Dave Foster | |
|---|---|
 Foster with Panic Room in 2017. | |
| Background information | |
| Born | January 1971 (age 53) St Helens, Merseyside, England |
| Genres | Progressive rock |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Member of |
|
| Formerly of | Panic Room |
Dave Foster (born January 1971) [1] is an English progressive rock guitarist, known for his work with Steve Rothery, Panic Room [2] and Big Big Train, [3] as well as for leading his own band The Dave Foster Band. [1]
Foster was born in St Helens, Merseyside, he started playing guitar at age 6. In 1987 he started music college in Liverpool before moving to the Leigh College of Music after a year, [4] [lower-alpha 1] where he formed Mr So-&-So with Shaun McGowan (bass & vocals), Leon Parr (drums), Kieren Twist (keyboards) and Charlotte Evans (vocals). Who released three albums before disbanding in 2001. [4]
Prior to recording The Overlap, Foster met Steve Rothery of Marillion, who was a fan of Mr So-&-So and signed the band to his label Dorian Music. [4] [6] Foster formed Sleeping Giant in 2001 with Charlotte Evans on vocals, Leon Parr on drums, Simon Crumley on bass and James Rimmer on keyboards. The band released two EPs (Primates and Embers) before disbanding in 2006. [4]
In 2008, Foster joined the live band for Steve Rothery's folk rock project, The Wishing Tree, [4] which also featured Marillion's Pete Trewavas. [7] In 2011 Foster released his debut solo album Gravity, which featured Dutch vocalist Dinet Poortman, [4] [8] whom he met at Marillion weekend [1] and would regularly collaborate with. [2]
In 2013, Foster joined the Steve Rothery band, alongside Leon Parr (drums), Yatim Halimi (bass) and Riccardo Romano (keyboards) with Martin Jakubski (vocals). [4] Foster co-wrote Rothery's first solo album, The Ghosts Of PripyatI in 2014, which features guest appearances from Steven Wilson and Steve Hackett. [9]
In 2015, Foster joined Welsh progressive rock band, Panic Room, as their lead guitarist on their Wildfire Tour. [10] Appearing on their albums Essence (2015) [11] and Screens – Live In London (2018). [12] Foster left Panic Room in 2018 alongside bassist Yatim Halimi. [13]
Foster released his second solo album, Dreamless, in 2016, again featuring Poortman. He played his debut performance as the Dave Foster Band at the Panic Room Weekend in May 2016, alongside Mr So-&-So member Leon Parr and Poortman. [14] The band third album, Nocebo, was released in 2019 [15] with some shows being played before COVID-19 stopped them. [4] His fourth album Glimmer was released in May 2023. [16]
In 2020, Foster joined the live band of Big Big Train, [17] as a replacement for Dave Gregory, who left earlier that year. [18] Appearing on their albums Common Ground (2021), Welcome To The Planet (2022) and The Likes of Us (2024) and their tours from September 2022. [4] He did not tour with the band in August and September 2023 due to commitments to the Steve Rothery band, for those dates he was replaced by Italian guitarist Maria Barbieri. [19] He is also not going to tour with the band for US tour dates in March 2024, due to travel costs so the band can have a trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist. [20] In June 2024 it was announced that Foster was leaving Big Big Train due to scheduling issues.
2024 saw the release of the third Dave Foster Band album Maybe They'll Come Back For Us (2024) again featuring vocalist Dinet Poortman and drummer Leon Parr alongside various guests including bassists Mark King (Level 42) and Neil Fairclough (Queen & Adam Lambert) as well as piano players Carly Bryant (ex Big Big Train) and Anthony Hindley (ex Mr. So & So).
| Year | Band | Title | Notes | Cite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | The Reasoning | Adventures In Neverland | guitar solo on "No Friend Of Mine" | [36] |
| 2017 | Riccardo Romano Land | B612 | guitars on two tracks | [37] |
| 2021 | Rick Armstrong | Infinite Corridors | guitars on two tracks | [38] |
| 2022 | Spatial Elements | [39] | ||
| 2023 | Chromosphere | [40] |
Marillion are a British neo prog band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becoming the most commercially successful neo-prog band of the 1980s.
Ian F. Mosley is an English drummer. He is best known for his long-time membership of the neo-prog band Marillion, which he joined for their second album, Fugazi, released in 1984. He had previously been an in-demand session drummer. Mosley's abilities have been widely praised, including by former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, Meshuggah drummer Tomas Haake and critic John Franck of AllMusic. Modern Drummer has characterised him as a "drumming great".
Fugazi is the second studio album by the British neo-prog band Marillion, released in 1984. Produced by Nick Tauber, it was recorded between November 1983 and February 1984 at various studios and was the first to feature drummer Ian Mosley, following the dismissal of the band's original drummer Mick Pointer.
Brave is the seventh studio album by Marillion, released in 1994. It charted at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart, being the last of the band's albums to reach the Top 10 in the United Kingdom until F E A R reached number 4 in 2016.
