CENTRE STAGE Laura Sheridan

Write Around the Murray 2024.

“Everything sounds better with cello.” – band member David Barton.

Newport cellist Laura Sheridan joined the Stereo Stories band in 2021. The initial catalyst was a story by Australian author Carmel Bird about learning to play the cello in a community orchestra, with Here Comes The Sun being on the orchestra’s set list.

Would it be too literal, too obvious, to have a cello in the band’s arrangement of the song for our show at Bendigo Writers Festival that year? Or would it be the ideal icing on the cake?

And could we justify bringing in a new band member for effectively a cameo?

By the time we played at Bendigo Laura was playing on four songs in a ten-item set list and has been very much part of the band ever since that gig.

“From the very start, with Here Comes The Sun, Laura has found the right spot,” says singer-guitarist David Barton. “Beautiful tone, intonation and taste.  She is always super-prepared but we can also throw something out of the blue and she’ll come up with something: the didg sound for Solid Rock, the clip-clop sound for Rawhide, an adornment on Shake It Up.”

“Laura has an uncanny knack for knowing exactly what a song needs, and the extraordinary ability to work magic with her cello,” says singer Martina Medica. “She makes what she does look easy, by working incredibly hard behind the scenes.”

“Laura has the musical and artistic intelligence to know just how much to add and where to place it, in sympathy always with the song,’” says singer, and long-time friend, Chris Phillips. “In rehearsals she gives so much and is always flexible. Her cello moves us all in the band. I think I can say that her playing underpins the feeling of every song she plays on. How did we exist so many years without her beautiful cello playing?”

“Her talent is such that she can creatively add ostinato passages*, clever note patterns and rich beautiful harmonies that always lift our songs to another level,” says multi-instrumentalist David Oke. “A great listener, communicator, she also has excellent organisational skills in getting the rest of us to agree upon and lock in rehearsal dates. Not an easy task!”

A former choir conductor, Laura first came to our attention via the Newport Fiddle & Folk Club, a rich resource for many performers. Her background includes being co-founder and director of the Strings West Music School in the western suburbs of Melbourne, bringing over 200 children the joy of string instruments, ensembles and choirs. Laura now provides private tuition.

Laura and accordion player Julie Merritt half-jokingly refer to themselves as the string section of the seven-piece band. This has never been more so than in their playing on Wichita Lineman, which requires the duo to riff on the strings from the Jimmy Webb classic, playfully replicating the high-pitched electrical-pulse refrain of the song (while not laughing out loud to the story by Danny Katz).

“I love rehearsing with and being onstage with Laura,” says Julie. “There is so much knowledge to glean when arranging, and playing, music with her. She’s a treasure, a gem.”

Drummer Matt McGrath learnt a lot when the band was working on Nick Gadd’s story about Once In A Lifetime, for a show in Mildura in 2022 (and then Williamstown in 2023).

“I remember thinking that Laura will probably sit this song out. Have a rest side stage. At the next rehearsal she was playing cello on the song! I asked what she was playing and was surprised to learn she was reading the score for Brian Eno’s synthesiser number 3. (News which was delivered matter of a fact, as if perfectly natural.)

“So many things about that resonated. For a start I realised there was a whole other world I knew nothing of – musical notation for synthesiser. That gives a sense of Laura’s natural curiosity and immense research abilities, and to identify a foreign part for translation to cello gives an idea of the open mind, experimentation and adaptability she possesses. Not to mention her generous spirit, intelligence and serene nature. An awesome talent, band mate and companion.”

“Laura is always so calm and patient during the sometimes long, arduous process of sound-checking before each show,” says singer Gemma Keating. “Cello is a classical instrument and must be notoriously finicky to mic and mix in the context of a seven piece rock band. At times it must be near impossible for Laura to hear herself in the onstage mix but, still, Laura plays impeccably and adds such beautiful colour to the soundscape of the band. Which, all in all, is beyond impressive!”

Thank you, Laura.

Laura, second from right, before her first gig with us: Bendigo 2021

The 2024 Stereo Stories band.

Video footage of Wichita Lineman excerpt courtesy of Write Around The Murray 2024.

Laura will next be onstage with us on Saturday evening 30 November, at Tempo Rubato in Brunswick. Limited tickets still available to this boutique concert . (You’ll need to be quick!)

*Ostinato: a continually repeated musical phrase or rhythm.