The Storys
Shown left is an image of The Storys upcoming EP, Journey's End, which is currently available to pre-order as a digital download from 7Digital.
The Storys will also be releasing Journey's End as a single, which you can also pre-order as a digital download from 7Digital. Please see our forum for additional information.
The Storys - Steve's current band
Steve and some of his musical compadres, THE STORYS, wrote several songs (many of them in Rob Thompson's kitchen as 'the story' goes) and then recorded them in a converted cinema in Glyncorrwg, a Welsh coal mining village. The venue came complete with friendly spirits provided by its owner, as well as its own resident ghost, which the band named Carter!
THE STORYS material has a rootsy quality, with flavours of Southern California about it, similar in many ways to some other great bands such as The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young or The Eagles and places emphasis on passages of exquisite vocal harmonies, hooky choruses and heartfelt, often dark lyrics.
The members of the band are:
Steve Balsamo: vocals, guitar, songwriter
Rob Thompson: vocals, guitar, songwriter
Dai (Dave) Smith: vocals, guitar, songwriter
Andy Collins: vocals, bass, songwriter
Alan Thomas:, keyboards, mandolin
Brian Thomas: percussion
In the early days of the band they also had a seventh member, Slack, on percussion, but he does not perform with the band regularly at present.
Releases
In 2005 they took up a residency at the hot new "subterranean jewel" venue in Shepherds Bush, The Ginglik. It was at one of these performances that they released a very limited edition, hand made, emotionally dark EP entitled The Town Beyond the Trees on their own label, The Hall Recordings .
The Town Beyond the Trees features hand-drawn artwork by Steve, as well as handmade covers. The first 25 that were made were numbered and featured a hand-written title on the disc itself as we understand the discs that were printed were not yet available.
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The Town Beyond the Trees EP - featuring hand drawn cover art by Steve which have now sold out. Please keep checking with the band's Official Website for further updates: http://www.thestorys.co.uk Sleeve artwork Copyright Steve Balsamo©2005
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The Town Beyond the Trees EP
Track Listing:
- THE TOWN BEYOND THE TREES
- MY FOOT WAS NAILED TO THE FLOOR
- GOD TAKE CARE OF THE ONE I LOVE
- YOU'RE NOT AROUND
The Storys Self-Titled EP
After the success of the Town Beyond the Trees EP, the band released another 4 track EP.
The self-titled The Storys ep featured 4 songs, one of which was the song So Long which commences with a modern up-tempo country-ish blues feel but changes tempo at at the break into a more "late-night rock ", almost jazz feel. (If you do not have this EP, please note that this track is due for release on 23rd October as a digital download and is currently available to pre-order through 7Digital.
It is worth mentioning that the original tracks released on The Storys self-titled EP were remixed for the full CD. Of particular interest is that this EP included a version of High Enough with a very atmospheric spoken passage which was not included on the version on the CD album.
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The Storys ep - the band's second EP on their own label, The Hall Recordings, (which features photography by Richard Thompson for the cover art and the disc itself) was sold at live early performances by The Storys and on their website. We understand this too has now sold out, however please keep checking the official site for updates: http://www.thestorys.co.uk |
The Storys ep
Track Listing:
- BE BY YOUR SIDE (Rob Thompson on lead vocals)
- ROLL LIKE A STONE (Steve Balsamo on lead vocals)
- HIGH ENOUGH (Dai (aka Dave) Smith on lead vocals)
- SO LONG (Steve Balsamo on lead vocals)
Cinnamon single
The single Cinnamon was the first to be released from the Hall Recordings album. Commerically, it was only released as a download and not as a physical CD.
There were however physical CDs issued for promotional use. Shown at left is a copy of one of the promos that were made. It is in a thin plastic sleeve, features a picture insert for the coverand clearly says 'The Storys Promo Single' on the front cover.
There were two other types of promo CD single for Cinnamon (Hall Recordings) that can be spotted in the collector's market. Neither of these includes 'The Storys Promo Single' on the front cover, and one of them contains only the title track and the other one contains both the title track and the b-side King of Broken Dreams. Both of these were in standard CD single hard plastic cases and feature standard CD single inserts, and had stickers with promotional information about the band on the cases.
Cinnamon was also released as the second single from the Korova/Warner Music album. Remixed as Cinnamon The Fever Mix, in addition to the 7" vinyl and CD singles available commercially, there were two different versions of the promo produced this time too. Cinnamon The Fever Mix was sent out initially as a one track CD single and included an info sticker with the release date on it. The release date for the single changed however, and a new promo CD was issued including both The Fever Mix and also The Youth Mix.
The cover for the design of The Storys promo album CD (Hall Recordings issue 2005) is a similar theme to that of the Cinnamon single, using the typesetter's die, and was done by Green Ink, who continued to do the covers for The Storys releases on both the Hall Recordings as well as the Korova/Warner Music recordings. As shown in most of the Hall Recordings releases, dark colours were used and as such the image as scanned didn't easily lend itself to showing on the web, so we have adjusted the brightness slightly in order to provide an illustration for you. But the "real thing" is much nicer than the image we have used here - you will see what we mean when you get your copy!
