Darren Tansley
Darren has been in bands since he was at school and has played with a bizarre mixture of musicians from Blur guitarist (now solo) Graham Coxon to Rock Bitch lead vocalist Julie Worland (now in US band MT TV). In the nineties he toured the UK, Europe and Australia with anarcho punk-folk band Blyth Power and celtic rockers The Wickermen. It was in 1998 while playing with the Wickermen that he met Kelly and she joined the band soon after, the two becoming great travelling partners.
When Kelly moved to London to study violin Darren continued to play and record with Jilt and Pavlov's Cat and Kelly guested on several of these recordings. An ex-Greenpeace activist, he also managed to fit in studying for an ecology degree before Kelly and Jean-Paul returned to Colchester, the three of them living in the same house temporarily.
While Darren became heavily involved with Jack's Family, helping with the website and putting them in touch with Jason at Jester Studios, it was not until Kelly and Jean-Paul narrowly escaped from a four car pile-up just after Christmas 2002 that he was invited to join the band. He continues to update the website and help out with day to day running of the band as well as enjoying the freedom to play his piano as loudly and hysterically as he wants.
Check out www.myspace.com/darrenthehippy
For more photos click here
| Occupation besides JF | Ecologist |
| First album ever bought | Anthem by Toyah (first owned was Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield) |
| Current playlist: | Jupiter's Darling - Heart, Spawn of Dysfunction - Die So Fluid, Once - Nightwish, Broadsword and the Beast - Jethro Tull, Duplicity - Steve Bingham, War of the Worlds - Jeff Wayne, Never for ever - Kate Bush, Led Zep 4 - Led Zeppelin, Ommadawn - Mike Oldfield, Return of Saturn - No Doubt, Liege & Lief - Fairport Convention |
| Favourite JF song | Cruelty on a Pedestal |
| Favourite food | Steak (Being a veggie has buggered up that particular avenue of enjoyment) |
| Favourite drink | Archers bitter or JD depending on whether I'm in a spirit mood |
| Favourite movie | Almost Famous, Lord Of The Rings, Withnail and I |
| Favourite tv show | The NEW Battlestar Galactica - a phenomenal series, Spaced, My So Called Life and The Long Way Round - Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's 3 month motorbike ride from London to New York across the harshest terrain imaginable in Russia, Mongolia, Kazakstan... AWESOME |
| Favourite book | The Night's Dawn Trilogy - Peter F Hamilton (the sexiest, most scary books I've ever read!), Lord of the Rings, Watership Down, The worst journey in the world - Apsley Cherry Garrard |
| Favourite video game | Half Life 2, Tomb Raider |
| Favourite venue | Fabrik in Hamburg |
| Favourite sport | Cricket, motorbikes? |
| Most hated celebrity | Anyone on those pseudo reality shows like I'm a celebrity, celebrity Big Brother blah blah yeurck |
| Night or day? | Depends what I'm doing |
| Cold or hot? | Cold |
| Dark or light? | Dark with night-vision binos |
| Cake or death? | mmm... cheesecake please |