The Musicians
Evelyn Downing - vocals, flute, loops, soundscapes
Evelyn is a founder member of Mermaid Kiss and features on all our albums, giving the band its defining sound. She took a part-sabbatical from between 2004 - 2006 to complete her degree in Popular Music and Sound Recording at Salford University in which she attained a First. Although Jamie did much of the writing for our recent album 'Another Country' the recorded project was very much Evelyn's - as well as the vocals, she did all the recording, and engineering and much of the arranging.
Jamie Field - guitars
Jamie’s first band, formed in the sixth form at school, was called Oriole and was a guitar, keyboard, flute trio playing acoustic-prog. He then moved to London forming the five piece acoustic contemporary folk band Close To Zero. He later took a few years out of playing to concentrate on writing before taking up music again and forming Mermaid Kiss with Evelyn and Andrew in 2000. Jamie is currently recording with his new band Zero She Flies.
Andy Garman - keyboards, drums, bass, production
Andy’s first outing was as a drummer in a three piece rock band in S.E. London called Jaffi before he switched to guitar and formed the five piece country-rock band Chester, which toured the country club circuit. He left the band only to re-join on bass for a tour of N.E. England in the early eighties. Later he got into jazz and played guitar in an excellent pubbing band called Jazz On Que. He gave up playing live in the early nineties to concentrate on recording his own material for fun. That was until Jamie and Evelyn wandered into the Goat Shed one evening....
Wendy Marks - cor anglais, oboe, recorders, double bass, backing/harmony vocals
Wendy first met Jamie whilst studying music at the Guildhall in London in the mid 1980's. Along with two other friends they played together in Close To Zero where she used instruments as diverse as double bass, oboe, recorder and Moroccan shawm! After several years making a living from teaching music and classical playing, Wendy was thrilled to be invited to guest on the Mermaid Kiss 'Etarlis' , album, following which she joined the band in 2007 and played live and recorded 'Another Country' with them. She now plays in Zero She Flies with Jamie.
Nigel Hooton - lead guitar
Guitarist Nigel Hooton has played music with Andy for longer than either of them care to remember. Nigel joined us for our live debut at the Rock Cafe 2000 in December 2003 and plays on 'Salt On Skin' and 'Etarlis'.
Kate Belcher - vocals, guitar
Kate began singing with the band in October 2004 and has recorded with us periodically since then. She contributed vocals to two tracks on the 'Salt On Skin' EP and sings three songs on the Etarlis album
Jonathan Edwards - keyboards
Following his brilliant solo on Slide And Sway (Etarlis) Jon joined us to play keyboards live at a number of gigs . A third of the songwriting partnership and one sixth of the creative force that was Karnataka, Jon continues to stretch his songwriting imagination to encompass rock, folk, jazz and prog influences in the ever growing palette of sound that is Panic Room. He also guests on the forthcoming 'Zero She Flies' debut album
Richard Northwood - bass
Richard played live with Mermaid Kiss circa 2008 - 2009, spending several months playing keyboards with Band of Rain (on Keys). Richard and Jamie have recently started working on a project called 'The NIne Muses' He used to teach music (but now ICT - its quieter!) and has a degree in music. He guests on the track 'The Scissored Ground' on the 'Another Country'
Peter West - guitars and bass
Peter’s musical journey has taken him through many styles of music, venues and countries around the globe via Europe, USA and Asia that includes festivals, Jazz at Park Lane hotels, to playing in an Indian Restaurant! Session work in the 90’s included some dubious pop hits whereby he decided he would get a real job. He was forced out of musical retirement 2 years ago to go touring.
Colin Henney - keyboards
A veteran keys player across a wide, wide range of music - jazz, funk and fusion; RnB, soul and rock; folk and 'world', Colin's real forte is live, in-the-moment, improvisation... He has played in every context: solo, duo, trio, band, jazz big band, guested with a major hard rock 'name', played live radio sessions, stage shows etc etc...
Steve White - drums
Steve started his drumming career in the 80s, in a small mining village in the North East of England. Think Billy Elliot, but with The Police and Blondie as the sound track, and with an aspiring young Jack Black instead of an aspiring young Rudolf Nureyev. In recent years Steve has been seen posing as a real musician, and pretending to play a variety of stringed instruments (mandolin, bouzouki, guitar, bass, banjo etc.) with rocking celtic ceilidh band The Quiet Men.
Kate Emerson - lead vocals on The Blushing Bride, A Hard Row and I Go To Sleep (Salt On Skin)
Kate is from Cheltenham and stepped in to help us with the vocals on the Salt On Skin CD while Evelyn was completing her degree and Kate Belcher was sitting her A-levels.
