DECEMBER 2005

A quick update to say thanks to all the people that came down to our gig at the Bierkeller! To the support bands, Shallowface and Sanity Lost as well as all the people that helped set-up and organise throughout the day, your help and support was greatly appreciated by the band. The evening was hailed as a success by all concerned and has definitely set us up to continue arranging our own events in the future. To say the whole event was booked, arranged and promoted by the band with no outside influences, it went off without a hitch and goes to show you can do anything when you set your mind to it!

For the first time our debut album ‘Terra Mama’ was preformed in its entirety live, and the band had a great time performing nearly 2 hours of our own music to an extremely supportive crowd. A special thanks goes to Michelle Caddick for adding backing vocals during the acoustic interlude halfway through the set. Michelle appeared on several tracks on the album so it only seemed fitting to have her onstage performing those numbers with us, in some cases the first time those songs had been played to a live audience.

The album will shortly be available to buy here online through paypal, our web designer Stuart is working on it as we speak as well as a bit of a site revamp to coincide with the album launch. Also we have brand new SSR T-shirts for sale, they come in various colours and sizes as well as all our previous E.P’s. Full details will be available from the shop area of the website very soon, any other site updates are listed under ‘site updates’ (where else!)

We’ve already started getting reviews for ‘Terra Mama’ and they couldn’t be more positive! The reviews will be added to the website a.s.a.p, but until then you can preview them at www.cheesepress.co.uk and www.toxicpete.co.uk. More reviews will be coming through over the next few months, so if you want to know what we’re all about, the reviews are a good place to start. Also we’ll be uploading a number of sample tracks from the album to wet your appetites. If you can’t wait for that, a complete track from the album ‘Tapestries’ can be heard for free at www.myspace.com/manillapr.

Anyway we all thought the Bierkeller was a great way to end what has been a very busy year for the band, in the studio and out! However there are one or two gigs throughout December that are on the gig list to see us through to Christmas. Next year is when all the real hard work starts promoting the album post launch and getting out and gigging as much as possible! The band would like to wish you all a great Christmas (Terra Mama makes a great stocking filler by the way!!!), and wish you all a happy and prosperous new year!

Have a good’n, see you in 2006!!!

OCTOBER 2005

Hi, well it’s finally here! SSR’s new album ‘Terra Mama’ is completed, all the recording, mixing, mastering, artwork and pressing is done! And what better way to celebrate our debut album release than a huge record launch and party! We’ve booked the Bierkeller (77 Piccadilly, Manchester) to host the event which will take place on Sunday 27th November, with doors opening at 7:30 and a very late bar that should ensure one hell of an evening and what's better you and all your mates are invited! To cover costs we’ve had to put a small door fee of £3, but what you get for your money is SSR performing the complete album live plus other selected tracks from our previous EP’s as well as 2 special guest supports, Atlantic Front and Shallowface who will be performing a 30 min set each at the beginning of the evening.

The album itself contains 11 tracks, clocking in at just over an hour. While writing and recording the album we tried to incorporate all the sounds and styles that we’ve utilised on our previous E.P. recordings as well as venturing into new territory. From the heavy stoner rock, and progressive blues of Heavy Stone and Tannhauser gate (a 10 min prog epic!), the acoustic psychedelic folk of Ghostwalk and Dragonfly, to the countryesque harmonies of Comanche Rules, we’ve tried to create a very diverse sounding record... no 2 tracks can be said to sound the same, however the whole thing seems to gel together really well... or so we think! Throughout the recording we experimented in capturing new and unusual sounds, ranging from cymbal harmonics to using a set of John Slaters keys as a percussion instrument... you don’t know how near we came to miking-up the kitchen sink, I kid you not! One of my favourite tracks, The Shape I’m In, clocks in at just under 9 minutes, it’s a psychedelic bluesy rock-out that progresses into a 5 minute, multi tracked solo incorporating several different guitars, almost like a guitar orchestra.... guitarists eh! There’s something for everyone, and it’s also quite an experience to listen to through headphones, that’ll be the Pink Floyd/Hendrix influences then! The album will be available to buy from this website for £10! If you come down to the launch party to get hold of your copy we’ll be throwing in our 1st E.P. absolutely free... not bad eh!

As usual we have various gig’s coming up at our regular haunts as well as a couple of new venues to see us through to the end of the year, all the details are on the gig guide! Just left to say we hope to see you at the launch party, and if you pick up a copy of the album let us know what you think, send us an email; the best reviews will be posted on the site! Thanks, and we’ll see you out there!

AUGUST 2005

Hiya, time for a quick update! Well it's been a busy old time of late, recording, rehearsing and the last few months have seen us play some really great gigs with Jon now really getting into his stride. A gig that springs to mind is our latest set at the Witchwood which saw us playing with the great Larry Miller Band. For those of you that missed us (which is fair enough because it was a last minute booking) it was a blinder!

