IAN WHO?
Definitely not the Bass Player in Judas Priest...
Born in Manchester, England, sometime in the last Century, I have spent the majority of my life thrashing out chords on numerous guitars or coaxing ethereal soundscapes out of various keyboards and synthesizers.
I've even been known to hit a drum or two, but we won't go into that...
Music has been my main passion for as long as I can remember.
I first showed an interest in playing guitar when I was about 11.
I signed up for guitar lessons when I started Secondary School but, devastated that the teacher wanted to show me how to play a Classical piece or something of that ilk, rather than a heads down, no nonsense, 3 Chord rocker, I never went back after lesson one.
Big mistake and one I've always regretted, but hey - I was 11.
Instead, I would sit in my bedroom with my brother's guitar, trying to work out how to play some of the great music I had been exposed to as a kid, courtesy of said brother and my other brother and sister.
By the time I was 16 I had formed a band with some school mates and played my first gigs.
The band was called Moonchild (name checked by one Johnny Marr of The Smiths many years later in his autobiography) and we played covers of songs by Rock bands such as Free, Deep Purple and Status Quo - the latter being the band I grew up listening to and followed for many years thereafter.
It was at this point that I also began writing music and songs of my own.
I was well and truly bitten by the music bug and I dreamed of fame and fortune as a Rock Star.
(Funnily enough, I still do!)
My musical tastes became quite diverse and I was as happy listening to the likes of Genesis, Mike Oldfield or Vangelis as I was rocking out to Quo, AC/DC or Motörhead.
By the time I was 17 or 18, I was coming up with ideas for my own rock songs but also had a desire to compose a long instrumental piece, having been captivated by Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells and his later album 'Ommadawn'.
The rock songs found an outlet when I formed a band called Rhino when I was 20 and later with another band called RedSky.
The instrumental ideas were recorded on a basic cassette recorder for future reference...
Over the years, I gigged all over the UK playing my own songs with the aforementioned bands, but commercial success always eluded us and the dream of fame, fortune and Rock Star status remained just that - a dream.
But, once a musician, always a musician and subsequent musical endeavours have included a 5 year stint in a cabaret duo with my (now) Wife and hundreds of gigs with rock Tribute bands State of Quo and Motörheadache.
In 2011, I also wrote and recorded an album of original material as a personal tribute to Status Quo, my first musical love, called "Keep On Rockin' On!"
One thing that has never changed is the desire to make music, whether it be live on stage or writing and recording.
Over the years I have written over 200 songs and composed numerous instrumental pieces - most of which have never been heard by anyone but myself.
In March 2020, the World became a different place when the global Covid-19 Pandemic began.
For bands and musicians everywhere, the world ground to a halt.
Gigs became a distant memory.
When the first UK Lockdown was imposed, I decided to use my time to revisit some of my old music projects.
The main project I worked on was an instrumental piece I originally started when I was 17.
This project was a Progressive Rock style concept album called 'Arik's Journey' - inspired and influenced by the likes of Genesis and Steve Hackett, Yes, Vangelis and one of my biggest musical heroes, Mike Oldfield.
Having previously produced several demo versions of it between 1980 and 1996, I set about recording a final definitive version of Arik's Journey, which I completed in May 2021.
Arik's Journey is available to listen to (for free!) and Download at: www.musicianhill.bandcamp.com
Due to Bandcamp's file upload limits, the album is split into 3 parts, but the full un-edited 49 minute piece is available as a CD Album here: www.musicianhill.bigcartel.com
My intention now is to record as many of my old songs and instrumental pieces as I can and publish them via this website.
Currently vying for first place in the queue is a 'follow up' to "Keep On Rockin' On!" - cunningly titled
"Can't Stop Rockin' On!" - plus a collection of some of the songs I wrote for and performed with the band RedSky, between 1986 - 1993.
I have also been working on another long instrumental piece - originally intended as a follow up to Arik's Journey - most of which was written in the mid 1980s.
Please follow the links at the top of the page for further information about each individual project.
Stay safe and Keep Rockin'
Ian Hill
August 2021
*Updated 9/4/24