Louise Leggatt

Namibian born Louise began a professional singing career in Cape Town in the early 90’s. Her perfect voice is smooth and soothing and contributed tremendously to popular South African band Rubber Soul’s successful airplay on national radio. Her presence on stage and in the recording studio exudes a humble and calm confidence with a wicked easy-going sense of humour.

Her musical influences include Tori Amos, Fleetwood Mac and The Cardigans among many others. At age 10 she met Sonja Heroldt at a signing in Windhoek which perhaps explains her beautiful cover vocal execution on the Beetles and Butterflys album Mountain Rock Valley Roll, of Sonja’s “Ek Verlang Na Jou”, which features amongst an eclectic melodic mix of original songs from Kent O’Shea and Louise.  
     

Her artistic vocal style touches one’s very soul and her uniqueness is evident in that she cannot be compared to anyone except Louise.

She has developed a deep and emotional song writing style, no doubt recently also influenced by the beauty of the natural surroundings of Wilderness, where she lives.

Kent O'Shea

Kent draws his musical influence from The Beatles, Mike Batt and many other early bands, being exposed to melodic music from an early age whilst travelling South Africa during the 70’s with his father Hugh O’Shea, a professional travelling troubadour. It was inevitable that he would soon follow this path and at age 12 he began to play guitar and started writing lyrics.

His meaningful and poetic song writing obviously runs deep in his Irish roots (he was born in Cork and lived in Myrtleville, a small village in Eire but grew up surfing Ballito on Kwa-Zulu Natal’s North Coast in South Africa) and his lyrics are charged with emotion. His captivating voice is unique and is sometimes reminiscent of Lou Reed or The Kinks. He is 100% African now and this is evident in his latest release, with uniquely South African songs and backing of pure African drums and percussion.

In the nineties he was a founding member of one of South Africa’s most potential new rock bands, Rubber Soul, and since formed controversial hemp rock band Happy Four Twenty, recording singles with both bands which still receive regional and national airplay in South Africa and abroad on Internet sites. His compositions have also featured on BBC and local television stations. His publishing label Ricoshay Music was accepted by SAMRO in 2003 and he has since released 3 complilation albums featuring over 45 original songs.


www.ricoshaymusic.com

He currently lives in the mountain valley village of Barrydale, where he draws inspiration for his latest album. Mountain Rock Valley Roll is an eclectic mix of acoustic songs inspired by the people and environment of Route 62, which rolls through the valleys of the Little Karoo in South Africa.

Pic by Lou 

Kent’s music and song writing are as enduring as the countryside itself and he cites everything from The Rolling Stones to Bob Marley to the rolling valleys, mountains and people of the “Klein Karoo” as his primary influences for his latest band Beetles and Butterflys.

Patrick Dilley

A second generation South African, Patrick grew up with two passions of drumming and surfing in the Eastern Cape, following in the footsteps of his father and his brother who were marching band drummers.

With an irresistible urge for knowledge he has traveled extensively to learn more about his art, spending years studying drum kit in London and then on to learn African percussion in Ghana. Most recently he has embraced Middle Eastern percussion after a trip to the Middle East to present African drumming clinics. He has created original African influenced soundtracks for BBC and local televison.

He is now based in Cape Town where he runs his drumming company and the pan-African Team Spirit All Stars Band (where he is aka Mr P) and also performs in a jazz band. Cape Town is where he met Kent O’Shea when he auditioned for Rubber Soul in the 90’s. 

He subsequently joined Kent as drummer for hemp rock band HappyFourTwenty and currently provides percussive backing for Beetles & Butterflys.

Patrick brings a wealth of experience with his percussive versatility. He has an instinctual understanding of people and situations and to this effect his style is described as no-nonsense as he performs with solid timing. An easy-going character and flexibility serve whatever style of music he is performing and he is sought after as a session drummer/percussionist for local and international artists.

Earliest musical influences are drawn from the likes of Led Zeppelin but he admits that he listens to absolutely anything that will contribute to his rhythmic experience.