Somewhat apprehensive at the very beginning due to only a dozen people being there, we were starting to think the gig was gonna be a blow out, too many people sunning themselves at home in the rather nice (at the time) weather. We put off starting the set until at least some kind of decent audience turned up, but with time getting on we had to start. We plugged in, tuned up and turned on and out of nowhere as soon as we played the first few notes suddenly, and I mean from nearly no one to standing room only, the place was rammed... they must have been outside waiting, getting the last of the evenings sun... bonus! The set went down a storm, a really good vibe all evening. The Larry Miller band were great, a really down to earth bunch of guys, we talked gear, drank beer and everybody played there arses off... great night!

The album... oh yes... is finally (we promise), to be finished in the next 2 weeks!!! It really is a case of always one more session away than the next 2 you have booked in. The album contains 12 tracks and will be officially released around October, although preview copies will be available to order from this website, just drop us an e.mail and we'll put you on the priority list, so you can listen to it before anybody else! The album launch will take place at a venue in Manchester, dates and details haven't been finalised, but as soon as we know, we'll let you guys know!

Coming up we have this years Stockport Festival, 28th August (Bank Holiday Sunday) held in the market square, our set time will be 4PM approx. This is the 4th year we've been invited to perform which is really great of the people who organise this mammoth event, every year it gets bigger and better, so hopefully this year will be no exception! All proceeds go to various local charities, so get yourself down for whats gonna be a great day of live music!

All other gigs are on the gig list with more being booked all the time, once the albums done and dusted we'll be pushing really hard on the gig front so keep checking the website for the latest updates! Anyhow, thats it for the moment, have a good one and we'll see you out there!

JUNE 2005

Apologies for taking so long since the last update but we have been incredibly busy these last few months!

We’ve been rehearsing with Jon, learning up all the bass parts from our back catalogue as well as writing and recording bass lines in the studio to finish up the soon to be completed album! We are at the moment putting the finishing touches to the album, backing vocals, percussion, extraneous guitar sounds and the like. We've mixed some of the tracks, including 'Tannhauser Gate', 'Heavy Stone' and 'The Shape I'm In'. We are really pleased with the way these have turned out and are itching to finish the rest off. We have however gone slightly over schedule (err 4 months or so???) but will definitely (maybe) be finished for mid July! The album now contains 11 tracks and will be available to buy sometime in August! As for the title you’ll have to wait and see!

However if you can’t wait until then to listen to it, some tracks from the album are being previewed on our very own radio show ‘The Edge’. The show starts up again on Friday 24th June from 7-10pm and will be aired on Pure Radio 87.9fm for four weeks every Friday night at this time. If you tuned in last time, you'll know what you're in for. If you missed it, then basically it's us playing all sorts of music ranging from folk, blues and jazz through to hard rock and anything else we fancy playing. You will also hear us discussing serious musical topics and complete trivial nonsense! So tune in, if nothing else it'll be a laugh!

We've also been doing gigs here and there. We played the Ramsbottom International R'n'B Festival last weekend, which was a great blast. Thanks to the organisers for putting on a great show and to everyone else who turned up to support it. It's always a pleasure playing to an enthusiastic crowd. We had a great (and rather sweaty) time playing; sticks and plectrums were slipping all over the place. It was just so hot in the Royal Oak; it was like trying to breath in an oven.

Prior to the festival we squeezed our first gig in with Jon at The Witchwood supporting Spike (Quireboys). We played with these guys a while back when they had Jason Bonham on drums, and Dave (Bucket) Colwell (Bad Company) on guitar. Again, although a slightly different line-up these guys put on a great gig. Not to mention our very own Jon Walsh putting in a great debut performance! A special mention has to go to Lord Bishop who was also supporting. He definitely was a sight to behold for those of you who missed out, after all he is the self styled 'King of Sex Rock'... nuff said really! We’ve since played a few gigs at The Thatched House and The Glass Barrel (2 of our favourite venues) and everything is jelling really well, every gig is getting better and better, so it’s definitely onwards and upwards!

Coming up in the next few weeks you can catch us again at The Witchwood! Saturday the 16th July will see us playing alongside Larry Miller (top rock/blues guitar player) and his band. Tickets are priced at £5 and it really will be a gig not to miss! Also an afternoon spot at The Altrincham Festival (23rd July) will see us play at The Wheatsheif. It’s free to get in and we should be playing around 3pm! After that we have our now annual set at The Stockport Festival/Roughleys Bike Show. This is the 4th year we’ve been invited to play and every year it gets better and better so here’s to another great festival! You can catch us playing mid afternoon (exact times will be confirmed a.s.a.p.) on the August Bank Holiday Sunday (29th).

If you need any info on tickets or venues, or just to say hi, email us and we’ll get back to you! Anyhow hope you guys are having what's turning out to be a great summer, we’ll see you out there, cheers!!!

