STRETFORD '93 Poster Austin Texas punk pop ASD

/ 77 S IN: / RN: 247411" x 17" CONCERT POSTERStretfordNothingGrand Mal SiezureZepolis AUSTIN TEXAS1993CONDITION:VERY GOOD 6OF 10 OR BETTER(handling, edge dings)Scarce original Austin PosterA Random History of the band STRETFORD - by Carl Normal I had lived in San Antonio, Texas for several years in the 80's and spent a lot of time in Austin. From what I could tell Austin had the best live music scene for miles around (pretty perceptive eh?). By the late 80's I was back in my hometown, Manchester, England but in 1989 I decided to move back to Texas - this time to Austin - mostly to escape from the Pet Shop Boys but also hoping that I might find some like-minded rockers here in Austin. I arrived in town, still clutching a stack of vinyl by the Buzzcocks / The Jam and a Rickenbacker bass guitar. I looked around and just couldn't find a band to join that was doing something that appealed to my ears so I decided to form my own. What else was I gonna I do? An ad was placed in the Austin Chronicle and sometime in 1990 I found myself standing opposite drummer Ken Dannelley at an audition (I'm not sure who was auditioning who?). As he pounded along to my rudimentary attempts at songwriting, at the same time he looked like he was about to leap out from behind his drums and attack me. I was very very frightened... I hired Ken on the spot and he became Stretford's drummer for the entire history of the band. The original band was a power trio featuring Carl Normal (ie: me) on bass/vocal, Tony Nelson on guitar and Ken Dannelley on drums. Stretford played their first gig here in Austin in 1990 (with Happy Family and the Friendly Truckers, at the Texas Tavern as I remember). This original lineup of the band recorded such early two-minute symphonies as Pogo On My Own, Zerox Love and What More Could I Ask For (the first Stretford recording that featured a horn section) and continued to play hundreds of shows in and around Texas at "any club that would have us"! A few years later, things had changed dramatically. By 1993 I picked up a rhythm guitar, Tony had been replaced by Dan Carney and Barry Anderson joined on bass and a four piece horn section had become a regular addition to the live shows. The horn section was led by horn-slinging sax woman Cynthia Sadler and also featured Jennings Crawford from the Wannabes and wasted trumpet player Bill Jeffery). In 1994 we thought we were good enough to put out an album. A lot of people were saying that we were shit but I honestly thought we had something to offer so in 1994 I found a label interested in doing our album and I booked some studio time and Stretford began recording an LP. What else was I gonna I do? The debut album Crossing the Line (Unclean Records, CD and LP) was released in 1995. The album featured a re-recording of the crowd favourite, Zerox Love plus some brand new shiny classics such as Digital Clock, I Used To Know and Mrs. Jones. That same year, the band embarked on a National club tour to promote Crossing the Line. Also in '95 I was greeted with the news that my Mum had been diagnosed with a terminal illness (ALS). So I did what all good English boys do for their mothers and moved to be with her (San Antonio, TX) and ended up staying in San Antonio for the next 18 months caring for her up until her death. During this time, the band was brought to an almost complete stand-still. My Mum died in 1997. I returned to Austin in 1997 and Stretford were slow to recover but I felt that we had another album in us... So we decided to record a belated second album. Long Distance (Framed! Records, CD) was released in 1998. Displaying a grittier, more beautifully produced (thanks Mike!) and more horn-laden side to the band. Long Distance offered such new crowd-stompers as Radio, Hey Mr. Perfect and the brilliant single from the album Vice (Framed! 7" vinyl) written by Cynthia! Another line-up change occured around this time - Dan Carney was replaced by new guitarist Mike Macicak and Stretford continued to gig our collective arses off to promote the new release. In 1999 changes were becoming evident - some of us were getting married, some of us were having kids, I noticed that despite my own arrested development, my band members were developing actual lives. We were unable to do a proper club tour to promote Long Distance and I felt that the band was stalling. We could have broken up right there and then but there was just one thing... I felt we had a third album in us! The only problem was that there wasn't a whole bunch of new songs but I didn't allow that to slow us down! We went into Mike Macicak's studio and recorded a few new Stretford songs, including New Clothes and the tellingly entitled Swan Song, as well as some covers of a few songs that we'd borrowed for our live set over the years. Things came to a head for me personally in 2000 when I found myself in college full-time, I had a full-time girlfriend, a part-time job, oh yeh... and a full-time rock'n'roll band. Something had to budge so I did the honourable thing and in 2000 announced to my band that I was breaking up Stretford (much to some band members' relief). My vision for Stretford had been one for a Fast, Hard, Pop band. Basically I wanted to incorporate elements of some of the best punk rock bands and some good songs. I think we accomplished this and - if nothing else - we definatley played loud, rave-up shows and I wasn't about to go out with a whimper. So we decided to put out our newly recorded CD first and then break up... In 2000 we released our third and final album Short Circuit (Plan b Records, CD)and played a series of album-promoting shows before playing a farewell gig in November 2000. And that... is basically that. Stretford - by the way - is also the name of a suburb of Manchester, England and is where I was born/grew up. I decided that I wanted to bring a little bit of home with me to Austin when I formed my band here. We had some top fans who came to see us at every show and looking back on it, it was the only way I would have considered spending my youth. If nothing else, being in a band is a quasi-decent excuse for accomplishing nothing else during your 20's (and early 30's!) and after all... What else was I gonna I do? - http://www.myspace.com/stretfordukThis is an original single sheet printed paper poster advertisement (A.K.A. handbill, flyer or print) for a concert performance gig by professional musicians at a music venue. 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