10 – BY – 2

Steve Rodda is the guitarist in Stray’s house band P.R.S. Originally playing reggae in the 80’s, he quit music to go and get a ‘proper job’, but has continued to gig ever since.

He pursued his love of gypsy jazz, citing guitar influences as Django Reinhardt, Birelli Lagrene and John Scofield amongst others. His guitar duo ‘Double Take’ saw him team up with blues guitarist John Illingworth and together, they played at venues throughout both Lincolnshire and Notts during the early noughties.

This is the point at which Stray’s founder Mat Short met Steve. Double Take had a residency at the then ‘Friday Tapas and Jazz’ nights and Mat sat in on sax occasionally. After a time, Steve, Mat and Si Potts formed P.R.S. to act as the house band, for the wide number of headliners to follow. Mat moved across from sax to bass and never went back.

Steve was struck down with Meningitis in January of 2023, forcing him to take a break from playing while he recovered. This duo was born out of Steve’s gentle return to playing – the format worked so well, they’ve booked a few dates over the year!