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Del Bromham began playing guitar at
the age of eleven and while still at
school in West London he formed the
band STRAY in 1966.
School was soon left behind as STRAY
took their dynamic brand of rock on
the road and soon secured a recording
contract with Transatlantic releasing
their first album STRAY in 1970 featuring
the song ALL IN YOUR MIND which soon
became the group's anthem and was later
recorded by IRON MAIDEN.
Following the release of their second
album SUICIDE, the band finally tasted
chart success with their third release
SATURDAY MORNING PICTURES for which
the legendary Rainbow Theatre in London's
Finsbury Park was hired to premier the
album at a Saturday Morning Picture
show - those were the days!
Constant
gigging around Europe built a huge following
for the band and elevated Del Bromham
amongst the all-time great guitarists.
UK
tours supporting American band KISS
and Canadian rockers RUSH reflected
the immense popularity of the band.
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Although a highly respected group, led
by Del’s playing and writing, the
band just failed to become the superstars
they deserved despite a number of successful
album and single releases. MUDANZAS, MOVE
IT, STAND UP AND BE COUNTED, HOUDINI,
HEARTS OF FIRE and a compilation album
TRACKS were all released before the advent
of Punk Rock took its toll on the band
in 1977. Del Bromham continued touring
with his self named Blues Band whilst
working as a session musician, engineer
and producer until 1983 when he was persuaded
to reform STRAY and go back on the road.
This period saw the release of the excellent
LIVE AT THE MARQUEE album that reflected
the excitement, power and energy generated
at any STRAY concert. Sadly the reformed
band was only to last two years before
Del was tempted into other projects once
more.
Early in 1997, with the STRAY back catalogue
released in Germany, and soon to be released
in England, with a batch of new songs,
Del Bromham teamed up with drummer PHIL
McKEE and bassist DUSTY MILLER to reform
STRAY. The band picked up where they left
off. A live album was released in April
1997 entitled ALIVE AND GIGGIN on Mystic
Records (MYS CD 108).
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This
reintroduced STRAY to the European public.
In January '98 the first new studio
album from the band in twenty years
was released entitled NEW DAWN (Mystic
Records MYS CD 120).
In
March 2001 Del and the band toured with
rock legends URIAH HEEP and NAZARETH
to promote their new CD entitled, quite
simply, 10 - this time with PAUL WATSON
on drums and JOHN BOOTLE on bass - followed
in February 2002 by a hugely successful
tour with Leslie West’s MOUNTAIN
which they repeated again later in the
year including shows and festivals in
Germany and Scandinavia.
2003 saw STRAY off to Spain with Y+T
and then across Europe as special guests
on the sold-out IRON MAIDEN tour. Their
new album LIVE: IN YER FACE (Mystic
Records) was released together with
the double CD ANTHOLOGY (Sanctuary Records)
in time for the tour.
Del completed his first blues-based
solo album DEVILS' HIGHWAY which was
released in March 2004 to coincide with
his European Tour with LESLIE WEST.
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then, Del has played once more at Sweden's
prestigious SILJA ROCK, has appeared with
PAT TRAVERS, ROGER CHAPMAN, WISHBONE ASH
and MOUNTAIN, and is currently touring
the UK with his band THE DEVILS, performing
songs from DEVILS' HIGHWAY along with
classic blues numbers... and... has recently
taken to the road once more with KARL
RANDALL, DEAN REES and STUART UREN - the
new and exciting line-up of STRAY!
March
2005 |
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