BAND: It Bites

WHERE: Manchester Academy 3

WHEN: Saturday, March 6

The prog heroes are back on the march, and vocalist/guitarist John Mitchell is in a very upbeat mood about the band’s present condition and situation.

“It’s a really good time for us right now. Not only does the band really very strong, but the whole prog thing has taken off again. I’m not saying that we are as big as, say, Porcupine Tree, who’ve recently charted, but we can do reasonably sized venues like the Academy 3 in Manchester. We are attracting decent crowds.”

Mitchell and the rest of It Bites – bassist/backing vocalist Lee Pomeroy, keyboard player/backing vocalist John Beck and drummer/backing vocalist Bob Dalton – will include tracks from current album, 2008’s The Tall Ships, which is in keeping with the band’s tradition for giving new stuff an airing.

“It’s what this band have always done,” says Mitchell. “In fact, It Bites have been known to open their set with an obscure B-side! So our audience knows to expect the unexpected form us anyway.”

One song that will definitely be included and that’s Calling All The Heroes, which reached number six in the UK singles charts in 1986 – and remains the band’s biggest success.

“We’d never complain about having to do that. What would be the point? But this time there’s added reason for including this, as we’ve re-recorded it with members of Marillion and also John Wetton of Asia. This is to raise money for victims of the recent floods in Cumbria.

“The single’s just been released, so the more exposure we can give it the better.”

Support comes from highly rated English blues-rock guitarist Aynsley Lister.

“He’s not someone I’m familiar with,” admits Mitchell. “But I know he has an excellent reputation, and it should make for a good bill. It’s nice to have that variation, rather than two acts who are very similar.”

The rest of the It Bites/Anysley Lister dates are:

March 7: Sheffield Memorial Hall

March 9: Gateshead Sage

March 10: Leamington Spa Assembly

March 11: Oxford O2 Academy

March 12: Bristol Tunnels

Marc 14: London Islington O2 Academy

For further info, go to www.itbites.com