Helge Kleppe

Guitars & violin

Q. How did you get into music?
A. It was my mother who got me into the music. It started in a kindergarden at the age of four and continued in the primary school where I was taught to play the violin. I also played in the schools orchestra and later took lessons at the Bergen Musikkonservatorium. When I was a teenager, a friend lent me an old guitar and taught myself to play a few songs. I also became interested in playing drums, and bought my first drum kit at 14. At 16 I focused on the guitar again and joined a band for a few years. From then I played in many different bands. Later on, I also played bass in a band. After this concentrating on composing. So the music has always been an important part of my life.

Q. What kind of music do you like?
A. I have always liked many different styles of music, such as pop, rock, jazz, latin and funk. I also love the bigband era with singers such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald etc. Stringswing is also a style I like very much. I also like very much the smooth jazz style.

Q. Why did you join the band?
A. When I moved to Spain I was encouraged by my wife to pick up the music after many years absence from the music scene. I did not play much before we moved to Spain in 2001, but had composed many songs earlier which I would like to try out with a band. I must say that I have been extremely fortunate to find such good musicians, and also very privileged, because they all are so positive and takes part in this project with their ideas and inputs. It has therefore been a great inspiration for me to continue composing new songs. We have already enough material to do another album

Paulinda Knight

Vocals, Backing Vocals & Percussion

Q. How did you get into music?
A. Music has always been a major part of my life. Appearing first on stage at age three.
I then took dance and drama classes. Later performing in musicals, schoolplays and amateur productions. At eighteen I won a scholarship Guildhall school of music and drama in London, and then worked in theatre for a few years. I was encouraged to sing in some productions and found it a perfect way to express myself. I have never looked back, and made music my life.

Q. What kind of music do you like?
A. I have worked in many bands with different styles of music, from folk to rock, Tamla and soul to afro-caribbean, blues and funk to jazz. So I have become a butterfly in my musical appreciation. The deciding factor whether I want to be part of it or not, is whether it is good, not what style.
Throughout my career I have always written and have included original songs in most repertoires.

Q. Why did you join the band?
A. I met Helge whilst perfoming at the Cottonclub on the Costa del Sol. He had an instrumental jazz/funk band for which he wrote all the music.. He was looking for a singer.
After hearing the material I began to write lyrics for his songs. When I met the band and presented my lyric, it all fell into place easily. I was accepted and felt fortunate to be working with such good musicians. The spark was there. All our concerts are successful, and the CD "Simple songs" recorded in 2007 has been well received, and has cemented the bands relationship. Helge and I work well together, and have enough new material to go back in the studio. I look forward to 2009 when we have some special concerts and tours booked.

Steve Cadd

Tenor Saxophone, Alto saxophone & Flute

Q. How did you get into music?
A. My parents dragged me along to the local Brass band and by the time I was 8...my sister and I were playing at least 3 times a week in public.

I started on Cornet, I also joined a dance band and at the tender age of 11 I decided to play double bass tuba which was almost bigger than me !!!
We were both taught to read music and play as part of a team. We both also learnt to play saxophone and clarinet so we could also join a Dance Band....

I think it was because of my parents love of ballroom dancing! On return from my first tour of Holland at the tender age of 11 I decided that Playing in a band was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life!

Q. What kind of music do you like?
A. Through my teens I listened to Jazz almost always a saxophone, but strictly jazz....

Now as I travel so much the music I listen to is governed by where I am, and the people around me. New and original stuff interests me more now, even hard house and electro

Q. Why did you join the band?
A. This wasn't really a band that I joined.
It has been more a project based on Helges songs, After hearing the tunes raw at Helges house, I realized that they simply must be recorded. The musicians involved are from very different backgrounds its just wonderful playing as a team.

