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The Smiling Strangers were formed in late 2004 by Jeff Reynolds. They have released two albums "Dangerous Times" (2005) and "Spaces Graces And Smiling Faces" (2006). Their third album, `All The Way`, was released in December 2007.
We hope you enjoy the website, please keep coming back to find out more news and info about releases, concerts and how to contact us, many thanks - The Smiling Strangers MAY 2008 We have four gigs in a week in early June. Our schedule is: Friday, June 6th - The White Hart, Whitechapel, 8.30pm onwards 1 Mile End Road, Whitechapel. E1 4TP (3 mins walk left out of Whitechapel tube station) Saturday, June 7th - The Cavendish Arms, Stockwell, 8.30pm onwards 128 Hartington Road. SW8 2HJ Friday, June 13th - The Old Farmhouse, Bath Saturday, June 14th - The Robin Hood Pub, Bristol Also, we will soon have some "live" clips up on YouTube. We have eight tracks from a recent gig in London and they should be up and available to watch sometime in early June. Full Gig list through the Summer 08: June 6th - White Hart, Whitechapel, London June 7th - The Cavendish Arms, Stockwell, London June 13th - The Farmhouse, Bath June 14th - Robin Hood, Bristol July 2nd - Katie Fitzgeralds, Stourbridge July 8th - Railway Tavern, Stratford, London August 28th - Henry Boons Acoustic Night September 13th - Dudley Canal Festival September 23rd - Cinnamon Coffee House, Bridgnorth APRIL 2008 Our weekly podcast is going from strength to strength. You can listen/download any of the first four shows by going to: http://smilingstranger.mypodcast.com/index.html You can also subscribe for free through iTunes, just search for the Smiling Stranger Podcast and sign up!! We have two gigs in April April 13th - Atticus, Bearwood, Birmingham - 8pm April 26th - The Dry Bar, Long Lane, London, EC1 (100 yards from Barbican Tube station) - 8.30pm Contact us at: info@thesmilingstrangers.com for more details and we look forward to seeing you there!! Gigs coming up: April 13th - Atticus, Bearwood, Birmingham April 26th - The Dry Bar, Long Lane, London EC1 May 1st - The Hog In Armour, Norwich May 9th - The Boathouse, Cambridge There will be more gigs announced in the next few weeks - keep checking back and if you need any more info about any of the gigs contact: info@thesmilingstrangers.com or go to our myspace site: www.myspace.com/thesmilingstrangers FEBRUARY 2008 After a couple of great gigs at The Space on the Isle of Dogs and at Katie Fitzgeralds in Stourbridge, we now have two gigs in two days. We are playing as a three piece acoustically at: The Moon & Sixpence, Glossop - www.myspace.com/soundsunplugged on Sunday, March 2nd and at Granvilles, Stone, Staffs on Monday, March 3rd The line up will be Rue (acoustic guitar); Jeff (acoustic and bass guitars) and Pete (percussion) They should be a couple of great nights - see you there!! We have just signed a six month promotional deal with Rainmaker Public Relations from Boston, USA. Our latest CD, "ALL THE WAY" will be released in America in February and heavily promoted across all forms of media - exciting stuff!! JANUARY 2008 HAPPY NEW YEAR and we hope you all had a good Christmas time. We are gigging very soon: Tuesday 15th January 2008 8pm At ‘The Space’ on the Isle of Dogs Tickets £5 (Call 07941 328155) http://www.space.org.uk/events.php#gigsinspace Look forward to seeing you there. We are also our own support at the gig as we are doing an acoustic set for 40 minutes before the full band kicks off. Some songs off our latest CD have been included on various compilation CDs around the world: Sounds Like Cafe Vol. 19 - AUS Music For Coffee Beings 3 - CANADA Bullseye Records Best Of - CANADA Violet Femmes - CANADA Visit their web sites and myspace sites to find out more but we are sharing the CDs with some great artists - it is fantastic to have been chosen to be part of it all! OCTOBER 2007 Three songs from our new album are now on our myspace site - go check them out at www.myspace.com/thesmilingstrangers. The new CD "All The Way" is being mastered this week, duplicated and covers printed next week and, hopefully fingers crossed and everything else too, released in the last week in October. Advanced orders are coming in - please send yours in asap and we`ll get it shipped to you asap. The cost is £6 plus