Best known for fronting It Bites during their 80s heyday, Francis Dunnery has gone back to his Cumbrian roots on his latest solo album, England’s Tales Of The Council House Kid. He tells Prog the story behind it, outlines his future with John Payne’s Asia, and reveals possible 40th-anniversary plans for It Bites.
OK, let’s address the elephant in the room: England’s Tales Of The Council House Kid is not a progressive rock album. Nevertheless, its creator remains among the most fascinating and unpredictable artists around. Guitarist Francis Dunnery was a driving force behind It Bites, one of the most exciting and promising prospects of the 1980s – until he bewildered and dismayed his bandmates by walking away from the Cumbrian prog-pop outfit in Los Angeles during the preparation of a fourth album that was expected to break them commercially.
