Joe was a member of the band from March 1999 until May 2001. Besides being an excellent lead guitarist, keyboard player and vocalist, he was also the band's resident graphic designer and technical wizard.
This site was originally designed by him and retains most of the design elements and graphics which led to the "Best of Blues" web site award. He recorded the four numbers at present available on the "MP3" page using the Boss BR-8 digital recorder and also added MIDI drums on the "Wandle Delta Blues", as the drummer was not available at that session.
He is one of Britain's top Multimedia and Web designers and runs his own company called "Pixel Productions". He also runs the famous "Web Page Design for Designers" web design information site.
Many thanks to Joe for all his previous work, continuing advice and previous use of his Javascript code routines. We have also used the new pixel fonts he has designed - they are available at "Minifonts.com"
Lorenzo has previously played with many of the solo guitarists on the London scene including King Rollo and Freddie James and a number of other Blues bands.
His superb playing style can be heard on two of the numbers included on our "MP3" page.
He has recently become a father of twins, Naomi and Jade. The band wishes him the best of luck for the future and he has our thanks for all his hard work in the past.
Allez les bleus!
Dougie McDonald
He is an exceptional bass man with many influences and has played professionally since the 70s with many bands and as a session man. A true jobbing musician with exceptional musical knowledge and understanding of the finer points and a long-standing member of the Musician's Union.
Besides his musical skills, he is also an alternative medicine practitioner, a Shiatzu trainer and a martial artist.
His playing can be heard on three of the numbers available at present on the "MP3" page, including a wicked bit of jug-blowing. Many thanks to him for his previous work.
Dougie, Ken and Mike go back a long way. He and Ken used to work together.
Dougie was the original drummer at the first "Leather Bottle" gig which got the "Windy City Blues Band" started in September 98 and stayed with Mike and Ken when the Wandle Delta Blues Band was formed in Feb. 1999.
He has been a jobbing musician for years and has commitments with many other bands in the South West London area.
He left the band in June 2001 but remains our main stand-in drummer.
Many thanks for his work over the years and his washboard playing, too! This can be heard on the MP3 page.
Paul
Gilbert is Mike's brother.
He has recently had a baby daughter called Eve, who suffers from Charge Association Syndrome. He is putting on a benefit for his daughter on April 21st, 2002. Please click the Eve-Aid button for information and address for donations.
He is an exceptional blues and pop musician, song-writer and instrumentalist playing ragtime and other acoustic guitar styles, bass, lead guitar and harmonica as well as singing powerfully.
He has been in many bands including the "Holograms" and the "Mosquitos" in London and has led the "Eric and the Bullfrogs" blues band in Sheffield for many years.
Paul helped Mike start the band by playing bass at the first "Leather Bottle" gig and then standing in on harmonica for many gigs before Lorenzo joined. He has joined Mike in duet gigs on a number of occasions and Mike has played with his band in Sheffield. Eric and the Bullfrogs shared one of the Leather Bottle gigs, also, to great acclaim.
Paul is now also a successful poet and his work is often heard on BBC Radio Sheffield. His son, Tom, is learning the blues, too!
The real blues brothers !
Jon Riley is a fantastic all-round blues musician and band leader and is standing in with the band at Farnham on bass. He plays lead and rhythm guitar, acoustic jazz/blues guitar, banjo, bass and mandolin. (More detail later)
Harry Kane is the leader of the "MoneyMakers" band. Harry is a close friend of Mike's brother, Paul, and gave Mike some important breaks when he started playing publicly in the mid 90s. Mike shared gigs with him at the "Free Trader" in Deptford and at the "Tooting Tavern" and Harry let him play breaks at many of his own band gigs including the "Station Tavern". A wonderful and generous man and one of London's top blues musicians.
Alistair Hall, a great harp player, played with the band very early on and helped to get it moving. He plays with a band called "Midnight Express".
John O'Reilly is the leader of the "Blues Engineers". He has been very kind and helped Mike on a number of occasions. A top London performer both solo and with the band.
Paul Jones, harmonica player in "The Blues Band" and presenter of the Blues Show on Jazz FM radio, has been very helpful in plugging our gigs on the show and keeping an interest in the Blues alive in London. Many thanks to him for this help.
Richard Carboni has recently helped to improve the site massively by providing digital images for the FAQ and Musicians pages. He is the only Gibraltarian we know. Lovely guy! Many thanks for this help!
Dave Meaden is the leader of the "Usual Suspects" Band, an excellent R&B group on the London scene. He played the December 16th gig at the Bulls Head and recently did us proud again on 14th April. Many thanks for that and the great plucking!