The Shropshire Bandicoots

We are all music teachers from the county of Shropshire with a combined 80 years of experience as musicians and performers. We can play any song of any style and can tailor our set to suit the needs of the customer. We can also offer musicians capable of playing throughout a wedding day, whether you need music for your church service, background music at the meal and of course, the band itself. We all love teaching all week, but playing together in The Shropshire Bandicoots is a chance to enjoy music for ourselves and reminds us how much fun it is to play with terrific musicians. We’ve all arrived in music from slightly different angles - some of us studied it at university, some are self taught, some had other careers first and we all have relatively busy lives. However, we formed the Bandicoots as a chance to play songs we love and just have fun and hopefully that is the spirit that comes across when we perform. We played a lot pre-covid but have not managed to get re-established until now so we’re looking forward to getting going again. We’ve never done a gig that went down badly and we’ve played at some memorable events - A centenary ball for an entire village springs to mind, as does playing for the St Phillip’s Chambers law councillors in Birmingham. But we don’t really mind where we play, as whatever the venue we are always determined to enjoy it and to get everyone on the dance floor. All the band members are so good they can learn songs almost instantly so we are adaptable when it comes to repertoire. If a couple want 10 specific songs played at their wedding then we’re more than happy to oblige. Shropshire is a large county but the musical circles are relatively small so between us we know most of the best players around here. That means we can hire in extra people should the gig require it - horns for more soul/funk or strings for more sophistication. Our main line up is a 5 piece band but we have done duo and trio gigs when a more intimate feel was requested. We just enjoy playing in whatever form people want!