IQ

Formed in Southampton in 1981 around guitarist Mike Holmes and keyboardist Martin Orford, IQ is part of the early‑1980s British revival of progressive rock, often associated with the neo‑prog movement. The band developed a sound built on lengthy compositions, expansive keyboards, a guitar tone sharper than that of many contemporaries, and the theatrical vocals of Peter Nicholls, who joined in 1982. That first period took shape on Tales from the Lush Attic (1983) and The Wake (1985). After Nicholls temporarily left, IQ recorded with Paul Menel the albums Nomzamo (1987) and Are You Sitting Comfortably? (1989), where the songwriting tightened while not completely abandoning progressive structures. Nicholls’ return around the turn of the 1990s coincided with a refocus on more extended formats, evident on Ever (1993) and the important concept album Subterranea (1997). Remaining active despite several personnel changes, IQ went on to release The Seventh House (2000), Dark Matter (2004), Frequency (2009), The Road of Bones (2014), Resistance (2019) and Dominion (2025). Today IQ operates as a quintet comprised of Mike Holmes, Peter Nicholls, Tim Esau, Paul Cook and Neil Durant.