Collection: IQ

With a 40 year history, IQ are one of the world’s most highly respected progressive rock bands.

Formed in 1981 by guitarist Mike Holmes and keyboard player Martin Orford, they recruited bassist Tim Esau that year, followed by vocalist Peter Nicholls and drummer Paul Cook in 1982, when they released their first cassette album ‘Seven Stories Into Eight’. Constant gigging throughout the UK led to them becoming a regular fixture at London’s legendary Marquee Club where their first vinyl album ‘Tales From The Lush Attic’ was released in 1983, followed by the classic ‘The Wake’ in 1985 and the live set ‘Living Proof’ in 1986.

1985 saw the departure of Peter Nicholls at the end of a UK tour supporting Wishbone Ash. With new singer Paul Menel, the band secured a lucrative record deal with Phonogram and released studio albums ‘Nomzamo’ in 1987 and ‘Are You Sitting Comfortably?’ in 1989. Both albums were promoted by extensive European tours, with Magnum and Mike And The Mechanics, respectively. Dissatisfied with the lack of support from Phonogram, Paul Menel and Tim Esau left IQ in 1990. The remaining members recruited Les 'Ledge' Marshall on bass. That year, Peter Nicholls rejoined the band but tragedy struck when Ledge died suddenly and unexpectedly in the summer.

1991's ‘J'ai Pollette D'arnu’ was the first release on Giant Electric Pea, a new label founded by members and associates of IQ. With new bassist John Jowitt the band toured UK, Europe and North America previewing material from the critically acclaimed ‘Ever’, released in 1993. A further three studio albums were released by this line up: Subterranea (1997), The Seventh House (2000), Dark Matter (2005), along with the sumptuous live box set ‘Forever Live’ (1996), the re-recorded cassette album 'Seven Stories into 98' (1998), a rarities album ‘The Lost Attic’ (1999) and the live DVDs ‘Subterranea: The Concert’ (2004) and ‘IQ20’, the 20th Anniversary Concert DVD recorded two-years earlier. 

In 2005, Paul Cook left the band to be replaced by Andy Edwards (ex-Robert Plant Band) who features on the 2-DVD live set ‘Stage’, filmed in the USA and Germany that year. Another line-up change followed in 2007 with the departure of Martin Orford. The band enlisted keyboardist Mark Westworth and, after a short hiatus IQ’s ninth studio album, ‘Frequency’ was released in 2009. Andy Edwards’ decision to leave the band to focus on his teaching career soon after led to the return of original drummer Paul Cook, and in 2010 IQ marked the 25th anniversary of their seminal album ‘The Wake’ with a deluxe four-disc collector’s box set. The accompanying tour resulted in a live DVD of the album performed in its entirety. At the end of the year, Mark Westworth and John Jowitt both announced their departures from the group.

2011 was IQ’s 30th anniversary year and saw the arrival of keyboard player Neil Durant and the welcome return of original bassist Tim Esau. In 2012 for the 15th anniversary of ‘Subterranea’ IQ re-staged the original show with improved technology and production values, followed a year later with a 30th anniversary deluxe remix edition of ‘Tales From The Lush Attic’.

IQ’s eleventh studio album, ‘The Road Of Bones’, was released in 2014 to universal acclaim gathering numerous ‘album of the year’ awards, followed in 2015 by the double ‘Live On The Road Of Bones’ album. A film by independent film maker Matt Miller based on the ‘Subterranea’ album was commercially released in 2016 and the soundtrack to the film by Mike Holmes featured a specially recorded new IQ song written exclusively for the film. IQ’s first BluRay ‘Scrape Across The Sky’ was released in 2017, whilst later that year to celebrate 20 years of the infamous IQ 'Christmas Bashes' the band gave away copies of the ‘Tales From A Dark  Christmas’ seasonally-themed CD to everyone attending the 2017 Xmas concerts in London and Holland.

2018 saw IQ celebrate the 25th anniversary of ‘Ever’ at concerts throughout Europe and North America and a deluxe three-disc version of ‘Ever’ was released featuring remixes, surround-sound and live versions and ‘further listening’ files. The long-awaited new double album ‘Resistance’ was released in 2019 with many claiming it was their best album yet, a real accolade for a group that started some 38 years previous.

With major celebrations planned for IQ’s 40th anniversary in 2021, including the release of a comprehensive band biography and several other surprises, IQ retain a unique place as one of the leading progressive rock bands of the past four decades.