Who's in the Band?
Mike Ruff (accordion, caller) leads the band and attempts to keep
order. He has a strong interest in all sorts of historical dance,
and is a specialist in Maypole Dancing ( he even has his own maypole
and will sell you one if you ever find you're short of one!) He
dances with St Albans Morris. Besides doing barn dances, Mike
plays sea shantys, French and Italian accordion music, and recently
appeared in the feature film "Ladies in Lavender"
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Chris Haigh (fiddle) brings to Quicksilver his fascination for jazz and
East European fiddle. If a polka turns into a Hot Club swing tune,
or Turkey in the Straw into a Romanian hora, Chris will be to
blame. He has also written many of the band's tunes.
Outside of Quicksilver, he leads the Soviet Swing band The Kremlinaires and gypsy/klezmer trio Tziganarama. He has written two books, "Fiddling round the World" and "Any fool can write Fiddle Tunes"
Bernard O'Neill (bass).
The powerhouse of the band, Bernard, on electric or double bass
has been with Quicksilver since 1987, despite his oft-avowed allergy
to accordions.
He is in constant demand as a session musician, working with artists such as Sinead O'Connor and June Tabor. He tours the world with the Arab World Music band Nara, and is MD for Rolf Harris.
Besides the core members of the band above, Quicksilver can also call on a team of other musicians and callers, either to augment or to fill in for someone. They include
Andy Dewar (drums, bodhran). Andy has worked with Boy George and Toyah Wilcox, is a fine studio engineer and producer, and a successful writer of TV production music.
Graeme Taylor (electric guitar). Former member of the 70's medieval/rock band Gryphon and folk-rockers the Albion Band
Richard Bolton (acoustic guitar) a superb jazz guitarist with a fluid and sophisticated soloing style. Half of the groundbreaking folk duo Cooper and Bolton.
Tom Brown(caller) the band's original caller, Tom moved to Devon but still often travels up to work with Quicksilver. Since retiring from arts administration, Tom performs in folk clubs throughout the country with his wife Barbara.
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