Rob Lewis cello and guitar.

"I am a man first, an artist second. As a man, my first obligation is to the welfare of my fellow men. I will endeavour to meet this obligation through music - the means which God has given me - Since it transcends language, politics, and national boundaries. My contribution to world peace may be small, but at least I will have given all I can to an ideal I hold sacred ".
Pablo Casals (1946).

Currently listening to:
Madeleine Peyroux – ‘Half the Perfect World’
Buddy Rich – ‘Big Swing Face’
Dvorak – ‘Cello Concerto’.

ROB LEWIS BIOG
Rob began playing the cello at the age of six. His
initial fascination lay with the fact that it had a
spike, which at that age appeared so much more
interesting than anything on a violin! At fifteen, after
many years of playing in various local orchestras,
he auditioned for a place in the London Schools
Symphony Orchestra, not really taking the outcome
too seriously. However, when finding his audition
was successful, he recalls receiving a shock
arriving at the first rehearsal:
"I can remember being amazed at how good
everyone was, and realised that if I was going to
survive in this orchestra I had to start some
serious work. Driven by the standard of the
orchestra members, alongside the high calibre
soloists and conductors that we were fortunate
enough to play with, I began to practise more
and more, and soon felt that my future plans had
to incorporate music in a major way".

At nineteen Rob took a year out before going on to
study music at Sussex University. He spent five
months travelling around Central America, after
studying Spanish in the Universidad de Habanna,
Cuba:
"The five months away from any instrument,
made me miss music more than ever, and when I
returned I couldn't wait to get playing again".

However, it wasn't until Rob began his music
degree at Sussex University, studying part time at
the Guildhall School of Music, that he met his
teacher, and biggest inspiration, the American
cellist Selma Gokcen, who took him under her wing
and guided him towards a career in playing.

Alongside his cello playing, the pre teen Rob had
also taken up the guitar with teacher Jim Thomas,
who pushed his creativity in a different direction.
Tragically, a year later and aged only twenty seven,
Jim died and Rob struggled to find another teacher
as inspirational. He began to teach himself guitar by
ear, finding the left hand work easy due to the level
of practice he was doing for the cello. However, he
dismisses his guitar playing as just messing about:
"I try and hear what I want to play, and am fortunate
enough to get it right 9 times out of 10, it's fluke
really!".

Rob has toured many European countries with a
variety of orchestras. At seventeen he went on
tour with a local London orchestra to South Africa,
where he was fortunate enough to have the
opportunity of entering various townships and
playing with the African Jazz legend Brian Thusi
of Umlazi. It was this eye opener to African Jazz
that got Rob hooked, and soon his guitar playing
became more focussed on copying the styles of
famous African guitarists like Jimmy Dludlu.

During Rob's time away in Central America, he
began writing songs, although he had to wait till
he returned before he could actually try them out
on any instrument. Through one of his best mates,
he was introduced to James Robinson and after a
few get togethers, Rob recalls how impressed he
was with James' voice:
"Having been around so many highly trained
musicians all my life, it was refreshing to hear a
voice untainted by rules of technique or theory,
but just naturally musical".

Although Rob initially viewed the song writing with
James as a small project, it soon became clear to
him that with their combined abilities, it would be
possible to produce something rather special.
By incorporating the musical skills of good friend
and classical pianist Ben Rosairo, also a Sussex
music student, Rob knew that, this would add a
further dimension to their music. Combined with
the skills of Dino Randhawa, and Ben Matthews on
drums, who Rob met through his cello teaching job,
the band began to take shape.