THE BAND
Jeff France//Drums
Jeff has been playing drums since the age of twelve and was inspired to play after watching many great bands play in his Grandparents hotel The Hawthornes in Bristol, bands such as Freddie and The Dreamers and the Dave Clark Five. Since those days Jeff has served his apprenticeship by playing stage productions of Grease and Little Shop of Horrors, he then joined K-Passa a well respected folk rock group from Bristol. He has also written music for and toured Europe with the Band JEBO releasing two highly acclaimed albums that were produced by Genesis producer Jonny Burns, eventually playing venues as grand as The Royal Albert hall and The Grand Opera house. Jeff is thrilled to now be a part of The Upside Down Kinks and is a big fan of Ray Davies's writing
Steve Bullimore//Lead Guitar, Vocals
Steve has been playing guitar for 40 years or so, during that time he has been constantly playing in bands, duos, trios, supporting all sorts of great acts and performers, he got hooked on Santana and Dave Gilmour for a while and is now enjoying the challenge of The Kinks and has huge respect for Ray Davies’s work. He plays instinctively much like Dave Davies, and while being able to play and unconsciously improvise Steve is disciplined enough to recreate those unique Kinks sounds in The Upside Down Kinks. Steve’s enthusiasm is infectious, as those who witness his playing will confirm.
Matt Tucker//
Keyboards
“Mr Keys”, Matt has been playing keyboards in bands for many years, learning his trade in the band sounds of The Locarno Ballroom in the 1970’s and 80’s where the turnover of new songs per week was enormous, he has toured all around the UK, Europe and The Middle East honing his craft, He also managed a major music shop in Bristol. Matt is the one in the band who keeps the rest of us in line musically ensuring we play the augmented and diminished fifth chords.
Alan Drew//Vocals Guitar
Alan has been a musician since the early 1970’s, played in numerous bands, toured solo around the hotspots of Europe, playing in clubs and bars, coming back early 1990’s and has since been playing solo and in several bands consecutively. Currently plays and sings in SAMS band and now The Upside Down Kinks, as well as continuing his solo work. He loves The Kinks Music and has huge admiration for Ray Davies’s songwriting.
Pete Willey//Vocals
Bass Guitar
Pete, although being trained to play the piano, switched to guitar at thirteen after being influenced by the exiting intro to Get It On by T Rex, he bought his first electric guitar and quickly formed a band playing in youth clubs and evolving to pubs and clubs. His influences were that of the time, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Clapton and Page. Pete gigged throughout that period up and down the country. In his late twenties /early thirties he again switched to predominantly jazz and Latin music, and found himself recording late night Jazz for BBC Radio 2. He has continued to be a professional musician since those times , again forming his own Jazz group The Kogi Tribe. switching to Bass he has played with Kasabian, Ian Matthews, Dave Goodyear and Jethro Tull amongst Others. Luckily for The Upside Down Kinks He loves the music of Ray Davies .