Stride were founded in San Francisco in 1997 by songwriter / guitarist John McDermott and drummer Gareth Finucane. Finucane and McDermott are from the same neighborhood in Limerick, Ireland, and both left Ireland for the US in the early 90's. Finucane to Chicago and McDermott to San Francisco. By a quirk of fate they met in San Francisco and as they rekindled their friendship they discovered a common passion for music and decided to form a band. McDermott was already an experienced musician, while Finucane had learned drums by playing along to his favorite albums on his younger brothers kit, but had ever actually played in a band. The band went through several incarnations, (and as many bass players), before settling on the a line up with Gardner May on bass and the name Stride. In late 2000 the band began recording what was planned as a demo. As the project progressed the scope of the recording expanded and the band decided to release a mini album. The album is now finished. The release date is planned for late 2001. All of the bands songs have been self produced in McDermott's studio. Since the album completed Gardner May has left the band, and David Irwin a renowned artist in his own rite has joined on Bass. David has supported David Gray and clocked up several acoustic #1's on MP3 .com.
