Welcome to the website of Stefan Price - Mark Knopfler, Dire Straits, Stefan Price, Notting Hillbillies, Music, Original Music, Guitar, Schecter, Strat, Schecter Strat, LesPaul, Rudy Pensa, Pensa Custom, Terry Kilburn, Pensa Suhr, Rudy's Music Stop, Stefan Price plays Dire Straits, Covers, Dire Straits Covers, Tribute, Dire Straits Tribute, Mark Knopfler Tribute, redition, Lady Writer, Sultans of Swing, Six Blade Knife, Brothers In Arms, Live Aid, Money For Nothing, Walk of Life, tabs, Ren Lehman, Communique, Telegraph Road, Publishers, Liquid Blue, Marcy Faith, Down to the Waterline, finger-picking, Custom Blues Machine, Mark, Dance, Rock, Country, Raynauds, Exeter,

This section contains a brief history of my love of Mark Knopfler's music and my journey up until now (2007, age 32).

Currently, I am writing songs with my friend and songwriter Ren Lehman. We are working on music that crosses a plethora of genres from country to rock, through to melodic ballads and dance music. We have recently had two songs published and recorded by US artists, although I am still yet to reap the benefits but plan to re-invest any funds in new equipment for my home studio. Downloads of a small selection of my original songs and my Dire Straits covers are available in my Audio section.
If you are looking for original material to cover, or request to hear more of my original songs, please feel free to contact me.

1997

In the beginning...

My interest in the guitar started when I was around two years old. I found my tin guitar made the perfect substitute for a teddy bear. My dad sometimes used to allow me to strum my guitar while he held chords. By the age of seven, my dad had begun to teach me basic chords and I would often accompany him playing an easy riff whilst he played the chords. I got my first electric guitar at the age of eight. It is around this time that I started to develop an interest in Dire Straits, asking my dad "What's that song...Kitar George?" My dad later purchased a copy of Dire Straits: Dire Straits, and borrowed Communique, Making Movies and Love Over Gold. These records alone planted the seed for my desire to become a guitarist and musician.

Age 9

At age 11, after viewing the incredible performance of Money For Nothing and Sultans of Swing on Live Aid, I persuaded my parents to by me a second-hand LesPaul copy. It was unplayable, but I loved it nevertheless. I later acquired a Red Marlin Sidewinder Strat on which I quickly replaced the two tone knobs with metal dome knobs to mimic Mark's Schecter.

Age 11, with my dad

From 12 - 14 I played in a band at school and performed at festivals, social clubs and folk clubs. We mainly played Money For Nothing and Sultans of Swing (the Live Aid connection).

Country club, age 13

Exeter City Centre, age 13

The single greatest moment of my life to date was in April 1990 when at age 15, I met Mark Knopfler and the Hillbillies at the Plaza in my home town of Exeter. It was so surreal, I forgot everything I had planned to say. Even so, after Mark had finished eating a piece of cheese he was more than happy to chat and have a photo taken with me, which I later transferred on to a t-shirt. I remember, he told me "you must be mad!" when my mum told him that I obsessively practiced playing Dire Straits' songs every single day! I remained so shocked and star-struck that I remember little of the concert that followed the meet.

Mark and I, age 15 (1990)

Newspaper clipping (1996)

From the mid-eighties it had been my dream to put together a Dire Straits tribute band, which to my knowledge there were none at the time. My school years drifted by as I found myself fantasising about the notion of playing beside Mark on stage, like Hank Marvin on 'Going Home'. The contents of my school bag consisted of 2 Dire Straits books for the keyboard player, 2 effects pedals, leads, school books covered in penned Alchemy arrows, and every Dire Straits album on tape including live recordings which I secretly listened to on my personal stereo in order to pass the mundane reality of my lessons. I then headed for band practise after school. It was at this time that I began honing my guitar skills and became somewhat obsessed with emulating the music of Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits which kept me positive and motivated as my fingers suffered through Raynauds syndrome.

Over the years that followed, I was unable to play many gigs due to Raynauds syndrome continuing to effect my fingers, and only played occasionally at jam nights. I therefore took it upon myself to work more at home, setting up my own studio and writing songs with the intention of them being covered by other artists.

At present it is an extremely frustrating time, as I often find it very difficult to play the guitar for long periods.
I am now mostly producing dance tracks which require minimal guitar playing. I have taken an interest in Dance and Pop music alongside Country and Rock since the mid-nineties, as this was a genre I moved into when forming a guitar based band became more unlikely due to the amount of popular dance and pop acts in fashion at the time.

In March 2004, I got the chance to visit New York. Paramount on my site-seeing agenda was the world famous 'Rudy's Music Stop', where I was delighted to meet Mark's good friend Rudy Pensa, of Pensa custom guitars. He was extremely friendly and welcoming, and was astounded by the accuracy of my Dire Straits covers that I gave him on a CD I had complied especially for him. I am hoping to purchase a Pensa MKII and a Pensa MK80 over the next few years, as well as a Suhr.

Right: Rudy Pensa, and myself with a MK80 Pensa Custom.