Isiah

Richard hall, song writer and singer of Isiah is a well known and appreciated local musician who over the years has been front man to such bands as Jacobs Ladder, Voodoo, Stealer and Within who played the Willow Festival a decade ago. Now in his mid thirties, Rich still has the drive and determination to do what he loves most, and Isiah is his vehicle to do just that.
Isiah formed in Peterborough in the winter of 2007 when Rich met drummer Marek Suczilin at a local jam session. After recording his acoustic Horizons ep, Richard had already hooked up with Bassist Claire Cordeaux and sister Melissa Hall who was singing some backing vocals for him at the time. Brother Mark Hall stepped in on lead guitar and Nathan Wieckowski brought his talents on the piano to complete the line up. With gigs coming in and no name, the band adopted the singers name and gigged as the Richard Hall Band before becoming Isiah in 2010.
Isiah have played regularly in venues in and around Peterborough. The Cellar Bar, The Glass Onion, The Rose, Charters and the Brewery Tap have all received full houses at Isiah gigs and always ask them back. Isiah have also performed at summer events in Charters Beer garden, as well as the Randal roots Festival. Venues outside of Peterborough include Mamma Liz’s in Stamford, The Boathouse and The Emperor in Cambridge.
During the Glass Onion’s period as a volunteer led Community Music and Arts Centre, the band and particularly Rich had quite an involvement with the organisation Muddy Promotions who ran the centre, which led to the band performing at many events and festivals organised by the group, such as Grassroots Festival, The secret garden party, as well as festivals in Wales and Spain. Although Muddy Promotions is no longer operating, many people who were involved or linked to the organisation know and support Isiah, and most still receive news of events through facebook.
The band began recording their debut album in late 2008 at their rehearsal space, and was mixed down later at the Glass Onion studio and producer Benny T’s home studio. In the Wings was finally released in the summer of 2010, with a launch party held at Peterborough’s City Club. The 200 capacity event was a sell out with the album selling over a hundred copies.
Isiah have good relations with local radio such as BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and Peterborough FM who have both played their songs on several occasions. The Album launch party was promoted on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, and the band visited the studio again recently for a live performance on air. They have even been picked up by a London Pirate station.
In late 2010 the band had an opportunity to make a video for the song Wasted Day which was shot at the Broadway Media and Journalism centre studio in Peterborough as part of Richard’s media studies degree. Although not quite industry standard, the band had lots of fun making it and it serves well for promoting the band, it now has over 700 hits on youtube.
Isiah continue to promote themselves on social interactive sites such as Facebook and Bandcamp to keep people up to date with news and gigs while the local press are kept informed to ensure any up-coming gigs feature in the Evening Telegraph and ESP magazine.
The band aspire to play further afield and at more festivals, while continuing to build on their local support base and grow musically as a band. Plans are in the making for a second album in the near future.