Spotlight Cannibal formed in 2007 as a collective of like-minded musicians and an outfit of hand picked musicians by singer/songwriter Markus Flaherty. Having written and recorded the bulk of early material for spotlight cannibal as a side project away from signed band Without Grace (Universal records), Markus started putting together a band of talented local musicians to enhance the songs and better perform them live. Within moments of first jamming these songs, it was realised that this was no longer a side project, but a necessity far greater than expected.
Initially Markus met
up with the Italian guitarist Ruggero Robin in Venice, Italy who encouraged and
collaborated on some of the early ideas, recognising the complexity and
simplicity of the music. Ruggero has written for Paul Young, Zuccero, Andrea
Bocceli, Georgia and is a leading jazz guitarist in the world. The two worked
on ideas that were presented on Italian television and live, however with no real
funding in place, Markus went back to the UK to get the sound crafted into a
live format.
To begin with Markus
brought in his long-term drummer Jonty Finn whom he had played with since the
age of 13 and who is still the drummer in SC. Jonty has always been great at
cutting through a song and speaking his mind, and an early recording session
with Jonty enhanced and sculpted the sound further.
Tom Worrall, an
incredible pianist and vocalist who despite his young age is undeniably the
musical expert of the band, picked up keys. He has a rare ability to lift
songs, stun audiences with his percussive piano playing and explain to the band
exactly what is they are actually playing.
Tom introduced his
former bass player, Ricardo Thompson to SC, who was already socially well known
but not musically. Ric served a vital role in his short time with SC. He is an
extremely positive and energetic personality whose energy took away from the
heart broken tone of SC and turned it into an all night party. However Ric’s
visa ran out and with little other option he now lives in New Zealand with his
wife and two daughters, He is largely responsible for the ethos of SC today
bringing the focus to entertainment.
Ric’s replacement on
bass was Vic Cox; a local bass instructor with some big shoe’s to fill, which
he burst at the sides. Vic is another great guy, who has energy and heart. He
was the most senior and experienced member of the band who taught SC many
things. However Vic had an intense work schedule and a baby on the way. It was
decided another bass player would have to be found eventually.
The next call was to
bring in Will Greener, aka Captain Bliss. Markus and Jonty knew Will as kids,
and at the age of 16 spent some time road tripping, jamming in clubs and on the
streets of Germany together, Will in particular set a musical standard and
aspiration of ability to Markus in that period. His harmonica playing is
fantastic and he has always had the ability to show stop an audience.
Everywhere he plays, people are mesmerised by what he does with his suitcase of
harmonicas. This again has helped lift the energy and entertainment factor of
SC. Will also plays with Hey Negrita, leaders in the Americana scene.
Having struggled with
lead guitar his whole life, Markus knew he needed something extra special to
pull together his guitar influenced song writing. There is only one person
worth having on lead guitar and that person is Jay Evans. Jay joined the band
in 2008 and his transition into the sound was effortless bringing funk and
passion to the sound. SC found them selves in a Nirvana of musicianship, with
Solo’s coming from the keys, the pipes, the guitar licks, and the percussion. Jay
also brought some stability to the group as well as his trademark Afro and
really compliments the sonic quality of the band.
So what happened with
the bass? Well Jay recommended his brother from another mother to take up the
missing link on bass. Gareth Sahndu, a dread locked funk master whose five
strings have secured the line up thus far. Gareth is the newest addition to the band and admits he
still doesn’t know the entire back catalogue of songs, however this is largely
due to the fact that every time the band meet to rehearse another song is
written, and there isn’t enough time left to focus on the past works.
So that’s how the band
formed.
