String Driven Thing
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String Driven Thing are a Scottish
folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...
band, formed in Glasgow in 1967 and led by married couple Chris and Pauline Adams, with the electric violin of Graham Smith.


History


Formation

String Driven Thing formed in Glasgow in 1967 as a three-part harmony folk band with the Adamses and guitarist John Mannion. After paying their dues on the Scottish folk circuit they put out an eponymous album on the independent
Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
label (copies of which are collectable and difficult to find) although a long way from their later
Charisma Charisma () is a personal quality of presence or charm that compels its subjects. Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary; in these fields, the term "ch ...
label output. The group moved to London in 1972 and Chris Adams began to steer the band towards the electric folk-rock genre where his songwriting abilities, which often feature hard-bitten and bitter observations capturing the harsher side of life, would be seen to better effect. By 1972, he had recruited classically trained violinist Graham Smith and guitarist Colin Wilson on bass, but soon afterwards Mannion left, citing musical differences.


Record deal and tour

Adams then secured a deal with
Tony Stratton-Smith Tony Stratton-Smith (29 October 1933 – 19 March 1987) was an English rock music manager, and entrepreneur. He founded the London-based record label Charisma Records in 1969 and managed rock groups such as the Nice, Van der Graaf Generator and ...
's
Charisma Charisma () is a personal quality of presence or charm that compels its subjects. Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary; in these fields, the term "ch ...
label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed ...
and another eponymous album came out, produced by
Shel Talmy Sheldon Talmy (born August 11, 1937) is an American record producer, songwriter and arranger, best known for his work in the UK in the 1960s with the Who, the Kinks and many others. Talmy arranged and produced hits such as "You Really Got Me" ...
at London's IBC Studios, with the songs "Circus", "Jack Diamond" and "Easy To Be Free" among the standout tracks. With Smith's high octane violin and Pauline Adams' distinctive lispy vocals, the band toured the UK and Europe with Charisma stablemates Lindisfarne and Genesis. This exposure raised their profile and led to TV appearances and an American tour. A second album, ''The Machine That Cried'', was recorded in February 1973 at IBC, but now with the addition of a drummer, Billy "The Kid" Fairley. Standout tracks included "Heartfeeder", "The Machine That Cried" and "Sold Down The River". The song "Night Club", which opened side two, was inspired by the cover of their first Charisma album, designed by
Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, UFO, 10c ...
. Recorded while Chris Adams was suffering health problems, including a collapsed lung and depression, the album is on the whole a dark affair. Despite its cult status, it did not sell well at the time. By 1974, the constant touring was taking its toll and Wilson was replaced by Bill Hatje on bass, then Billy Fairley gave way to Colin Fairley (former Beggars Opera but no relation.) Soon afterwards, disillusioned with life on the road, the Adamses quit and returned to their native Glasgow. With their departure the band disintegrated, but Charisma recruited three musicians to continue touring with Smith and Fairley. Singer Kim Beacon, guitarist Andy Roberts and bassist James Exel joined the band, with Roberts and Exel collaborating for much of the songwriting, including the single "Cruel To Fool" produced by
Shel Talmy Sheldon Talmy (born August 11, 1937) is an American record producer, songwriter and arranger, best known for his work in the UK in the 1960s with the Who, the Kinks and many others. Talmy arranged and produced hits such as "You Really Got Me" ...
. Two albums followed. ''Please Mind Your Head'', recorded by engineer Tony Taverner at Escape Studios in Kent, and ''Keep Yer A'nd On It'', produced by
Andy Johns Jeremy Andrew "Andy" Johns (20 May 1950 – 7 April 2013) was a British sound engineer and record producer who worked on several well-known rock albums, including the Rolling Stones' '' Exile on Main St.'' (1972), Television's '' Marquee Moon'' ...
at Island's Basing Street studios. Following the release of ''Keep Yer A'nd On It'' keyboardist Derek Beauchemin joined the band after violinist Graham Smith left. String Driven Thing put out a number of singles on the Charisma label, some of which are not on any of the vinyl albums but appear as bonus tracks on Ozit Records CDs. Two of these are the Chris Adams compositions "It's a Game" and "Eddie". "It's A Game" was covered by the Bay City Rollers in 1977 and became a chart hit in the US, Japan and Germany. Chris and Pauline Adams put out a few singles on the Charisma label both as "Chris and Pauline Adams" and just "Adams". The b-side of their first single, "The City at Night", features Graham Smith. Colin Wilson went on to put out a solo folk album called ''Cloudburst'' on the Tabitha label which is also hard to find and has recently been reissued. The Chris Adams/Graham Smith String Driven Thing line up has reconvened on several occasions, most notably in 1991, 2001 and in 2004 which also saw an appearance from Pauline Adams.