p&p. Also, others news - we are now on FACEBOOK! You can join the network called "the smiling strangers fans". So get signed up and we can keep building our friends list. We hope to have some of our news songs on our myspace site in the next few days - www.myspace.com/thesmilingstrangers AUGUST 2007 Great news - the new album is finished and will be mixed in the next few weeks at MPM in Walsall. Title as yet unknown (if you have any ideas - let us know) As always the album is an eclectic mix of songs and styles, we are really excited by it - hope you enjoy it too. In the last couple of months much has happened on the "Stranger" front. We have been accepted on a new compilation from Canada called Violet Femmes (www.myspace.com/violetfemmes) for more info. Its a really exciting project and one that we are proud to be involved with. We have also been accepted on a sampler CD from Serendipity Sounds in Chicago, again, great to be involved with them. Plans for gigs are well advanced with performances in Stafford, Liverpool and London lined up for the autumn and, possibly Vancouver and China in the new year - keep posted JULY 2007 We now have a myspace site - go to www.myspace.com/thesmilingstrangers and become our friend; send us messages; tell loads of others and even download stuff, including a song from the new album by the end of August - let us know what you think. MAY 2007 We are playing at the Ammerdown Conference Centre in Somerset on Tuesday, May 22nd, on stage at 8.30pm. Also, a whole new group of radio stations in America, Australia, Europe and, interestingly, Argentina are now playing Smiling Stranger songs. That amounts to over 80 different stations playing our songs in rotation - thanks guys! Two more compilation CDs featuring our song "Smile On Your Face" are to be released in the summer of 2007. More details to follow when we have them. APRIL 2007 Most of this month has been taken up with recording the new album. Things are going really well and we hope to have it finished by July; mixed in August and released in September (there`s optimism for you!) The working title has changed to "Unmade Beds" named after one of Jeff`s songs which is auto-biographical. FEBRUARY 2007 Two gigs coming up in the next few weeks: February 24th - The Little Driver, Bow Road, East London - 9pm on stage March 2nd - Brennans, Long Eaton, Notts For more details contact us at info@thesmilingstrangers.com JANUARY 2007 Happy New Year everybody! We are back in the studio recording our third CD, working title "Special Sauce". It is going really well and there is some serious recording going on between the laughter. All the band have contributed songs for this next album so it will the usual eclectic mix of stuff - more details when recording is finished. October 2006 After a break over the summer, the `Strangers` are back with some live gigs over the Winter. At the moment we are playing in London on December 15th and 16th and then a couple of concerts in Stafford in early February. As well as live stuff, there is more recording taking place during December for our next release, which we anticipate will be in June 2007. We have also received news over the autumn that our songs can now be found on iTunes and also our albums are for sale from CD Baby in America (www.cdbaby.com). We have also had tracks included on the following compilations: Sounds Like Cafe Vol. 11 (Australia) Sounds Like Cafe Vol. 14 (Australia) Musselman Triathlon (USA) Best of Drop Hit 2006 (USA) Apache Rose Best Of 2006 (USA) Rocker Moms Best Of CD (USA) The following radio stations are regularly playing our single `Smile On Your Face` plus others off our last album, `Spaces Graces and Smiling Faces` This Befuddled Universe Podcast (USA) Pop Garden Radio (Florida, USA) Dekadance Radio (New Jersey, USA) Somewhere Between Radio (Belgium) Well Rounded Radio (USA) Radio Crystal Blue (New York, USA) Over The Horizon (USA) Smiling Stranger Radio (UK) Acoustic Pie (San Diego, USA) plus many more that we are only just beginning to find out about!! Please check back for more details about concert times, venues, tickets etc. and also for more news about new releases. May 2006 We are recording new stuff this month at MPM records and we have a gig on June 3rd in North London, more details to follow soon. We also appear on the American SXSW Compilation