Out of the Gray
Vocals & Guitar: Heather
Vocals: Gab
Guitar & Backing Vocals: Yarky
Bass: Gabby
Drums: Matt
Keyboards: Craig
History:
Out Of The Gray began in 2004 when Paul Dean (aka ‘Yarky’) spotted
two amazingly talented vocalists, Heather Walkington and Gab McBride, playing
an acoustic set at Bar Chic in Bolton. Deciding that this was the band he
had to be in, he immediately contacted the duo, through their Manager at the
time, and went along to their next practice to audition as their guitarist.
Over the next two hours, Heather, Gab and Yarky (as they were imaginatively
called for their first gig) wrote their first band song, Broken Memories,
and it quickly became apparent that they’d struck on a winning formula.
Four weeks later and their first EP, Silent Echoes, was recorded, they'd signed to Fairytale Management and were playing their first gig to four hundred people on January 6, 2005. Silent Echoes is a lyric they took from the first song they ever wrote together and seemed to perfectly describe the introspective and personal lyrics for their first EP. Two weeks later, after the intense pressure of trying to form a band, release a demo and play their first gig – all in a month - the band nearly split when it was decided that Yarky was too “pushy, over bearing, arrogant – and a bit of a knob.” A couple of hours after that the band realized that they had to work on being friends to be a band, and Out Of The Gray was formed.
Having made it through a difficult start, Heather & Yarky went on to play a highly successful set during the Sound Support Festival, Horwich – after being called up, literally, at the last minute. A live version of Butterflies made it on to the official sound support CD (mixed by Yarky), and was added to the Silent Echoes EP as a bonus track. Out Of The Gray soon discovered they were making fans wherever they played, though promoters were often unwilling to give them gigs as an acoustic act. To combat this, they’ve worked with a number of drummers and bass players in order to add to the sound where needed – without destroying the sound they’ve worked hard to create.
Their live mix of acoustic rock and vocal harmonies is already receiving acclaim. Their demo EP, although intended as just a taster of what they could do, has seen them attracting interest from as far afield as London, Liverpool and Edinburgh. Second track, Air To Breathe has received air play on America’s best independent Rock Station, Rock 103.9, The Bear (www.wrbr.com) and Out Of The Gray have been invited to play the Bolton Music Showcase at the Albert Halls in August. They’re quickly getting fans on both their myspace and purevolume accounts, and their own website, www.outofthegray.com received 5,000 hits in the first month alone, with over 500 first time visitors.
During April and May 2005 Andy was added as the Out Of The Gray drummer and Gabby was brought in to play bass. Craig was added on keyboards in August for the Bolton Music Showcase, live at the Bolton Albert Halls, and continues to support the band though no longer actively involved.
Out Of The Gray have since been joined by Matt on Drums, they've recorded an EP, Sugar Coated Lies and have fast become a myspace phenomena.
The future is looking brighter, are you Out Of The Gray?
