User:Slartibartfast70/Stillman

Stillman is the musical project of English musician and singer/songwriter Chaz Craik. Born 1972 in Taplow, Bucks, he is now resident in London. As a musician he plays bass guitar, classical guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, piano.

Cab
After graduating from Exeter College at Oxford University Craik formed a band with other graduates and played the then burgeoning Britpop scene in Oxford which had recently produced Ride, Radiohead and Supergrass.

The band gigged regularly on the Oxford circuit and in 1997 attracted interest from record labels Parlophone and Creation Records before splitting due to musical differences.

Uppercuts
In 2000, Craik moved to Brighton and began producing a mixture of electro and trip-hop catching the interest of local record label Skint Records but once again remained unsigned.

Same Day Cleaners
In 2002, after moving up to London, Craik returned his focus to songwriting rather than production. After writing a number of songs he formed Same Day Cleaners with John Snell, a fellow musician from the Oxford scene. Once again this band attracted interest from record labels, Parlophone, B-Unique and Independiente amongst others, but frustration with the lack of tangible commitment from the major labels lead Craik to consider an independent release instead.

In 2004 he went to Propagation House studios in Holsworthy, Devon to record an EP as a four-piece band. He stepped back from the role of producer which was filled by former Cure producer David M. Allen. The EP was successfully recorded and later mixed at a studio in London by Allen. However, Craik was uncomfortable with the sound and direction of the full-band and decided not to invest additional time and money in releasing it. Same Day Cleaners disbanded and it was directly after this that Craik began his solo work as Stillman.

Stillman
Craik's first release as Stillman was called The Weightless EP and was recorded, mixed and mastered in his bedroom studio. The release was distributed through the Rough Trade shop in Notting Hill.

The release gained good critical reaction and Channel 4 Teletext's Planet Sound zine said -

'Very, very few singer-songwriter induce so many shivers. It's as if Elliot Smith and Tom McRae got together to make the music they can't quite do on their own'

The EP reached the ears of independent record label TRL Music and Craik, after numerous bad experiences with major label near-misses, opted to sign with them.

In 2007 his debut album People Like a Happy Ending was released on TRL Music. It was featured on the front-page of iTunes in ten European territories but failed to sell in the numbers, TRL Music estimated the number of downloads was only equivalent to roughly a thousand physical CDs. Despite lack of commercial success the album won 'Best Album' at Glasswerk New Music Awards December 2007 at which Craik played acoustic versions of the two singles from the album 'In The Margin' and 'Stillborn Moon'.

That year he also performed as live guitarist for label-mates Urban Myth Club at Glastonbury Festival and played two sets at that year's Secret Garden Party.

Withdrawing into the studio for some time Craik again recorded at his home studio preparing his second album Blood Dark Sea. It was once this album was finished that Craik and TRL Music parted company on good terms and Craik released the album.

The album brought Craik's acoustic guitar playing more to the fore and was reviewed favourably in Guitar and Bass Magazine and Guitar Techniques magazine.

After the second album Craik took an interest in rescoring short film. He chose two short films from the Future Shorts film label to write and record new soundtracks for. These were performed to a projected backdrop of the short films in Westbourne Studios, London W2. The two films were 'Right Place' by Kosai Sekine and 'Journey to the Moon' by Neil Gittins. Directors of both these films were sufficiently happy with the results to allow him to use their films for his own promotion and they can be seen on Stillman's YouTube channel.

In 2010 Craik decided to give away his latest releases and three new songs Desperate Times, Storm Coming and Gold Days were made available via his website. These displayed a jazzier and funkier edge to his songwriting which coincided with his purchase of a Gibson ES-175 semi-acoustic electric guitar.

In 2011 Craik plans to record more live rescores and release an as yet untitled EP.