A potted history
© Photo, Simon Marshall
And so, a potted history… The Band of Rack & Ruin was born because Mick Bisiker wanted an excuse to buy an electric guitar and Keith Butterfield was willing to play with anybody! Having recruited John Davis (bass and whistles) & Phil Wright (fiddle) and having been booked to perform at Heather Festival, the band found themselves drummer-less a week before the gig - at which point, in steps John Large. “At the first rehearsal of Rack & Ruin mk I, John’s input transformed the material and we knew straight away we were onto a winner”.
In its infancy, the Band of Rack and Ruin has supported several mutations due to other musical commitments of the various members of the band - hence the variations in the line-up on the cassette album.
Ashley Hannis replaced John Large on drums. Chris Green doubled up on bass (as John Davis was finding it difficult to meet all our committments while playing with the ceilidh band ‘Captain Swing’). Chris also added mandolin and piano to the live set when needed.
The album ‘Ball & Chain’ contains contributions from all the musicians who had been part of Rack and Ruin up to this time.
Shortly after the release of the album, Ashley had an offer he couldn’t refuse and went off to play for the sort of money that isn’t available on the folk scene!!
Luckily, Chris knew a good drummer and drafted Duncan Arrow in at very short notice to cover three gigs that Ashley couldn’t do. Even more luckily, Duncan fitted in straight away, liked the material and stayed.
“We had been faced with the imminent departure of Chris to University for some time, and while pondering who we could get to replace him, we fell upon John Brown“, says Mick
John was a veteran of the Midlands folk scene and was familiar with most of the material, having played with Mick both as a duo and in various bands. After 5 years of playing with the band, John then felt it was time to move on to pastures new. So, in steps Chris Radley.
Duncan and Chris had known each other for over 10 years, having played in several bands together during that time. Chris had never played folk music before but was never the less keen to get stuck in. “Micks own songs were straightforward to pick up, but learning jigs and reels was something I’d never had to do before”, says Chris.
When Keith couldn’t do a couple of gigs back in September 2004, in stepped Nigel Ward. Mick and Nigel had done a lot of duo work together. What with Nigel able to play guitar as well as fiddle (and having a better set of speakers!), he was a natural choice when Keith announced his departure from the band, due to work commitments.
Rack and Ruin generally perform as a four-piece band throughout the UK, with Vikki Bisiker joining the band as caller when doing ceilidhs.
