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Dr. Occulator View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: It Bites just might
    Posted: November 23 2006 at 20:14
News of a reunion of It Bites, a tour, and new album in the works causes me to ask oone question.
All members with the exception of Francis Dunnery have rejoined with guitarist John Mitchell, formerly of Arena.
My take on this is that without Francis Dunnery it is just not It Bites; as he wrote most of the songs, lyrics, sang and played incredible guitar.
What are your opinions?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 23 2006 at 21:38
First question: Has Mitchell left Arena?

Secondly, from what I've heard of old It Bites....well,....it bit! I couldn't even listen to it. Now, however, with Mitchell in Drunnery's spot, I'm (somewhat) excited. I like what Mitchell has done outside of Arena (Kino, Frost*), so I see it as a pretty exciting project. Not sure if it should be considered It Bites; but, seeing as I didn't much care for the original, I'm pretty indifferent.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 24 2006 at 04:22
Originally posted by Dr. Occulator Dr. Occulator wrote:

News of a reunion of It Bites, a tour, and new album in the works causes me to ask oone question.
All members with the exception of Francis Dunnery have rejoined with guitarist John Mitchell, formerly of Arena.
My take on this is that without Francis Dunnery it is just not It Bites; as he wrote most of the songs, lyrics, sang and played incredible guitar.
What are your opinions?
 
That's exactly what I think. No Dunnery, no really interesting IT BITES.
 
The new incarnation with Mitchell seems more like a continuation of KINO.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 24 2006 at 07:54
Originally posted by Dr. Occulator Dr. Occulator wrote:

News of a reunion of It Bites, a tour, and new album in the works causes me to ask oone question.
All members with the exception of Francis Dunnery have rejoined with guitarist John Mitchell, formerly of Arena.
My take on this is that without Francis Dunnery it is just not It
Bites; as he wrote most of the songs, lyrics, sang and played
incredible guitar.
What are your opinions?



I agree. Dunnery's voice and guitar playing was such an important part of the IB sound. Is John Mitchel the singer on Arenas 'Contagion' albim?? If so, he's completely wrong for It Bites. That said the only singers I could imagine replacing Dunnery is Fish or Peter Gabriel ..and lets face it, that aint gonna happen..
      
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 24 2006 at 08:32
Without Dunnery's excellent voice and guitar-playing, it won't be It Bites. He was with them when they disbanded, unlike Genesis who lost Gabriel and we ended up tolerating Phil Collins to a greater or lesser extent for a significant part of the bands history - a pity Kevin Gilbert never made it to those try-outs to replace Collins.
 
Read somewhere that Robert Plant once had most of the musicians of It Bites as his touring band - but not as It Bites. Jakko Jakszyk had all of Japan minus David Sylvian for one of his albums - but they didn't call themselve Japan for that gig.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 24 2006 at 19:36
Originally posted by Blacksword Blacksword wrote:

Originally posted by Dr. Occulator Dr. Occulator wrote:

News of a reunion of It Bites, a tour, and new album in the works causes me to ask oone question.
All members with the exception of Francis Dunnery have rejoined with guitarist John Mitchell, formerly of Arena.
My take on this is that without Francis Dunnery it is just not It
Bites; as he wrote most of the songs, lyrics, sang and played
incredible guitar.
What are your opinions?



I agree. Dunnery's voice and guitar playing was such an important part of the IB sound. Is John Mitchel the singer on Arenas 'Contagion' albim?? If so, he's completely wrong for It Bites. That said the only singers I could imagine replacing Dunnery is Fish or Peter Gabriel ..and lets face it, that aint gonna happen..
      


That's Rob Sowden on Contagion. Mitchell is strictly the guitarist for Arena with some occasional back up vocals. If you hear him on Kino's Picture you'll hear that he's actually got a pretty good voice.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 26 2006 at 19:12
Oh God, don't get me started. I absolutely ADORED It Bites. OK, from an implacable enemy of all neo-prog, this might sound strange. But for once I found a band who weren't afraid to sound like Yes and Duran Duran all in one musical paragraph. In the late 80s, this was to commit critical suicide - yet people still packed Hammersmith Odeon to see them. Even as a prog fan I LOVE good pop music, and the thing that always bugged me about neo-prog was that it never owned up to its pop influences. It Bites welcomed those influences - hell, they even made me dance - and in doing so created more good tunes than any other 80s prog band. Once Around The World should be in every prog fan's Top 30 tracks, despite the cheesy 80s synths. There are also hints of a proto-prog-metal style here too, but I could go on for ever... it's a shame (if inevitably) that it'll be a Dunnery-free gig, but if John Beck's writing is as good as it was, then I will be first in the queue for any follow-up album. Go for it, boys, and damn the torpedoes!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 27 2006 at 03:29

