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More about The Ragamuffins...

Where are you from?

Richard is originally from Clitheroe, and he lives in Ormskirk now (which is generally where we practice), Julia lives in Fallowfield, David lives in Fazakerley, and Paul our bassist lives in Ewood in Blackburn.

Who plays what?

Paul Heck on bass and trumpet
David Jaggs on vocals and guitar,
Richard Nicholson on drums and
Jules Gilchrist plays the keyboards, synths, piano, clarinet, and sings away into her microphone to boot

Got any bad habits?

Erm, we're all addicted to tea. If someone offered me all the tea in China I'd most certainly bite their hand off! David also has a rather unhealthy addiction to trainers, shoes, sneakers, basically anything you can wear on your feet.

What's the band's history so far?

We formed out of the remnants of another band that Richard and David had been in when Paul and Jules joined early on in 2008 and christened ourselves 鈥淭he Ragamuffins鈥� shortly afterwards. We鈥檝e played loads of gigs across East and West Lancashire, including at opening Clitheroe鈥檚 state of the art 鈥淭he Grand鈥� venue in April last year, before playing at Darwen Festival, but we predominantly play in and around Liverpool at the minute. So far we鈥檝e headlined the O2 Academy, played The Zanzibar, Magnet, Cavern (Club and Pub), taken part in the annual 鈥淚nternational Pop Overthrow Festival鈥�, played at Bumper and The Metropolitan as part of MTV Liverpool Music Week, and even get our songs played regularly at Anfield, home of Liverpool FC. In September 2008, we were flown over to Italy to take part in (and indeed open!) the six month long 鈥淢ade in Europe鈥� Festival just North of Milan and we regularly play gigs in London town to keep the folks we know down there content.

We鈥檝e written, recorded and self released three extended mini albums this past year that have all sold out of the first pressing soon after their release and it鈥檇 be nice to think that they鈥檙e one day going to be considered collectors鈥� items! Our songs have featured on presentations at The Labour Party Conference in Manchester, been played on Manchester United鈥檚 鈥淢UTV鈥� station too! Crikey!

Style and influences?

We try and stay as true as possible to our pop roots which isn鈥檛 too hard to do when you鈥檝e grown up in the region that has gave birth to some of the greatest pop music the world has ever heard: you鈥檝e really got the music textbook right there at your fingertips! We also love Motown and Northern Soul music which comes through in quite a few of our creations but we鈥檙e not afraid to get the synths out and experiment as well.

Best moment so far?

There have been more than a few, but playing in Italy was really fantastic; it was like total Beatlemania being asked to sign autographs and pose for photos after the gig! Seeing some of our fans inventing a dance routine spontaneously for the chorus of 鈥淪tories From The Backseat鈥� was pretty awesome too (鈥淪he spells Kirsti with an STI, I think that鈥檚 funny but I don鈥檛 know why鈥�.鈥�).

Worst/most embarrassing moment so far?

An ill advised acoustic cover of 鈥淕angsta鈥檚 Paradise鈥� by Coolio live on a Wirral based Radio Station at Christmas!

What's your favourite song? Or which song do you wish you'd written?

Crumbs, it鈥檚 hard to pin down a song as being one I 鈥渨ish I鈥檇 written鈥�, there鈥檚 probably a fair few, but I suppose all you can do is listen to them and be inspired. Out of our own songs I really like the songs that took/take ten minutes to write and just come into your head as catchy melodies before you go to sleep at night. 鈥淏etter Late Than Never鈥�, 鈥淐hasing Rainbows鈥� and 鈥淒iscobiscuits鈥� all came about that way, and 鈥淛amaica Wool鈥� was the same but after an afternoon nap one fateful Sunday (in between drinking sessions down the pub!) and stems from a cheeky comment by a mate of mine regarding losing his job and girlfriend in the same week!

Anything else we should all know about?

Jules appeared on Top Of The Pops with pop megastars Eternal as a fresh faced youngster in her school choir once. David also used to be a child model (no, seriously!)

We鈥檙e playing an Intimate Evening for 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio Lancashire on the 13th of May 2009 at Darwen Street in Blackburn and tickets will be available on the 麻豆官网首页入口 ticket site in late April. We鈥檙e also playing at the first annual 鈥淢iddle Earth Beer Festival鈥� in Hurst Green, near Stonyhurst College on Friday the 3rd of April 2009 and are putting on cheap return buses from nearby Whalley and Clitheroe (the nearest bus/train links!) Find out more details on these on our websites!