The Band
Joe Ashby - Bassist and Producer
Jack Streat - Lead Guitarist
Alex Bloomfield - Drummer and Lyricist
Honorary Members:
Phil Ashby - Sound engineer
Kevin Bloomfield - Promoter
About Us
2010This year, we have hit the pub’s for the first time. We might not be able to drink alcohol but we can put on a good show. We’ve had some great comments from every pub we’ve played in and had a great time playing. One highlight was “The Royal Oak”, which was fantastically supported. We’ve continued to write and are now working on the logistical side of things such as artwork and stage design. We’re aiming for this year to see the release of our first album which will be available on iTunes as well as to buy, complete with album art! It will also see us enter the festival circuit for the first time. Playing at events such as Martlesham Bands on the Green. We had to turn down Kesgrave Music Festival and the excellent opportunity to open one of the region’s premier festivals: Hachfest. We’re very grateful to Suffolk Soundwaves for giving us the opportunity to play and hopefully you’ll see us there next year! This summer, as well as the festivals, we are determined to make it our most active yet. We have confirmed gigs at places such as The Milestone and Beck Row amongst others. We’ll keep you informed of what we’re doing. Keep up the great support guys.
2009
For the beginning of the year, we focused on becoming tighter and improving our playing. We re-entered the prestigious St Alban’s Battle of the Bands competition and fought off some tough opposition to win! This really inspired us to get a bit more serious about things. We set about writing our first songs but nothing really seemed to come out as we intended. Then, (by the law of averages if nothing else!) we wrote something we were pleased with. Lonely Road (Called Love) was born and was an instant hit amongst our friends and fans. We then caught the writing bug and set about writing new material. Alex spent quite a lot of time writing lyrics and we all selected the ones we liked and we got songs such as Mirror of your Life and The Exhortation. We then needed to get these tracks played wherever we could and this was the first summer and year that we really hit the circuit in the local area. Playing small events, such as the Onehouse Music Day, before progressing to the bigger stages. We played the Corn Exchange as part of the Ip-Art festival before going on to reach the final of the Evening Star Battle of the Bands competition playing a full house in the Ipswich Regent’s Circle Bar. In November, we completed the three major venues in Suffolk playing Felixstowe’s Spa Pavilion; a night we really enjoyed. This got us in with local promoter “Suffolk Sound waves”, who have done great things for us and will hopefully continue to support us in the future.
2008
After six months, we decided that it was time for a gig. At this point, the band was still a hobby as opposed to anything serious so we signed up for a school “battle of the bands” competition. We were lucky enough to discover our singer, Francis, just before the gig. We had one day to rehearse two songs but we managed it. We came second in the competition out of about 10 bands which encouraged us to take things more seriously. For the remainder of 2008, we spent a lot of time in the studio learning new songs and getting to grips with playing together. We recorded some covers and carried on learning more to further increase our repertoire. The amount of gigs increased but we were just focussing on improving as much as we can before worrying too much about them.
The Beginning: 2007
We all met at school formed as an instrumental band but we were always looking for a singer. Even without a singer, we carried on practicing on a regular basis and really got used to each other’s playing techniques, etc. We all loved playing and knew we had to start somewhere so carried on practicing.
Alex