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Stryngs

About Me

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THE SAD NEWS

Anyone coming to this site to find out if we have any new songs or when our next gig will be - sadly there won't be any more of either. We have decided to lay this project to rest.
The decision wasn't due to a falling out between us. It is more about the lack of time and commitment our lovely singer and lyricist Strings will be able to give in the foreseeable future. We are all very proud of the music that we have made together, and have a thousand happy memories.
So what now?
Strings is busy becoming a super-psychiatrist and best-selling text-book author. Stop press - Psychiatry PRN is now published. Chris and Martin will without doubt, be involved with other music projects, together and separately. Derek our drummer is always busy, drumming, playing keyboards, buying and restoring drums and percussion and also teaching. Emily is getting her chops ready for the next Ceilidh!
You can find out more by clicking on the links in the Band Members section to the left.
Meanwhile, we still have a few copies left of our two albums;

The Thrill Of Maintaining Momentum and Love and Other Vices They are both available from www.cdbaby.com (Just click the titles), or from www.stryngs.com
Hurry, while stocks last, as they say!
Strings, Chris and Martin were brought together by a mutual love of Joni Mitchell's music. The band recorded two albums of original material between 2001 and 2006, and played many venues in and around London and Cambridge, UK; from house concerts to an audience of 600 at Islington's famous 'Carling Academy'.
"Wow! Goosebumps down my neck met the ones up my back and I was neither man nor ghost for a minute stretched into an hour maybe longer. This is beautiful music. Not the kind of beauty you find in magazines, but the kind you find in eyes and touches. Truly amazing." Oli D.
The Thrill of Maintaining Momentum"It's stuck in my CD player! ...and i can't get it out. Have been fascinated by this CD for well over a month. It took me three days just to get past the second track; I was spellbound. Throughout, the guitar and bass are equally as sensitive as the warm vocal lines, and the subtlety of all three principal instruments becomes more accessible with each listen. 'The Thrill Of Maintaining Momentum' is pure gold. Buy it." Randall Williams.
Love and Other Vices"...what makes this album so good is the marriage between music and words, between lyrics, melody and harmony. This is the sign of songwriters and musicians at the top of their game.
Graham Holland. 'It’s A Frog’s Life' Acoustic Podcast
"The centrepiece of every Stryngs song is the vocal, and here we have the most unique aspect of the band. The vocalist and lyricist (whose name is Strings. Note the subtly different spelling) writes the sort of lyrics that shouldn't be singable. There are too many syllables, the lines don't obey any regular meter and there are far too many long words. Half the songs read like prose on the page, and yet when you hear Strings' soft, intimate, chocolate delivery it all makes sense."
Tom Slatter. We'll Write
You can buy our albums safely online at CD baby.
The Thrill Of Maintaining Momentum and Love and Other Vices
Here's a video from a house concert we played
in Lewisham, London, UK.

"I would run my pen dry over you, if you let me.
I'd sign my name and address along the side of your thumb
in case you're ever lost
and had to hitch yourself a ride home to me."

And the one that always makes them cry ... 'Frank's Song'
"A cold, absent-minded year drifted by
and you felt you'd been sifted like flour - left behind
like a feather falling from a flying bird to where
past-tense sentences held her name."

Keeping in touch
MySpace is a great place to keep in touch with us. But there are other ways: the first is the discussion forums on our own website . Secondly, you could also sign up to our mailing list here:-
Enter your e-mail address:
Click this button:
(And don't worry: we won't sell your e-mail address into slavery!)
Middle England Cross
"She still dreams of separating shoals with a dagger and a tan
diving on practiced lungs, but like a pearl the oyster is her world."

Anywhere But Understood

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 15/12/2005
Band Website: http://www.stryngs.com
Band Members: Strings:
Vocalist and lyricist.
Extreme Psychiatry.com

Strings' exciting new book

Martin:
Guitarist and Songwriter.

Chris:
Fretless bassist extraordinaire!
Chris' myspace site

Emily:
Violin and Mandolin

Derek:
Drums and keyboards
www.scurll.net
Also: Derek's myspace site

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Influences: Joni Mitchell
Bob Dylan
John Martyn
W.B. Yeats
James Taylor
Jaco Pastorius
Roger McGough
Beth Orton
Natalie Merchant
Maya Angelou
Gemma Hayes
Tracy Chapman
Crowded House
Philip Larkin
Wendy Cope...
(there are many more, but this list stops here)

.
Sounds Like: We take pains not to write music that is obviously reminiscent of another artist, even though it is impossible to be completely original and also be in a recognisable genre! You may hear a resemblance to some of our influences from time to time, but we hope we mostly just sound like us.And we could try and describe what we're like, but better to ask you to listen to the music on the player and the videos.
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Type of Label: Unsigned

My Blog

THE SAD NEWS

Anyone coming to this site to find out if we have any new songs or whenour next gig will be - sadly there won't be anymore of either. We havedecided to lay this project to rest.The decision was in no ...
Posted by on Sat, 07 Feb 2009 23:51:00 GMT

When is a business convention not a business convention?

When it's the Far West Folk Alliance conference. I've had the unhappy duty to have to attend business conferences in the past. What hellish things they are. Frantic and desperate and emotionally drain...
Posted by on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:53:00 GMT

Grand Canyon spiders and Las Vegas snakes

First of all, and at the risk of sounding like I'm brown-nosing a little, I'd like to say that Strings and I are continually and happily surprised at the trust and generosity that so many people ...
Posted by on Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:14:00 GMT

Festivals and forest fires

Saturday 27th September saw us at the Celtic Festival in Grass Valley, northern California. It's an annual fund-raising event for the local community radio station KVMR. Lots of fun with some great ba...
Posted by on Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:34:00 GMT

American River Music Festival

We've just got back from the American River Music Festival in northern California. Just in its second year, it's a great fshow, destined for greater things. We decided to apply as volunteers to see if...
Posted by on Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:52:00 GMT

An Excellent Adventure

Lots of stuff has been happening since our return to the States. So much, that we've had very little time to post blogs in fact.Met up with our good friends from the Acme Bluegrass Band in Colorado Sp...
Posted by on Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:54:00 GMT

Back in the US, back in the US, back in the ...

... USA again. Huzzah!Yep, after our unexpected return to England for a couple of months, we're about to head out once again to the land of the free.In a week's time, we'll be flying to Denver to catc...
Posted by on Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:11:00 GMT

Video for Anywhere But Understood posted.

Roger Federer has just been giving his all to try and win the Wimbledon tennis championship. He was up against that human fiddler crab Raphael Nadal, and after a gritty struggle, he lost. What must it...
Posted by on Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:47:00 GMT

Mandolins are tough little critters

As I said to a friend this afternoon, "How come little bitty mandolins are tougher to play than acoustic guitars?"I've owned a mandolin for a couple of years now, with the intention of learning how to...
Posted by on Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:03:00 GMT

House Concerts - a great way to hear music

We're going to give this two minute video a plug as it explains just what a wonderful way to hear acoustic music putting on a house concert can be. For acts like ours, it's the perfect way t...
Posted by on Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:33:00 GMT