Riverhouse - Band Biography

Riverhouse formed back in late 1999 when Duncan Lowe and Nick Stillingfleet tired of playing to backing tracks in Duncan’s converted garage brought on board a young Sam Twin to fill the slot of drums. We played regularly at the weekly jam night held in the West End Pub in Wisbech. This was where the next member of the band was found in the shape of local keyboard player Mike “Farmer” Scott. Adding keyboards allowed us to branch out rather than following the same trend of many other local bands. Together we soon developed a reputation for playing songs that were out of the norm and playing something for everyone. We continued to hone our songs and performances to the audiences of the West End until the fifth and final member of the band was to join. This was to be Nick “Ivertron” Irving on lead guitar.

At this point Nick "Stillers" Stillingfleet made the transition over to playing bass and developed fast into an integral piece of the puzzle.

We continued to branch out into different types of venues including pubs, clubs, birthdays, weddings, corporate entertainment, summer balls and Christmas functions. Along the way playing many genres of music, sometimes to large crowds and other times small compact audiences, but all the while, doing what we had become well known for, putting on a good show and playing something for everyone. Unfortunately in late 2002 we had to part ways with the very gadget orientated Lead Guitarist, Nick Irving.

However, the slot was not open for long, as an extremely bright talent stepped up to the plate, in the shape of Stevie “Ray Vaughn” Smith. It didn’t take Steve long to make the role his own, fitting himself into pretty well much any situation with greatest of ease, not even thinking twice about letting rip in the lead breaks when given the go-ahead from Duncan.

With this new wave of fresh young blood in the band we started to look at mixing up our sets. We tried experimenting by playing more up to date chart based music, as well as extending our knowledge of classic well known tunes that everyone loves to hear.

In 2010 the band decided it needed greater vocal diversity and so by chance stumbled across a band member's neighbour who at that time was singing infront of the mirror with her hairbrush! - Melissa. Melissa attended a couple of practises and pretty soon it was clear that she had real talent. She joined and as a direct result of her powerful R&B voice the direction of the bands music changed.

Later the same year Steve "the vaughan" Smith decided to take a break from the band scene and we decided to stay as a 5 piece with a new feel built around Melissa's voice. It proved a turning point and gave the band new vitality. Gone were many of the rock classics replaced by vocal led R&B and dance music. The audiences loved the change as did the band. Check out the live recording player on the Home page

Our ethos remains: Every 3-4 months a batch of new songs are proposed, learnt and put in the set to replace the dated tunes. As a result of this process we have built up a vast back catalogue of songs that they can call upon at any point if needed. This stands us in good stead particularly when playing occasions such as weddings and birthdays, as we have the ability to play 2 or 3 sets with a song or two for every age range in attendance.

As a band we always strive to put on a great show by playing the best music at any venue and we are constantly looking for new experiences to enjoy.