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Stef Stokes
Stef has been performing for almost her entire life. From the age of 2 she attended the Elliott Clarke School of Dance and Drama and from the age of four she learnt piano and attended voice lessons. A school talent show sparked realisation for Stef’s singing potential, and from here on she began to pursue her dreams. It was Christmas 2003, just after her 15th birthday, when her career began to take off. She had recorded her version of Fiona Apple’s Paper Bag, which caught the attention of agent Lyn Staunton. As a result of this, she became a guest artist on her radio show, ‘Stars in Your Ears’ on BBC Radio Merseyside and successfully achieved record of the week.
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A succession of radio appearances took place, one of which included an interview with Ian Prowse from the band Amsterdam.
Not long after, she was introduced to a songwriter called Davy Edge. He wrote and produced a track called Still Here, which reached no.1 on the Aiiradio charts. As a result of this airplay, she was contacted by Aarion Lee from the US band Koalition. He requested her to record some vocals for the band, which she was thrilled about and ended up producing some ‘stunning results’, with Black Rain reaching no.20 in the American charts. Due to this succession of achievements, an appearance on ITV’s Granada Reports followed, along with many appearances on numerous radio stations and newspaper articles.
Stef was then contacted to record What’s Wrong with Dreamin’? a ‘classic masterpiece’ recorded at Elevator Studio’s in Liverpool. It attained critical acclaim and yet another no.1 on the Aiiradio charts. These numerous successes resulted in meetings with many managers who suggested that she should form a band. In 2004 Hegemony, later renamed Triphazard began.
Once the band had formed, they started to write their own original material. Stef’s compositional skill began to develop, mastering the art of writing lyrics and melodies. This did not go unnoticed, and she began to work externally.
Whilst in Triphazard, Stef still worked with songwriters from her solo days. As a result, a series of tracks were recorded, including Let Go and yet another no.1 occurred from the ‘hypnotic groove’ of For My Lover, which spent nearly 6 months in the charts.
In 2006, Stef embarked in the opportunity to become involved with WISEAMP, a project that is focused on encouraging women in the North West to become more involved in music technology. In 2007, she qualified from the School of Sound Recording with a diploma.
Late 2007, Stef was asked by Manchester in the City to be involved in a panel to be questioned by important figures within the music industry about the issues surrounding illegal music downloading. A month later, Stef was featured singing on the Boxing Day episode of Hollyoaks.
At present, Stef is reading Communication, Media and Popular Music at The University of Liverpool. She is due to graduate in 2010. |
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Jenni Stokes
Jenni began her journey in the Arts as a 2 ½ year old attending dance lessons in Ballet, Modern and Tap and competing in local competitions and festivals. At the age of 7, she began piano lessons and at the age of 13, she also attended voice lessons. Her enthusiasm for the Arts grew and further developed when she opted to study GCSE Drama & Theatre Studies and GCSE Music at school. Her studying continued to acquiring an A-Level Music qualification which contributed to her being accepted onto BA Hons Creative and Performing Arts course in which she chose to specialise in dance and music. |
During her degree course, she studied modules in Songwriting and Music Composition in which she composed pieces which lent themselves to the genres of performance art, avant garde, world music and popular music. Her final year collection of compositions included explorations into piano miniatures, serialism for a string quartet and Cage’s Prepared Piano. Alongside her studies, she began to perform and write for her sister, Stef. Jenni’s first song, Millions, received airplay on Radio Merseyside in 2004 which was later introduced into Hegenomy repertoire along with the song, Labels. The band, Hegenomy formed in 2004 which was later renamed as Triphazard.
She graduated from university in 2005 with a 2:1 and continued to perform and write in collaboration with other band members. As Stef’s writing practice developed, Jenni focussed solely upon writing the music to Stef’s lyrics with other band members. Due to the writing roles becoming so intrinsically infused, a decision at this point was made to give composition credits to Triphazard.
In addition to her performance practice, Jenni began leading educational performing arts workshops where music became a focus. From 2005-2006, Jenni became a Performing Arts Tutor in an exclusion centre where she delivered one to one voice and piano along with other performing arts sessions to teenagers with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Her workshops later developed to focussing upon dance for other organisations during 2006-2007 until 2008, when she was offered employment with Artis Education. As an Artis Specialist, she has delivered holistic performing arts sessions to pupils in primary schools in which dance, drama and music are given equal focus.
In addition to her teaching practice, Jenni embarked upon a MA Dance Theatre: The Body in Performance course at LABAN in Autumn 2008. During her studies, she has collaborated with Liverpool musician, Iain Grundy and has investigated how Neuro Linguistic Programming can be utilised both in the creative process and in delivering workshops. Her latest investigations have included co-devising a system for recording and analysing body sounds for performance. |
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Mark Dutch
From an early age Mark has been involved in some form of music. Growing up with his elder brother Adam and fellow band member Paul, music was a common thing that him and his brothers shared and loved.
Marks musical background began with his classical music training, which first started when he was 7 years old learning classical drum kit and percussion with twin brother Paul. |
After playing for numerous orchestras, including Liverpool Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, Mark looked up to his elder brother who had just started to learn guitar and asked him if he could teach him a few chords. His interest in guitar grew, which left Paul to excel in drumming. From this point onwards, Mark began to focus on his new found instrument; however he still possessed a keen interest in drums. Mark found that this arrangement worked between the two brothers, as they could help each other practise by jamming together.
After teaching himself guitar to a playable standard, he started a band with brother Paul. From this, he gathered knowledge of the Liverpool music scene and valuable song writing skills.
Mark broadened his guitar skills to different genres and took up jazz for three years, playing for Sefton Youth Jazz Orchestra around the country.
In Mark’s last years of high school, Stef asked Mark and Paul to join the band Triphazard.
Mark is currently in his final year studying music at Liverpool Hope University, specialising in performance and classical guitar. |
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Paul Dutch
Paul has been involved in music almost his entire life. From an early age Paul wanted to play a musical instrument, so his father built him a drum and crafted a pair of drumsticks so that he could play. At the age of 7 he began taking drum kit and percussion lessons with Sefton Music Services under Jayne Hunt, who has been one of Paul’s biggest influences. One of the main reasons he wanted to start taking lessons was seeing his older brother Adam taking music lessons and doing something interesting. From then on Paul has never stopped playing.
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In 1999 he was approached to join Jayne’s percussion group and over the five years he learnt many different styles and learnt to play many different percussion instruments. Whilst he was playing for the percussion group he was asked to play for Sefton’s prize winning ensembles, the jazz orchestra and the wind orchestra. After spending time travelling and playing with the orchestras, Paul was approached to play for the Merseyside Youth Orchestra, who pride themselves on being one of the best youth orchestras in the country.
Whilst all this orchestral and jazz music was happening, he also managed to fit a few bands into a busy schedule. He played melodic metal band SuperUnknown, who won Sefton battle of the bands, and he also was playing smooth listening covers in restaurants with a group of musicians. But at the time his main emphasis was on his band A.M.P, made up of his twin brother Mark and best friend Andy. A.M.P managed to make a name for themselves on Liverpool’s music scene.
It was in sixth form when Paul and brother Mark were first approached to play for the already popular Triphazard. At first it was a favour for Stef, but from working with the band it developed into being Paul’s number one priority.
At present, Paul is reading Music Technology at Stafford University. |
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