Shoes and Socks Off was a musical project by Tobias Hayes, based in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, England, and active from 2007 to 2012.

History

After leaving

Meet Me in St. Louis ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' is a 1944 American Christmas musical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Divided into a series of seasonal vignettes, starting with Summer 1903, it relates the story of a year in the life of the Smith family in St. Louis l ...

in 2007, Hayes began writing songs for an acoustic solo project. It started off as a solo endeavour, mainly involving just himself and a guitar, but was sometimes performed as a group, involving drums, guitars, bass, samples, programming and strings. His debut album ''From The Muddy Banks of Melitzer'' was recorded in September 2008 and released through DIY indie label

Big Scary Monsters Big Scary Monsters Recording Company (often known simply as Big Scary Monsters or BSM Records) is an independent record label based in Oxford, England, UK. Its releases include La Dispute, Beach Slang, Modern Baseball, Minus The Bear, mewitho ...

. It was quickly followed by ''Hand-Reared Suburban Piglet'', featuring the same 10 songs, but re-worked with drums, strings, keys and programming. In the winter of 2009, the third full-length album was released. ''To Where The Skyline Is Fortified With Windows And Doors'' comprised 10 new songs, some of which featured members of Nitkowski, Palehorse and

Blakfish Blakfish was a mathcore band, also described as 'death pop' by the NME, The band from Birmingham, England formed in the year 2000 after meeting and becoming friends at school, contrary to their frequent fabricated claims that they all met in j ...

. Following quickly in summer 2010, ''Robin Hood Waiter Champion Have-Not'', the fourth album was released. Hayes took it on tour with a band, featuring members of Nitkowski, Palehorse and

Talons A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tarsus ...

. A homemade video was made for every song on the record. 2011 saw the release of ''Don't Blame Yourself, It's in Your Blood'', a three-disc anthology of all SASO recorded output to date, and 'Dot Dot Dot & Other Works', a lyric book containing words to every Shoes And Socks Off and Meet Me in St. Louis song. With the book came a download link to 10 new demos, each of which had been recorded whilst on a 40-day tour of mainland Europe with

Tubelord Tubelord were an English alternative rock band, formed in 2006 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. In 2009, the band signed a record deal with independent label Hassle Records and on 12 October 2009 they released their debut album ''Our First Am ...

in 2011. In May 2012, Shoes And Socks Off's fifth album ''Miles of Mad Water'' was released on BSM in the UK and Father Figure Records in mainland Europe. Toby toured the remainder of the year, this time with a band. Oliver Newton ( Yndi Halda) on drums, and Alex Petersen (

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/Love Among The Mannequins) on bass, keys and guitars.

The end

On 13 August 2012, Hayes announced the end of Shoes and Socks Off via his official Tumblr blog and a final tour followed, culminating in a final show at the Old Blue Last in East London. The last SASO song ever performed live was "Epic Sweet Proportions". Almost every Shoes and Socks Off song was written about Hayes' involvement with a consistently unnamed muse he came into contact with at the start of 2006. A strange friendship was formed, but the two were never to actually meet. By summer 2012, the long and peculiar affair ended, and as a direct result, the project had to be shut down. The 'unnamed muse' is an artist, and was responsible for nearly all artwork used for Shoes and Socks Off releases. After deciding to end the project, one last record was written, an EP called ''As We Get Closer, The Room Gets Smaller''.

Discography

Other projects

Bermuda Ern
Love Among The Mannequins
Shield Your Eyes

Body Parts
KnorX
Push To Fire
Strobe 45
Eugene Quell
Laundromat

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shoes and Socks Off British experimental musicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people)