Steel Band Hire

Steel Drum Bands for Hire - Book Online Here

We’re Solid Steel and we’re a professional UK-based steel band (or ‘steel drum band’ as our American cousins wrongly call it!) available for hire with musicians based mainly in London and Manchester.

Our steel 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, shopping centres, pubs and restaurants. In so doing, we make it our business for our steel band to transport your imagination to the most idyllic sun and rum-soaked Caribbean holiday you have ever or never had!

More about our services

Performance
We're in high demand as an acoustic (unplugged!) steel band and particularly as a 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 steel band 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 our repertoire.
We’re not just a steel band that gets busy in the summer. As a professional band we perform all year round. There are, however, times when we are busier than others and we tend to price our services accordingly.
In the summer we’re naturally very busy with weddings, company barbecues and other events where the ‘sunshine’ sound of steel bands has long been considered as almost mandatory by UK bookers such as wedding co-ordinators, corporate entertainment organisers, conference entertainment organisers and party planners. We also get a lot of interest in our steel band performing in the Black History month of October . And, of course, in December we’re very busy with Christmas parties and Christmas Carol concerts (we have a demo of Solid Steel exclusively playing Christmas favourites available on request). We also often do some touring with our steel band, performing abroad in the Spring.
We don’t always play as a trio. As much as we love that line-up, it's not always suitable. There are several steel bands advertised for hire in London and throughout the UK, but no other steel band and only a few function bands and a handful of wedding bands would offer greater flexibility in terms of size and format that Solid Steel offers. We try and give our clients the Caribbean steel band that they want and freely advise them of the best options to take based on our vast experience in the business. Sometimes we are booked to play sessions for dancing. There have been many times in the past when we’ve played as a steel trio, especially with vocals, when our audiences have danced to us. However, this is far from guaranteed and younger audiences especially find steel band trios too 'light' rhythmically and often prefer us to work with a bass guitar and a drummer in a bigger steel band (if ‘steel band’ is still the right name for you- we prefer ‘steel combo’!) with a heavier rhythm. We would always advise our clients to take this option if their budget is suited to it. Then we're 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. We can send you a list of all of our material, but it is reliant on the line-up you book. However, there is one thing you can be sure of. We’ll always try to play the right material for you at the right volume whether there are 3 or 12 members in the band at your event.
So we can sing, we can perform in various sizes and guises, organise steel band workshops (see below)and generally on request mould performances that expand upon the traditional calypso and Latin styles of music that form the core of a traditional steel band music repertoire. This flexibility and a great sense of fun, we could argue, give us the edge over other steel bands. But we’d be lying. It’s the music. Just click the ‘Music Videos’ button, and view ‘live’ performances of our particular brand of steel band music. You will hopefully (!) be sufficiently impressed to click on the ‘Shop’ button with a view to purchasing our latest CD, ‘Three’.
But Solid Steel is not just a steel band, they’re a family (in some cases, quite literally!) of hot shot steel band musicians. So as well as being a steel band, we’re a steel band company. Because our steel band has associate members throughout the UK, we are able to supply similar high quality steel bands throughout the country at affordable prices. For example, this July in 2009 we’ve supplied:-

A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a wedding in Staffordshire
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a University staff barbecue in Cambridge
Four 3-piece acoustic steel bands for race meetings at Sandown Park racecourse in Surrey
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a multi-cultural awareness event in Milton Keynes
A 3-piece steel band with vocals for a wedding in Essex
A 4-piece acoustic steel band for a birthday party in Derby
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a wedding in Liverpool
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a wedding in Manchester
Four 3-piece acoustic steel bands for weddings in Kent
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a Bar Mitzvah in Herts
Two 3-piece acoustic steel bands for wedding receptions in London
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a corporate fun day in Wales
A 4-piece acoustic steel band for a company barbecue in London
Three 3-piece acoustic steel bands for weddings in Surrey
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for London Zoo
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a champagne reception in London
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a pub in Middlesex
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a charity event in Cheshire
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a Thames Cruise
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a Caribbean Association in Milton Keynes
Two steel band workshops for schools in London
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for Lord’s Cricket Ground in London
A 3-piece steel band with vocals for a 21st birthday party in Cheshire
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a corporate awards event in Essex
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a pub barbecue in Hampshire
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for the Church of Scientology in Kent
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a wedding for Exeter in Devon
A 7-piece steel combo with vocals for a barbecue at an army barracks in Surrey
A 5-piece acoustic steel band for a wedding in Bristol
A 3-piece steel band with vocals for a 40th birthday party in Hampshire
A 7-piece steel combo with vocals for the Horniman festival in London
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a wedding in Cornwall
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a Government Office in Hampshire
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a wedding in Liverpool
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a company barbecue in London
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a wedding in Oxford
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a wedding in Berkshire
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a wedding in Leeds
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a civil partnership in Manchester
A 3-piece acoustic steel band for a wedding in Bucks

Support & cabaret acts

Solid Steel is led by me, Paul Cherrie, as the flagship act of my management company, 'Tropical Entertainments', so all manner of similarly themed artistes may be booked through me to complement your event. The most popular fun choice of these is a limbo dancer and it never fails to be a huge hit with UK audiences.
Please take a look at my site at www.tropical-ents.co.uk and if it's great limbo specifically that you're looking for, take a look at Kaniki at www.tropical-ents.co.uk/limbo-dancers.html
We're very experienced in all things Caribbean, naturally, and will always want to help you. We can even advise you on theming and catering if we're asked!