Benji Kirkpatrick And The Excess

Benji Kirkpatrick is a singer, songwriter and musician. He has been performing solo for nearly 25 years and is one third of acclaimed ‘bloke folk’ trio, Faustus and was a key member of folk big band and multiple BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners Bellowhead.

Benji is a long-term collaborator with Seth Lakeman, featuring on Seth’s successful releases ‘Kitty Jay’ and ‘Freedom Fields’ and toured again with Seth in February 2020 with the project ‘A Pilgrim’s Tale’, and during 2021/2022. He was head hunted by folk rock pioneers, Steeleye Span, in 2017 (40 years after his Dad, John, was in the band) and featured on album ‘Estd. 1969’ to celebrate 50 years of the band. He has also released four solo albums, including ‘Hendrix Songs’, saw him strip back the songs of his hero and set them in a new, acoustic light. In 2017, Peter Bellamy’s impressive song cycle ‘The Transports’ was revived, starring Faustus, Nancy Kerr, The Young ‘Uns, Rachael McShane, Greg Russell and Matthew Crampton. The production completed two successful tours and recorded an album of the project. Benji has also worked with numerous other artists including Oysterband, John Jones, Maddy Prior, Thea Gilmore and Joan as Police Woman.

Joelle Barker and Pete Thomas both have diverse and impressive CV’s. Joelle’s work includes; freelance percussionist for the RSC, drummer and percussionist with The Edwin Starr Band, TG Collective, Del Camino. Joelle and Pete T played together in The Worry Dolls, and Pete has played with The Vanguards, Philip Murray Warson, The London Django Collective and more.