I.O.U. Band

I.O.U. was the name of Allan's first proper solo album, but it was also used as a name for Allan's band at the time. Allan has said that he did not really see himself as a bandleader, but rather as a member of a band that played his material. Nevertheless, the genesis for Allan's venture into a career as a solo artist came about in the late seventies. Allan had appeared as a leader on a number of BBC sessions, but according to himself, these sessions were one-offs using ad hoc bands. At the time of doing Bruford's "One Of A Kind", Allan had a desire to do something with his own material, and thus set out to form a permanent band to showcase his own music. Early incantations of this band had rather an unstable lineup, and Allan used different names for these bands. At least two names were used before deciding on the moniker I.O.U.: False Alarm and Holdsworth & Co..

This article focuses on the band that appeared on the I.O.U. album: Gary Husband, Paul Carmichael and Paul Williams. After Allan emigrated to the U.S., he continued using the I.O.U. name, even after Husband and Carmichael were replaced by Chad Wackerman and Jeff Berlin. "Road Games" was presented as a solo album, but "Metal Fatigue" was presented as "Allan Holdsworth with I.O.U.", even though the album featured various lineups throughout.

The quotes presented here are therefore somewhat subjectively categorized, and overlap different lineups and periods.