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Shown left is the 5 track promo CD of the album on Hall Recordings |
The Storys - self titled CD album
Track Listing and MP3 Clips from the album
- I BELIEVE IN LOVE (featuring Steve Balsamo on lead vocals, written by Steve Balsamo, Dai (Dave) Smith, Rob Thompson)
- BE BY YOUR SIDE (featuring Rob Thompson on lead vocals, written by Steve Balsamo, Andy Collins, Dai (Dave) Smith, Rob Thompson)
- CINNAMON (featuring Steve Balsamo on lead vocals, written by Steve Balsamo, Andy Collins, Dai (Dave) Smith, Rob Thompson)
- HIGH ENOUGH (featuring Dai (Dave) Smith on lead vocals, written by Dave (Dai) Smith)
- YOU'RE TAKING MY HEART AWAY (featuring Steve Balsamo on lead vocals, written by Steve Balsamo, Dai (Dave) Smith, Rob Thompson)
- YOU'RE NOT AROUND (featuring Andy Collins on lead vocals, written by Andy Collins)
- ROLL LIKE A STONE (featuring Steve Balsamo on lead vocals, written by Steve Balsamo, Andy Collins, Dai (Dave) Smith, Rob Thompson)
- SAVE ME (featuring Steve Balsamo on lead vocals)written by Steve Balsamo, Andy Collins, Dai (Dave) Smith, Rob Thompson)
- THE KING OF BROKEN DREAMS (various members on lead vocals, this clip featuring Steve Balsamo, written by Steve Balsamo, Andy Collins, Dai (Dave) Smith, Rob Thompson)
- JOURNEY'S END (Show Me Love) (featuring Steve Balsamo on lead vocals, written by Steve Balsamo, Andy Collins, Rob Thompson)
- IS IT TRUE WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT US (featuring Steve Balsamo on lead vocals, written by Steve Balsamo, Dai (Dave) Smith, Rob Thompson)
The Storys album (on Warner's Korova label) is available from many fine music retailers and it is also available through HMV in the UK and Amazon UK:
HMV UK: http://www.hmv.co.uk
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk
Please also check out The Storys Official Website which is http://www.thestorys.co.uk
Be By Your Side - the first single from the album on the Korova label
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The Storys promo CD single for Be By Your Side (title track only) |
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The Storys 7" vinyl release of Be By Your Side features paler, more subdued colouring on the sleeve than that of the CD promo single (not shown proportionate to size of CD single) |
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Initially the Be By Your Side single was due to be released on The Hall Recordings label and some promo copies on that label were pressed. Shown at left is a one track promo which was due to be released on The Hall Recordings. |
The Storys Be By Your Side 7 inch vinyl single
Track Listing
- Be By Your Side
- God Take Care of the One I Love (track not available on promo CD single, features Dai Smith on lead vocals)
The track I Believe in Love which was chosen to be the next single by Sir Elton John, whom The Storys supported on his Summer 2006 tour. The Storys performed at all the UK dates of the tour, and some of the German dates..
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I Believe in Love CD single |
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I Believe in Love 7" vinyl single |
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The Storys album on The Hall Recordings label, which has now sold out. It features different artwork from that of the release on Warner's Korova label |
| Shown at right is a copy of the album cover on the release under the Warner/Korova label |  |
The track Cinnamon was included as one of the tracks in the cover mount CD for the April 2006 issue of Uncut magazine. The compilation CD is entitled the Uncut Playlist and features tracks by:
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The Cinnamon single was also included on the special promotional CD of Welsh Music, distributed to subscribers of tha Music Week magazine. |
| The Storys also appeared at Midem in Cannes in 2006, and their track Be By Your Side is on this 3 disc set, which features many other brilliant British performers such as Nizlopi, Foy Vance, Goldie Lookin Chain, Rob Reynolds, The Delays, and many others. |  |
If you would like to catch the band at a live performance, please visit our messageboard or The Storys website for the current schedule. A printable PDF listing is available for your convenience.
We would also like to mention that several members of The Storys appear on Gary Pickford-Hopkins CD entitled GPH. This can be ordered by the Angel Air website.
We also have a few photos which we would like to show you - we have others which and we will be changing them from time to time and adding to them too, so please keep checking back with us!
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Andy Collins
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Andy Collins and Dai Smith
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Tony Moore introducing The Storys - shown (left to right) are Allan Thomas, Rob Thompson, Brian Thomas |
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Rob Thompson, Brian Thomas (almost visible at the back), Steve Balsamo, Andy Collins, and Dave Smith. Not pictured in this photo are Allan Thomas and Slack. |
If you have anything else that you would like to be added to THE STORYS page, or if you have any questions about The Storys please let us know! E-mail us at contact@stevebalsamofan.com or post a message on our forum http://stevebalsamofan.com/forum