Troy Donockley - uilleann pipes on The Running Tide (Etarlis)
Troy has built up a formidable reputation as both a Composer/Arranger and Musician/Performer and as a leading virtuoso of the Uilleann Pipes perhaps best known for his work with the band Iona. His latest album is "The Pursuit of Illusion" (2003)
Paul Davies - lead guitar on The Blushing Bride (Salt On Skin)
An endlessly creative soloist with Karnataka and, latterly, Panic Room.
...and not forgetting the people without whom we could not function... (this list is not comprehensive... :-)
Chris Walkden - photography and artwork layout
Richard Pocock - Graphic artist and flash designer
Megan Forbes - Model (Etarlis cover), guest singer
Russ Elliot - Unwavering support and belief
Frances Field - Lyrics, copy checking, patience and support
The fans who contact us regularly - you inspire us to work doubly hard so thank you.
Thank you to you all.
Chris Walkden
Chris first entered the world of Mermaid Kiss when he was introduced to the band by Russ Elliot of Musical Discoveries at a Magenta/ Sleeping Giant gig in Rotherham way back in 2003. He bought the Mermaid Kiss Album on trust and the rest is history! Over the years he has been a great supporter of the band, contributing his impressive knowledge of the classic rock scene and taking photos of the band both live and on location. Most recently he worked on the artwork for Etarlis, creating the layout for the booklet for which we are extremely grateful.
Richard Pocock
Richard has been a Mermaid Kiss supporter ever since he stumbled across us on myspace a few moons ago. His talent as a Digital artist and Flash Designer has been invaluable in creating the artwork and website for Etarlis as well as sites for many other bands and artists in the genre.Richard can be mostly found immersed in prog rock, fantasy fiction and Fencing in Surrey, England. Visit Richard on myspace >>
Pete Galer in his own words...
I'm a 30-something music fanatic and wannabe writer, that first discovered MK via their myspace site a couple of years back, and was instantly sucked into their gorgeous tapestry of sounds.
Pretty soon I struck up a cyber friendship with Jamie, the result of which culminated in him asking me to set up Mermaidkisses - the yahoo discussion group, as a way of spreading the Mer-word. To be honest, the financial package and health benefits offered were so tempting I immediately handed back my McDonalds uniform....and the rest, as they say, is history! ;)
Russ Elliot
From the first song Russ Elliot heard played by MK ('Summer's Almost Gone' on Love Her Madly) he was intrgued to find out more. Among the first to pick up on our music, he remains one of its greatest champions to this day, writing and publishing articles relating to the band on Musical Discoveries, his site dedicated to contemporary, progressive and crossover female vocalists. It specialises in in-depth interviews with both established and emerging singers, along-side news, reviews and articles. The personal and professional support given by Russ is an invaluable part of the MK mix.
Chris Walkden - photography and artwork layout
Richard Pocock - Graphic artist and flash designer
Megan Forbes - Model (Etarlis cover), guest singer
Russ Elliot - Unwavering support and belief
Frances Field - Lyrics, copy checking, patience and support
The fans who contact us regularly - you inspire us to work doubly hard so thank you.
Thank you to you all.
Chris Walkden
Chris first entered the world of Mermaid Kiss when he was introduced to the band by Russ Elliot of Musical Discoveries at a Magenta/ Sleeping Giant gig in Rotherham way back in 2003. He bought the Mermaid Kiss Album on trust and the rest is history! Over the years he has been a great supporter of the band, contributing his impressive knowledge of the classic rock scene and taking photos of the band both live and on location. Most recently he worked on the artwork for Etarlis, creating the layout for the booklet for which we are extremely grateful.
Richard Pocock
Richard has been a Mermaid Kiss supporter ever since he stumbled across us on myspace a few moons ago. His talent as a Digital artist and Flash Designer has been invaluable in creating the artwork and website for Etarlis as well as sites for many other bands and artists in the genre.Richard can be mostly found immersed in prog rock, fantasy fiction and Fencing in Surrey, England. Visit Richard on myspace >>
Pete Galer in his own words...
I'm a 30-something music fanatic and wannabe writer, that first discovered MK via their myspace site a couple of years back, and was instantly sucked into their gorgeous tapestry of sounds.
Pretty soon I struck up a cyber friendship with Jamie, the result of which culminated in him asking me to set up Mermaidkisses - the yahoo discussion group, as a way of spreading the Mer-word. To be honest, the financial package and health benefits offered were so tempting I immediately handed back my McDonalds uniform....and the rest, as they say, is history! ;)
Russ Elliot
From the first song Russ Elliot heard played by MK ('Summer's Almost Gone' on Love Her Madly) he was intrgued to find out more. Among the first to pick up on our music, he remains one of its greatest champions to this day, writing and publishing articles relating to the band on Musical Discoveries, his site dedicated to contemporary, progressive and crossover female vocalists. It specialises in in-depth interviews with both established and emerging singers, along-side news, reviews and articles. The personal and professional support given by Russ is an invaluable part of the MK mix.