Break up

The American tour of 1975 highlighted issues which the new line-up had with continuity and finding an appropriate audience. In October that year, they opened for Lou Reed, after which drummer Colin Fairley left the band and Charisma withdrew their support. Fairley went on to have a career as a studio engineer and record producer, for Elvis Costello and The Bluebells among others. Andy Roberts became guitar tech for Jeff Beck and Stevie Winwood, while Jimmy Exell still plays in Denmark. Beacon sang lead on Tony Banks' solo debut, '' A Curious Feeling'', in 1979 and also had solo material issued. He died in 2001. In 1978, Jimmy Exell played with a number of "session" bands, notably at the Baron's Court Tavern in Baron's Court, London, where he was a regular and a favourite of Alex Sanders' (then known as "The King of the Witches")
Violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ist Graham Smith joined Charisma labelmates Van der Graaf in 1977, and also featured on some
Peter Hammill Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English musician and recording artist. He was a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Best known as a singer/songwriter, he also plays guitar and piano and ...
albums. He later joined the
Iceland Symphony Orchestra Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands (Iceland Symphony Orchestra) (ISO) is an Icelandic orchestra based in Reykjavík, Iceland. Its primary concert venue is the Harpa Concert Hall. The Iceland Symphony is an autonomous public institution under the aus ...
, and put out three solo albums in Iceland, later reissued on CD by specialist progressive label Ozit Morpheus Records.


Reformation and career

After 15 years of silence, Chris Adams released a solo album, ''The Damage'', in 1991 and subsequently reformed String Driven Thing for a German tour, the Berlin leg of which was released on Ozit as ''$uicide, Live in Berlin''. Variations of that band toured sporadically throughout the 1990s, but since 2001 the line-up has stabilised, with Andy Allan on bass, Dick Drake on drums and either George Tucker or Chris' son Robin Adams on guitar, with Pauline Adams and Graham Smith occasionally joining them in concert. In 2007, the band released ''Moments of Truth'', their first studio album in over 30 years, featuring twelve new Adams songs. April 2009 brought the Americana-tinged ''Songs From Another Country'' (released for contractual reasons as String Driven) on Backshop Records. The new material was first heard publicly at Fifestock in March 2009 and a new website stringdriventhing.co.uk was launched at the same time as the album release. In 2010, the Adamses gigged with original member John Mannion to celebrate the first album's 40th anniversary. As 2012 was the 40th anniversary of String Driven Thing's signing to Charisma and touring with Genesis, the band did some English gigs with Graham Smith and Pauline Adams. On 15 June 2013, Robin Adams wrote and released a single with String Driven Thing titled Light The Way. The band regularly performed the song with Robin performing lead vocals in their live set. Bass player Colin Wilson died in 2013 and founder and lead singer Chris Adams died on 7 October 2016.


Personnel


Members

;Current members * Pauline Adams - vocals, percussion (1967–1974, 1991, 2001, 2004, 2012–present) * Graham Smith - violin (1972–1975, 1991, 2001, 2004, 2012–present) * Robin Adams - guitar (2001–present) * Andy Allan - bass (2001–present) * Dick Drake - drums (2004–present) ;Former members * Chris Adams - guitar, vocals (1967–1974, 1991–1994, 2001–2016; died 2016) * John Mannion - guitar (1967–1972) * Colin Wilson - bass (1970–1974; died 2013) * Billy "The Kid" Fairley - drums (1973–1974) * Bill Hatje - bass (1974) * Colin Fairley - drums (1974–1975) * Kim Beacon - vocals (1974–1975; died 2001) * Andy Roberts - guitar (1974–1975) * James Exell - bass (1974–1975) * George Tucker - guitar (1991,1994–2004) * John Bradley - drums (1991, 1994–2001) * Bob Cairns - violin (1994–1995)


