THE REFRAINS

Tara was a professional actress for many years before moving onto Training and coaching  and she has been singing and dancing since she was little. She has been in several musicals and has sung at The Edinburgh Festival in News Revue and The Naff Sex Guide, and in an all girl acappella band called The Angri-lahs as well as singing in the female trio The Bluebirds with  two of her sisters! She has always dreamed of being in a band with three goodlooking men and now her dream has come true!

She is very glad that she is allowed to play tambourine  as well as sing  and is thrilled to have learnt to play the triangle recently!

 "I've always loved to sing; at age 14 I was performing in London folk clubs and coffee houses, doing songs by Donovan, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, and suchlike. But my friends and I were really into bands like The Beach boys - that style of vocals was like mother's milk to us, and we used to practice harmonies in each other's parents' homes after school. Ever since then, I've always insisted on being in bands with a prominent vocal presence. Hitting a strong vocal chord with other singers, making the air in the room vibrate with it...well, I nearly said it's better than sex!.

I played in such bands during the 70's, most notably the country rock band 'Palomino' doing the pub and college circuit. Three of Palamino my oldest friend Chris Bradford who is a brilliant singer/songwriter (as well as being my fly fishin guru!) Mark Hankins, who now sings and plays lead guitar with the New Seekers and myself used to go out as backing singers on recording sessions, very lucrative back then.

The 80's found me pretty much right in the middle of the music business, as PA to the record producer Pip Williams. This saw me involved in a great many studio projects alongside artists such as Kiki Dee, Barclay James Harvest and The Moody Blues, and meant me being brought in frequently to perform backing vocals. My big regret (apart from all the chunks of money I have blown away over the years!) is having narrowly missed doing a recording session with Dusty Springfield, back then in the days with Chris and Mark. We'd booked for a session at the old Utopia studios in Primrose Hill, for Nona Hendricks (of Labelle) Dusty was due to be involved, but on the day she couldn't make it. The session went ahead (very well I recall), but working in the studio alongside fabulous Dusty would have been a memory to treasure. The 90's apart from a long stint in TV scenery and props became a bit of a 'Lost Weekend'. Nevertheless, here I am now, (post rehab!) in lovely Dorset, with the sea, the Purbeck Hills, my fly fishing and the music. Just keeping it simple, really."

Dave hails from Birmingham and immigrated to Swanage 7 years ago and now speaks perfect Dorset. Works as a financial controller for an engineering company in Poole and has always followed good advice to never give up the day job (maybe something to do with standard of guitar playing). Has had many influences over the years, none so strong as The Eagles, particularly their county rock era. This has had a profound effect on playing style and although The Refrains are not a country band, the style and sound from Dave’s guitar certainly would give that impression in some numbers.

Ian joined the band quite recently as the sound engineer. He loves live entertainment so much that he changed careers from being a highly paid programmer - just so that he could make it his living. After a solid grounding in amateur theatre at many levels, he trained at the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School to get his second degree a BA in Professional Stage Management and Technical Theatre (the first being in electronic and electrical engineering). His full time job is Chief Theatre Technician at the Mowlem Theatre, but he craves more live music and is thrilled to be working with The Refrains because their music is from his era - and they do sound fantastic together!