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Traditional Celtic duo playing fiddle, mandolin, bodhran, whistle, tenor banjo and bouzouki with two vocalists , playing a wide range of predominantly Irish music, songs and tunes.
They say that fact is stranger than fiction and who would we be to dispute that in the case of 'Band Of Two'? The story begins with a chance meeting at the 1992 Hastings Beer Festival between folk musicians Pete Fyfe and Garry Blakeley.
Both had been established on parallel paths within the British folk circuit for the best part of twenty years, working in various bands such as Eavesdropper, Collaboration, Brian Boru and Better Days. The coincidence continued as both had seen duty as support acts to Steeleye Span and Christy Moore.
Within three months, the diary was full with gigs as diverse as pubs and folk clubs to festivals and even the occasional cabaret spot. In addition, a folk club appearance was witnessed by a German entrepreneur who invited the duo to perform for the first of many corporate functions throughout Europe. They wound up at one of these gigs playing support for an international darts player. Ah well, I suppose someone has to do it!
In 1995 they teamed up with several Hastings based musicians to form the Celtic rock band Chaser and were immediately booked for Trowbridge and the Black Horse Festivals. Unfortunately the band was short lived and in 1996, Garry and Pete started work with Roger Flack, Phil Flack and Dave Pellett to form The Tabs. Although the band proved highly successful, Pete vacated his position with the reins being taken over by Garry in the role of lead vocalist and Dave swapping to Bouzouki. The band continues to enhance its reputation including a powerful performance at Fairport Convention's annual Cropredy Festival.
1998 was an extremely busy year, which saw both Pete and Garry putting their multi-instrumental skills to a variety of recording projects including contributions to singer songwriter Chris Shields CD 'In A Melody'. On the John Townsend album 'Will You Waltz?', they played on nearly every track getting back to their traditional roots and Pete completed one of his solo projects with ex-Eavesdropper associate Rob Erselius for a folkdance album titled 'No Fiddlin'!'.
Recording projects aside, the duo teamed up for many gigs with their good mate Shep Wooley and several standout gigs ensued including appearances on the P&O cruise liner The Pride Of Bilbao and the International Festival Of The Sea where the attendance figures were in excess of 400,000. Another special gig, in company with their folk dance band, saw Pete and Garry providing the music for Dawn French and Lenny Henry - and yes, they did dance!
Throughout 2003/2004 they continued to plough the festival circuit throughout Britain and were increasingly booked for folk club appearances. The trend continued in 2005 and they garnered many accolades from the music press. Whilst on the festival circuit Pete and Garry performed at the Cheltenham Gold Cup meeting where the attendance figures topped 200,000.
The popularity of the music by the Irish band in the film 'Titanic' captured the imagination of a whole new generation of enthusiasts, as did the use of this music in films as diverse as ‘Lord Of The Rings’ and ‘Master & Commander’, and the crash into the record charts of 'I'll Tell Me Ma' by Shamrock renewed the interest in all things Celtic. Both Pete and Garry are only too aware of this and hope that the trend for goodtime traditional Celtic music will continue for a while yet.
Slainte!