Cut Glass Accent

"Cut Glass Accent was a freak occurrence that should never have happened; we didn't really know each other and none of us really considered ourselves musicians nor had ever really thought about it much".
Officially started in October 2002 by friends Chris Bradley & original drummer Mark Flynn with an aspiration to play knock off Nirvana & Green Day styled original tunes; the pair were inspired primarily by the mainstream pop punk sounds of the time with a vivid memory of the grunge scene they grew up listening to, Silver Fish was born.
James Wood & Stuart Latham joined a month later and that band gradually evolved into Cut Glass Accent the band that those of you who are reading this today now know, although this Cut Glass Accent was a band with no direction playing whatever took their fancy at the time with no real aspiration to ever play their own songs live. Eventually Mark left & Silver Fish renamed to Cut Glass Accent as drummer Darren Dickson joined and the band was finally at a skill level to at least play in a cohesive way in late 2003. As with any new experience the band grew hungry and began enjoying the local scene and even had the fortune to play alongside and befriend then up and coming rockers Keiko, Ninepoundnote (Robin from Random Hand originally played Trombone for these Ska Punkers), Best of Enemies and Chucky No Stars, before Darren left in mid 2006.
After the shock news of Darren's departure Tony Hardy of Forgotten Roots joined which took the style down a darker route, Tony's own band had an inevitable influence on Cut Glass Accent and the band drifted further away from the band's somewhat indie styling of the first album and early years.
By November 2007 a long recording process had took it's toll on the band and infighting and bickering had begun, the band was hit and missy, some gigs were packed, others were barely worth playing, one gig the band would play expertly the next it would be sloppy and messy. Tony at this point was in and out of other bands and was playing in 3 bands at the time, Forgotten Roots, Cut Glass Accent & his ill fated side project Coin Operated Boy which inevitably led to Tony's sacking. Or quitting. We're still undecided which way it actually happened, only that it was apparently Chris' fault and involved some duel with swords or something.
At some point during 2007 El Fuego/Renegades guitarist/bassist Daniel "Pol" Young joined for a short period as 3rd guitarist filling out the sound and the band had a number of "historic" gigs at the Newcastle o2 Academy and some of the town's Universities as well as a few slots with high profile up and coming bands such as Keiko & Klay.
After Tony's departure the 3 lads had completed their various uni & college courses and had taken up jobs, James was employed as a Scientist, Stu was temping after his law degree and Chris was a qualified actor & sound engineer bizarrely working as a Web Designer. At this point James cited that he didn't really want to go through the heavy task of auditioning new drummers and relearning the 40 or so songs required from the second album and the cover band's set and so CGA went on hold.
That is until Abduction of Margaret drummer Jamie Johnson got in touch and asked to audition for the band in March 2008, although after a number of practices Abduction of Margaret reformed and Jamie chose to go back with them, Chris, James & Stu chose once more to audition for a new drummer.
This led to the arrival of Anthony "Yohn" Johnson in May 2008. This time they decided to give it a real shot, 6 years after starting, to really give it a good go and see how far they got. Under this line up CGA were at their most prosperous, finishing off the album they'd started with Tony 2 years prior and releasing in the September of 2009, they received air play on Radio 1's Steve Lamacq's "In New Music We Trust" as well as favourable reviews in National Alt Rock mag Big Cheese Magazine amongst others. This all built on favourable supports with up and coming bands such as Hundred Reasons, Don Broco, Random Hand, Johnny Foreigner, Blackhole, Mike TV (Formerly Pickled Dick) amongst many others. They also received much interest from a number of record labels before eventually recording and entering into a short term deal with Animal Farm in November 2009.
It was at this point that Yohn decided whilst on tour in the UK that he no longer wished to continue with the band, after much discussion, the band decided to continue and Yohn offered to help record the new EP with the band at The Animal Farm in London, whilst we searched for a replacement drummer.
2010 was largely uneventful. After Yohn's departure, Darren Dickson returned to the fold, however the band grew more distant as members developed careers, moved in with their partners and a number of other personal and private issues evolved. The band reconvened at the end of 2010 and intended to push on and give a second push at everything they had achieved but in the December James received notification of an available job in Singapore where his long term girlfriend was now living. Understandably James decided to take the job.
In 2011 the band finally decided that without James, Cut Glass Accent was unable to continue on, afterall, Chris, Stu & James had been there since the very beginning, since those very first practices in Fallen Faith nearly 10 years earlier at the end of High School. At that time Chris knew James merely from the fact both had worn Stereophonics T-shirts on a non uniform day and both had only ever spoken to eachother when reciting lyrics from Stereophonics first two albums. Stu knew Chris only from GCSE Food Technology lessons. James did however know Stu from some of the same lessons they'd shared over the 3 years they'd all been at high school together.
However it was so unlikely that this band would get together, nevermind play together, stay together and achieve as much as they had in just over 8 years. Despite the flaws, the inevitable downfall due to different long-term goals and the fact this band was never supposed to be anything more than a way for some new friends to hang out. We'll always be proud of what we achieved.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and remembering. The band is still selling copies of our second album "This Statement is False" if you're interested please feel free to contact us at management[at]cgaband.com.