Pilot

David Paton is the founding member of 70's rock group Pilot, all members of Pilot contributed to The Alan Parsons Project. David was the bass player and vocalist with TAPP for 10 years and only quit when Elton John asked him to join the Elton John band in 1985. Ian Bairnson joined Pilot after the first album was recorded and proved to be a valuable asset as lead guitarist. He continued with TAPP for 15 years. Pilot are on tour in 2017, with Top 10 hits, 'January' and 'Magic', they have just returned from a successful tour of Japan selling out all shows in Tokyo and Osaka in November 2016.

Pilot was established in 1973 after the 3 piece invited Ian Bairnson to join them as a full time member of the band. They had Top 10 success with Magic in 1974 and in 1975 had another top 10 hit with 'January' which landed Pilot at number 1, including a record 8 weeks at the top of the Australian Music charts.

During this time Alan was introduced to Eric Woolfson who proposed the idea of an Alan Parsons Project with Alan producing, Eric writing the music and Pilot as the Project band. They had success during the late-70's and early-mid-80's with over 50 million record sales and top 10 singles such as 'Eye in the Sky' and 'Games People Play'.

This period also saw Paton and Bairnson perform as studio session musicians for artists such as Kate Bush (both featured on her first 2 albums), Paul McCartney, Chris De Burgh, Chris Rea. David went on to work with Jimmy Page, Camel, Rick Wakeman and Richard Thompson and The Pretenders, While Ian Bairnson collaberated with Steve Harley, Jon Anderson, Mick Fleetwood, Kenny Rogers and Beverley Craven.

During the mid-80's, Paton was picked up as a core member of Elton John's backing band, which saw Paton perform bass on numerous world tours including 1985's Live Aid and feature in hit single's such as 'Nikita' and. Bairnson, at this time, was on tour with The Alan Parsons Live Project.

With Paton and Bairnson holding the reigns, the 2017 lineup brings in the expertise and experience of Calais Brown (guitar), Irvin Duguid (keyboards) and Dave Stewart (drums) all of whom complete the authentic 70's sound of Pilot.

It's an exciting time, not only for Pilot fans around the world, but also for The Alan Parsons Project fans, as 2017 will see the original musicians play together for the first time on stage for over 3 decades outside of the UK and Japan.

With a setlist comprising of the hits of both Pilot, The Alan Parsons Project, and David Paton's solo songs, Pilot are ready to hit the road with a sound, groove and feel that can only be reproduced by these music veterans.