Static Rain - Band History

It was the fusion of two pairs of eager musicians that made Static Rain.

It was early in 2001 and Carlos and Chris were ready to rise from the ashes of their formative band. Clutching a handful of songs, they found themselves in a rehearsal studio with a couple of recent acquaintances:

Mark and Stu were had been playing at the local open-mic night for a few months, and were making a good name for themselves as a guitar duet. They were also searching for a new band...and Stu had just started learning to play the drums...

There was huge creative energy in that room. The music bonded very quickly, as did the friendship and the ambition. Mark and Stu became the rhythm section but as guitarists they were able to bring a lot of ideas into the development of the songs. Within six months the band was on stage, with practically a full set of original material and an enthusiastic base of fans.

The band matured quickly, the song writing was prolific and the gigs got better and better. In the summer of 2002, we found ourselves into a decent studio and recorded Moment of Clarity. The experience was fantastic and it taught us a lot. The following year, on our band holiday in mid-Wales, we put that experience into practice and recorded the album Dewpoint. Things were looking good, and then...

Stu quit the band

...and that was a bit of a heart-stopping moment to say the least! The call of his guitar was too great (and you will understand why if you check out his latest band The Om Corporation on myspace). It was all amicable, we understood and Stu will always be a close friend of the band.

Fortunately for the rest of us, we had already established a decent reputation and it didn't take long to find a new drummer. Chris had a tip-off, from a fellow musician, and found himself at a blues night, watching Gareth and thinking "he's ours!". Two weeks later we were back on stage, sounding bigger than ever.

Gareth's entry to the band signalled the start of a new phase for us. Over a year-and-a-half period we played bigger and better venues, ending up on a couple of small festival stages, winning some battles-of-bands contests and writing more ambitious songs. Things were going slowly though, so we tried to get some help from a manager. It didn't work out, but we soldiered on.

Growing pains

In 2005 a pressure-pot of frustration was building. After four years of work we were tired and ratty, and this was threatening to tear the band apart. We were directionless and on top of that Mark was having a crisis: He wasn't a bass guitarist, he was a lead guitarist playing bass and was very frustrated that he couldn't contribute to the music in the way he felt he needed to. Tensions mounted, which eventually lead to a very heavy band meeting. There we had to choose between Mark leaving or making a change to the fundamental line-up of the band.

We chose to change the line-up and this was the beginning of a really hard journey! In Carlos we already had a lead guitarist with a very strong sound. His role would have to split and be shared with Mark. Both of them would also be taking on the electric rhythm guitar, which Chris had been playing - changing his role. And, of course we needed a bass guitarist. After a few months Eric was dragged into the practice studio...and by some miracle he did not run away screaming.

Years of finely honed interplay and dynamics were ritually massacred as Chris, Mark and Carlos took time to find new ways of playing, which avoided treading on each others feet. The rhythm section had to be extremely patient, with Eric having to learn the songs in the middle of all the madness. The songs had to be recreated. It was all hard. There were a lot of band practices where members were too angry to speak. And we came close to splitting up completely on many occasions.

What kept us going was the belief: it was easy to see that, as a five-piece band, we had the potential to sound more powerful and dynamic than ever. We could see that quickly building in the songs.

Bringing it back to life

It took over a year to properly get it back together. We cooled down, learned to play off each other in our new roles and knew that it had been the right thing to do. We started working on a new album and the songs came pouring out. The album sounded fantastic from the outset, and this also helped us to heal the wounds.

It is 2008 now. Busy lives have delayed this but the ghost of ambition has awoken in all of us again. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger as they say. What we've been through makes us more interesting and now we've got a lot more to say. We're better players, we have some great songs, which we are really proud of, and it's time to get out there and play them. In fact, it is time for some payback.

This storm has been brewing for a long time.

Static Rain