SOME BACKGROUND MUSIC

Better known as an actor, Jeremy Crutchley’s roots are even more deeply embedded in his early love of music. Growing up in the UK in the 60’s era and into the early 70’s meant that Jeremy’s early musical exposure evolved from the cool background sounds of his Dad’s beloved jazz LP’s and into the fascinating and electrifying effect of the new wave of British pop and rock of the time. It would be several years till he graduated from miming onthe old tennis racquet, inspired by George Harrison’s guitar sound on ‘I Feel Fine”, to getting his first acoustic guitar in’76, and teaching himself to play.

By then, his father’s work had taken the family from their origins in Wales to the North and South of England, Scotland and then on to South Africa. There, following a desire to become an actor, he took an Honours degree in Drama at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. By 1978 he owned his first cheap electric guitar: he completed his Honours year by writing and performing what is arguably the first original and ‘alternative’ rock theatre work to be seen or heard in the country at the time, “Bloodbreath Anaesthetic”-  essentially a rough and  surreal work about the control & suffocation of creativity, (which received an award from the University). That guitar neck warped shortly after…

In his early professional Theatre work through the ‘80’s he continued to combine his artistic passions. He began to draw public and professional attention early on with his performance Slim, (featuring two electric guitar numbers) in Sam Shepard’s legendary “Cowboy Mouth”, to standing ovations at the famous Market Theatre in Johannesburg. He later developed a band called Sloper (Afrikaans for ‘Demolisher’) and created the music & additional songs (as well as performing as ‘Tom’, one half of the Siamese twins) in Brian Aldiss’s “Brothers Of The Head’- the only stage  production of that work Aldiss had yet allowed.   
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As more and more heavyweight leading roles in the Theatre placed demands on his energies, Jeremy continued to write and work whenever possible, recording rough tracks at home on his old analogue tape machine. Returning to perform in the UK in the mid ‘90’s, working in repertory, on TV, touring and also acting in the West End, he decided in 2003 to base himself in Cape Town while developing other film & theatre projects; another succession of leading roles, many movie appearances and the most recent Solo show “I Am My Own Wife” take us up to the present day.

His desire to keep Rock and Theatre alive and connected in his body of work has been a balancing act for over thirty years: the dedication required for a successful career in Theatre, Radio, Film & TV has often eclipsed his musical aspirations.

Now at last he has committed his time and resources to making a long overdue album, featuring twelve original songs, and simply titled “RELEASE”.
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He has named his band ‘The Standing Wave”; as much an alternative identity for himself as for the musicians who may complete the picture either in the studio or live onstage. The album’s Artwork is self designed, featuring a 16 page booklet in the original Limited Edition Digipak version (already a Rare Collectible!) and a cool redesigned layout for the next Jewel-Case & Digital Download version. Now he has  written, directed and produced his first music video with the track “Walking In High Heels”.
With even more material waiting in the wings, smouldering away  ready to be ignited and dragged out into the harsh light of day, Jeremy Crutchley is still in love with the sound and feel of the guitar: in the words of the last song on the record, “…I’m waving to you ~ is the wave coming through?”