Ian Watts

Ian and my dad met for the first time at Liverpool Beatles Week in 2000. They became friends at following Liverpool Beatles Week 2001. So Ian knows me since I was 2. Is that embarrassing? Slightly. When I recorded my first album, it was obvious that we had to have Ian on board. He agreed to do the lead vocals for Innocent.

Some background information

The closing track of Chi Might 1 refers to the opening track and cites the characteristic Piano Octave Bass groove. It’s nice if the first and the last album track form kind of a circle. The odd meter is also taken from the first song. The track is built of Quintuplets. Every 4th note is divided by 5. When the vocals get in at 4:36, the groove returns to ‘normal’.

As mentioned above, Ian took the Lead Vocals. He is also the ‘missing link’ between my dad and Rick Benbow. He was the McCartney impersonator for some of the Beatles projects my dad was involved in. When they toured in the UK with the John Lennon Tribute Show ‘Come Together’ back in 2005, Rick Benbow was their tour keyboardist. Some years later, both Ian and my dad had an idea to record proper music for children, because it didn’t exist. They launched quite a few albums together, basically Ian Watts, Rick Benbow and my dad. Another musician who was involved in the Children’s music albums is Mat Williams (featured on Chi Might II).
So this is a bit of ‘Let’s bring the band together again’ story. Rick did all the synths for this song, my dad did the Piano bass, the electric bass, the backing vocals and all guitars, apart from the 6 String Nylon. That Nylon String Guitar was played by Michael Bonet, who collaborated with us on Dream Theater’s ‘Take The Time’ off the Images & Words Album, together with Denny Anthony.

Anyway, this is an excerpt of the Beatles Tribute Show Ian and my dad were involved in together (Ian is the Paul guy, my dad is the George guy)