Band Members
Tom Lawes | Vocals & Guitar
Owner of the Electric Cinema, Tom has been playing the guitar since he was 15. Initially picking up the instrument in order to attract girls, the love affair with the guitar became a sad obsession with his collection eventually filing an entire room. Combining his passion for writing film soundtracks and mindless noodling the ECFO is a cheap psychotherapy alternative.
Aaron Murphy |Bass
Whilst studying music at Halesowen College, ex cinema Operations Manager Aaron Murphy met Tom, who at the time, was guest lecturing in music. Impressing Teacher not with apples but with his natural bass abilities, Aaron soon joined Tom on the cinema stage in between answering the door and telling old men “no we don’t show blue movies anymore”.
Bird Hawes | Drums
Bird first played with Tom in a band called The Asylum Tea Shop Ensemble back in the 1980s. Needless to say the band split long before acquiring a recording contract or even recording a demo for that matter. A skilled skin beater with many years experience, Bird also enjoys cycling, watching TV, handicrafts and shallow breathing.
Louis Clark | Keys/String Arrangements
Not only does Louis play a mean Hammond, teach the guitar AND support Birmingham City, he follows in his Dad’s footsteps creating fabuloso orchestral arrangements. Louis Clark snr, responsible for ELO’s classical leaning, has long since moved to the USA leaving an unusual ‘string vacuum’ in the West Midlands that Louis has filled with extraordinary ethereal melodies. Whilst Louis enjoys a beef burger as much as the next man, he has never eaten horse.
Ian Wallman | Guitar
Physically residing in Oxford, but intellectually wandering the plains of melodious utopia, Ian spends most of his life avoiding sunlight. He’s not a vampire but does spend his day in windowless recording studios, producing and remixing some of the best names in the business. He once remixed Beyonce Knowles producing the classic Elbow Nonce Keys. Outstanding.
ViX | Backing Vocals
Better known for fronting the wonderband We've Got A Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It, Vix sings like an angel and looks like the devils little helper. Sporting flame red hair, and a tough, no messing about attitude, Vix defies rock chic stereotyping by caring for injured baby alpacas in her spare time.
Saaliya | Backing Vocals
A more than capable vocalist and a heavy user of social networking website, ‘Facebook’, Saaliya is currently working on advanced speech recognition software. She eventually hopes to ‘1-Click’ purchase the Sound of Music DVD from Amazon by hitting top A and playing ‘FarmVille’ simultaneously.
Lucia Capellaro | Cello
Lucia does far more than rock the cello; she organizes the entire string section and even manages to make them turn up on time. Her true love is Baroque and one day hopes to enter Britain’s Got Talent using her cello as a performing dog. Barkoque!
Simeon Murray | Sax
When not squeezing out a tune for the ECFO Simian plays Sax for The Beat. The Beat are considerably more successful than the ECFO and even appeared on Top of the Pops back when people bought music with actual money. Top of the Pops was cancelled in 2006. The War on Terror, the Ash Cloud and Jimmy Saville were blamed.
Aaron Diaz | Trumpet
Aaron loves a bit of Frank Zappa and if the exponent of musique concrète was still with us there’s no doubt he would have loved a bit of Aaron. And hey, with a perfectly groomed lady pleaser and a shiny brass bell, what’s not to like?
Rob Anstey | Trombone
Following an absinthe binge during a post gig party, Rob has completely given up the drink after losing several days down the back of a metaphorical sofa. Still suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, Rob doesn’t like to talk about the incident. No, seriously just drop it.
Colin Mills | Baritone Sax
Colin has a very big sax. Massive in fact. He can blow it so hard that despite spending the summer north of the border we can still hear him for band practice back in Brum. The relatively slow speed of sound has caused some timing issues but nothing we can’t fix with modern digital technology.
Gareth James | Flute/Piccolo
Gareth has a beautiful dog called Lola. Lola is a weimaraner. Weimaraner are hunting dogs of German origin. Gareth is fluent in German. He is also fluent in flute.