Fiction Tree are a six piece band from Chichester, West Sussex, with a portfolio of captivating original songs brought to life with three-part vocal harmonies, intricate guitar work and a dynamic rhythm and percussion section.
Andy Gooding
Vocals & Guitar
Andy has played the local circuit for many years with various acts and bands including Walking Dynamite, Stiff Upper Lip and Red Kite Drift among others, and is most regularly seen wielding a 12 string with popular local duo Smoothmonkey. Andy has always been a song writer and the Fiction Tree songs are based on work that Andy has created over the years and with new arrangements and new material, these songs have come to life.
Damian Walsh
Bass
Damian will be well-known to live music fans around the area as he has provided Bass-duties for some of the most popular local acts including Funky Junction & Honeypark for many years. Now though it’s time for Damian to contribute his melodic and fluid bass style to the Fiction Tree sound, ensuring that this new exciting music is firmly rooted in both rhythm and feel.
Shaun Lyndon-Smith
Percussion
Shaun has played drums, cajon and percussion for several acts around the Chichester and Bognor Regis area including way back in the late 1990s/early 2000s when he also played in a band with Andy which performed at Rox On The Prom and more recently with Red Kite Drift. Shaun’s enthusiasm for music and performing has been a key driving force in the growth of Fiction Tree.
Carrie Horner
Vocals
Carrie can be seen regularly in the local area as a solo singer and with duo Vintage Candy. With a background in musical theatre and extensive experience as a performer, we are excited to have Carrie perform with us at our live show.
Richard Gooding
Guitar & Backing Vocals
Rich has been playing guitar for many years and, apart from being Andy’s brother and therefore a longtime guitar partner to jam with, has often depped with acts that Andy’s been involved with around the local area. Bringing additional vocals and electric guitar with some great riffing and lead lines, Rich has proved a valuable asset to generating the full band sound for Fiction Tree’s live show.
Graeme Annetts
Drums
Graeme has played with many bands on the local circuit over the years including with Andy in Walking Dynamite and Stiff Upper Lip and more recently with heavy rock/metal outfit Maelstrom.
About Fiction Tree
It was an evening out watching a David Bowie tribute in Chichester when Shaun (while sampling roughly the third bottle of wine) turned to me and asked, “why the f*** aren’t we out playing your songs?”.
Shaun actually played in a band at the end of the 1990s with me and a couple of the songs in the set are from that time (Dawn Of Tomorrow and From The Outside) so, apart from a few fill in gigs, it had been a while since we had played together, but we’ve always had great fun on stage.
A short while before that night, I had played through some of my material with Damian. We had played together with a couple of exploratory projects as well as when I have played guitar for Funky Junction. We also both have a love of exploring various watering holes and their offerings to discuss music, bands and life in general, so the idea of an originals project had already been touched upon.
A few messages later and the three of us found ourselves setting up a basic PA in Shaun’s hairdressing salon to jam through the songs, and thus Fiction Tree was born.
We decided to put some demo recordings together to build up the song arrangements (some of these are available to listen to on our website). Initially we kept the band line-up just me, Damian and Shaun, but it became clear we needed more musicians to complete the full sound. We spoke to our good friend, the excellent Dr Stephen Cass, who kindly stepped in to provide us with drums for our live shows.
It was at this point we decided to take the plunge and booked the venue for our first show on 11th November 2023. We decided we needed another guitar and some additional vocals so Carrie and Rich came in, almost last minute, before the show. We only had a few rehearsals leading up to that – all six of us were only in a room together twice! With an originals project where there’s an extra amount of work arranging and writing each part so we were pleased it went as smoothly as it did!
Being a new act, we were surprised when the tickets for that show sold out, but it provided us with a great base to move the project forward.
Following that initial show, Carrie and Rich became valuable full time members of the band which has brought a whole new extra dimension to the project. We played our second ticketed show in June 2024, again with Stephen Cass on drum duties, which also came very close to being sold out.
Moving forward, we decided to work on some recordings and, with limited budget, these have been fully recorded, mixed and mastered by ourselves. (You can listen to our first few tracks on here, or stream online from most major music platforms.) it became clear we needed a full time drummer so Graeme stepped in. I have played with Graeme in a couple of bands (Walking Dynamite and Stiff Upper Lip among other last minute gigs!) and he has gigged with other local bands such as Maelstrom and Stone Cold Sober. It has been great to get Graeme and Shaun working together to really add the percussive element to our sound and with some regular rehearsals it really helps to tighten up the arrangements.
On a personal level, it has been great to see these songs develop from simple acoustic guitar/piano tunes into full arrangements. Everyone in the band has added their influence to take them in new directions and create something special.
It is still early days for Fiction Tree but we are having great fun working on the project and are all excited to perform our music for you. We have great plans for the future so do keep an eye on our website, follow us on the socials or sign up to our newsletter to keep up with what’s happening.
Thanks again for your support and I hope you enjoy listening.
Andy (+ Fiction Tree)