|
|
ABOUT SLOE GIN : MEDIEVAL BANQUET ENTERTAINERS |
| General
Information || The
Band Members
Sloe Gin …………………. The Cast List
My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen! I would beg
your attention for a short while to introduce you to the various
personalities who make up Sloe
Gin. After much thought, and to avoid diplomatic
blunders the members of the group are listed in order of mass. |
| 
|
Firstly we have Maryse Hunter,
the diminutive member of the group, but be warned, there
is no correlation between her size and her capacity to strike
fear in the hearts of men.
On the other hand she is a vocalist with a very nice touch
with the more gentle of our material. She plays a wide range
of percussion, including bones, bodhran and other strange
traditional instruments, and also wields a mean guitar.
Maryse was a founder member of the Bromsgrove group “Witches
Brew” which was often seen at the Four Fools Folk Festival
in Redditch.
Sadly she was severely led astray by Keith and inveigled
into putting on strange medieval attire to become a minstrel.
|
|
|
Next we have John
Sullivan, sometimes known as Tall Dark and Gruesome.
In the dim and distant past, before becoming
a tourist attraction, John worked with a range of folk duos
and groups including “Guinness and Brew”, “Paceggin” and “Witches
Brew” with Maryse, as well as playing traditional English
music with the “White Hart Morris Men” and “Nancy Butterfly”,
a Ladies North West clog team in Redditch, country dance music
with “The Occasional Pub Band” and Traditional Irish with
"Tommy
Dempsey". In addition (too often?) travelling to
a gig he will burst into some very strange songs indeed which
hint at even more peculiar musical activities in the dim and
distant past.
John plays cittern, mandolin, English concertina
and guitar with the group and also takes his share of the
vocal work. |
|
|
Keith Kerans
is sometimes known by the alias “Thje World’s Fattest Minstrel”
and has been involved in Medieval Banquetting for over 25
years both as a minstrel and as a Master of Ceremonies. He
began at the West Midlands Safari Park Banquets in Bewdley
and moved on to Himley Hall in Dudley and Warwick Castle .
In the past he has worked with a range of
folk duos and groups from “The Right Mixture” and “The Clifton
Bluegrass Boys” playing bluegrass and traditional American
to Irish music with “The Wexfords”, ”Drowsy Maggie” and "Tommy
Dempsey" and medieval and traditional music with
“The Harvesters”.
With “Sloe Gin" he plays guitar; Rauschpfeiffen
(you may well ask!); mandolin; recorders; whistle and crumhorn,
as well as being vocalist, Master of Ceremonies and dance
instructor.
At home he also plays 5-string banjo, Appallachian
dulcimer; autoharp and keyboards. |
|
|