Lineups


Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:450 PlotArea = left:200 bottom:120 top:0 right:40 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1967 till:01/01/2015 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1967 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1967 Colors = id:voc value:red legend:Vocals id:viol value:drabgreen legend:Violin id:g value:green legend:Guitars id:b value:blue legend:Bass id:dr value:orange legend:Drums id:perc value:claret legend:Percussion id:alb value:black legend:Studio_releases LineData = at:01/07/1970 layer:back at:01/07/1972 at:01/07/1973 at:01/07/1974 at:01/07/1975 at:01/07/2007 at:01/07/2009 PlotData = width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,–4) bar:Pauline Adams from:start till:01/10/1974 color:voc bar:Pauline Adams from:start till:01/10/1974 color:perc width:3 bar:Pauline Adams from:01/05/1991 till:01/09/1991 color:voc bar:Pauline Adams from:01/05/1991 till:01/09/1991 color:perc width:3 bar:Pauline Adams from:01/05/2005 till:01/09/2005 color:voc bar:Pauline Adams from:01/05/2005 till:01/09/2005 color:perc width:3 bar:Pauline Adams from:01/05/2009 till:01/09/2009 color:voc bar:Pauline Adams from:01/05/2009 till:01/09/2009 color:perc width:3 bar:Pauline Adams from:01/04/2012 till:end color:voc bar:Pauline Adams from:01/04/2012 till:end color:perc width:3 bar:Kim Beacon from:01/10/1974 till:01/09/1975 color:voc bar:Graham Smith from:01/05/1972 till:01/09/1975 color:viol bar:Graham Smith from:01/05/1991 till:01/09/1991 color:viol bar:Graham Smith from:01/05/2005 till:01/09/2005 color:viol bar:Graham Smith from:01/05/2009 till:01/09/2009 color:viol bar:Graham Smith from:01/04/2012 till:end color:viol bar:Chris Adams from:start till:01/10/1974 color:g bar:Chris Adams from:start till:01/10/1974 color:voc width:3 bar:Chris Adams from:01/05/1991 till:01/09/1991 color:g bar:Chris Adams from:01/05/1991 till:01/09/1991 color:voc width:3 bar:Chris Adams from:01/05/2005 till:01/09/2005 color:g bar:Chris Adams from:01/05/2005 till:01/09/2005 color:voc width:3 bar:Chris Adams from:01/05/2009 till:01/09/2009 color:g bar:Chris Adams from:01/05/2009 till:01/09/2009 color:voc width:3 bar:Chris Adams from:01/04/2012 till:end color:g bar:Chris Adams from:01/04/2012 till:end color:voc width:3 bar:John Mannion from:start till:01/05/1972 color:g bar:Andy Roberts from:01/10/1974 till:01/09/1975 color:g bar:Robin Adams from:01/10/2012 till:end color:g bar:Colin Wilson from:01/05/1972 till:01/04/1974 color:b bar:Bill Hatje from:01/04/1974 till:01/10/1974 color:b bar:James Exel from:01/10/1974 till:01/09/1975 color:b bar:Andy Allan from:01/04/2012 till:01/07/2012 color:b bar:Andy Allan from:01/10/2012 till:end color:b bar:Billy "The Kid" Fairley from:01/07/1973 till:01/07/1974 color:dr bar:Colin Fairley from:01/07/1974 till:01/05/1975 color:dr bar:Dick Drake from:01/04/2012 till:01/07/2012 color:dr bar:Dick Drake from:01/10/2012 till:end color:dr


Discography


Albums

* ''String Driven Thing'' (Concord CON-S 1001, 1970) * ''String Driven Thing'' (Charisma CAS 1062, 1972) * ''The Machine That Cried'' (Charisma CAS 1070, 1973) * ''Please Mind Your Head'' (Charisma CAS 1097, 1974) * ''Keep Yer 'and On It'' (Charisma CAS 1112, 1975) * ''Dischotomy: The Rarities 1971—1974'' (Germany, 1992) * ''The Early Years 1968—1972'' (1993) * ''Suicide (Live in Berlin)'' (Ozit, 1995) * ''Studio '72 Plus Live In Switzerland '73 And London '95'' (1998) * ''The Machine That Cried Band’s Official Version'' (2006) * ''Moments of Truth'' (2007) * ''Songs From Another Country'' (Backshop, 2009) * ''Live on the Foxtrot tour 40th Anniversary'' (2012) * ''Steeple Claydon'' (Ozit, 26/04/2014)


UK Singles

* "Another Night in this Old City" / "Say What You Like" (Concord CON 007, 1970) * "Eddie" / "Hooked on the Road" (Charisma CB.195, 1972) * "Circus" / "My Real Hero" (Charisma CB.203, 16/02/1972) * "It's a Game" / "Are You a Rock and Roller" (Charisma CB.215, 1973) * "I'll Sing One For You / "To See You" (Charisma CB 223, 1974) * "Mrs O'Reilly" / "Keep on Moving" (Charisma CB 239, 1974) * "Overdrive" / "Timpani for the Devil" (Charisma CB 247, 1974) * "Stand Back in Amazement" / "But I Do" (Charisma CB 276, 1975) * "Cruel to Fool" / "Josephine" (Charisma CB 286, 1976)


Demo/promo singles

* "Circus" (both sides, Charisma CB.203,
demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
, 16/02/1972) * "Are You a Rock and Roller" (both sides, Charisma CB.210,
demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
, 17/08/1973)


Solo releases

* Chris & Pauline Adams - "If Only The Good Die Young" b/w "The City At Night" (Charisma CB 244, 1975) * Adams - "The Crunch" b/w "Hand The Rock On" (Charisma CB 271, 1976) * Chris Adams - ''The Damage'' * Chris Adams - ''The Damage II'' (Ozit) * Graham Smith - ''Med Töfraboga'' (''Touch of Magic'') (Ozit, 1980) * Graham Smith - ''Arrival of Spring'' (Ozit) * Colin Wilson - ''Cloudburst'' * Graham Smith - ''Kalinka'' (Ozit)


References


External links


String Driven Thing official website
{{Authority control Scottish folk music groups Musical groups established in 1969 Charisma Records artists