I'm certain John Mitchell has not left Arena, the members of that band tend to participate in many projects. His involvement here will be as a result of his work with Kino.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 28 2006 at 18:52
Thanks to all for your comments.
Still think FD is irreplacable in It Bites but I'll keep an open mind.
BTW Dunnery's solo stuff is great. Really shows alot of songwriting diversity. Will bee looking forward to some new stuff.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 29 2006 at 05:34
Originally posted by Paul Stump Paul Stump wrote:

Oh God, don't get me started. I absolutely ADORED It Bites. OK, from an implacable enemy of all neo-prog, this might sound strange. But for once I found a band who weren't afraid to sound like Yes and Duran Duran all in one musical paragraph. !
 
Paul, interesting what you say wrt Yes and Duran Duran - and I'm also not a great fan of neo-prog but It Bites works mighty well for me. I hear Genesis (in the main body of the tunes, especially the verses) and UK (in the guitar-work). There is an interview with Francis Dunnery in one of the UK guitar magazines of  late 80's, where for three pages the talk was a lot about  Genesis (Peter Gabriel) and Allan Holdsworth.
 
Somebody mentioned Dunnery's solo recordings - I strongly recommend Tall Blonde Helicopter for a range of excellent, quirky rock-pop tunes with interesting lyrics, and a superb cover of Cat Stevens' Father & Son, where Dunnery vocally goes through Gabriel then Stevens' vocal-like qualities before coming out as himself. And his unplugged, humorously risque, One Night In Sauchiehall Street is a bit of an eye-opener.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 29 2006 at 07:15
Here is a video clip I found on YouTube. (Interview with Francis "Frank" Dunnery and the making of "Once around the World")
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 29 2006 at 13:44
I guess, we have to keep in mind one thing: When talking about It Bites 2006, we should not make the mistake to compare John Mitchell with the Francis Dunnery of 1989, we should rather compare John M. with the Francis D. of 2006 - I am absolutely sure that John M. nowadays is the best possible frontman for IB, much better than the FD of today, cause he is young, fresh, he totally rocks on the electric guitar and he is a great singer. (When did FD last pick up an electric guitar? He became more of a mellow singer/songwriter over the years.)
I see the new It Bites as a second incarnation of a band idea and I am totally looking forward to it. I cannot understand why people say that they won`t even check out the new IB. If the band would have given itself a completely different name, you surely would have checked it out, wouldn`t you? Very strange point of view, if you ask me.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 29 2006 at 14:39
Originally posted by Mategra Mategra wrote:

Here is a video clip I found on YouTube. (Interview with Francis "Frank" Dunnery and the making of "Once around the World")

    
Nice clip! Thankyou for sharing that Mategra.. Great to see them at work.

It's a tragedy what happened to It Bites. I must have seen them live about 5 times, and they always rocked! So tight, and with probably the best live sound I'd ever heard. 'Once around the World' is among my favourite albums of the 80's. Frank was such a brilliant musician, and so young when they made that album.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 30 2006 at 15:09
Well, thanks to Dr Occulator I'm hooked on It Bites again. I've listened to 'Once around the World' twice today..

Such good memories..
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 30 2006 at 18:30
Hey Blacksword; Glad I could oblige.
Just played 'Rose Marie' cranked.
Never get tired of that great groove.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 01 2006 at 05:13
Originally posted by Dr. Occulator Dr. Occulator wrote:

Hey Blacksword; Glad I could oblige.
Just played 'Rose Marie' cranked.
Never get tired of that great groove.



Yep! Thats a rocker, I love that one.
     
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 01 2006 at 09:51
One thing that has not been mentioned her crucially IMHO, is that Kino have been playing It Bites numvers live for a couple of years now - and playing them very well indeed and to rapturous receptions from the audience as well.
 
