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STAVKA is the alternative rock persona of Andy Lightfoot, a multi-instrumentalist Englishman resident in Hiroshima, Japan.
Andy composes, plays, sings and produces his original compositions at his own Easter Island Studios facility in Hiroshima.
Although STAVKA has only been in existence in name since 2001, its musical beginnings stretch back to the late 1970's when Andy first got involved in music. Inspired by the 'anything goes' ethic of punk, he formed his first band (known initially as The Dictaphones, then Sense of Outrage) at school at the age of twelve. Early influences included The Jam, The Damned, The Stranglers and Buzzcocks, later branching out into the more experimental fringes of the punk movement represented by the likes of Killing Joke, PIL and Joy Division. The youthful Sense of Outrage even managed to cut some 16-track demos in 1982 at Bath's Crescent Studios, frequently used by the aforementioned Stranglers.
After leaving his native Wiltshire for Manchester University in 1984, and getting into more experimental stuff such as Wire, Andy began writing and playing his own material as a solo artist, recording a number of low-budget cassette-only albums throughout the 1980's and early 90's, by which time he had relocated to Berlin, Germany. Here he briefly played and recorded with German band Idophor.
In 1992, after moving to Hiroshima, Japan, he began building Easter Island Studios, now a 16-track fully digital facility from where STAVKA operate, and recorded a large output of cassette albums under the name of Shell. At the same time, a newly discovered interest in electronica inspired him to branch out and form Easter Islanders to handle his synth-based output.
In April 1998 Andy began recording his first CD album, 'Tunnel Vision Time', together with the accompanying EP 'Parzival' under the name of The National Debt.
In early 2002 a second CD entitled 'Against The Programme' was released, now under the new name of STAVKA. A second STAVKA album, 'Directive No.3' was released in the summer of 2004.
You can hear selections from all of these recordings by clicking here, and if you like the samples, order a CD from the online store.
Andy, prolific as ever, is currently working two new projects simultaneously, set for release sometime in 2006.
The sound of STAVKA could be summed up as being strongly melodic with powerful guitar backing. Or, to be more precise, MELODY + PUNK + POP SENSIBILITY + HUMOUR = STAVKA.
This style, although in itself original, owes much to Robyn Hitchcock, Guided by Voices, Half Man Half Biscuit and Wire for its lyrically absurdity and stream of consciousness ethic, The Beatles for melodic inspiration, and a whole host of punk bands for muscular, powerful backing. Throw in the geekiness of Devo, and the suave sophistication of The Monochrome Set, and you are some way to describing STAVKA.
However, this does not adequately describe the diversity of Andy's song-writing - tracks range from pure punk to acoustic slow-tempo numbers to experimentalist lo-fi. Best to head to the samples page to download an MP3 file or two and hear for yourself!
This site is maintained by Mr. Ardle Lungfish ardle@ardle.net and was last updated on April 4th 2006. All music and text contained within these pages is the property of Andy Lightfoot, © 2005.