Steven McCluskey - Banjo.
My main weapon of choice is a 2006 bespoke banjo made by Phil Davidson of Davidson Instruments, Bristol. It is handcrafted from flamed maple and the neck is 5mm wider than standard Gibson style models. The inlays on the neck are influenced by all things Scottish and it also has a compound radius finger board of around 10". To finish it off it has been fitted with a Huber tonering that gives the banjo more "Pop" than a bowl of rice krispies!. You can check it out at www.davidsoninstruments.com in the "Gallery" section.
I also still use my 1990 Stelling Bellflower standard model fitted with a fibreskin to mellow the tone which works quite well and can be heard on my older tracks "The Shores Of Elgol" and "Red Star" listed here on myspace.
Influences
Bela Fleck, Alan Munde, Tony Furtado, Scott Vestal, Larry McNeely, Alison Brown, Earl Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, David Grier, Rob Ickes, John Reischman, Led Zepplin, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Chick Corea, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, John Martyn, Seal, Sound Garden, Kirk Hammet, Steve Vai, Al DiMeola, John McLaughlan, Paco D'Lucia, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Duncan, Tommy Meharry, Jason Wotherspoon, Kevin Glasgow
Sounds Like
Kinda like a Banjo. These tunes were all recorded in the house just incase you were wondering about the absence in sound quality!
Steve comes from a very musical family and eldest of 8 who throughout his childhood would all travel to various session and folk festivals across the country, which introduced him to different types of music. He started playing violin at age 6 but realised very early on that he wasn’t any good at it so knocked music on the head for several years and started playing with toys like the other normal children in his street. It wasn’t until he was 14 years old that he found an old banjo lying at the back of a cupboard in his parents house that he started to mess around with it and eventually tried to play. He very quickly grew to love the sound of the banjo and when his father realised he was serious about learning he asked his friend Danny McAleese a five string / tenor banjo player from East Kilbride to give him some lessons and set him off on the right track. He took to the banjo very quickly and within 6 months of playing and still only 15 years old won the prestigious Edale Banjo Contest. No mean feat for a kid so young but to add to his achievement, two years later he went on to win the guitar contest too. He would play at all the bluegrass and folk festival jam sessions well into the night and was influenced by some great UK banjo players such as Hugo Niven, Rob Mairs and Bill Foster who were all generous enough to give him their time and direction on many occasions. From the age of 15 until he was about 18 he played with his Father Gerry, Sister Susan and Brother Michael in a family Bluegrass Band called Alive & Pickin who performed on stage at many of these festivals whereas youngsters they jammed. They travelled the length and breadth of the country with numerous TV and Radio appearances on the way building a strong following of fans. One of the highlights of Steve’s banjo life was when at 16 he had the chance to play with his biggest influence, Bela Fleck. He jammed with the banjo master and picked his brains on a few occasions, which had been a life long ambition achieved when he was still very young. In the years that followed he met several other banjo players travelling from the US that have had a major influence on his playing such as Tony Furtado, Alison Brown and Ralph Stanley. Now he is putting his spin on an instrument that is still relatively unknown with, a dynamic young group in the form of Green Goblin!
I’ve been a music journalist for more than 10 years. Over the years, many artists and managers have asked me what the best way to break into the European music market is.
Here are some things you can do:
Publish artist press releases, news, and tour dates to the CountryHome Forum on MySpace, http://groups.myspace.com/CountryHomeMagazine , CountryHome Forum is part of CountryHome, http://www.CountryHome.de , Germany's Premier Country Music Online Magazine. Everything you publish to the CountryHome Forum will be published in my weekly Newsletter which has over 80,000 readers.
Send me CDs and DVDs for review and set up an artist interview with me. All reviews and interviews will be submitted to the magazines I'm writing for. More information for which magazines I'm writing can be found at http://www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka
Upload artist videos to http://www.MyVideo.de and http://www.ClipFish.de . Both websites are like http://www.YouTube.com and uploading videos is free. The websites are completely in German. If you don’t speak German and need assistance, I will help you open an account and upload a video for 25 Euro. Each additional video upload for the same artist name and at the same video website is 10 Euro.
If you have more questions about the European music market or about any of the information I send to you today, please contact me at Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de too.
Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany
Christmas is coming soon. Are you looking for a Christmas present and would like to help handicapped children? Than please request the list of donations in kind from HelpCharity, www.MySpace.com/HelpCharity , by sending me an e-mail at Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de . Many donations in kind are autographed.
If you don't have the chance to request the list of donations in kind, please add HelpCharity to your Top Friends!
Thanks for helping me to support handicapped children!
Christian
Founder of HelpCharity Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany Phone: ++49 (0) 6101 544613 Mobil: ++49 (0) 171 6903352 E-Mail: Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de Internet: www.MySpace.com/HelpCharity Internet: www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka
Hi there! Thanks so much for the add. It's a pleasure to be your friend! We hope that you'll come join us at www. grasslife. com - We'd love to see you there! Have a great weekend!
Liz has taste if she likes MH (just like me and her mad sister)
I am back in EK for a wee while so i'll probably see u 2 around seen chrisy a few times
audz
Online Now!
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