Arthur Kay & The Originals - The Band

Arthur Kay (Songwriter, Vocals, Bass Guitar)
Has been playing and writing songs since he was at school in South London during the 1960's.
Arthur fell in love with Ska music when he heard the classic ‘Guns of Navarone’ by The Skatellites - one of the greatest Ska bands of all time. Eight years later and he recorded his first Ska single 'Ska Wars'.

Trevor Griggs (Hammond Organ)
One of the UK's finest ska keyboard players.
Trevor is one of the original Originals, playing on some of Arthur's early singles and albums, including 'Play My Record' and the bizarre 'Sooty Is A Rudie'. He has toured with Arthur in Japan, Europe and the USA.

Roger Goodwin (Sax)
Joined The Originals for their 1996 tour of Europe , as well as live performances with Judge Dread and The Originals, he has recorded with numerous Ska bands and artists including, of course, Arthur Kay & Judge Dread.
Roger's nicknames are well earned, 'Trolley Roger' for his expert driving of airport trollies at various locations throughout Europe, and 'Regimental Roger'... Left - Left - Left Right Left!

Jon 'Garbo' Garber (Guitar, Backing Vocals)
No one can skank like Garbo... Jon was 'borrowed' from Essex Ska band 'Toot 'n' Skamen'. He first played with The Originals in 2002 for their appearance at The Glastonbury Festival... "I've never been so covered in ****... It was like a dustbowl that year. If anyone thinks the bands get decent loos and champagne, forget it... Maybe if you're Rolf Harris or Rod...".

Steve Wyse - Frequently misspelt 'Steve Wise' (Drums)
Steve is equally at home playing Ska, rock or orchestral. He played on Arthur's first singles including 'Craig & Bentley' and 'Ska Wars'. He performed with 70's prog-rock band Gizmo, appearing on both their albums. Arthur and Steve were reunited in 1992, recording two albums for Step-1 Music under the name of 'The Chozen' - a spoof punk/pop band that featured Bob Coltart on guitar.

Gone but not forgotten...

Bob Coltart (Guitar)
Died well before his time in 2001. Bob toured regularly with rock 'n' roll legend Chuck Berry in the 80's and appeared on many of Arthur's recordings including 'The Count Of Clerkenwell' and 'Live In Berlin'. He was without doubt one of the countries finest guitarists, being able to play in every style imaginable - from jazz to heavy-metal.

Judge Dread (Singer / Songwriter)
Judge Dread, aka Alex 'Minto' Hughes, was THE most underrated ska/reggae artist. He introduced Jamaican Ska to the UK, importing 100's of roots-ska-reggae singles when working as a DJ in the late 60's, but is best remembered for saucy postcard humour hit singles such as 'Big 6', 'Big 7' etc. The Judge is in The Guinness Book of records for having the most number of singles banned by the BBC - The Beeb even banned the 'clean' ones!

Kieran O'Connor (Drums)
Kieran played on many of Arthur Kay and the Originals singles including 'Play My Record' and 'Sooty'. In his short lifetime he toured and sessioned with The Kiki Dee Band, The Balham Alligators (with Arthur Kay and Geraint Watkins) and prog-rockers Seventh Wave.

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