So that's obviously where the idea and indeed the demand came from - you already had almost half of the original band in Kino anyway, so it made sense to take it the whole way.
 
As for the 'No Dunnery, no It Bites' opinions, I think it's obvious Frank would never want to go back to those days, he is a very distinctive performer, a great songwriter and has his own path to follow - let the man do what he wants to do, rather than somehow bemoaning the fact that he has 'turned his back' on the reunion.
 
I am a fan of It Bites from way back, and as Paul said most prog fans I know have a copy of All Around The World in their collection, that is certainly the band at their proggiest. Problem is at that time the record company wanted to market them as a synth pop/boy band, and dressed them in the fashions of the day and it just didn't work.
 
Most people know the band from the Calling All The Heroes single, and if you ever see the video it's hilarious - they do indeed look like Duran Duran. But the albums showed there is much more to them.
 
I'm certainly up for this, and I think the purists and naysayers who seem to think this is not going to work without Dunnery are misguided - everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think this should be given a fair crack of the whip.
 
I have seen most of this lineup do this live already, and I am convinced it will work.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 01 2006 at 11:48
Originally posted by Paul Stump Paul Stump wrote:

Oh God, don't get me started. I absolutely ADORED It Bites. OK, from an implacable enemy of all neo-prog, this might sound strange. But for once I found a band who weren't afraid to sound like Yes and Duran Duran all in one musical paragraph. In the late 80s, this was to commit critical suicide - yet people still packed Hammersmith Odeon to see them. Even as a prog fan I LOVE good pop music, and the thing that always bugged me about neo-prog was that it never owned up to its pop influences. It Bites welcomed those influences - hell, they even made me dance - and in doing so created more good tunes than any other 80s prog band. Once Around The World should be in every prog fan's Top 30 tracks, despite the cheesy 80s synths. There are also hints of a proto-prog-metal style here too, but I could go on for ever... it's a shame (if inevitably) that it'll be a Dunnery-free gig, but if John Beck's writing is as good as it was, then I will be first in the queue for any follow-up album. Go for it, boys, and damn the torpedoes!


I kind of agree here, I too loved IB ...back in the day....but I was a girlie in late teens and it was great stuff!
I disagree slightly about "neo" never owning up to it's influences, cos way back then who had heard of or used the term "neo"? I know of a lot of these bands who today would be termed NEO who will claim a lot of pop influences. I think the new/young bands playing "Neo" are a bit more likely to disclaim pop influences, but I do happen to think that in the '80s and v. early 90's britain was blessed with some top notch pop!

Wether you consider IB to be pop-ish prog or prog-ish pop is purely academic, I liked 'em VERY much what ever tag they had. For me, yeah I might be intrigued anough to try and get to see em play (I saw JB & JM do an acoustic set at Sum's End and enjoyed it) but if I close my eyes and think of IB I do think of Frank..... sorry, but that's they way it is, maybe they could have carried on being Kino ?
There are a lot of "nostalgia" gigs around these days, cos all those teens of the 80's are now middle aged, have more disposable income (theoretically) and despereately want to "recapture" the days ......

So in summary.....(phew- I hear you cry!) I'm not really sure on this one, I think it's great that they are doing what they are doing, but I also think that JM and the rest of the band will need a lot of dedicated comitment to make this one work and for folk to get over the whole Frank thing.

For the record though, I have a couple of Urbane cd's & JM really shines there, very IB-ish stuff, I really like it!

P-C
    
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 01 2006 at 12:17
Originally posted by Alan Smithee Alan Smithee wrote:

One thing that has not been mentioned her crucially IMHO, is that Kino have been playing It Bites numvers live for a couple of years now - and playing them very well indeed and to rapturous receptions from the audience as well.
 
So that's obviously where the idea and indeed the demand came from - you already had almost half of the original band in Kino anyway, so it made sense to take it the whole way.
 
 
Actually, their homepage had announced a reunion long before the Kino thing. And, as I remember, WITH Dunnery. But they kept on postponing it for 2 or so years and in the meantime Kino surfaced. See, I know because I am also attracted by their music and therefore return to their homepage frequently.
 
"Once around the world" was produced by Steve Hillage, wasn't it?


Edited by earlyprog - December 01 2006 at 12:18
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