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Sheffield Bands

Musicians Local to Sheffield Wanted

I was going to create a Sheffield bands site (and still might eventually) but at the moment I'm putting my energies into creating my own (Sheffield) band instead.

We are looking for Sheffield musicians (or local to Sheffield such as Rotherham Barnsley or even Doncaster)

We need experienced talented musicians looking to enjoy creating music with us. Age or gender not important. Maybe you're an accomplished musician that packed it all in and realised they still need to make music? Maybe you are in a band but would love to try something more challenging and different?

Drummer needed: We are looking for an acomplished drummer with flair and restraint, preferably experienced in prog rock as a lot of our music is progressive - though not prog rock. Someone inspired by Rush, Porcupine Tree or Dream Theatre would be nice but as long as you are progressive and know when not to play and when to keep it simple as when to let rip and shine.

Keyboard Player needed: Keyboard wizard wanted. We have a lot of instrumental stuff where a keyboard player can shine with great lead work and lots of places where he can chill and relax too. We also want to explore more chilled and atmospheric music via keyboards.

Singer / vocalist required: We have a lot of 4 to 6 minute songs but we also have prog rock concept (not self indulgent though) tracks some of which last 10 mins or more. If you write your own lyrics and have something to say as well as being prepared to not sing through instrumental parts and tracks, we need someone with a powerful voice and/or the vision to try something different. Some of our music lends itself to narrating of words, even rapping, or even poetry-style lyrics as well as playing speech or sound effect samples - but there's still plenty of scope for conventional singing.

(Just) A few musical examples

Me & Bri

Forgiven: (Instrumental Sections only) **

This is one of our prog rock songs originally lasting 21 min's 12 seconds [2112 - you should get that if you are a fan of Rush's early work :-) ]. It's only part 1 of a 6 part piece with repeating musical themes. It's not classic prog rock from the 70s with lots of self indulgant lead solos and we don't think it's like anything else - but it's definately progressive. We'd like to make it more contemporary by fusing in modern keyboard sounds and experimenting with sounds similar to those used by The Prodigy & Penulum for example. We also want to make the heavy bits more heavy. This sample has all the vocals taken out and still lasts 11 minutes - please excuse the gaps between sections where I've cut the vocals because they were written by an ex singer and we don't want to nick anyone elses work. This stuff could be broken down to create several new tracks but it would be a shame to destroy a concept album as the other 6 pieces are already written (apart from lyrics). It's one of the few tracks here with a real drummer playing and contains quite a few different rock tangents all written entirely on the Bass, with amazing complimentary guitar work from Bri.

We aren't happy with the recording but it's good enough to give an idea of potential and shows pretty much what we are capable of. Having said that we do have a lot more than prog rock and want to also do heavier stuff, synth-based stuff, funky dance stuff as well as atmospheric stuff and more conventional songs too. Imagine it with some amazing keyboards in it and don't let the gentle start fool you - turn it up loud!

Eerie Part 2 A small section of part 4 of the prog rock stuff which leads out of a slow eerie and dark section. Keyboards played by me only give a rough idea (I'm no keyboard player). I think I made the drums a bit too laid back and they need a little bit more drive, keyboards also lack power but you should be able to imagine it played in a band situation though and see it has potential to be more heavy and aggressive. It's just a short sample of a more complex piece. Recorded with Cubase and BFD2 drums

Bass Fuzz Working title: An unfinished demo of a new song idea. It's messy in parts as I'm still learning about EQ, compression, and how to use BFD2 drums software but you can imagine it sounding awesome played in a live band situation can't you? I'm playing around with fuzz effect on my bass but it's hard to control when you are playing a lot of notes. Currently instrumental, can you create vocals?

Folded Over This was our first attempt at recording with Cubase and BFD2 drums. It's slow and a little melancholy with some keyboard stuff and a nice string section 4 min's in.

Chilled groove An idea that came up during a jam put down on 4Track but not developed any further so far. It only lasts 30 seconds but gives an idea of our softer side.

Funk groove with rock verse A rough 4Track demo with drum machine of an idea for a song. This has a funky driving groove accompanied by wah wah guitar followed by a really chilled but solid rock groove.

My Solo Stuff:

I write very different music when using keyboards instead of my bass but with the right keyboard player we could explore this avenue too later. A mix of the two styles could be awesome.

Balance Check One of my solo pieces written using Reason soft synth software and a voice sample - Dance trance style? This musical side of me is very undeveloped at the moment.

Future Game Another one of my solo pieces written using a Korg 01 WFD. It's something I wrote many years back and virtually no one's ever heard it. It's an instrumental synth piece based on an imaginary blood-thirsty future game played in big arenas. It needs beefing up.

LaLaLa A quirky catchy and sparse tune where the opening melody never changes throughout the song but the counter melody in the chorus (hopefully) causes you to forget about the repetitive melody until the chorus ends. It's pretty cheesy but I find it a happy little tune.

Voyage Another one of my solo pieces written using a Korg 01 WFD that virtually no one's ever heard. It's a 10 minute instrumental synth piece based on an imaginary voyage. It starts off slow, with sounds of whales in a night ocean but after a min or so it kicks in a bit dancy. I can see whales, dolphins and human divers as well as a small moonlit boat gently swaying in the ocean when I listen to this.

Bri Solo

Angel It's only a 4 track recording and not great quality sound but it's a great pop song with plenty of feeling.

Video Sample

Andy & Bri Live (.mov) A quick montage of me & Bri playing some of our instrumental prog rock stuff several years back

About us

Andy Trigg and Brian Littlehales. Bass player & Guitarist

We write in different styles (see examples above). We like to play prog rock with occasional slap bass and hard progressive rock plus atmospheric laid back stuff which creates dark reflective moods (but always with grooves). Increasingly we also like dancy rock funk grooves. Bass lines are often prominent and driving in the prog rock stuff yet melodically very strong and very rhythmic and up front. Guitar is often subtly sublime with anthemic tunes. Many songs are instrumental in nature with room for vocals if someone can work with them without changing too much or composing new sections that will fit inside.

Some of the music even lends itself to rapping or narrating over as well as conventional singing though it's not necessary - just a possibility. We have at least 2 hours of instrumental prog rock music similar to the first sample above and we are hoping to work with a vocalist who can use it to tell a great story or create a themed set of lyrics. We also have at least 2 hours of other music and songs which isn't prog rock and can be blended with the prog rock to create something totally unique.

We are motivated mostly to just have a great time expressing ourselves musically and want to gig and attract an appreciative audience. Then, who knows what might happen. We are experienced musicians and have no delusions of grandeur or plans to be famous. You never know though ;-) We'd also like to record albums and promote them online.

Influences