Paul Strayfer

Paul Strayfer started on the local music scene in the heavy metal band, All For Nothing, back in 1996 at the age of 14. After 10 years and 3 albums with the band, they departed and focused more other metal projects. Paul, on the other hand, found a niche in his acoustic playing. He started playing a few instrumentals that he wrote at various open mikes in the Staten Island area and immediately started getting a great response. His heartfelt music can appeal to anyone who hears it, and it's fun to watch too with various "two-hand tapping" techniques and "guitar-slapping". After only two years into his solo acoustic career, he has already become a staple in the New York acoustic scene playing bills all over Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Manhattan to name a few. He has also appeared on television shows such as “N.Y Rocks” and “Live in Studio A” as well as being featured in newspapers such as “The Staten Island Advance” and “The Upfront News.” While it may be difficult to classify the genre of music that he plays, it doesn’t seem to be much of an issue to him. As Paul puts it, "The most general and simplistic definition of music is the transfer of emotion to sound. All these songs I write, I write for myself... to take whatever deep feeling I have and create a piece of music that represents it. I know I've done my job when someone can relate to one of my songs when I haven't spoken one word."