Lifesigns
Lifesigns was the brainchild of John Young (keys/vocals), Frosty Beedle (drums), Steve Rispin (sound) and Nick
Beggs (bass/vocals). Their first album, Lifesigns, was released in February 2013 and sold well, briefly reaching
the UK top 100 album chart. Guests included Steve Hackett (Genesis), Robin Boult (Fish) and Thijs van Leer (Focus).
The band started touring the following year with Jon Poole joining to replace Nick Beggs who had other commitments. The line up was completed by former Steven Wilson guitarist Niko Tsonev. Fifty shows were played over the next year with highlights being appearances at Cruise To The Edge in the USA and Night of the Prog at Lorelei in Germany as well as the Ramblin' Man and Cropredy festivals in the UK.
In addition to this Live In London, a DVD and double audio CD was released. This was recorded at Under The Bridge at Chelsea Football Club.
In 2017 a new album Cardington was released. The album was funded via a pledge music campaign that met its target in just 48 hours. The album features guest appearances from Robin Boult (Fish), Dave Bainbridge (Iona) and Menno Gootjes (Focus). Niko decided to pursue his own solo career after having played on the album, and he in turn was replaced in the band by Dave Bainbridge on guitar and second keyboards. Cardington reached the top ten in the Amazon national chart and was number 4 in the UK Indie chart, all without any mainstream airplay.
In 2018 Lifesigns took to the road again with a third appearance on Cruise To The Edge and a UK tour. 2019 saw the band perform further live dates both in the UK and Europe.
February 2020 saw the release of the single Impossible, a radio friendly edit of the track from Cardington, which brought the band to a new audience.
June 2020 marked the end of Frosty's time with the band and the arrival of Zoltán Csörsz. The current album Altitude was recorded remotely without the band having met Zoltán in person (although you'd never guess that on hearing the intricate interplay between him and bassist Jon Poole) and released in March 2021.
This lineup finally played live together in late 2021 and early 2022, culminating in a triumphant performance on Cruise To The Edge in May 2022. The summer 2022 tour resulted in a double live album, released in July 2023, with a blu-ray also in production.
Further tours followed between 2023 and 2025, although Zoltán's other commitments meant he wasn't always available to play, and the rest of the band used his tracks from the live album on stage. Eventually it was decided that Lifesigns needed a more readily available drummer and, after working with Simon Phillips on Cruise To The Edge 2024 followed by Chris Mack on two North America tours, they settled on Frank van Essen, who had previously played in Iona with Dave. Frank is also well known for his string playing and arranging skills, so it's likely that Lifesigns will make use of those on the fourth album.