A popular male chorus band is splitting up.
The eight strong group String Fellows, who are well-known in folk circles in Huddersfield, is to play its last ever gig tonight due to the departure of its founder Andy Spearpoint and double bassist Bob Lockwood.
The talented all singing , all string playing group, who will perform at a sold-out show at Edibles in West Slaithwaite tonight, were a regular booking at the former Bar 1:22 on New Street and at festivals both in the area and further afield.
They have also just released their last album, Moan Made Scream Crazy.
The String Fellows group were renowned for their rambunctious, witty, tongue-in-cheek and modern take on folk songs and garnered a dedicated following.
Some of their best known included Killing Fisherman, Pearls Before Swine, Dibo Diboni and their cover of Alice Cooper's Poison.
They also released two other albums over the years.
String Fellows was formed by Marsden-based Andy due to wanting a "place for men to come and sing which did not involve them having to go to a community choir."
Andy, who like most of the other members in the band also plays drums in addition to singing and playing the guitar, set up the group after moving from Manchester.
There he was known as the former front man of 1990s alternative, genre-bending Manchester act New Fast Automatic Daffodils (New FADS).
Andy, who is set to move to County Tipperary in Ireland next week to start up a mobile pizza business, said: "It’s the end of an era.
"I hope that something carries on and there are some ideas with the other members but for now this is it.
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“We’ve had a great time together.
“Some of the highlights have been playing festivals, with Grassington being one of my favourites because we actually got given a decent PA system and the sound man knew what he was doing, which you don’t get that often.
“We’ve got eight of us and everyone sings acoustically, so we each need a mic.
“We planned the gigs before I knew I’d be going and it will be nice to play somewhere we’ve not played before.”
But Andy, who back in the 1990s also put out three albums with New FADS, will not be giving up music for good.
“I’m going to wait and see what I find in Ireland but I’ve been hammering at the saxophone over the last few months so want to do something with it.
“I like traditional music, which there will be plenty of, in small doses and Limerick isn’t too far away so I will see who I meet there.
“I’d also like to get involved with the local community music course I’ve heard about.”
Copies of their latest album, Moan Made Scream Crazy can be bought by emailing the band at hellofellows@string-fellows.co.uk.
