Who the hell are PUSHthePULLdoor then?

Jai - Vocalist 

Back in the day, when it was a bit risky to walk down the street wearing eyeliner and have lots of dyed hair poking out in all sorts of directions, without being the butt of a good pee-take or worse (yep, worse stuff happened) Jai had been front man in a few bands, namely Carnival In Rio, The Confession, American English and a couple of other spin-offs. It was a great escape, and he was heavily influenced by The Chameleons, Then Jerico, The The, Talk Talk, Duran Duran, (hang on, were they ALL named twice in the 80s?) Depeche Mode, and Pink Floyd to name but a few.

Jai's music taste is ecclectic - apart from a dislike of country and western, so he has a mostly open mind these days... His singing 'style' is one of impersonation with a twist, so every song sounds close to the original style without being a carbon copy; "we'd all be bored stiff if we just reproduced exactly other bands' songs – we love adding our own sound to a track, and we all really enjoy the creative process that takes us there – sometimes it's a long one, others not, but the end result is what counts. That's not to say that we won't change things if we find a better way of getting something across – it keeps us on our toes!"

Tim – it's not all about the bass, you know!

Doug – magic fingers all the way! 

PUSHthePULLdoor were formed in the early 2020s; partly from the original line up of another band, the short-lived, but awesome Half Yellow Sun. Matt, Simon and Jai were members. Happy days indeed, and a tenure filled with fun, but short lived it was, and the group disbanded due to artistic differences after just one gig. All very Spinal Tap!

So the current line up has evolved over some very tumultuous times involving a fair selection of talented musicians who have come and gone over the years - PPD are now a 6 piece band (and occasionally 7) from within which a heady mix of influences come; Jai, Doug, Tim, Sean, Alex and Felix have a huge range of tastes between them, which, when it comes to creating set lists, gives the band a myriad choice of tracks - which means they play music from as long ago as the 1960s to more current decades - the whole band have open minds when it comes to twisting cover tracks and they certainly add their own style to their chosen songs rather than 'carbon copies'.

Jai: "... we do try to capture the flavour of tracks, but we will always add our own creativity and our choices tend to be slightly left field - we're not a band that does all the same tracks as every other covers band out there. The music we create means something to us all - and if it's not right, it won't go onto the setlist ..."

PUSHthePULLdoor's premis is to play well-known tracks with the odd twist, and to play them well. Jai has a persona and energy on stage that involves the audience to a level that they become part of the show. Says Jai: "Audience participation is a staple part of the performance, and engaging the crowd only works when everyone in the venue is captivated by the energy of the music – hence our fastidious choices of songs ... it's great when it happens, we are all part of the show together, the energy is shared and it becomes a completely immersive experience for both band and audience – there's a definite lack of 'them and us' – they become part of the band, and we all love it!"