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This page is in support of the CD "Night Mission : Anthology" compiled by Keith Wilby, Feb - April 2003.
Click here for a sample Please contact me (master <at> keithwilby <dot> org <dot> uk) if you'd like a copy of the CD. About the CD
Night Mission were a rock band of twenty-somethings based in north-east Lancashire. It was 1985 and I was beginning to think that it was about time I recorded some of the songs I had amassed since I left "Risk" in 1978. An old school-mate of mine suggested that I give ex-Oxym guitarist Rob Rigby a try-out. Rob came to my house in Blackburn one sunny afternoon and we sang a few old Pink Floyd songs across our acoustic guitars. I got on well with Rob and he played and sang very well. I don't know whose idea it was, but the decision was made to form a band.
I'd made it clear from the outset that I wanted to be in a band that featured keyboards. For a drummer Rob suggested his good friend and ex-Oxym drummer Mik Wilson, who also had been in a studio band with bassist Andy Dewhurst who wanted to progress to keyboard. You still with me? Good. So before we knew what was happening we were four musicians making our first rehearsals in the old Salvation Army building in Accrington.
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We wrote mostly our own songs. I was keen to develop a song-writing partnership with Rob but, sadly, it never really worked out. Rob was going though a bad time in his personal life and I think that was probably what stopped it happening. Even so, between us we came up with some cracking tunes. I don't have any firm favourites, I like them all for different reasons.
As a group we played live venues all over Lancashire for 18 months or so. We were very popular at first with the old Oxym crowd (for obvious reasons) but when they realised that we weren't going to be "Oxym II" or even play a single Oxym song then their support began to fade. My most treasured memory was when we played a "battle of the bands" gig at King George's Hall in Blackburn - a full 1kW PA with foldback speakers and a lighting rig, playing to a 500 plus-strong audience. We didn't get anywhere of course, but what an experience!
I left the group in 1987 when my work took me to Cumbria, but I think by then it was becoming clear that I was going in one musical direction and the three of them in another. Rob, Mik and Andy carried on in Chase the Ace and continue to play together now as a studio band with guitar ace "Baz". I went on to record my own stuff in my home studio.
Night Mission re-formed briefly in 2000 for a 20 minute set at Rob & Mik's joint 40th birthday bash at the Town Hall in Accrington, which I enjoyed far more than I thought I was going to. Video footage of that gig exists but, sadly, the sound quality wasn't up to being included on the CD.
Night Mission, Jan 2000.
Photo by Jonathan Wilby.
It was a lot of fun playing in Night Mission although I really believe we never realised our full potential. It's also been great to hear those old songs again, many as they've never been heard before - crank it up!
Keith Wilby, May 2003.