STRAWBERRY FOOLS
Formed in 2008 after two mass Strawbfan guitar and singing fests (the Strawberry Mousse sessions) this Strawbs tribute band includes:
Invited to debut at the Strawbs Christmas Party, they were also invited to play at the Strawbs 40th Anniversary celebrations in 2009, but were unable to do owing to personal reasons (though the programme did include them!). Undaunted, they played a short 2-gig world tour in 2010 in Aldermaston and Staines, the latter gig with the gracious and redoubtable Roy Hill as support.
Many rehearsals took place, most of which were at Ralph's parents house in East Cottingwith, with others in Reading London and Nottingham. Most of these were recorded, and the recordings were used to create aa CDR for sale at the 2010 gigs - Just A Collection Of Antiques And Cheerios, with an affectionately mimicked cover design, recreating the 1970s Strawbs album, but with items of meaning to the various Fools.
Given the dispersal of Fools around the British Isles, it was problematic to get back together physically, so the Fools made music virtually, exploring recording technolgy in their own studios and sending contributions by e-mail. During lockdown and since then, the Fools have been by Zoom or similar on most Friday evenings, and the laughter continues to flow. In 2022, there was a weekend get-together in a converted chapel in Cumbria, with another planned for 2023.
The Fools' second album of covers recorded mainly via online collaboration, Undercovering, was released to streaming sites in early 2023. And to celebrate the 50th anniversary of release and Number 2/number 1 chart position of "Part Of The Union", the Fools have recorded versions of both sides of the single (being Foolish we stuck "Will Ye Go" on the A-side, and included a bonus accapella version as well!)
You can listen to Undercovering here - on streaming services including Spotify or on Apple Music. It's also on You Tube.
You can listen to "Will Ye Go"/"Part Of The Union" here - on various including Spotify, Amazon, Itunes and Apple. It's also on YouTube.
The original Strawberry Fools album Just A Collection Of Antiques and Cheerios of Strawbs (with a couple of originals) covers, will be re-issued to streaming services on remastered form shortly - watch this space ....)
There's now a Strawberry Fools record label on Bandcamp (FG Records - "Fools Gold") - for original material by the band or individual Fools.
Some indivdual Fools (I have yet to trouble the scorer in terms of original material!) have albums on Bandcamp at:
And finally, there is a bunch of Strawberry Fools videos on YouTube.