The Grey Lady Music Lounge, Wednesday 12th June 2013

Ben Jones and The Rifle Volunteers formed in 2011 out of the embers of Kent band, The Lovedays. Ben found himself with a plethora of new songs, but no band with which to execute these new pop nuggets, so went ahead and recorded two solo albums, "Echobox" and "Kaleidoscope". Though rich in arrangements, with no gunslingers to play the songs live with, the head scratching and pacing up and down began. A chance meeting with Jonathan Llewellyn-Hurst changed everything for the better. With a mandate from him to go forth and form a band with him on drums was the catalyst needed to put into place the new outfit.

Completed by Josh Roots on Piano, John Bowles on guitar, Craig Ferguson on bass and Maxine Kerr on second vocal and guitar, The Rifle Volunteers, so named after a pub in Maidstone, are coming to electrify your soul with their own quirky brand of power pop and Rock 'n' Roll. Taking influence from sources as lauded as The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Who and less obvious as Gilbert O' Sullivan, Weather Report and Bruce Hornsby, The Rifle Volunteers aim to create a musical melting pot to have you tapping your feet and feeling the sentiment.

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Kirsti Robinson was dubbed as “the voice you could listen to all day” by BBC Radio 1’s Annie Nightingale.

Starting as a session singer over ten years ago, Kirsti's voice has graced countless TV and radio adverts.The last few years have seen her and her band (Adam Ferguson and Dan Potter) perform at a number of iconic venues such as The Troubadour and The Bedford in Balham. They also supported The Darkness in front of 10,000 people and were hand selected by Pixie Lott to perform at an intimate event in London where Pixie called Kirsti's voice “amazing”.

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Sophie says:

My name is Sophie Draper and I am seventeen years old. I have been singing since I was young. I used to write poems from a very early age and recently I have started writing songs since I took up learning the guitar. I performed last year in a show called ‘Live and unsigned’ where I was spotted by agents that then signed me to their Artist academy, where artists like Pixie Lott and Rui Da Silva have emerged from. In this I am writing and recording new songs with an acclaimed songwriter/ producer with an aim to have an album of demos and to be signed up. 

I would say my influences are Michelle branch, Taylor Swift and The Band Perry as my voice fits in the country/pop genre. I have won a few music festivals and played my own song called ‘Your eyes’ in Trosley festival in 2010. I performed at various school events and am now at my first year of college (Kcollege) studying music performance where I have performed at a few college gigs. 

In the future I wish to be a recognized recording artist and reach out to people with my music as others have to me.

Sophie is accompanied by George Priddle on guitar. 

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Joe is the singer-songwriter behind popular local acts “Cyrano” and “The Ackerleys”. His style combines rich vocals, poignant lyrics, catchy melody and folk/rock acoustic guitar. At the end of 2012, Joe toured with Level 42 backing Dan Clews. This included playing to full house at the Royal Albert Hall! He has just finished an album with Cyrano which will be released this year. He is also busy working on The Ackerleys first record. His solo set includes some brand new material plus a few stripped down Cyrano songs. Influences include – Elbow, The Beatles, Dawes, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, Scott Matthews, Pearl Jam, Crowded House and Radiohead.

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