CD with musicians from all over the world and soon to be released is an Australian CD, also featuring us!! Exciting times ahead we sense. April 2006 Our first single `Smile On Your Face` was released on April 10th as a download only single by Chromium Records. A big thank you to all who bought it - hope you enjoy it. March 2006 Thanks to all who came and supported us at the recent gigs in London and Stafford. We have a great time and are now looking forward to more gigs in May and June. More details to follow when available. Meanwhile our new album is available from us. The cost is £8 including p&p - so go on treat yourself to a copy!! March 2006 The new album `Spaces Graces And Smiling Faces` is now available - go to the `buy` page to get details of how to purchase it. Also, our internet shop is now open to buy our merchandising. Go to http://www.cafepress.com/smilingstranger to buy all manner of Smiling Strangers stuff including boxer shorts and thongs!! There are still a few tickets available for the forthcoming concerts at the Emery Theatre, Poplar, London at 7pm and 9pm Tickets available from the Box Office 020 7515 1177 or go to www.emerytheatre.co.uk March 17th - Stafford Gatehouse MET Theatre - 7.15pm and 9pm Tickets available from the Box Office 01785 254653 or go to www.staffordgatehousetheatre.co.uk February 2006 Our first download single will be released on April 10th. Details of the song and how to get hold of it will be on this site very soon. If you want to see us play here is a reminder of our forthcoming gigs: February 25th - Hastings High School, Hinckley - 8pm (for the Bridge community) Contact: Tim Lea 01455 617377 for prices and availability March 11th - Emery Theatre, Poplar, East London - 7pm and 9pm Tickets available from the Box Office 020 7515 1177 or go to www.emerytheatre.co.uk March 17th - Stafford Gatehouse MET Theatre - 7.15pm and 9pm Tickets available from the Box Office 01785 254653 or go to www.staffordgatehousetheatre.co.uk There are many other gigs in the pipeline - more details to follow as soon as they are confirmed - so please keep checking back. January 2006 BIG NEWS!! The Smiling Strangers are poised to sign an eight month deal with Chromium Records. The deal will see the release of a three track promotional CD, followed by two `download` singles. This is obviously great news and the band look forward to a fruitful partnership with Chromium in the next eight months and, hopefully, beyond. More details of the new single, release date etc. very soon. Check out Chromium Records at www.chromiumrecords.co.uk. Forthcoming dates: February 25th - Hastings High School, Burbage, Leicestershire, 7.30pm March 11th - Emery Theatre, Poplar, London (two shows 7pm and 9pm) March 17th - Stafford Gatehouse MET Theatre (two shows 7pm and 9pm) Good news re: `Smiling Stranger Radio`. We are up and running (check out `radio` page on this site to find out how to log on) and we have listeners in six countries around the world already. If you haven`t had a listen - get in quick, we also take requests and any comments welcome to: pete@thesmilingstrangers.com or jeff@thesmilingstrangers.com. January 2006 Happy New Year to one and all!! Along with the new CD release in February and various concerts in February and March, The Smiling Strangers are pleased to announce the launch of SMILING STRANGER RADIO. This is a new venture by Jeff and Pete which will be broadcasting from January 9th at 2pm over the internet. To find out more and more details of how to log on, go to the new `radio` page on this website. December 2005 The new album is done and ready for release. All the i`s should be dotted and the t`s crossed so that you will be able to buy the album from early Feb 2006. The title is `SPACES, GRACES AND SMILING FACES`. If you wish, you may order the album on this website by gong to the `buy` section and placing your order there. The Smiling Strangers wish you all a very joyful Christmas and a peaceful 2006. See you next year! October 2005 Recording the new album is now complete and the job of mixing, mastering and final production begins in early November. The expected release date is now going to be late January 2006. The title of the new album is `Spaces Graces and Smiling Faces` and features 12 brand new tracks. The track listing is as follows: smile on your face