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| We Avengers
are a fairly friendly bunch, prone to baking cookies and jumping
on trampolines. Here's a brief biography of each of us, presented
in alphabetical order. |
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Name: Joanne Garton
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| Title: Highland
Avenger |
| Instruments:
Fiddle, feet (dancing, that is) |
| Specialty:
Knowing weird tunes, taking one for the team |
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Joanne, whose collection
of bright red T-shirts inspired the name of the band, doesn't
get to play very many strathspeys these days. Dancers don't dig
the funky Scottish rhythms, so Joanne has to content herself with
playing jigs with funny names and Mason's Apron the Scottish way.
Should we ever fall upon hard times, it will also be her duty
to wear tight leather pants and increase the volume of her hair
threefold. Fortunately, this has yet to happen.
The funny thing about
Joanne is that if you were to place a pair of swords on the floor,
she would feel compelled to dance over them. We love her anyway.
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Name: Michael
Ayles (surprise!) |
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| Title: MC
Banjo Avenger (AKA Groovy Avenger) |
| Instruments:
Guitar, banjo, whistles |
| Specialty:
Talking about Seamus Egan, "rocking the banjo" |
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My job in this band
is to keep Dave away from my stringed instruments for as long
as possible so as to actually be able to play them myself. Since
I inevitably fail to do this, I've also learned how to play the
whistle. Should Dave ever learn to play the whistle, I may be
required to find a hammered dulcimer, or possibly an oud.
Some of the more worldly
influences in our music are my doing, as I have a secret love
affair with Klezmer music that I hide poorly.
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Name: Nicholas Williams |
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| Title: Orklavian Avenger |
| Instruments: Flute,
piano, bodhran, didgeridoo |
| Specialty:
Groovy flute reels, making us dinner, "the foot" |
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Nick joined up with
us after the famous Yellow Door gig, claiming that we "seemed
to be organized". After a somewhat disturbing practice session
involving an 8-bit synthesizer, he earned for himself the nickname
of "Orclavian Avenger". Technically speaking, we spell
it wrong now.
Nick writes a lot of
tunes and is somewhat obsessed with the music from Star Wars,
but his heart is in the right place and he does a mean dingo imitation.
Furthermore, if someone throws a coconut at you, he's probably
the culprit. Watch out for an upcoming guest appearance by Nick's
mentor, the Raagini Master.
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Name: David
Clark |
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| Title: Vaguely-out-of-tune
Avenger (VOTA for short) |
| Instruments:
Fiddle, Irish bouzouki, banjo |
| Specialty:
Talking about Paddy Glackin, playing very very fast |
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What little time Dave
doesn't spend tuning his bouzouki is usually spent playing G minor
reels using notes that don't exist within equal temperament. Dave
has definitely got the most "Irish" repertoire out of
any of us, but he also enjoys writing tunes and naming them things
that will embarrass Joanne. David has been known to sleep with
his bouzouki, but will gladly drop it in a second should I leave
my guitar unattended. Did I mention that?
That's some pretty
decent altitude there, son.
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