Francis Dunnery
“I’ve been a fan since 1987, but I found him by accident. I’d gone to see Go West and Marillion in
Birmingham, and instead of going to the bar I caught the first support band. It Bites came on and I was like, ‘Who the hell are these?’ Francis stood out straight away. Everything was wrong about him – the stance, the way he held his guitar just under his neck, his image. Then he started playing and I was hooked. You could tell there was something totally different about the band. I’d not heard anything like it, although I was 17 and had been listening to Marillion, Yes and Genesis from tuning in to Radio Luxembourg.
“It Bites never had a pigeonhole, but once they brought out Once Around
The World in 1988 that was the game changer for me. Although it was a dirty word then, this was definitely prog. And in my humble opinion it is the greatest album ever made [laughs]. Everything about Francis and his guitar playing was so different, you had to listen to him five times to work out what he was playing. Once Around The World’s title track is 14 and a half minutes long, with several parts to it. This is the album where the band experimented. “I followed It Bites until they split in 1990, and Francis was like a proper rock god – long blond hair, stage presence, performance. Then his solo work continued to push the boundaries and every album was totally different to what he’d done before – he even put the electric guitar away for a decade and just played acoustic. Who does that?
“I’ve become friends with him over the last six, seven years and I absolutely love his honesty. It’s made him some enemies in the press over the years but he doesn’t give a damn. He doesn’t compromise there, or with his music, his attitude is so refreshing.
“The one thing he’s retained is accessibility. Even the fans from the early days can listen to him now and still latch on to things. His music might be complicated but he always has a real catchy hook. He’s come back recently revisiting It Bites songs and he’s playing them even better now.
“I love a sweeping statement, so I’ll say Francis Dunnery is the greatest guitarist of my generation. And he’s an amazing character.”