Script for a Jester's Tear is the debut studio album by British neo-prog band Marillion, released in the United Kingdom on 14 March 1983 by EMI Records. The album reached number seven and spent 31 weeks in the UK Albums Chart, eventually achieving a platinum certificate, and produced the top 40 single "He Knows You Know" and the top 20 single "Garden Party".
Steven Rothery is an English musician who is the original guitarist and the longest continuous member of the progressive rock band Marillion. Outside Marillion, Rothery has recorded two albums as part of the duo The Wishing Tree and an instrumental solo album, The Ghosts of Pripyat, released in September 2014. He also founded the British Guitar Academy in 2011.
Seasons End is the fifth studio album by British neo-prog band Marillion, released in 1989. The album was the first to feature current lead vocalist Steve Hogarth, following the departure of former vocalist Fish in late 1988. It reached number 7 on the UK Albums Chart.
Best of Both Worlds is a two-disc compilation album by British neo-prog band Marillion released in 1997 by EMI Records, who the band had been signed to from their debut in 1982 until being dropped in 1995. The title refers to Marillion's two distinct "eras" with lead singers Fish (1980—1988) and Steve Hogarth. By the time this compilation was released, both line-ups had recorded four studio albums each. The second best-of since the 14-track one-disc compilation A Singles Collection from 1992, this one additionally contains material from Brave (1994) and Afraid of Sunlight (1996). Two different covers were created for the compilation, one by Mark Wilkinson, who had worked for the band during the Fish years, and one by Bill Smith Studio, who took over after Fish's and Wilkinson's departure. The booklet was printed so that either of the covers could be displayed in the jewel case according to personal preference. The track list, comprising 29 songs, was put together by Lucy Jordache, then the manager responsible for the band in EMI, in close collaboration with the band's fans' mailing list, "Freaks". Jordache also motivated singers Fish and Hogarth to contribute liner notes—at a time when both camps were not yet on friendly terms again—by telling each of them the other had already agreed to do so.
This Strange Engine is the ninth studio album by the British neo-prog band Marillion, released in April 1997 by the Castle Communications imprint Raw Power. It was the first of the three recordings that Marillion made under contract with Castle, after being dropped by EMI Records in 1995 and before eventually going independent in 2000. The album was recorded at The Racket Club in Buckinghamshire, England, between August and November 1996 and was produced by the band themselves.
Radiation is the tenth studio album by the British neo-prog band Marillion, released in 1998. Recorded at The Racket Club between November 1997 and June 1998, it was co-produced and mixed by Stewart Every. The album was remixed by Michael Hunter in September to November 2012 and a reissued remastered version was released in 2013.
Dave Meegan is an Irish record producer, born in Dublin in 1963. Meegan is best known for his work with Marillion.
Somewhere Else is the fourteenth studio album by British neo-prog band Marillion. It was released by the band's own label, Intact Records, in the United Kingdom on 9 April 2007. Produced by Michael Hunter, the album was recorded during 2006 at The Racket Club in Buckinghamshire, except the track "Faith", written during the Marbles sessions and recorded the previous year.
Happiness Is the Road is Marillion's 15th studio album, released in 2008 as two separate album-length volumes respectively titled Essence and The Hard Shoulder. The overall playing time is 110 minutes, taking it to double album length.
Panic Room is a Welsh progressive rock band founded by former Karnataka members Paul Davies, Jonathan Edwards, Gavin Griffiths, and Anne-Marie Helder; along with bassist Alun Vaughan, in 2006.
Carnival of Souls is the title of the first album by The Wishing Tree, a project by Marillion's guitarist Steve Rothery and singer Hannah Stobart. It was originally released in 1996 on Steve Rothery's short-lived label Dorian Music and was re-released in 2001 on Marillion's label Racket Records. The new version includes some bonus material, two live videos and two demos of previously unreleased songs.
Easter is a song from English neo-prog band Marillion's 1989 album Seasons End, which became a UK Top 40 hit when issued as a single in 1990. Allmusic describe the song as "heartfelt" with an "imaginative electric-acoustic arrangement". As with many Marillion songs, the album version features an extended guitar solo by Steve Rothery, which has become a fan-favourite, although it is heavily edited for the single version. The song was written by singer Steve Hogarth before he joined the band in 1989 and was inspired by The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The title is in reference to Easter 1916 by William Butler Yeats. Portions of the video were filmed on the Giants Causeway.
"Thankyou Whoever You Are" and "Most Toys" are songs recorded by British neo-prog band Marillion which appeared on their 14th studio album, Somewhere Else. They were released on a double A-side single in the United Kingdom and in the Netherlands in June 2007. "Thankyou" is a slow, slightly orchestral ballad arranged in the band's trademark style. In stark contrast, "Most Toys" is simple, rocky and fast, with an anti-consumerism message. It has a running time of 2:49, one of the band's shortest recordings to date, along with the musically similar "Hooks in You" from 1989).
Prog is a British magazine dedicated to progressive rock music, published by Future. The magazine, which is edited by Jerry Ewing, was launched in March 2009 as a spin-off from Classic Rock and covers both past and present artists. Other current staff are Natasha Scharf, Russell Fairbrother, Julian Marszalek, and Dave Everley.
Gregory Spawton is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and founder of English progressive rock band Big Big Train.