all because of you tender touch face of love affairs of the heart two hearts take me home i`ll never be your man compass point heartbreak place kiss me again hold tight At the moment dates are put together for a tour in February and March to promote the new album. More details when they are confirmed. If you are interested in booking the band, please contact us through the `contact` page on this site. Or just contact us for a chat, comments etc. The band can now be contacted on a more personal basis. If you wish to chat to any of the band, please use the following addresses: jeff@thesmilingstrangers.com pete@thesmilingstrangers.com rue@thesmilingstrangers.com lucy@thesmilingstrangers.com Feel free to contact us, we are having a little side bet to see who gets the most mail - go on make our day! September 2005 Great news. www.cdbaby.com are stocking the `Dangerous Times` CD. Please go and check out their site as they have tons of good music available at good prices. You can even write a review of our CD - go on do it! For direct access go to www.cdbaby.com/smilingstrangers. As they have put in their blurb - The Smiling Strangers - well worth getting to know! June/July 2005 Recording the second Smiling Strangers album. Everything going well and sounding very good indeed. Work being done on gigs for late autumn and early 2006. More news to follow soon! May 3rd, 2005 April 3rd, 2005 The Smiling Strangers are playing two concerts in London on Saturday, April 23rd. The Venue is the Whitechapel Methodist mission for the Homeless & Rootless, 212 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1BJ. The concerts begin at 7pm and 9pm and the band will be playing for about 70 minutes at each gig. Tickets are priced at £5 each and are available by contacting: Peter Powers 020 8983 1252 powers@fish.co.uk Sue Miller 020 7247 8280 sue@whitechapel.org.uk John Singleton 020 7392 2708 john@towerhamlets.org Tickets can be reserved and paid for over the phone (by debit/credit card) or by cheque. They can be collected on the door or posted out. For more info on the Mission go to www.whitechapel.org.uk. Look forward to seeing you on the 23rd - Jeff. March 15th, 2005
The first demos have now been completed for the second Smiling Strangers album. They are at the very basic stage but fourteen songs have been committed to tape. At the moment it is just Jeff`s acoustic guitar, a drum machine and Jeff singing! Obviously this will change (and improve) as the rest of the Strangers begin the process of putting the songs together. Next week Rue and Jeff and going to spend some time recording four new songs with Rue singing this time. February 23rd, 2005 We have had two reviews for `Dangerous Times` in the past few days. Firstly, Maverick magazine, Issue 32, March 2005 said, "undoubtedly Lucy Winkett is the star of the show." It also states that "songwriter Jeff Reynolds shows great promise" and finally it talks about "pleasing melodies and charming lyrics". The second review came in the new edition of Cross Rhythms magazine. They gave the album seven out of ten and heaped lavish praise on the songs. The only criticism being lack of words and liner notes. Comments noted. Work on new songs and arrangments has begun with Jeff and Rue spending time working on three songs and Jeff and Lucy due to meet up and work on three more. Work should begin in the studio in the summer. We`ll keep you posted. February 15th, 2005 Congratulations to Pete and Debs Powers on the birth of their daughter Anna Iave. Pete put his drumsticks to one side to assist Debs at the crucial time. Debs and Anna are doing well and Dad is completely round the bend - but he was anyway. Congrats to all from the rest of the Strangers. January 31st, 2005 Thanks to all who came to the gig at Hastings High School. A storming set by the Strangers, well received and good fun had by all, particularly the London contingent (Pete, Pete and Lucy) who top and tailed the gig by a visit to the local pub, the Hastings. In fact, they might still be there! Big thanks to Tim Lea and all at the Bridge for setting up the gig and also thanks to Rev. Dave Godfrey for his `John Travolta` performance - never to be forgotten, unfortunately! Next up is preparations for a big gig or two in London in April followed by a trip back to Stafford in May and also demo work on new