Strange Chocolate

Strange Chocolate are a four-piece mutli-racial funk-rock band based in South East London, principally in New Cross. Founded originally by siblings Daryl and Harriet Castillo, the band itself was formed in the Lewisham Academy of Music as part of a band workshop and has gone through numerous name and line-up changes. The Strange Chocolate name was made official following the inclusion of bassist Jason Fernandes and the return of longtime bandmate Shane Lewis in 2005, with Danni Burns joining in 2008 before leaving in 2010. The name was taken from a TV skit of Domo-kun: A mascot of Japanese broadcasting company NHK.

All members write the music for Strange Chocolate, while Daryl and Harriet generally are in charge of the lyrics, which are based on everyday life and autobiographical events.

Band members

 * Daryl Castillo - Vocals, guitar
 * Harriet Castillo - Drums
 * Jason Fernandes - Bass
 * Shane Lewis - Lead guitar

Beginnings (1996-2000)
The band's history traces back to Daryl and Harriet's first ever band workshop at the Lewisham Academy of Music. They had the likes of Harry Cheeseman, Omar Smith and Rowan Wilson joining over the years with John Savage and Craig Murdoch supervising them, while playing numerous gigs at the Albany, Mountsfield Park, the Deptford Crypt and the Lewisham Academy hall to name a few. Daryl himself would cite the band's performance at the Deptford Crypt for the 1996 Christmas show as the best he has ever played, despite him being only 14 at the time. In the summer of 1997, Shane Lewis, son of Academy youth worker Ruth Hunter, joined as a keyboardist. By the summer of 1998, the band went through a hiatus and overhaul, due to members either being too young for evening class or going on the pursue other interests. Daryl, Harriet and Shane remained, then Daryl offered jazz bassist Daniele Gulino to join in 1999. He would only play one gig with the band before moving away from the local area, and it would give the band a lot of problems for years in terms of finding a suitable bassist. However, he helped write the first draft of the song that would become "Can't Kill The Spirit". Daryl would then host the final gig under the Academy name for the Marion Gilbert benefit fund, with help of Ceri James and Craig Murdoch in the band.

Post Academy years and the New Cross scene (2001-2004)
After the Academy's closure, the band would be in limbo due to no regular rehearsal space and unable to afford rooms regularly due to their age. They would have a go at playing again in an open mic jazz night in 2001 after reuniting since the Academy days, but were rusty and Shane was opposed to playing in bars at the time. Nevertheless, Daryl would keep performing in New Cross while Harriet would get a drum kit the next year. Though without Shane, the siblings would play locally numerous times, and brought old mentor Craig Murdoch to join in the local gigs. Often than not, these gigs were as memorable and exciting as the old Academy days. 2003 had little in the way of musical activity, but were rehearsing with Shane again, though they only played one gig for a friend's birthday. Afterward, the band once again fell quiet due to other commitments at the time, and remained so for 18 months. Daryl meanwhile, was committed to the New Cross scene, and was still covering the regular goings-on. In the summer of 2004, Daryl and Harriet met old school friend Jason Fernandes at a pub. After discussing their musical activity, Jason offered to be guitarist for the band, but was convinced to be bassist instead due to Daryl and Shane already as guitarists and that they have looked for a full-time bassist for over 5 years. Jason wouldn't start rehearsing until a year later after his chance meeting with the two.

The genesis of Strange Chocolate (2005)
After purchasing new equipment ready for use for the band, Daryl and Harriet would rehearse with Jason for the first time. In addition to solving the full-time bassist problem, Jason also helped provide the rehearsal space in the form of their local church hall, which is used for storage, rehearsals and even a performance venue. To this day, they still use it. While they went through many different names over the years, they agreed that they would be called Strange Chocolate from now on in. While progressing nicely as a trio, Shane would be invited back to play, but numerous problems at the time would prevent him from rehearsing and performing with them full-time. Therefore, Strange Chocolate would start life as a trio, but did ask old bandmate Harry Cheeseman to play with them for one gig as a temporary lead guitarist. They played a series of gigs in the summer, which all went suprisingly went well, despite being "inexperienced". Afterward, the three took a rest until the end of the year, when they would rehearse in order to prepare to record a track for the upcoming "Replugged in New Cross" compilation album.

Replugged in New Cross and beyond (2006-2010)
Taking their music making seriously, Daryl purchased and (with help) collected a used PA system on the cheap on New Year's Day of 2006 from eBay, which was kept in a barn in Milton Keynes. After cleaning up the new equipment, Strange Chocolate prepared to record their tracks for the upcoming album, as well as play in Jason's 21st birthday on the weekend. Starting early in the morning, Strange Chocolate recorded "Regression" and "Can't Kill The Spirit": The latter of which is a reference to the old Fordham Park festival, and that eventually became track #17 on Replugged In New Cross. After the long recording session, an exhausted Strange Chocolate would then finish the day playing for Jason's 21st birthday. During the year, the band would write more songs and play a numerous run of gigs in the year across London to not only promote the New Cross album (which gained good reviews over time), but to gain more performing experience as well. Shane eventually played his first gigs under the Strange Chocolate name in the autumn of 2006, including their first gig in Central London at the 12 Bar Club. The band continued that momentum into the first half of 2007 by playing different venues across South London, but stopped gigging for the rest of the year due to Daryl suffering a back injury and going to the Philippines.

2008 was thin in the way of gigs, as Harriet was studying, and Shane had been out of contact. During that year however, keyboardist Danni Burns joined and rehearsed with the band for the first time, adding a new dimension to the music that was so eagerly required. In 2009, Strange Chocolate finally became a five piece, with Shane returning and Danni now getting used to a band enviroment, and they subsequently prepared for a gig at the Montague Arms. The gig itself showed promise of the five piece setup, but was still a work in progress. Oddly, this was their only gig of 2009 due to other commitments once again, with the main reason being that Harriet and Danni were still studying at the time.

Strange Chocolate would play their first gig of 2010 in the New Cross Inn as part of Cariad No.6, which was highly well-received and considered by the band to be their best gig to date. They took part in a talent contest at a Goan outdoor festival in July, and had 4 different gigs booked in August alone, playing different places in South East London, and culminating in a birthday show at their church hall. They then played in Shoreditch for the first time, at the Bar Aquarium for Oggie's Soundtrack night. A month later, Strange Chocolate began recording their demo, then after writing two more songs and playing in the West End, they had Frederico De Melo join in the winter on keyboards to replace the recently departed Danni. 2010 ended with the 5 of them performing on a cold snowy Christmas gig at their church hall again.

Continuing momentum (2011-present)
Strange Chocolate began 2011 with a gig at the trendy Hoxton Underbelly.

Compilations

 * Replugged In New Cross - May 2009 (featuring track: Can't Kill The Spirit)