Keri Williamson of Keltrix – May 2007

Keri Williamson of Keltrix – May 2007
Keltrix
Keltrix.jpg
Keltrix, Cambridge's newest acoustic-folk-rock band, play Strawberry Fair as one of the headline acts, on Saturday, 2 June. The band's song-writer Keri Williamson, who leads with husky vocals reminiscent of Janis Joplin and a touch of Sandy Denny, is an independent and thought-provoking young woman. She hails from Liverpool and has been living in Cambridge some three years or more. Why? because this is the place where creatively, things have gone ping! The evidence for this is Keltrix, a band of whom she is very proud, particularly their achievements since their first gig last year at, where else, but Strawberry Fair.

The Keltrix sound is high-octane folk rock with a strong acoustic percussive flavour. Keri's feisty spirit shows throughout both music and performance. They perform with a co-operation not often seen in the rock/music world, but it may be early days to make such a comment as this. Keri ponders that the band may draw together well because they are allowed their own creative space and individuality as musicians in arrangements and performance. And also, more recently they have started to co-write, which allows her some welcome space from being the only song provider.
Keri started to sing three years ago - up to then she'd been doing Fine Art design work. ‘But the barking voices in my head got so angry and so loud, they wouldn't let go. So I tried some song-writing; they eased. I took up the guitar because I needed accompaniment; they eased further, and then I met some musicians and so it went on till eventually Keltrix came about'.
Song-writing inspiration comes from walking - along green pastures around where she lives. Sometimes she returns home with the whole song in her head; she sits with the guitar until she gets the structure and lyrics onto paper, or, maybe a recording machine. Another time the walk will give her only the chorus, and it might take another six months or more for the song to arrive fully.

The songs are about life's issues. About emotions and the places people go to protect themselves from a difficult world. Hide is about denial and the soft realisation of becoming aware of something in yourself that you've been avoiding for some time; or Passing Through which is about travelling and the difficulty in maintaining friendship if you are always on the move.
And now, she and the band want a Keltrix sound to emerge. She'd like to see all the threads of musical influence from within the band weave into one. This means writing more, on her own, and together. She's just finished writing Lame, which the band are currently busy arranging, and Hug the Feeling, a dancing song with a reggae beat which they've written together.

This is the sound, the direction, the move and the groove they are in at the moment. They're getting gigs around the East Midlands area, which spurs them on. They've just added a sound man to the line-up because they put so much effort into preparation that they want the sound, the Keltrix sound, to be heard as they wish it to be.

Keri keeps herself focussed with yoga, she swears by it!. Between that, the band and earning a few pence to pay the rent, Keri Williamson is a talented and busy lady.

Keltrix, the Band
Keri Williamson - song-writing; vocals; guitar
Jake Skinner - drums
Tim Robin - bass guitar
Sharon Sullivan - electric fiddle
Phil Rose - electric guitar, mandolin, and double bass
Simon Carroll - congas, harmonica
Jade Reynolds - backing vocals

Writer: Anne L Ryan

© 2007 Moving Tone Promotions Ltd