songs in the studio - its going to be a busy few months. Please contact us for any info, questions, bookings etc. on info@thesmilingstrangers.com. We look forward to hearing from you. January 15th, 2005 Hope everyone had a good Christmas time and The Smiling Strangers wish all a very peaceful and joyful 2005. We are gigging at the end of this month in Hinckley in Leicestershire. It should be a good evening to celebrate the work of The Bridge Community in that area. Contact us for more details of the gig and how to get tickets. We are making preliminary plans to go into the studio in March to begin work on demos for the new album. We have about 25 songs - so some kind of quality control will have to kick in. I`m sure it will! We will keep you updated on our progress. Once again thanks for dropping by. Please email us on info@thesmilingstrangers.com with any questions, comments etc. See ya. - Jeff December 8, 2004 The Smiling Strangers are having a break over Christmas but are back on the road on January 29th, 2005 at 8pm with a concert at the Hastings School in Burbage, Leicestershire. This is an evening for the Bridge Project, find out more about them on www.thebridgeonline.co.uk. Tickets are available from Tim Lea on 01455 617377. At the moment there are gigs in the pipeline for London, Huddersfield, Liverpool and another one in Stafford in early May. More details soon. If you want a copy of the `Dangerous Times` CD please go to our Buy page on this website. December 1, 2004 Thanks to all who came to the MET theatre for the launch of the `Dangerous Times` CD. It was a great evening for band and audience alike. In fact, the theatre were so impressed they want us back same time next year - watch this space. November 24, 2004 The 7.15pm gig at the Stafford Gatehouse MET Theatre has sold out completely and there are only FOUR tickets left for the 9pm show - you`d better be quick! The Smiling Strangers CD `Dangerous Times` will be launched on this evening and there will be a special price of just £7.00 for one night only! Also The Smiling Strangers T-Shirts will also be available on this night. Buy a CD and T-Shirt for a combined price of just £10!!! See you there. November 18, 2004 Jeff will be appearing on BBC Radio Stoke from 9am onwards this coming Sunday (Nov 21st) to promote the album and gigs and they will be playing tracks from the album. Also there is a big interview in the Staffordshire Newsletter next Thursday with Jeff doing more promotion. Watch out for them both. November 15, 2004 The Smiling Strangers decamped to London for the weekend just gone to rehearse and prepare mentally, spiritually and physically for the upcoming gigs. After we had stopped laughing at new recruit, Peter Moreton`s hair, we got down to some serious work, tea drinking and slightly dodgy three part harmonies. But all is now ready for the launch date of the CD `Dangerous Times`, November 26th. If you have not got tickets for the concert at the Stafford Gatehouse MET Theatre, there are only a few left, so please be quick. The shows are at 7.15pm and 9pm. October 11, 2004 The Smiling Strangers CD `Dangerous Times` will be ready for release on November 26th, 2004. Advance orders have been going well, if you would like to order your copy and receive it the week before the release date, then contact info@thesmilingstrangers.com and we will oblige. There will be an official press release early in November so look out for more information then. See ya soon! September 6, 2004 Tracklisting sorted and duplication about to begin within the next couple of weeks. Next job, album cover design etc. When will this work ever stop? August 21, 2004 Mixing of the Dangerous Times CD is now complete, only the tricky job of sorting out the order to be done and then we will be ready for lift off - JR |
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The launch gig for the `Dangerous Times` CD will be held at the MET Theatre, Stafford Gatehouse on November 26th, 2004. There will be two identical shows beginning at 7.15pm and 9pm. Tickets will be on sale from October 1st from Stafford Gatehouse Theatre and will be selling fast - so get in quick. There may be more gigs as a warm up to this and a possible tour early in 2005, so please keep checking back to find out more. |
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