Music:
Member Since: 11/20/2006
Band Website: bandofrain.com
Band Members: Sharon Leslie - Vocals----
Louise Bigden - Keyboards /backing vox----
Graham Elks - Guitar----
Andy Whitfield - Bass----
Me - Guitar----
???????????? - Drums----Chris Gill began playing guitar at 13,and learned like so many playing along to Hendrix and Cream records.He really got in to it after seeing The Groundhogs and more specifically Tony T.S.McPhee. It wasn't long before he had a school band together called "Gondolin" performing Groundhogs/King Crimson/Free covers.
Inevitably they split up after leaving school, and Chris played with various different bands in the then thriving Bedford U.K. music scene. Prowl, and The Eyes of Eleanor being 2 of them.
He got invited to a Bath Arts workshop which was to introduce him to the world of improvisation. Chris, Mike Westbrook - Lol Coxhill (Kevin Ayers - National Health) and the mighty George Khan (Robert Wyatt) and members of the Global Village Trucking Company played non stop for about 6 hours, even through a Hawkwind gig that was going on in the next room, without playing the same thing twice.In fact when the Hawkwind gig finished, they came on stage and jammed along too.
Chris saw a whole new way of making music through improvisation. He tried for a few years to recreate the magic of Bath but it never really worked.Chris played on the fringes of festivals such as Stonehenge (before it was stopped) Bath and occassionally Glastonbury jamming along with as many different types of musician he could find.This was where Chris prefered to be, as that was where "raw" music was being made, and , there were so many different influences. It was to prove a very fortunate learning curve. About this time the UK music scene was moving from Glam rock in to Punk, and so like many others he decided to try the USA .
Having moved to Houston Texas he eventually found a club there called Carnabys in the bohemian Montrose area. Here he met a whole bunch of like minded musicians.They soon put a band together, and found themselves playing at various universities and clubs across the southern states.
However after an accident following a gig at The University of Arizona in Tuscon, Chris stopped playing for a while as he had broken most of his fingers. He drifted in to Los Angeles, and made some "pocket money" coaching an actress (who will remain nameless) to talk with an English accent. However, he still found time to work with new bands that were trying to get off the ground.But it was no substitute for playing.He decided to move back to the UK and start again.He bought himself another guitar, and got his fingers working properly again. Chris could not find work anywhere and so joined the Forces and was sent overseas.
Got heavily in to The Enid while in the army in Germany and decided to buy out and take up the guitar and keyboard as a combination.Some of Chris's vibrato was developed listening to the style of Francis Lickerish (Enid founder member)
Later
Working and talking with Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) and Adrian Belew ( King Crimson) on various projects,he decided to go out on his own and went in to the studio shortly after, and the result was Deep Space.
Because he wanted to try to make a new kind of music, he took on the debut album playing all the instruments himself. His wife Katrina who is also a musician played the flute on "Casanova of the Cliff Dwellers" Old pal Andy Fisher performed the vocals on 3 of the tracks.
Deep Space has been out since September 2004, and has been very well received. There are already fans all over the world and word is spreading fast. In Sept 2005 Chris released his second album called Garlands. It got rave reviews from day one with many people nominating it in the top 3 albums of 2005 for this particular genre of Symphonic rock. In Brazil the album Garlands was nominated as the best band and album for January 2006.
2207 saw the release of the 3rd album Arts & Allurements. It came out in May and has had fantastic reviews.
There is a 4th now in the pipeline that has already been started.It will be called The Craft and will be out in 2008.
Influences: In non specific order :
Alchohol - Pink Floyd -Tangerine Dream - Soft Machine -Hawkwind - The Enid - Groundhogs - King Crimson - Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Renaissance - Rammstein - Rush - Gong - Steve Hillage - Todd Rundgren.
Sounds Like: Band of Rain, but there are many influences. That said with each album we get a little darker!
Record Label: AmBeCa U.S.
Type of Label: None
