BJ Cole (pedal steel guitar, lap steel, dobro)

Described by Sting as "simply the best pedal steel guitarist in the world", for over 50 years BJ has cut an astonishing career both as a seasoned sessioneer and live musician, and also as a distinguished artist and composer in his own right. His unique playing has graced innumerable sessions and live performances. This includes work for artists as varied as: Bjork, Sir Elton John, Robert Plant, REM, Sting, Groove Armada, Spiritualized, Noel Gallagher, Marc Bolan, Lionel Ritchie, Pink Floyd, Scott Walker, The Verve, Jools Holland, Roger Daltrey, Tom Jones, Womack and Womack, Martin Simpson, John Cale, Depeche Mode, Marianne Faithful, The Stranglers, Rocky, Robbie Williams, Katie Melua, Elvis Costello, The Orb, and Shania Twain. He has released two albums of his own as The Transparent Music Ensemble, and two albums of collaborations including Stop The Panic with Luke Vibert. BJ secured a co-write of the track Westside Highway with US rapper ASAP Rocky on his 2015 No.1 US Album At. Long. Last. A$AP. He frequently performs live with cellist Emily Burridge playing their chamber interpretations of works by Satie, Debussy, and Purcell. In 2020 BJ released a new album Daydream Smile influenced by the Hawaiian musical roots of the pedal steel guitar. website | facebook | wikipedia | instagram
Icebreaker Icebreaker are a 12-piece contemporary music group founded by James Poke and James Godfrey in 1989. Since then Icebreaker have developed into one of the most exciting and cutting edge contemporary music ensembles in the world. Their characteristically individual repertoire includes some of the best known and most influential composers in contemporary music such as Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Michael Nyman, Brian Eno, and Michael Gordon. Icebreaker create music that appeals to contemporary classical, rock, and alternative audiences alike, and they have appeared at most major contemporary music festivals around the world. Given their unusual instrumentation of guitars electric strings, keyboards, pan-pipes, saxes, accordian, drums and distinctive amplified sound, Icebreaker represent a unique voice in British music. More recently Icebreaker have also incorporated more ambient repertoire particularly in their recent multi-media live appearances with BJ Cole in Brian Eno, Roger Eno and Daniel Lanois' Apollo;, their multi media interpretations of the early works of Kraftwerk in Kraftwerk Uncovered and Scott Walker's Epizootics! featuring the singer's original vocal. The group will be releasing a succession of monthly singles from their collected performances through 2021. website | wikipedia | instagram
Anthony Phillips Anthony Phillips is a composer /guitarist who is a prolific writer of music for film and television as well as a recording artist. He was a founding member of the band Genesis alongside Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks with whom he recorded the albums: From Genesis To Revelation and Trespass.
Anthony released his debut solo album on Virgin Records, The Geese & The Ghost, in 1977 and since then has created a large and diverse output.
Commissions for film and television have included scores for both dramas and documentaries and he has written and recorded music for over a dozen Survival programs in collaboration with percussion virtuoso Joji Hirota, including the award-winning Land of Dragons and Creatures of the Magic Water. Anthony Phillips has also established himself as one of the most prolific and successful composers of library music. In 2019 Anthony released his thirty-fifth solo album Strings of Light where he is featured performing unaccompanied on various guitars and stringed instruments from his collection. website | facebook | wikipedia
YOVA YOVA YOVA are an analogue songwriting duo from London via Macedonia featuring Jova Radevska (vocals/lyrics) with Mark Vernon (music). Their debut album ‘Nine Lives’ was released in 2021 to critical press acclaim and preceded by a series of singles all of which received Airplay on national radio.
Several of their songs have been radically remixed by the likes of Erasure’s Vince Clarke (Rain) and Anni Hogan (Where There’s Smoke). An EDM remix of ‘You’re The Mirror’ by the DJ’s Ranji and Ghostrider has to date received over a million streams.
The duo have produced accompanying videos to each single and ‘An Innocent Man’ directed by Jess Cope scooped the award for Best Animated Music Video 2022 at the New York Animation Awards.
More recently they have been working on a series of videos with the young directors Philip Reinking and Tom Linton.
YOVA have performed many of the songs from ‘Nine Lives’ alongside new material and a smattering of cover versions at a series of headline shows. They are accompanied onstage by Alex Thomas (Anna Calvi/ John Cale/ Air) on bass and often they have been joined by BJ Cole on pedal steel guitar and TJ Owusu on Weissenborn.
The duo are currently working on a new album set for release in 2024. This will feature contributions from many of the musicians who appeared on ‘Nine Lives’: Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey, Marianne Faithfull) Daniel O’Sullivan (Sunn 0))), Grumbling Fur), Terry Edwards (Nick Cave, Tom Waits), James Sedwards (Thurston Moore) BJ Cole and Alex Thomas.
The album is being mixed by Grammy nominated Cameron Craig. website | facebook | instagram