Kickshins
Joining Kick Shins in 2004 was something of a continuation. I had played dance music in Wheelwright’s Bane for something like 20 years, joining as a very early member when some of the musicians from Kennet Morris decided to branch out, so it was very much ‘more of the same’ joining Kick Shins who had formed when some of the musicians from Berkshire Bedlam Morris decided to branch out too – probably at very much the same time as well! I also did a short spell as a Gecko.
Named after the picturesque Wokingham tradition of kicking people’s shins bloody in the name of good clean fun, at it’s core the band consists of Stuart Barry on melodeon and guitar and also calling, Ray Brunton on fiddle and hurdy gurdy, Alan Barwise on drums, Dave Williams on whistle and cornet and myself on keyboards, supplemented where appropriate/necessary by a range of other local musicians including Martin Vincent on guitar, Paul Critchfield on bass and Erica Scott (my wife) on flute.
We play mainly in the Reading area but are good enough to have landed gigs as far afield as Essex, Central London and various locations on the south coast and even abroad in Norway and southern France where we did a short tour in 2018.
If you are interested there’s loads more information on our website here, including video and audio clips from past bookings.
Named after the picturesque Wokingham tradition of kicking people’s shins bloody in the name of good clean fun, at it’s core the band consists of Stuart Barry on melodeon and guitar and also calling, Ray Brunton on fiddle and hurdy gurdy, Alan Barwise on drums, Dave Williams on whistle and cornet and myself on keyboards, supplemented where appropriate/necessary by a range of other local musicians including Martin Vincent on guitar, Paul Critchfield on bass and Erica Scott (my wife) on flute.
We play mainly in the Reading area but are good enough to have landed gigs as far afield as Essex, Central London and various locations on the south coast and even abroad in Norway and southern France where we did a short tour in 2018.
If you are interested there’s loads more information on our website here, including video and audio clips from past bookings.