JOE PARRISH

GUITAR

ALL ABOUT JOE

Joe was born in Bedfordshire in 1995, and at the tender age of three was turned on to music after hearing Trevor Jones’s score for the two-part miniseries “Merlin” around Christmas time in 1998. Guitar entered the picture at age six in the form of a basic three-quarter size acoustic, which five years later was replaced by a Fender Pacifica serving valiantly through the learning of parents’ surviving vinyls from the 70s, including records by Yes, Deep Purple, Steeleye Span and a curious LP that appeared to be a fictitious newspaper.

His teen years brought with them an obsession with the heavier side of rock music, with Iron Maiden being the main recipients of this adolescent adulation. Early band involvements included such tasteful acts as “Guillotine City” and the irritatingly precocious ‘Statues Of Our Minds”.

Following further musical exploits both live and in the studio that explored the worlds of rock, folk and metal, a consistent enthusiasm for the progressive side of things lead down the inevitable road to classical. He went on to study classical composition and arrangement at university, graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the London College of Music.

Following his degree Joe continued to arrange and compose for classical ensembles and provide music for both commercial and concert use. He also teaches privately, and provides other guitar services as both a live and recording session musician.

His personal projects include the aptly named Albion, a four-piece outfit which he co-founded in an attempt to combine the true spirit of age-old folk music with rock and metal after amassing material in this vein for a number of years. They currently perform a mixture of full band shows and stripped back acoustic gigs across the UK, singing mostly about swords in stones and ladies in lakes. Their output so far can be found here

Solo endeavours include numerous contemporary guitar arrangements of orchestral works, the results being described by the wordsmiths at Classic FM as “fully rocktageous instrumental metal workouts”. Extended acoustic compositions and works for string orchestra, string quartet and chamber orchestra have also accompanied these, inspired by the works of composers such as Vaughan Williams, Holst, Tallis, Finzi, Warlock, Shostakovich and Stravinsky.

Arrangements and the like are best found here.