I am the newest member of the band, having joined in January 2005. Until 2001 I had been playing and singing in a function band but after fifteen years of that I decided to look for something different. This led to me playing in a jazz-orientated band which has opened up musical possibilities. However, after a while I started to miss the function work and the opportunity to join The Travelling Raspberries came just at the right time.

My first experience of playing in public was with a mate of mine, we formed a duo and our first gig was a pub in Hornsey, north London, packed to the rafters with students from the local Hornsey Art College, which was kind of a baptism by fire. In those days playing piano was out of the question so I used to go out with an organ, a Farfisa Compact Duo (now a collector’s item. I wish I’d kept it!). It rather usefully had a manual bass for the left hand which helped the sound but also influenced my piano style. I currently play a combination of piano and synth – Roland FP8 stage piano and Roland XP80 synthesiser, a rather elderly pairing now but a great sound.