Realm’ plus any other cd or dvd from the Iona web store we
will send you a FREE limited edition ‘The Best of Iona US Tour 2010’ cd! Produced exclusively
for the 2010 US tour the cd comprises 12 tracks from previous Iona releases. Offer does not
apply to download sales and ends on 2nd December 2011!!***
IONA TOUR DATES 2011/12
Big thanks to those of you who have helped with publicity by joining our Street Team. We still need more help!
If you could put up a poster or two / distribute a few flyers to help spread the word about Iona gigs please
email us at band@iona.uk.com with IONA STREET TEAM in the header. Thanks – we appreciate your
help! Here are the latest gig details we have. We hope that more dates for 2012 will be confirmed soon.
2011
NETHERLANDS / GERMANY /
BELGIUM
NOVEMBER
Wednesday 16 Nov
2 Hearts Mission Benefit Concert
with Sela, Dew and Iona
Levend Evangelie Gemeente, Kruisweg 55, 1436
AC Aalsmeerderbrug, The Netherlands (www.leg.nl)
Tickets from www.truetickets.nl price 10 euro’s
including 2 euro’s reservation cost. An offering towards
the 2 Hearts Mission will be taken on the evening.
Approx timings: Doors 19:00, 19:30-20:15 – Sela,
20:20-21:05 – Dew Worship, 21:30-22:30 – Iona
Thursday 17 Nov @ 20:00
Kultur-/Jugendkulturbüro Haus, Felsenkeller e.V.
Marktstr. 30 57610, Altenkirchen, Germany
Tel: +49-2681-7118
http://www.kultur-felsenkeller.de
Friday 18 Nov @ 20:00
Stadthalle, Hofheim, Germany
Tickets and further info www.dekaart.de/
Saturday 19 Nov @ 21:30
Spirit of 66, BE-4800 Vervier, Belgium
Tickets & info Tel:+32 8735 24 24
www.spiritof66.be/ticketsboo.html
INTERVIEWS/REVIEWS!
Dave has been doing several interviews recently
talking about the band and the new album,
including with Koid9 Magazine (France) and
Progressive Newsletter (Germany). Other
interviews coming up include with
AmarokProg.net (France) and Classic Rock
Presents Prog magazine (UK – Jan 2012).
Reviews of Another Realm are still coming in:
www.ragazzi-music.de
www.musicinbelgium.net
www.christianitytoday.com
www.glasswerk.co.uk
www.spiritualprog.com
www.progressive-area.com
www.amarokprog.net
www.worldmag.com
www.backgroundmagazine.nl
www.manticornio.com
http://koid9.fanzine.free.fr/
2012
UK
Thursday 1st March
Canterbury – TBC
Friday 2nd March
The Martlets Hall, Burgess Hill,
West Sussex, RH15 9NN
plus support Julie Hall. doors 7.30pm for an 8pm start.
Tickets on sale 3rd December.
www.burgesshillfreedomfestival.com
Friday 16th – Sunday 18th March
SWITZERLAND – Venues TBC
Thursday 31st May
Beverley Memorial Hall, E Yorks, TBC
Friday 1st June
Cardiff, TBC
Saturday 2nd June
Wiston House, West Sussex – details to be released on 18th
November!
Sunday 3rd June
The Stables Theatre, Stockwell Lane, Wavendon, MK17
8LU
Website: http://www.stables.org Box Office – 01908 280800,
Email: stables@stables.org
USA TOUR
22nd June to 5th July dates TBC
Acoustic moments in the beautiful surroundings of St John!s, Farncombe, UK, Oct 2011. Centre pic is the radiant Yvonne
Lyon who has opened for the band on 11 of the last 12 UK dates! Photos by Trevor Raggatt.
Iona Webmaster Tim Ostendorf is continuing to update the IONA website. We have some great things
planned, including a complete gig archive, more archive photos and pdf copies of as many previous Iona
newsletters as Dave can find in his loft! (the first one was in 1991! Early ones featured some wonderful
cartoons of the band by a certain Nick Beggs!). Tim will also be working on making the site faster to load.