APRIL 2005

Just a quick update! We've found our new bass player!! After auditioning and speaking to numerous bass players over the last 2 months we finally found the best guy for the job, John Walsh will be taking up the permanent position of bassist.

We've already started working together on the songs ready for the next set of gigs. Luckily we've got a 7 week break from gigging which has proved beneficial in that we'll be able to finish the album, the last bass tracks will be recorded with John so he will appear on nearly half the album, also giving John plenty of time to learn up all the other material.

A big thanks to Phil Barnes for filling in and doing a great job, the last gig we did at The Glass Barrel was a stormer with Phil's playing absolutely spot on... cheers!

The next couple of months will see us with a very busy schedule, as well as finishing the album and rehearsing with John we will also be recording S.S.R's very own radio show 'The Edge' on Pure Radio (87.9FM). So it's time to start trawling through our record collections... We look forward to seeing you out there... hmmm Stone Sole River MK3!!!

MARCH 2005

To start, some bad news, unfortunately Lee has left the band. With having to record the album (which takes an inordinate amount of time and effort), rehearsing, gigging, more rehearsing and writing as well as numerous other things that crop up i.e. recording radio shows, not to mention family commitments etc. etc. things have taken their toll. There are no hard feelings, everybody is still good friends and we wish Lee the best of luck in the future and would like to sincerely thank him for his contribution to the band.

However the album is going ahead as planned, fortunately Lee laid down most of the bass tracks before departure, some session friends of ours are coming in to tie up any missing bass parts, leaving myself and Carl to finish the album as planned! Gigs wise we have our good friend Phil Barnes to step in and cover the dates we have... (Phil previously filled in 18 months ago when we played with Mountain and Wishbone Ash).

On the bright side we've just been asked to record 4 more 3 hour shows for Pure Radio (87.9 fm) with what has become SSR's very own show, The Edge! The shows will be hosted by myself and Carl with the possibility of a different guest host each program. The shows will be aired throughout June, every Friday night 7-10pm, more details will be posted as and when we know ourselves.

The album is shaping up very well, although we are running slightly behind schedule, we hope to have the whole thing finished for the end of April / early May. The album consists of 10 tracks, some have been played live over the last year, whilst the rest have as of yet not seen the light of day, so there will be a few pleasant surprises. We're still trying to come up with a title, but we keep changing our minds, hopefully something will come to us in a blinding moment of inspiration!

Other good news includes a request to perform back at the International R&B festival which we played last year in Ramsbottom. The festival sees blues, jazz and R&B artists from all over the world come together to perform, we had a great time at the last festival so it's really nice to be asked back to play again. The festival is held over 3 days, the 17th/18/th19th of June. More details will be posted regarding time slots as and when we know ourselves, info about the festival can be found via our links page.

Also on the festival front we've just been asked to perform at this years Stockport Festival/Roughleys Bike Show. This will be the 4th year we've played the festival which is held on August bank holiday Sunday (28th) in Stockports' market square. Set times will be posted and more details A.S.A.P.

More updates of where the album is up to will be posted periodically as well as some in studio photos. As always If you have any comments or info you think we might be interested in then please email us at
band@stonesoleriver.com, thanks, we'll see you out there!

JANUARY 2005
Happy New Year!!!

Well it's the start of 2005 and it's looking to be a good year! The album is well under way, although going slightly slower than first expected, which we put down to Christmas getting in the way, however we're starting to pick up speed hopefully to have the whole thing completed mid March.

The album will include a cross section of material both electric and acoustic from ten-minute prog epics to three-minute blasts of pure energy, languid acoustic pieces and improvised psychedelic freak-outs, everything and the kitchen sink! Some of the material has been around for quite a while, one of the tracks (House Burning Down) was written 2/3 years ago, other pieces have only just been finished (one song is so new it doesn't have a title yet)! Half the material has been played live over the last few months, where as some material has never seen the light of day, it will be interesting to see what people think about some of the new directions...

Gigs wise, all the regular venues have been booked, some dates right through till December, a list of what's in so far will be posted a.s.a.p. Although we won't be gigging fully until the album is complete, there are some dates coming up in February/March to keep everything rolling. New venues further a field are also being looked into, all dates will be on the gig list as soon as we confirm.

On a very positive note we've had another great review of the previously recorded SSR 3 by Gigsunlimited.com; the review gave us 10/10!!! It really doesn¹t get any better than that. There are links to the reviews on the links page, we're in the process of setting up a specific reviews page on this site, along with a few other tweaks here and there.

The final Pure radio session hosted by the band was aired just before Christmas (Thursday 16th) and what a great time we had making them and listening back, hopefully The Edge will return in the summer, we'll keep you posted! Thanks for checking in, the site will be constantly updated throughout the year; as soon as we know anything, we'll let you guys know. If you have any comments or info you think we might be interested in then please email us at band@stonesoleriver.com, thanks, we'll see you out there!