Story-time again - back in the late 80s, as a fledgling bassist, I was a huge fan of Nick Beggs. In fact, still am a huge fan of Nick Beggs. He was the bassist in Kajagoogoo, then in Ellis, Beggs and Howard, and from there he joined a gospel/prog/ambient/new-age band called Iona. I was rather excited about this, as I tended to follow what was going on with his career.
One of their first gigs (if not their first gig) as a full band was at Greenbelt in 1990. It was my first year, and as an excitable music-lovin' 17 year old, I spent the entire weekend watching bands. Over 60, if I remember rightly. Iona were a few days into the fest, in a venue called The River - lots of acoustic stuff, music for grown ups. I went in there a couple of hours before they were on, to see the rest of the afternoon line-up (including, I seem to remember, the wonderful Ben Okafor...) But not having slept more than about 2 hours for the previous 3 or 4 days, not long after I sat down, I was fast asleep. In the middle of the tent.
I woke up to see Iona leaving the stage. I only knew it was them cos I recognised Nick disappearing off to the side, not to return. I'd missed their entire set.
So not really the theme of the day, but then, never let rules get in the way of a good story. Here's what Iona sound like when you're awake.
As a footnote, for you history-buffs, my relationship with the band/Nick went thusly - in 95, when Tim Harries (who had replaced Nick on bass) left Iona, I was asked by a mutual friend of the band if I was interested in auditioning... I said no, thinking I probably wasn't up to it.. and there's no knowing whether they'd have liked my playing anyway (Phil Barker who got the gig was very good... lots better than I was, so I'm pretty sure he'd have got the gig anyway..)
Another couple of years after that, Nick was in a band called Ragatal - a quartet of spanish guitar, elec, violin, tabla and chapman stick. I went to their first gig too (didn't fall asleep) at the indian high commission, and was suitably blown away. So when Nick had to leave the band due to other commitments (heading out on tour with Howard Jones), I was asked to join, and we did an album (called Fragments Of Grace, billed as Jason Carter And Ragatal).
When Nick then got hired to join John Paul Jones' trio, it clashed with his Howard Jones touring commitment, and as I'd been helping him out with some of the theory-side of Johns very complex music, he put me up for the gig with Howard, which I did.
And finally, in 2008, I recorded an album with Dave Bainbridge, the guitar player in Iona. He was putting together a new band (called Open Sky), and so I went and played on the album, and did a short tour with them. Here's some video footage from the sessions.