Ebiz4Profit's profile

Singer, songwriter, lover, poet, friend and business man. After joining the British Army at the age of 14 years of age Rob retired from the service in 1969 and tried his hand at the music business. Stonefield Tramp was in it’s embryonic stage at the end of 1970 when Rob van Spyk and Terry Friend, both angry young men, departed the British Armed Service’s to pursue a more artistic life style. Rob van Spyk (Music) and Terry Friend (Lyrics) first met at the age of 16 in 1964 whilst serving in The All Arms Junior Leaders Regiment in North Wales. A strong bond of friendship, which has lasted to this day, developed between them. But would not result in any creative endeavors until after 1970 when they left the Army after fulfilling their Military service commitment. Terry began to write his lyrics in 1968 and, recalling that Rob played played guitar, contacted him requesting that they formed a song writing partnership. The van Spyk-Friend song writing partnership was born. Once a catalog of songs had been completed they recorded their first demo album ‘Going Nowhere’ in 1971. This has since been bootlegged around the world and is eagerly sought after by the discerning collector! Constant, and frustrating, rejection of their songs from the established Record Companies gave Rob the idea to record their own albums independently. And so, after teaming up with their good friend Brian Balster from Tewkesbury, recorded the acoustic album ‘Follow the Sun’ by ‘van Spyk and Friends’ at the Acorn Records studio in Stonesfield in Oxfordshire in April 1974. The album sold so well they all returned to the studio three months later, with additional musicians Dave Lloyd (Guitar) and Chris Suttoris (Bass) to record their follow up album ‘Dreaming Again’. This time they released the disc on their own label, Tramp records, but used the same studio, and engineers, as its predecessor. At the end of the session, and after very little discussion, they elected to call the band ‘Stonefield Tramp.’ They gigged extensively over the next three years in the UK. Dave Lloyd left the band in 1975 and was replaced by Peter Kiely. A drummer, Andy “Eggy” Richwood, also joined them that year, adding much needed ‘bite’ to their own individual brand of contemporary Folk Rock. Terry left the band to pursue his own solo song writing ambitions in 1976, and that same year Rob emigrated to the U.S.A. It was, effectively, the end of the band! In 2002 Rob, with a lot of help from Pete Kiely, reformed the band who began work on their second album ‘Full Circle.’ This album being very much a band effort regarding song content than the first one, which more or less was a showcase for the original Friend/Van Spyk song writing partnership. The 1974 album ‘Dreaming Again’ is very eagerly sought after by Vinyl Record Collectors world wide, and has been sold on E Bay in most countries you could think of. Now Rob spends his time learning the ways of the glorious world of marketing on the internet! www.Stonefield-Tramp.com