Dennis Gregor

Piano, Fender Rhodes & Synthesizers

Q. How did you get into music?
A. I started taking piano lessons at age 7. At the beginning it was all classical stuff of course, but when I got into my teenage years, I was lucky enough to have a teacher who also brought boogie-woogie, blues and jazz pieces to the lessons. From that moment on the piano wouldn´t leave me alone any more. I started playing rock, jazz and blues in local bands and continued to study jazz piano on a self-taught basis.

Q. What kind of music do you like?
A. As with most of us, I enjoy listening to and playing a variety of musical styles. I have favourites in traditional blues, hard rock, soul, reggae and latin music. However, if a tune has jazzy harmonies and funky rhythms, it´s most likely to get to me.

Q. Why did you join the band?
A. I had recently moved to Málaga, where my wife is at home, when I met our bass man Markus, who hooked me up with Helge´s project. It is fun working with Helge´s compositions, which give room for artistic input from all of us. The band members are all first-class musicians and the tunes are full of imagination and drive.

Markus Schneider

Electric bass & Double bass

Q. How did you get into music?
A. When I was 6 I watched the James Last orchestra on TV and found the trombone really cool. so I said to my mother that I wanted a trombone.

She said o.k. and hired me a piano. So from 7 to 17 I played the classical piano.

At 17 i had enough of playing the piano and changed to electric bass. Thats where I wanted to go: playing in a band. Then later I added the upright bass.
That became my big love.

Q. What kind of music do you like?
A. Listening nearly every kind. But I prefer playing jazz, latin music and any kind of original songs.

Q. Why did you join the band?
A. Because the sax-player Steve said that he was playing in a band where they were making original song and looking for a bass player. I said o.k. and was convinced by the songs Helge wrote and the unique way he presented them to us.

Manolo Sanchéz

Drums & Percussion

Q. How did you get into music?
A. When I was 6 years old and living in Sao Paolo, Brazil, my parents enrolled me in piano lessons and found that I had an instinct for music.

When we moved to Johannesburg (SA) and it wasn't until I was 16 that my father bought me a second hand drum kit. Since then a have played in dine & dance establishments, joined the Imperial light Horst orchestra & Military band.

Q. What kind of music do you like?
A. In my youth i liked the rock groups of the seventies & eighties as this is basically the kind of music we played in clubs, concerts etc...
In the last 20 years or so I find I began to appreciate jazz fusion as well a some blues and smooth jazz.

Q. Why did you join the band?
A. Basically Helge and I met in the course of a business transaction and somehow ended up talking about music. He then invited me to bring my kit over and have a jam, this we did with a few other musicians and a few months later we began to add the different members that now compose the group.

The Band History

After moving to the Costa del Sol in 2001 the guitarplayer, Norwegian Helge Kleppe was encouraged by his partner Tove June Berntsen to pick up the music again, after being many years absent from the music scene.

In November 2002 he met José Manuel Sánchez, a Spaniard who happened to be a professional drummer in South Africa before he moved back to Spain. After being some 9 years without any band, concentrating on his professional career, he was very keen to pick up the drumsticks and play again with a band.

They met two English guys, David Barraclough (Guitar) and Paul Newman (Harmonica). In order to make things happen, Helge played the bass, and they agreed to form a new band, The Crawling Kingsnakes, who played mainly blues-orientated music. After some time, an Englishman Steve Cadd (saxophone) came along and joined the group. His playing made the sound more jazzy/funky.

Gradually Helge, Jose and Steve realized that they wanted to play something more jazz-oriented, so Steve brought along Markus Schneider (bass) who is German, to form a new band. Since Helge had so many original songs, they chose to play mainly his material. Dennis Gregor (piano), another German, became a member after some time, and the group played only instrumental music. Helge had met the singer Paulinda Knight from Wales, and liked her singing. Since she was a good singer/songwriter, they tried out a couple of Helge's songs for which she wrote the lyrics.

They presented this to the rest of the band, and she became the last member of the band. All their following live performances have been very well received. Their first album, Simple songs, with its rich mixture of styles, ranging from jazz,funk and brazilian rhythms to smooth jazz and ballads, has generated a lot of interest.