About
!daft! is made up of 5 highly talented musicians who enjoy seeing a wedding, party or any event go off with a bang. Collectively there is over 100 years musical experience from writing, production and of course, performance. Following is a bit of further info about each of our members.
Graeme Nash
Vocals
Graeme is a founding member of !daft! having originally started the band back at school in the mid 1990’s at just 17 years old. In those days !daft! was an original band and during those years wrote a number of pretty catchy tunes! Fancy hearing one or two? After the departure of the main songwriter it was decided that Graeme would take the mic and front !daft! in it’s new rock cover band form, and here we are today! These day’s Graeme manages the band’s affairs, books the gigs, runs the websites and groups and generally keeps it all ticking over. In addition he is extremely proud of !daft! and all the lads that make it up, both past and present, and thinks it truly is a remarkable band to be part of. Graeme is married to Lisa and together they had their first baby, Kian, in July 2009.
Gary Jackson
Guitarist/Backing Vocals
You literally cannot get anyone more Northern than Gary Jackson, who hails from the seaside town of Hartlepool, County Durham (so please don’t call him a Geordie!!). From his first words of an evening he will have you in stitches with his talk of curries, ales and Spinal Tap! Having joined !daft! in early 2004, Gary is widely regarded by musicians far and wide as one of the most accomplished guitarists on the circuit, and he is possibly the most pro-standard of us all. It’s truly a joy to watch and listen to him play. With a collection of gorgeously pricey but original branded instruments Gary provides solid rhythms and blistering solos in most of our tracks. Gary likes to bring more speakers than anyone else to gigs and accordingly is the loudest player in the band. Ask my left ear! Gary is married to Libby and together they have the cutest little lad, James.
Adam Harris
Guitarist/Backing Vocals
Adam is the newest member of !daft!, joining at the very beginning of 2010. He loves playing guitar. He loves all sorts of music but is particularly partial to a healthy slice of Rock. He was originally inspired to pick up the guitar by players like Slash from Guns ‘n’ Roses but couldn’t carry off the hair. As well as various covers bands and the odd musical theatre production, Adam’s musical background includes writing and singing in originals bands, and spent a long time playing in The New Ambassadors with friend-of-!daft! and occasional Bass deputy Chris McNally. Adam and Chris have supported Mansun (“I need a wide open space”), and appeared playing one of their own songs on an episode of prime time ITV1 show “Where The Heart Is” (Rock ‘n’ Roll!). More recently Adam was playing in a band with X-Factor finalist Danyl Johnson before Simon Cowell went and got involved! It is a well known fact that Adam has never been the tallest member of any band. He lives with long suffering better half Lu and their cat; Anya.
Nick Kirby
Bassist/Backing Vocals
Nick joined !daft! many moons ago now in 2001 at just the tender age of 18, and to this day he remains the youngest member of the band. He has by far the greatest sense of humour and puts up with a lot of stick from the rest of the lads, he’s kind of the little brother figure, you know? It never ceases to amaze us just how good a bass player he is though, watch him carefully next time you are at a gig and you’ll see too. He plays with skill, accuracy and superb passion and is without doubt the driving force of our sound. He also doubles up as an excellent music producer and songwriter. Nick is married to Emma who is literally the chattiest and loveliest young lady you will ever meet!
Darren Hoare
Drums
The only thing more “rock” than Darren is in fact, a piece of rock. Rolling Stones? Darren is more rock. Metallica? Nope, Darren is more rock than them. Guns N’ Roses, Metallica and three large granite cliffs in one room? Darren still slightly out-rocks the lot! He is a hard hitting drummer our Daz and has been for !daft! since early 2002, about the same time as Nick. He turns fairly lazy sounding tracks into upbeat and exciting numbers that literally get your feet moving, there’s no sitting around when Darren’s on the drums. He likes to see people up and about! Darren is always the guy that suggests tracks to cover that no one’s ever heard of but around a week later hit number 1 in the charts, it bemuses us all. He also used to support The Darkness on their Permission To Land tour in the mid 2000’s, he never wore any spandex though, the cop out! Darren is married to Mel who belly dances and sets up his drums quicker than even he does!
Doug Boyce
Sound and Light Manager
Doug is the secret sixth member of !daft! without whom we would crumble and buckle! Doug is our sound enginner and stage manager and is responsible for all our sound equipment and lights, which he carts about merrily in his big ex Army lorry. He has decades of live music experience and knows !daft! inside out allowing him to make us sound big and fantastic at each and every gig. It’s quite remarkable just how efficient he is at gigs with the band often arriving at a venue to find an already set stage ready to be gigged on. We would be lost with him and his wonderful wife Annie! Doug joined !daft! in 2009 and with him on board we are able to cater for almost any scale of live music event.