In the meantime, here are the latest updates since the September newsletter:
**We now have two more great albums available to purchase in download form from the Iona store: ‘Raphael’s
Journey’ (Joanne’s most recent solo album), and ‘Life Journey’ (Dave Bainbridge and David Fitzgerald’s recent
release).
**Album page updates include: Video links / reviews / interviews / related photos added to ‘Another Realm’ /
‘Beyond These Shores’ / ‘Life Journey’ pages ( especially recommended viewing is the evocative video that Mark
Fleeson put together for the title track of ‘Life Journey’, filmed on Lindisfarne – the island where the journey for
Iona the band began.
**Jo and Martin’s Gear Pages are now both live and make fascinating reading for musicians and non-musicians
alike (NB the gear pages take the form of an interview along with relevant photos)
**Entries band members make on Iona’s Facebook page are now automatically added to the News section.
**New drop down menus make the site easier to navigate
IONA BOXING DAY SPECIAL!
For those of you who will have arrived at Boxing Day
evening suitably chilled out and ready to put your feet
up we have the perfect festive antidote – tune in to our
friend Stephan Gluck’s 2 hour IONA BOXING DAY
SPECIAL! Hours 2 and 3 of Stephan’s ‘Rock Art’
show will be devoted to IONA’s music, including an in
depth interview with Dave. You can catch the live
stream at www.ems-vechte-welle.de. NB. The times
mentioned are German times. ie one hour later than
UK time.
STREET SOCCER
Special thanks to all of you who came to the recent Bolton gig and especially to
promoter Dave Lewis. Dave was hoping to raise money from the gig for the brilliant
organisation Street Soccer, which works with some of the nation’s most vulnerable
and ‘at risk’ individuals (see www.streetsocceracademy.co.uk). In the event, the gig
raised over £1,800 for Street Soccer, which is fantastic! Please visit their website to
find out more about the great work they do.
FEATURED ALBUM
Once again we spotlight a great
Open Sky Records release that
you may have missed first time
around, but is available from the
IONA website store. This
enewsletter’s featured album is:
Cathedral of Dreams
Nick Fletcher
So far this is the only solo release
on our Open Sky Records label
not by a band member, but we
felt that Nick deserved to be
heard by a wider audience. The
album was recorded and
produced by Dave Bainbridge
and also features ‘Iberian
Fantasy’, a 24 minute long
Guitar ‘Concerto’ co-written and
orchestrated by Dave and Nick.
Nick is an incredibly talented
guitarist, improviser and prolific
composer of music for solo
guitar as well as a very respected
guitar teacher in his home town
of Sheffield, England. As well as
‘Iberian Fantasy’ the album
also features 11 of Nick’s solo
guitar compositions, several of
which have been regularly played
on the UK’s premier Classical
music radio station Classic FM.
Since the album’s release Nick
has had several volumes of his
solo guitar pieces published by
the prestigious Canadian
Classical guitar publishers Les
Productions D’OZ and he also
has a new DVD out too. Any fans
of Steve Hackett or Steve
Howe’s solo acoustic pieces will
love Nick’s amazing, effortless
virtuosity on the guitar and his
beautiful compositions. To hear
extracts go to:
www.myspace.com/
nickfletcherguitarist For more
info on Nick see:
www.nickfletcherguitar.com
The album has received some
very favourable reviews, both
within the classical music world
and far beyond even including
Metal Hammer magazine!
