OTHER EVENTS
We also travel all over the country and abroad, playing fully live to audiences at other private and public events with (but mostly without!) a tropical theme like Caribbean nights, birthday parties, weddings, corporate events, product launches, and- because of the greater mobility we offer than most steel bands- big sporting events and carnival parades. We perform in prestigious and not-so-prestigious 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 our audience’s imagination to the most idyllic sun and rum-soaked Caribbean holiday ever. No passport is required for you to read…
We’re not just a steel band that gets busy in the summer. As a professional band we perform all year round and when we’re not busy playing we’re busy teaching.
Sound of Sunshine
In the summer we’re naturally very busy with weddings, company barbecues and other outdoors events where the ‘sunshine’ sound of steel bands has long been considered as almost mandatory by UK bookers such as wedding planners, corporate entertainment organisers, and sporting event organisers.
We all know the average British summer is a little unreliable weather-wise, but as ‘the reliable sound of sunshine!’ we’ll provide the sunshine ‘vibes’ the skies might be missing for any outdoors event.
It’s important that clients try and book early for this very busy time of the year to avoid disappointment. We do get asked to perform with very little notice and are usually able to oblige, but there are only so many places we can be at the one time.
Solid Steel Trio 2016
Christmas Cheer
As summer turns to Autumn we also get a lot of interest in our steel band performing in the Black History month of October.
These performances are often accompanied by workshops and often take place in schools, colleges and other educational establishments.
In early November during the Halloween/Guy Fawkes Bonfire/Diwali season we get to demonstrate that we can produce performances outside in cold weather. These sets may be shorter and we will most certainly be ‘wrapped up’ costume wise, but as long as it’s dry or if not that we are under cover we will be braving the elements!
Then, 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, but the most compelling evidence can be found with this YouTube address
Foreign Tours
We also often do some touring with our steel band, performing abroad- often in the Spring.
Over the years the band has played extensively in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Our very first foreign tour was a lobby residency in Syria playing at the Sheraton Hotel in Damascus in 1986.
Since then we have toured (in alphabetical order) Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Belgium, Capri, Djibouti, Dubai, France, Germany, Gran Canaria, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Monaco, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Spain, Tenerife and Tunisia.
We love travelling and often discount our regular domestic rates to compensate for the travel and accommodation expenses our foreign clients have to incur. Although we still harbour ambitions of playing in North and South America and perhaps Australasia one day, we’ve resigned ourselves to the fact that Antarctica might never come calling!
Corporate Events
Why should you hire the Solid Steel band for your corporate event?
Steel bands have been a popular choice for corporate events organisers for a long time now. Often the planners opt for the ‘unplugged’, acoustic variety of steel band the likes of which Solid Steel excel in providing.
I feel privileged to have been commissioned to have my steel band perform for some of the biggest companies in the world as well as possibly some of the smallest.
In all cases, the event organisers have recognised the importance of corporate hospitality and/or brand promotion and have entrusted us with enhancing their company’s good reputation.
As a band of no small reputation ourselves we don’t take this responsibility lightly and always do our best to meet our clients’ requirements.
The City’s steel band
Solid Steel has performed for numerous banking and law firms in the city of London.
To cite recent examples, Metro Bank used us to promote the opening of 6 of their branches and as recently as September 2013 the band were asked to perform inside the branch of a Lloyds bank in business hours- a first for us.
Whilst the demands of playing outside the Metro banks was to drum up business by grabbing the general public’s attention, playing inside the Lloyd’s bank required that we play at a level that still enabled cashiers and customers could have a conversation. The sensitivity of our musicianship allowed us to be successful at both events.
Company fun days
Most companies organise a Christmas party for their staff and many organise a fun day for the staff and their families. As such we’re happy to have done our bit for good industrial relations in this country over the years!
Because- although we play at Christmas parties- we play for even more company fun days. More recently the demand for a steel band to be more interactive with its audience has really helped our popularity.
We are now often required to carry extra steel drums and operate workshops for both adults and children at these events and our teambuilding and workshop experience really helps to make this a success.
Solid Steel band’s corporate clients
Over the last 10 years we have performed successful engagements for:-
1st Royal Anglian
4 Com Ltd
Allen & Overy
Allied Domecq
American Express
Anglia Co-op
ANSA Elevators
Apex Conference & Events
Aramark Caterers
ASDA
Atkinson Bolton
Axell Wireless
Babcock & Brown
Bank of England
Barclays Global Investments
BBC Worldwide
Boon Edam
British Red Cross
Broadgate Estates
BSKYB
Butterfield Bank
Cadbury UK
Canary Wharf Management
Canon
Capita
Carphone Warehouse
Center Parcs
Charles Kendall Group
Charles Russell LLP
Charles Wells Ltd
City Airport
Condé Nast Publications
Credit Suisse
Cushman & Wakefield
Daiwa Securities
David Lloyd Leisure
Ernst & Young
Eurotunnel
Farrer & Co
Five Ten Group
GlaxoSmithKline
Grey Advertising Group
Guinness
Institute Of Actuaries
Investec
ITE Group
LDA Communications
LGN Wellbeing
Lloyds TSB
Mazda Motors UK
Mercedes- Benz UK
Merlin Entertainments
Merrill Lynch
Metro Bank
Microsoft
MITIEG Group
Ogilvy & Mather
Pfizer’s
Phoenix Partners
Phoenix Equity Partners
Phyllis Court
Reuters
Royal Bank of Scotland
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
Royal Thames Yacht Club
Saatchi & Saatchi
Schroders
Serco
Sheffield Haworth
Spirax-Sarco Ltd
Strutt & Parker
Toyota
Unison
Virgin
Warner Bros
