Mal Fry

Martyn Joseph that's where it all started having seen him play at the Norwich art centre it made me think that I would like to have a go at songwriting/performing. As for learning the guitar that's down to my girlfriend who got sick of the thing laying around the house and not being used as I had no idea how to play it, so she booked a tutor on valentine's day 1996 and half a dozen lesson's later at last I began to get a tune out of it albeit the same one for about a month!!!

It took a lot of practice and patience and I am certainly not a natural but eventually I became competent and after a while started to feel confident enough to have a go at songwriting. Not a lot clicked until one night I watched a true story about Stephan Kisko wrongly jailed for a crime he did not commit and a first song came about.
My song writing inspiration mostly comes from day to day observations and my own experience of life. I have always had a leaning towards the softer, more melodic style of music and my compositions naturally take me in that direction. With any composition I have to say I go for the ?if I like it that's good enough? philosophy and try not to worry about rules or the latest ?fashion?. You will notice from my influences, generally they will not be trend setters and I suppose that's an inherent trait in me.
As for musical influences apart from the aforementioned Mr Joseph my tastes tend to be the less well known artists and bands such as Barclay James Harvest, Marillion, although my collection also contains Pink Floyd, The Beatles, John Denver, Neil Diamond, Celine Dion and modern artists such as David Gray and Coldplay.
My first live performance was back in Sept 1999 at the Wensum Lodge Norwich and I can honestly say I was terrified and could not stop my hands shaking to which one wag in the audience lightened the mood by telling me to put them in my pocket which made everyone laugh except me as I didn't get the joke till I came off stage!
I recorded my first C/D in March 1999 ?THROUGH THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER? (another valentine present from my girlfriend). The CD was a bit of fun with just me on vocals and guitar but with some good feedback about the songs and with new material composed I decided to go for a fully produced sound for the next album.
?PURE BLUE? the follow up C/D was recorded at purple studios in Norwich and was definitely worth every penny.
As luck would have it Nigel Harris who engineered the 1st C/D was available to produce ?PURE BLUE? and he did a great job in getting the right session musicians and playing a lot of the instruments himself and also coming up with so many great ideas that it was a joy to record.
This led to a 3rd C/D released February 2004 titled ?ONE YEAR OUT? recorded at Zig Zag studio's near Huntingdon. This album was produced by Gareth Stuart who also played a lot of the instruments and we coerced his wife Amanda to sing and play keyboards. Session musicians included Ex Bible Drummer Dave Larcombe, top session musician Dave Tiplady on bass and local folk legend Roger Smith on guitar and vocals with a guest appearance from my girlfriend singing backing vocals on ?Chasing Rainbows?. The response to the album was very positive both critically and commercially with radio appearances and one track (In Your Arms) being selected as a song for an Irish newspaper C/D. Also in 2008 two songs from the album ?You were there ? and ?In your arms ?were used on a national Dutch TV show about Schiphol airport called Hello Goodbye and they are also on the series 2 C/D.
During the recording of ?One Year Out? the 2 Dave's and myself had decided to form a band and did a few gigs in the Cambridge area and the first one poor old tippers had to learn the songs from scratch as at that point he had not played his parts on the CD! Somehow we got away with it and continued playing together until Tips emigrated to Australia.
Inbetween the gigs we rehearsed at Dave Larcombes house and came up with a new album of songs (quite how I will never know as most of the sessions we spent more time at the pub playing pool or just generally not taking things seriously!)
The initial band name was The Cuban Missile but eventually we settled on October Sun and recorded our one and only album ? Close your eyes and count to five ?. The album was recorded on Dave Tiplady's 8 track Korg digital recorder and he Engineered Produced and played a lot of the instruments and co wrote some of the songs.
It actually took 3 years to complete as we spent so much time experimenting and also used 2 drummers Dave Larcombe and Andy Farrow and Trevor Earnshaw played lead guitar on some of the heavier tracks.
After releasing this album the lead track ?As the teardrop Explodes and also a track from ?Pure Blue? ?Maybe Your Right? were chosen by media company pureplay music to feature in over 5000 stores worldwide on the store soundtracks.
Once Dave Emigrated and Dave Larcombe's wife then gave birth to their 4th child I decided to return to playing solo and have been ever since.
Tippers and I did produce a 4 track EP whilst I spent a week in Oz back in 2008 and hopefully some time in the future Dave and I can hook up again and try out some new material.
I have however kept writing and recording this time with a local multi instrumentalist and songwriter/Producer Stuart Braybrook and we have produced two C/D's the first ?Never Too Late? came out in 2009 and in 2011 we released
?Time to Take a Chance? with lead track ?Goodbye My Summer Love ?getting some airplay on college radio in the States and internet radio in the UK.
If you have got this far thanks for taking an interest and if you wish for any further info on gigs, C/D's etc please contact me at mal@malvanmusic.co.uk