REVIEW QUOTES
“Classical guitarist Nick Fletcher is
a rare talent, a gifted guitarist with
a unique style that mixes urgency
with deep contemplation. His
album Cathedral of Dreams is a
beautiful album of original solo
guitar compositions. Fletcher’s
nimble fingers coax both beautiful
melodies and breathtaking riffs
from guitar.!! His precise and
smooth playing on songs like the
fast-paced “The Clap”-like
Cornucopia or the lyrical Sirocco
makes Steve Howe sound clumsy
and unrefined.!! Other tunes like
Visage weave a South American
dance influence with gorgeous
flamenco stylings.! The four part
epic finale, Iberian Fantasy for
Guitar and Orchestra, features
spontaneous duets between Nick
and producer Dave Bainbridge!
on keyboards, augmented by flute
and timpani.! All four parts are
lovely, and really highlight
Fletcher’s talent as an improviser.!
Instrumental albums are often a
mood setter or relegated to
background music.! Cathedral of
Dreams is a mood elevator that
will continually draw itself into the
foreground. You cannot help but
engage with Nick Fletcher’s
beautifully haunting technique and
melodies. Highly recommended
for fans of Phil Keaggy, Dave
Bainbridge, Steve Howe, and
Christopher Parkening.”
www.spiritualprog.com 6/09
“I feel very humble and
privileged to have the
opportunity to review Nick
Fletcher’s Cathedral of Dreams….
Instantly, the listener is being
projected in the relaxing and
contemplative work of this
British virtuoso. Nick Fletcher’s
grasp on this instrument is
impressive, outstanding and
simply amazing…. I was
absolutely stunned and
speechless with such crafty
execution, precision and
fluidity…. Needless to say that
you won’t find any bad
compositions on this CD. Lots of
great moments are just waiting
the neo-classical fanatic.”
Sea of Tranquility, USA 8/09
“A talented guitarist and
composer of music for solo
guitar, this is Nick’s first CD
release of his own solo
compositions. Featuring a range
of influences from Baroque to
traditional music from the
Hebridean islands, the highlight
is ‘Iberian Fantasy’ – a 24 minute
long Guitar Concerto which is the
perfect soundtrack for the
summer months. Listen out for
this album on Smooth Classics
and Relaxing Classics over the
next few weeks.” Sam Jackson –
Classic FM 7/09
FACEBOOK
Let us know what you’re thinking on our FACEBOOK PAGE (or indeed on the main IONA WEBSITE) and
whenever possible we’ll try and respond back. Please encourage other Iona fans to join – it’s a great way for us to
keep in touch with you and get the news out about the band.
BEST WISHES, IONA
www.iona.uk.com www.facebook.com/ionaband
NEW ‘EDGE OF THE WORLD’
VIDEO ON IONA YOU TUBE
CHANNEL
Here’s a message from our friend, film-maker Tim Finch:
“I’ve just released this new video on the official Iona You
Tube channel, Edge of the World filmed at the
Farncombe, UK gig on Friday 14th Oct 2011. We hadn’t
planned to film complete tracks for You Tube release – we
were filming for other purposes that night – but just
somehow I was in the right place at the right time, and
realised it, so was very careful with camera moves.”
“The band played just perfectly and this is the result for
you all to enjoy. Such a joy to be working with Iona with
video. Enjoy. For those who don’t know this track, it is
from the album ‘Beyond These Shores’ from 1993, still
available for sale on the Iona website.” See the video at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9v6JdeXzhM
THE WINE IS ALIVE!
The new live album ‘The Wine is Alive’ by our friend
Godfrey Birtill is now out and features Dave on guitars and
keys, Frank on drums & violin and Phil on bass. you can hear
tracks and buy if from www.godfreyb.com
FRANK – NEW ALBUM RELEASE
SOON!
Frank and his wife, singer Marlou are to release a new album
in December under their band name ‘Dew’. The album is to
be called ‘We Belong to the Day’. Frank says: “With guest
musicians from the Iona clan Troy, Phil and Dave, there are
certainly a few tracks that have an Iona vibe to them!” You
can listen to two tracks at http://soundcloud.com/dewworship.
More info soon!
“Fun in Farncombe!! – Photo collage on previous page from the
recent Farncombe gig – photos by Stu Leeds and Trevor
Raggatt. To see Stu!s full set go to: www.flickr.com/photos/
stuleeds/sets/72157627897499056/
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