Three Realaudios from the brand new Spikedrivers (May 05) CD "Ain't it Real" and full purchase details can now be found here.

Spikedrivers founder Ben Tyzack's personal delta encompasses Iowa City, Charleston, Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia. These were the places he grew up in and they can still be found in his music. The railroad yards near the family home in Iowa City provided the band's name as well as a playground for the young Ben Tyzack and his friends. Spikedrivers were the men who drove the spike that hold the steel rails to the wooden ties and songs such as Ghost Train Shuffle stem from these early memories.

The charm, elegance and manners of the archetypal city of Charleston provided the inspiration for Front Porch Swing and One More Kiss, while the harder, more competitive attitude of Atlanta comes through in Crazy Man and Talk to me Mama. Ben's musical education began with his father's record collection. Dixieland, New Orleans Jazz and Ragtime filled the house. When he first picked up a guitar he worked his way through a book of jazz chords so that he could accompany his father who played trumpet when not teaching art. This, however, was the heyday of Southern rock and bands like Little Feat, The Allman Brothers. ZZ Top and The Georgia Satellites exerted their influence. Soon he was playing in rock covers bands as well as his father's 'Early Days Jazz Band'. A strange and wonderful mix. He discovered the blues while working in Turtle's Record Warehouse in Atlanta where he had moved with 'David Rowell and the Reaction; a James Taylor influenced singer/songwriter outfit. A local college radio station ran a two-hour blues programme from 7-9 every morning and suddenly Ben discovered the world of Big Bill Broonzy; Doc Watson; Blind Lemon Jefferson and Tampa Red. He learned to fingerpick and bought a four-track tape machine to record the songs he was beginning to write. The result is a unique mixture of styles rarely heard these days.

The new Spikedrivers lineup includes Californian bass-guitarist and vocalist Constance Redgrave and Belfast born drummer and vocalist Maurice McElroy. Constance's considerable credentials include Otis Grand, the legendary Steve Cropper, Anson Funderburgh, Debbie Miles, Misdemeanor, Hank Wangford, Companions of the Rosy Hours and Audio Murphy among a host of others.

Maurice McElroy has worked with Otis Grand, Larry Garner, Phillip Walker, Robert Ward, Guitar Shorty, Big Joe Louis, Earl Green and too many more to list.

Together they provide the perfect foundation for the unique mix of styles that make up the music of Spikedrivers.

** Click here for Booking Information **