Vega (UK)

If you're very lucky there may be occasions in your life when you find a band and you realise you've discovered something a bit special. Sure we've all heard 'great' bands who release 'great' albums, but I'm talking about band that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and give you that nervous excitement as you listen to the songs on an album for the first time. For me Vega are one of those bands.
From the opening swathes of the keyboard on Into The Wild through to the closing refrain of SOS, Vega set their stall out from the off with their striking debut album, Kiss of Life. But then what the hell happened.. sorry let me rephrase that - then What The Hell! happened - and it completely blew away everything that had gone before.
To understand the pedigree of this very special band you'd have to go back to the late 90s when twins James and Tom Martin formed their very first band, Sugartown. This is the start of an impressive music history which is worthy of and could take up a whole website all on its own. Suffice to say they formed bands including Kryah, Albion (with Alistair Griffin, who they've worked with both before and after his stint in Fame Academy) and The Station Club and written songs for an impressive line up of bands and artists including Khymera, Danny Vaugn, Joe Lynn Turner, House of Lords, Ted Poley and Tommy Funderburk.
It was during their spells in Kryah (2004 - 2006) and The Station Club (2006 -2009) that they first teamed up with Dan Chantrey, who played drums for both bands. Meanwhile Nick Workman was busy establishing a name for himself in Kick (1999 - 2004) and then Eden (2006 - 2009) and crossed paths with Tom & James when Kick supported Thunder on their 1999 farewell tour. It was some 10 years later in 2009 when a meeting between all four of them at the Z Rock Festival at JBs in Dudley where they decided to work together and Vega was born.