Solid Steel

Were Solid Steel and were a professional UK-based steel band (or steel drum band) available for hire with musicians based in London and Manchester.

The band was born into this less than tropical climate back in 1986, and promptly achieved nationwide popularity. We travel all over the country, and indeed abroad, playing to audiences at events with (or without!) a tropical theme like Caribbean nights, private parties, wedding receptions, corporate events, product and project launches etc. in venues as diverse as hotels, festivals, schools, tv and radio studios, village halls, pubs and restaurants.

In so doing, we make it our business to transport your imagination to the most idyllic sun and rum-soaked Caribbean vacation you have ever or never had!

And so to the music. The instruments we play are Caribbean steel pans or steel drums (the national modern folk instrument of Trinidad & Tobago) which we augment with other stuff as and when required.

So we can sing, we can perform in various sizes and guises, organise steelband workshops and generally on request mould performances that expand upon the traditional calypso and Latin styles of music that form the core of our repertoire. This flexibility and a great sense of fun, we could argue, give us the edge over the competition. But wed be lying. Its the music.

Performance
We're in high demand as an acoustic (unplugged!) trio. Why so popular? Well one reason is that the format itself is so very natural, organic and beautifully undated. It has a timeless quality only other acoustic groups like string quartets can aspire to.

The other reason is that Solid Steel, in particular, use the best musicians playing the highest quality of instruments to achieve the best sound. We then choose suitably melodic material such as traditional calypsos and Caribbean folk music with Latin and popular 'standards' fleshing out the repertoire.

But we don't always play as a trio. As much as we love that line-up, it's not always suitable. Sometimes we are booked to play sessions for dancing. There are times when we play as a trio, especially with vocals, that audiences will dance to us.

However, this is far from guaranteed and younger audiences especially find trios too 'light' rhythmically and often prefer us to work with a bass guitar and a drummer in a bigger band with a heavier rhythm. We're then sure to pack the dance floor!

We also play requests, especially those we have prior knowledge of, before your event. Unless we don't know your tune and don't consider it suitable to play on future engagements, we will freely add it to our already extensive repertoire.