Steve has been writing songs for a long time. For a while noone really knew about it. From home in South Yorkshire he moved to Milton Keynes then the Northamptonshire wilderness. In 2006 he took a few days off work and invited his talented friend, Pete, to help him record some songs with his new computer. Some friends heard it and said it was good.
Steve and Pete (and old school friend, Ben) played a gig in Brighton at their friend, Kevin's, acoustic night. It worked out ok so when Steve moved to London a short time later he decided to do a few more.
Over the following months, from seemingly nowhere, and with little effort from Steve, a talented band of nice people formed around him. Iain replaced Pete as bassist and soundboard, then came Amy on sax who brought along flatmate Gemma. Ben enthusiastically trekked up from Worthing with bagfuls of instruments and Barny was thrown in front of someone else's drum kit with only a pair of borrowed sticks for protection. Steve's songs had started to sound a bit like they had always done in his head, but even better.
There have been many a full band gig in 2007 including a special night at the Buffalo Bar with band friends Horsebox. Here we are:
Following the night of the Buffalo, Steve, Iain, Barny and Ben were invited to the Kinks' studio in North London by Magic Numbers producer Richard Wilkinson to spend a day recording. Nikki produced some stunning artwork and after a session with Alastair and Gemma, and some expert tweaking by Iain there was born an orange E.P. which we called "Luxembourg" and released in November 2007.
Meanwhile in the spring of 2007 Barny fled to Norfolk to start a new life and likewise Amy to Cardiff. But at the same exact moment that Barny stepped off the stage, Stevie G arrived with his cheeky Irish grin and his own drum kit, and Amy left us with a parting gift of Horn-master Alastair. A clever chap called Mark came up with the name 'Assembly' and at the end of 2007 Steve realised he had a lot more friends than he did the year before.
In 2008 we lost Gemma but gained Ed on trumpet. We had gigs in some very cool places around town such as Bush Hall (thanks David Goo :-). There were some gigs up north and a support slot for James Skelly of The Coral (kind of) whilst the EP received some glowing reviews including: www.rockbeatstone.com/january-2008.
By the height of summer Stevie G had decided to leave the gang to focus on the rather marvelous Empire of Lights and Ed retired from brass duties and went to Alaska.
So here were are in Jan 09. Gigs are being lined up, new songs formulated and new members sourced. Phil has already been rocking out on drums. He's the new band heartthrob (he's married mind, so hands off). There's also a wedding appearance to plan for in the summer so expect some sweet covers making their way into the set. Any requests?...
