Stellar Art Wars are a collective of musicians dating back to the early 90's. Currently involved are Walter (vocals, [percussion), Twiggy (guitar), Ben (mandolin/banjo), Andy (bass), Henry (violin), Terry (percussion) and Patrick (drummer with "Asbo", the punk version of Stellar)
Stellar Art Wars, the folk band, is currently inactive, but there's plenty of clips of them live on YouTube.
Asbo is now a three piece band consisting of Twiggy (Stephen Branch), vocals/guitar, Andrew Wainwright, vocals, bass and Patrick Auer, drums.
Swivvel Records -Andy and Twiggy Musical History
Some of the stuff that andy and twiggy have done over the past decade or so
The history, mission statement etc..........
Liner notes taken from Andy and Twiggy's Swivvel Records MP3 Sampler:
160 songs, 12 years, countless lineups and spin-offs, 2 original members, essentially 1 band
Stellar Art Wars- possibly our best name but not our only one- is just one of many such collectives/circles/cliques of musicians around the world, This album offers a unique insight into the musical diversity of one such group.
Bands are families, all related , and this represents just a small part of the un-famous side of Essex's rock 'n' roll family tree.
For every beatles there's another 10 bands as prolific but without any semblence of fame. here's just one
The majority of this collection was home recorded at zero budget on a fostex b-16 analog multitrack. Unfortunately fixing it is beyond our means at present, so we're stuck with harddisk. It'd be nice to have the cash to fix our dilapidated kit. Analog rox
We can perform or have performed 90% of this stuff live...
the upside: Being an unsigned artist, writer or producer means being skint, but it also gives a lot of freedom. We play what we want to hear and what we FEEL, not what is fashionable, not what sells, and not exactly what we're told to. (and nobody wants.... to go to jail!)
Forget plastic pop and corporate rock. These are a collection of recordings by real people with real lives. Sometimes distinctly odd lives. People with strange looks, strange moods, strange ideas, strange smells, strange voices (on the mic and in the head) strange guitaring, strange views, strange drumming..... in short, musicians You'll find it here in spades...........
Welcome to the underground, son, and it's a scary place. Some of the influences here are credible. Dylan, Clash, Elvis, Bowie and Mott. On the flip side there's Carter USM, Eternal and Steps. What adds to the fun is the almost complete randomness with which these influences collide. For the record- Andy and Dave have the worst taste.
There's no genre-fascism here- there's MOR, folk, dance, hip-hop, britpop, grunge ,love, politics, despair, seriousnous, sillyness- sometimes all at once. Some songs feature various recordings and takes in different styles.......
What you will find here, rare in today's "hit parade" is passion, soul and sheer rock 'n' roll balls. Something truly individual. Something truly human. Music that is FUN and MEANS SOMETHING Whack up the stereo, spark up and open some cans. You're in for a real treat!!
for best effect- set your MP3 player to random/shuffle!
Kreditz
Stellar Art Wars (and related bands) aka ASBO, Wasteland, Love Asylum, Nudge, Sound Scope Gravytrain, Shutlanger, Gutt, Dog Salad, B&B, Doss, The Norm, Suffolk Ensemble, RMC, The Surviving Beatles,The Chavs,DJ Death,Poor Man's Pig,Soldier Town,Free Beer,Sidetracked
Contributors: First and foremost,Twiggy aka Stephen Branch... Andy "mad boy sane" Wainwright [vox,guitar,bass,keys] Mark Palmer [vox], Sean (the funky rhyme soldier) Roff [vox/mc], Dave (the white andy peters) Nevard [keys,guitar,vox], Kevin Scott [keys,vox], Steve (wine wife and bowie knife) Kemp [vox,guitar], Phil Lines [drums], Walter Blacker [vox], Stuart Cousins guitar, Ben Blacker [bass], Jake [drums], Ella [vox], Dietmar Kennard [guitar]. Patrick Auer [drums], Rachel Brown [keys,vox] , Paul Wilson, The Other Rachel [vox], Tammy Hales [vox], Justin Jay [guitar], Chris Pitts [vox,guitar], Richard [keys] Chris G and Bruce, Kathy Morton [vox], Neville Dean [drums], Blind Boy Grunt [guest vox] , A. Linn [drums]Glen Baker (beers, ideas and moral support), Stuart Mallinson [vox] special thanks to Chris Franklin, Dick Spalding
Recordings (the decent ones) made at Aztec Studios, colchester. Produced, Engineered and mixed by Twiggy. Dodgy dance numbers and rough fourtrack demos made in Andy's Bedroom, we've included them for added fun.
The phoney war is over. Let the Stellar Art Wars commence.
Andy Wainwright , 2006
pubs, folk clubs, festivals
madness beatles elvis lieber stoller spector motown bangles oasis mott the hoople ian hunter the clash bob dylan kylie
Loads of guitars, amps and synths from 1960's onwards
Twiggy and Andy are also writers/producers and there's info about them too on this site.
