Ian Husbands

Ian Husbands is a Singer/Songwriter, born in May 1976 in the deepest darkest depths of Hayes. Brought up on a good dose of rock by his parents, he was listening to bands and artists like The Who, Wings, Elton John, Simon & Garfunkle, The Rolling Stones, Marc Bolan & T-Rex and Rod Stuart from an early age.
At school he showed a keen interest in music and appeared in many school productions as a keyboard player, most of which was self-taught, and was a keen poet, always writing words that would later form a strong basis for his songwriting. In his late teens, Ian then picked up his fathers unplayed acoustic guitar and proceeded to teach himself the basic chords which became a great help in later songwriting attempts.
In 1992, whilst studying Art & Design at Uxbridge college, Ian first to listened to Pearl Jam's debut album 'Ten', which quite literally changed his life. From that point on, inspired by the deep velvet tones of Eddie Vedder, he booked into some singing lessons with friend Jo Berns, and started searching through his old poetry and started working the words in some of his first lyrics.
Whilst being taught to sing by Jo, they decided to start writing together with guitarist Andy Marshall and Ian fell into the role of songwriter and manager for Jo, and took on a female fronted rock band Escapade in the same capacity. After several months of working with both acts, Ian was eventually pushed by Escapade band members and his girlfriend of the time to start writing and singing for himself, and rock band Married By Name, later to be called Ultra High Frequency was born. This band flourished for a few years, playing small festival gigs and competing in local Battle Of The Bands competitions. When Ultra High Frequency disbanded due to band members personal commitments, Ian started playing covers songs in an acoustic duo called fREAK-1-C, which, in turn, morphed into a new original band line up. After several personel changes over a few years, fREAK-1-C eventually recorded their debut album "Swimming With The Big Fish" which is still available to buy from www.cd-wow.com for £8.99. Unfortunately in 2005 fREAK-1-C went there different ways and Ian moved on to other things.
As a graphic designer by trade (working for acts like The Beastie Boys, David Bowie, Joe Cocker, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Nadie and more...), Ian has been educated from an early age in using Apple Macintosh computers, and integrated these computer skills into his music by studying a Computer Music Production course at West Thames College with close friend and musical infulence Mark Chudley (aka The Pretend Pop Star), where he learnt to use packages like Logic, ProTools and Reason. This course has allowed him to utilise his Apple iBook as a portable recording studio which has been vital in writing some of the new songs for his new solo project, and saw Ian writing not only in London, but up and down England from Devon to Hull during 2005.
Ian's main focus now that fREAK-1-C have spilt is his solo project "8 Month Malfunction", which has been produced by Jo Webb and is signed for a small publishing deal with Electric Horse Songs Ltd. With the first single 'Mourn' set for release on 21st August 2006 as the debut download single, Ian is now playing acoustic gigs with Andy Bradley on Guitar and Jay Sidebottom on Keys and is putting together the full band for future gigs. 'Mourn' will be available from sites including iTunes, Yahoo Music, Napster and many more and is being distributed by Flowphonic.com Ltd. with internet and college radio being handled by radiowavemonitor.com and is backed by Electric Horse Songs Ltd (www.electrichorserecords.com)
As well as writing for 8 Month Malfunction, Ian has also been writing with the following:
Nadie Keating, of the band 'Nadie' - www.myspace.com/nadiemusic
Toni Jones - www.myspace.com/tonimusic
Laura Madely - www.myspace.com/lauramadeley
Sarah Harris - www.myspace.com/sarahlharris
Press Quotes:
"The principal driving force throughout this album, however, is frontman Ian Husbands. His grizzled voice elevates every track here. Eddie Vedder, Joe Cocker, Dick Valentine: there are shades of them all in those tonsils, but at the end of the day its a unique instrument which looks set to get better." (www.Overplay.com)
"...the lyrics carry the weight of experience and bring feeling to every song." (Rock 3 Radio)
"...the main strength is Husbands emotive vocals." (Fragment Magazine)
"...the band is often at its best with Ian Husbands soulful crooning to hard-rock ballads." (Online Rock Sound)
"Ian Husbands out Vedders Eddie Vedder on 'Tomorrow'..."(Gigs Unlimted)
"Like a post-grunge Pearl Jam with a funky edge..." (NME)
"With great vocals from Ian that are rough and have a mix of Puddle Of Mudd and Creed..." (Rockbeast.com)
"Ian Husbands' vocals are distinctive..." (GetReadyToRock.com)
"Lead singer, Ian Husbands, has a strong voice..." (HeathenAngel.co.uk)
"Hit and Miss is one of my favorites. It is a heartfelt power ballad that speaks about the ups and downs of life, and how unfair circumstances can sometimes be.( I could imagine James Hetfield singing this, but not as well as Ian. )" (Gigs Unlimited)