THE BAND
Kevin Black
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//Singer, harp player and occaisional guitarist. While I love music of many varying styles my first love remains blues music (hence the harp) and guys like Sonny Terry, Jimmy Reed and John Lee Hooker are among my favourites. Outside of the blues my musical influences include the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Band, George Gershwin, Deep Purple, Jackson Browne and many more.
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I work with and support people with dementia and their families and so music is something that has a role in my working life as well and I am acutely aware of the huge benefits it can have for those living with dementia, but it still never ceases to amaze me the profound impact it can have.
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Outside of music and work I have a wonderfully supportive family who somehow put up with my many oddities!! And my other interests include sport of all types, art, design and architecture.
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Steven Hunter
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//Drums and percussion. At a young age I enjoyed listening for the beat of a song. My early influences included: The Stone Roses, New Order and INXS. It was through friends that was exposed to the Who, Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac. From these early influences I realised that drummers, if they do their job well, go unnoticed, blend into the background or become the Keith Moon of the show. In truth, I became a little obsessed with drumming but life took me in a different direction and I trained to be an electrician. It wasn't long before I returned to my first love and joined a band, in fact, many bands.
I am currently a lecturer in Electrical Engineering at West Lothian College and was delighted when asked to join the band. I love the blues vibe of Marthasville and hope my drumming skills, which have gone unrehearsed for 15 years, do the great musical talent within the group justice.
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Alasdair Taylor
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//Bass guitar, and the other songwriter in the band. I grew up listening to ‘70s and ‘80s rock, pop and indie, so most of my playing style comes from there. For songwriting I draw on a wider range of influences from pop and folk songwriters, with a bit of jazz and funk thrown in. Everything from Deep Purple, Hendrix, Stones, Beatles through to Roxy Music and the disco, funk and pop everyone has heard is in there somewhere.
Currently listening to disco ( Wild Cherry, Chic, Shirley & Company etc… ), just re-discovered Buena Vista Social Club, and just discovered Angelique Kidjo’s album “Eve” ( love the bass in this ). Must write a disco song at some point …
I have always been interested in design – when I left school I went to Art College to study Art & Design. Later I switched to Uni and studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Now I work as a professional engineer, which I find really creative and challenging, and is totally different from writing and playing music. I love travel, the great outdoors, food, reading, art, music, films, life…..
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Brian McGonigal
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//Guitar, backing vocals and occasional song writing are what I do in the band. I like guitarists as a rule because they make a sound which has appealed to me from a very young age. Our house had lots of music in it and I had older brothers who had singles and albums - once the charts were full of good albums and singles but that is probably rose-tinted. The music was mainstream with eclectic add-ons. We were big on the Stones, Beatles, Hendrix, the Who when the Mothers of Invention and Beefheart's Magic Band would show up.
I am fond of music and I have listened widely to all types. I like to hear songs which have interesting words and melodies. The songwriters I like are too numerous to mention but I wanna be like Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen although if I could write one as good as either then I would be pleased. I think I am a teacher who writes some songs. That is how I make it through the world anyway. I teach first and write the songs later.
Formed in 2009 by four people from across Scotlands central belt with a desire to produce music which is based around favourite influences, fine playing, good songs and quality production values. We live in pursuit of our favourite UK and US acts from some past where the single and the album were the measure of artistic success.
