The News of the Victory
Barn dance and ceilidh band
Electric ceilidh for the mind and body

Our other violinists

violin

Paul Keeler - we are very fortunate to have so many excellent musicians on call. Paul plays regularly with Beatroot and Hodmedod although he was probably better known through playing with popular Norfolk band, Mooncoin, for many years. He is also a sound engineer. There are hours of amusement to be had listening to him and Mark discussing middle-and-side microphone configuration ... That apart he combines the most attractive musical qualities of some of our best players.
Jeff Moore - does not really have green skin. The lights at our end of the marquee were the sort that keep changing and we caught him on the Hulk cycle. Jeff was introduced by Steve and rarely has the music been attacked so fiercely, particularly on a first gig. This was a booking we took at short notice and Jeff was one of three deps in the band that night, although there was no way any audience would have known. As well as violin Jeff plays piano, accordion and he composes. He has played with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, and Sarum Orchestra as well as sessions for Paul McCartney, Jools Holland and Travis and the soundtracks for Confetti, Casanova and The Antiques Roadshow. He has worked as Music Director with the RSC, Birmingham Rep and the National Theatre and currently holds my favourite reason for having to decline a booking - "Do you think you could find someone else only I'm flying out on tour with Peter Gabriel that day". We look forward to working with Jeff again, but in the meantime here's a link to his other music.
Brenda Stewart - Like Steve, Brenda is a member of the famed Bingham String Quartet and, in a moment of weakness, agreed to dep one cold, dark night in Watlington. Since Brenda has given concerto performances with the London String Soloists and the Lecosaldi Ensemble and has freelanced, often as principal viola, with the English Sinfonia, London Festival Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and others, we were as delighted as any when she discovered her inner rock chick! Welcome on board, Brenda. We hope to enjoy her company and playing many times more. We had to steal this picture from the BSQ's website, since Brenda is too busy and shy to send us another.
Kelly Jones - Introduced to us by Steve, Kelly is the front person for Essex-based metal band Jack's Family. True to the gothic ethic Kelly arrived for her first gig with us amid a string of dramatic disasters. Collecting her gear together for our evening ceilidh her heavy backline cab fell and smashed her effects pedal board as well as severing her electric fiddle leads. She dashed off to the local music store to find it had been burned down. When she arrived at the venue she discovered some of the electrics in her car had packed up leaving her with no windows and no central locking. On her way home she was ambushed by a muntjac on the A12 resulting in her car being totally written off and the emergency services expressing surprise that she had emerged alive. Strangely, she says she enjoyed performing with us, but surely that is more than enough excitement for one day.
Diane Green* - lyrical violinist from Peterborough. Once upon a time the stabilising influence on stage. Sadly, after seven years with The NotV, Diane stepped back from front-line duty. We do look forward to welcoming her back from time to time. Last we heard, Di was playing mostly with the Intermezzo String Quartet, Flaming June and Stingray.
Uli Schwabe* - East German born Uli plays with extreme precision and passion, but beware, he takes no prisoners! Louder and with more notes per second than anyone else he is also the brilliant designer and maker of his own Fidelius brand of electric violins. Also well-known in past times from both Mooncoin and The Kesh. Sadly, for us, he recently moved back to Germany and will no longer be regularly available to The NotV, although he was recently seen sporting burgundy doublet and hose in a Renaissence music ensemble ... However, never one to stand still for long, his new 8-piece Russian rock 'n' roll and Balkan music band, Limonchiki, are looking increasingly busy on the European festival scene this year as is Sambosso, his Celtic/Euro folk duo.
Mike Naldrett - Along with Paul, Mike was a regular member of Mooncoin. It was Paul who introduced us when Hodmedod was searching for a dep for what turned out to be a very strange booking indeed, sharing the floor with an old-school dj/entertainer/agent. The strangeness followed Mike into his first ceilidh with The NotV in March 2007. This month saw two violinists make their first journey into the world of The News of the Victory. Half the band on this occasion were from our team of deps. However, the evening was a great success and Mike made an impressive debut with the band. His main worry was whether he'd removed all the labels from the new black shirt he'd bought for the gig. His vast repertoire of Irish tunes and Americana was picked up when he inhabited the bars of Boston. To the best of my knowledge there's not much live music going on in Boston pubs, but it seems the Lincolnshire town has a namesake across the Atlantic, which is where the music happens.

Previous violinists also include Judith Jenkins*, Claire Baron*, Annalisa Tolliday*, Emma Porter*, Julia Excell, Arthur Mayhew, Sianed Jones, Dave Montgomery