About us

We love music, and with every performance we like to make sure there is something for everyone regardless of age or nationality. Martin and Tom teamed up in 2008 when Martin was a Music Journalist working on a feature about Tom’s live percussion. They found they had a similar passions for music, independent venues, vinyl records, car boot sales, wombling, gramophone players, vintage bicycles, tea and cake!

Martin

Actively involved with live music and DJing for over twenty years, with his first ever show for the university orchestra ball. Being musicians meant they had a huge admiration for a variety of great musicians.  This, in many ways, paved the way for his work today.

Martin was brought up on a healthy diet of Classical, 60s and Folk, and has a love for music history, world music and local music. He found a lot of amazing music while travelling, working as a music journalist, and is always on the look out for great records and musicians.

He also has a passion for 1950’s cars, especially P4 Rovers (a 75 and a 105R if you’re into this kind of thing!), loves camping, hiking, history, building workshops, nature photography in remote parts of Africa, live music, has a pet tortoise and enjoys trying out tea rooms!

Tom

DJ-ing for over twenty years Tom has toured from Southampton to New Zealand and many roads between, with live percussion adding an expressive, improvised and fresh slant on the show.

He has been involved in music all his life, and has released tracks on Vinyl. Well known for Reggae, Dub and Ska with live Percussion (theuplifter.co.uk).

Tom is also well known for his dinosaur collection, which make a regular appearance spinning on record decks at shows!

He also loves skate-boarding, theatre, camping, traveling, live music, nutella, history, has a pet cat (who’s fluff often makes an appearance on our kit bags!) and a bearded dragon (the closest thing he could find to a real dinosaur!), and also loves trying out various tea rooms!

Where do we perform?

Here are some examples of the places and events we have performed at:

  • Festivals
  • Themed events, Including Vintage, 1920’s to 40’s, Speakeasy, Steam Punk, Gypsy, Folk, World Music, Film Noir and more…
  • Live music and Arts venues
  • Weddings, Anniversaries, Birthdays (21 plus only), and parties just for the sake of it!
  • Independent pubs, restaurants, cafés, village halls and late-license venues
  • Community and charity events (ask us about charity discount rates)
  • Historic buildings and museums
  • Gardens, marquees, barns and homes (we’ve even played in conservatories and kitchens!)
  • In a field, in the woods or by a duck pond
  • Steam Train railway platform (Alresford), a 1955 Steam Boat (SS Shieldhall) and a Floating Bridge (Woolston Ferry / Restaurant)
  • A Nunnery (yes, you read that correctly! Although it was turned into a club and there were no Nuns!)
  • Universities and Student Unions
  • Corporate events for Independent and ethical business
  • Anywhere with tea and cake!

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Bands and performers we’ve worked with or supported

We’ve often joined other bands and performers at various events and festivals, including Jools Holland, Amadou and Mariam, The Levellers, Tom Jones, Professor Elemental, Van Morrison, The Bad Shepherds, Dub Pistols, Asian Dub Foundation, The Black Seeds, Neville Staple, Pronghorn, Jimmy Cliff, Bill Bailey, Gentleman’s Dub Club, The Smerins Antisocial Club, Real Tuesday Weld, KT Tunstall, Cut Capers, Electric Swing Circus, Caravan Palace, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, The Beat, Vibronics, Seasick Steve, Bellowhead, Pronghorn, The Correspondents, Imelda May, Paloma Faith, Easy Star All Stars, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, Jamie Cullum, The Stranglers, Channel One Sound System, Ziggy Marley, Moscow Drug Club, Sheelanagig, Men They Couldn’t Hang, Tim Minchin, Max Raabe und Palast Orchester, Coco and the Butterfields, and many many more …

(There are also many we’d love to work with, such as The Cat Empire, Manu Chao, Quantic, Jimbo Mathus, The Ukrainians, The Pixies, Chas & Dave, Nina Simone, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Bob Marley, Louis Armstrong (if only…) and many more… so please bear this in mind for your event or festival etc!)

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Technical and Legal

All good fun, but here’s the bit where we put our ‘serious hats’ on because (it has to happen from time to time!).

We have full Public Liability Insurance coverage, our kit is safety tested, wires are always taped down or neatly hidden so they can’t be tripped up on, and we always respect venues licence.

We believe in having a ‘Plan B’ so when we supply our own sound system we bring two of everything so we have full back up.

We always arrive early to allow for a full sound check prior to performance.

For further details or bookings please feel welcome to contact us.

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