Airbridge (band)

Airbridge is a British progressive rock band, based in Norwich, East Anglia. Initially active during the 1980s, the band spent a long period dormant but creative during the 1990s. Various attempts were made to revive Airbridge in the late 2000s before the band settled on a new 3-piece lineup and finally released new material in 2013.

Various Airbridge members have gone on to play in LaHost, Henry Fool and the live lineup of No-Man.

The initial lineup consisted of Lorenzo Bedini (guitar, keyboard, vocals), Edward Percival (guitar, keyboard, vocals), Sean Godfrey (bass, vocals) and David Beckett (drums). The band toured many of the same venues as groups such as Marillion and Pallas, including several supports and headliners at the Marquee. Bedini's songs featured a strong Barclay James Harvest influence, while Percival composed material in a more mainstream progressive vein with some pop influences.

The band's debut album Paradise Moves was released in 1983, following which the band augmented their lineup by adding Stephen J Bennett on keyboards. The band's next release was the "Words & Pictures" single, which was chosen as a Desert Island Discs favourite by the author Malcolm Bradbury.

In late 1983 Bedini and Bennett both left the band and were replaced by Geoff Chamberlain (guitars), The group recorded a second (unreleased) album, Beyond the Veil, before breaking up at the end of 1983.

After his departure from Airbridge, Lorenzo Bedini would play in a 1960s covers band and run music workshops in a prison. He also played guitar for Arabella Rodriguez, and played on the soundtrack for the David Carradine film Detention.

Following the 1983 breakup of Airbridge, Stephen Bennett and Sean Godfrey formed LaHost, which included drummer Fudge Smith (who'd move on to Pendragon, and Mark Spencer (Twelfth Night & Galahad. Post-LaHost, Sean Godfrey formed the Sonic City Rocker Squad with David Donnelly who caused a brief and minor stir on both sides of the Atlantic. Bennett went on to form The Fire Thieves and collaborated with musicians including Lady Sara Rönneke, David Torn, Hugh Hopper and David Picking. He has also moved into film making (including narrative films and creating music videos for Tim Bowness/Peter Chilvers and No-Man) and technical journalism (writing about Logic music software for Sound on Sound and others, as well as books on the same subject for PC-Publishing). In 2000, he formed the band Henry Fool with Tim Bowness. As of 2008, he is the keyboard player in the live line-up of No-Man.

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