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style's a shrood mood
“the lure of o'd's warm log fire, a pint or two of proper ale and a live band is too much to resist on a cold october night, especially when the band is ryan mitchell-smith's latest project, shrood. having watched ryan develop from the pony tailed zappa look-alike playing harmonica with dr. blue during his university holidays, through his solo work, with the heat and sway (now perfect second), it's a real pleasure to witness the culmination of his previous work in his latest incarnation as the front-man for the blues-rock-jazz fusion that is shrood.
gone is the ponytail, jeans and t-shirt, replaced by a stylish black outfit and the now trademark 'trilby' as ryan leads his new band through a set of beautifully crafted pieces of music, each one tipping that aforementioned trilby in the direction of the myriad of musical influences he's grown up with. the band's core sound is the blues, but blended with many other genres, it feels so fresh and different that it could almost be said they've invented a whole new sound.”
derek lines - wakefield express – 26-10-2007
shrood sprang to life as many bands do in the comfort of their local music haunt, in this case the wonder that is o’donoghues in wakefield. the band met in un-mysterious circumstances over many pints and jam sessions over many years. the band have been together now for over two years and have established a veritable throng of fans in the leeds and wakefield area. although the band began writing and recording immediately after the initial “shall we start a band fellas…” the band’s name and identity didn’t really arrive for nearly a year.
one fateful day, in o’donoghues a friend of the band was reading a dictionary whilst sat at the bar, jack daniel’s in hand (like you do…) revealed to the band that the collective name for a group of apes (such as a gaggle of geese or a pride of lions) is called a “shrewdness of apes”. the boys worked this into shrood, donned black outfits and a few hats and got to work.
the boys have established a blues funk sound through their completely original set of songs barring the one cover they will allow, portishead’s wonderful “roads”, only with mean minor mad blues harmonica thrown into the mix.
the band:
ryan mitchell-smith – harmonica, vocals, guitar
jim “the grynn” emmerson – lead guitar
“whiskey” matt bradley – bass guitar
rob taylor - drums
the o’donoghues quadrangle:
ryan walked into the bar on his return from university in derby, after studying a ba (hons) in popular music and music technology and achieving a first degree. he was thirsty for his first taste of an o’d’s pint. he met local guitarist rod young and joined a mean blues band dr blue as the harmonica player and went on to perform at major blues festivals throughout the country. he also met local singer antonio lulic and formed the duo called the heat, who also went on to perform at festivals and venues such as the 100 club on oxford street, london. he also met his current girlfriend in the bar, irish super singer alice hegarty and simultaneously began a second duo “perfect second” who have established themselves on the west yorkshire map. if that wasn’t enough, ryan then began to develop his solo work, which culminated in the starting of shrood in 2006, giving his previous skills a real workout. he still performs regularly in all disguises.
jim walked into the bar as a bedroom playing fledgling. he began attending the o’d’s open mic nights and started honing his bluesy style working with many talented musicians on a weekly basis. after proving to be a demon player after years of listening to stevie ray vaughan and slash, jim emerged as a wonder-boy guitarist set for great things.
matt walked into the bar and ordered a whiskey with water. he looked the guys up and down and scratched his head, sank his whiskey and said, “yeah….. i’m in.” he frequented the bar before any other member of the bar and is considered the wise owl of the quartet. his pedigree before him stands proudly, as matt has gigged in many forms over the years as both a rhythm and jazz guitarist and a seriously sought after bassist. his conquests include “the bluefoot project” who were highly successful and performed at glastonbury on various occasions. matt also bumped into rosie doonan in the bar and began playing bass guitar in her highly successful full band incarnation rosie doonan band who is currently touring after the release of her highly acclaimed album “moving on”. matt met the boys and installed the funky bass-lines, the secret of their success so far.
rob walked into the bar as the red hot drummer from local wonder band fawn. after various quizzings and beggings and a few pints of pear cider, rob finally agreed to join the throng. rob is inspired by many wonderful musical influences, most of all the legend that is frank zappa, and many other funky funksters. studying for a FE PGCE, rob is currently sitting behind his kit, telling everyone else where they should be, like every good drummer should.
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