About Twin & Tonic

Twin & Tonic were conceived in January 2008 during preparations for Karen and Louise’s Burlesque themed birthday. With Karen's musical history and their collective passion for all things vintage, they decided to form a band themselves to play songs from the 1920's to the 1950's.

Karen was tasked with recruiting the other band members. Yannick, her band mate from previous band Ninotchka agreed to play drums; Jonny, an old school friend and band mate from an earlier musical affair joined on piano; Marcus, a colleague from work, joined on bass; and Max joined on sax.

The party was a massive success. Performing alongside burlesque dancer Vicky Butterfly, Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer, and the Swing Cats, the good ship T&T was launched.

T&T now perform regularly at a wide variety of private and public events such as the London Burlesque Festival, The Blitz Party, The White Blackbird's Pyjama Party, The Gypsy Hotel, Rock a Hula; and at venues including The Scala, Claridges Hotel, Proud Galleries, Bourne & Hollingsworth and Coco de Mer.

Find out more about each member of Twin & Tonic below:

LouiseKarenMaxMarcusJonnyYannickSam

Terrible Twin Louise has been sisters with Karen since birth. Like Karen she had a Jackson-esq musical upbringing, playing violin and piano from an early age and performing in her sister's band aged 8. It is here that the Jackson Five parallels end though, as instead of joining Motown Records and having a string of four consecutive number one records, she instead decided to move into the world of fashion.

LOUISE FACT! Despite technically being twins, Louise was actually born 10 minutes before Karen!

Inspired by the glamorous and sophisticated stars of the silver screen's 30s and 40s hey day, her fashion sense naturally leaned towards vintage dresses and pinups. Her collection of vintage dresses is now one of the most extensive in the UK.

LOUISE FACT! Leading economists have warned that if Louise quits her addiction to eBay, UK GDP could fall by as much as 12%!

Louise's sense of fashion affected her musical sensibilities as she developed a love of old swing and jazz and ultimately Burlesque, and when Karen's band Ninotchka split up it seemed only natural to start a band to reflect this new passion.

YANNICK SAYS! Louise is the "mysterious one" (if only because I don't know her as well as Karen), and probably the best-dressed girl in the whole Kingdom.

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Terrible Twin Karen has been sisters with Louise since birth. They started their own band together at the tender age of 8, doing a cover of Madonna’s Material Girl and an original composition called I’m Rejected, based on Louise's fear of what it might be like to not be a twin. When she was 16 Karen joined Acid Jazz band combo Fabulous Polyester on guitar. This phase of her life was notable for two things; she met keyboard player Jonny Crabb who she would later invite to join Twin & Tonic, and for entering the Guinness Book of Records for simultaneously inducing puberty in the greatest number of preteen boys when at a end of year school concert her Wah-wah pedal use caused her knickers to be repeatedly flashed from beneath her Mod micro mini dress.

After a stint in university band Charged Harmony, Karen joined Molotova, a band boasting a firecracker of a singer called Misty and Yannick Muet (who later to become T&T’s drummer), this evolved into the electro duo Ninotchka with Karen on lead vocals and Yannick on Keys.

Karen Fact: Karen is a self confessed geek and spends her spare time playing World of Warcraft

Karen and sister Louise conceived T&T during preparations for their burlesque themed birthday party. Inviting Jonny Crabb and Yannick Muet to join them from previous musical affairs and Marcus Simpson and Max Holloway from various work related connections, Twin and Tonic were born.

MAX SAYS! "Karen is the cheeky evil twin and a dry witted siren with a sensual voice."

 

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Max first heard the sounds of jazz through amniotic fluid filled ears whilst still in the womb, accompanying his mum to various gigs at Camden’s Jazz Cafe. Once born, he was started learning a variety of instruments, starting with the ukulele and progressing through to trumpet, pentatonic flute, piano, recorder, guitar and clarinet and finally on to the saxophone aged 16. Inspired by Simon Savage, he completed a BTEC in music and joined a blues band with Sam Bull, who would later join him as the guitarist for Twin & Tonic.

MAX FACT! Despite being allergic to dairy produce, Max keeps a Friesian cow in his back garden to manage the lawn.

Max quickly joined UCL's Jazz Society after starting his Chemistry degree, where he joined funk band Satin Junction as well as several other smaller bands, and started teaching jazz improvisation

YANNICK SAYS! Max is T&T's sax god with piercing blue eyes and beguiling charm (although he admits Max was holding him at gunpoint when he said this!).

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Marcus is nothing short of a musical prodigy. Learning the recorder whilst still in the womb (don’t ask how it got there), he performed his first composition while being delivered (the now seminal "Waters have Broken").

Moving on to the piano and cello, Marcus was heavily influenced by the works of Chopin and Beethoven, expressing his passion both musically and in the form of interpretive dance. Tiring of the limitations of the classical form he moved onto punk music.

MARCUS FACT! Marcus considers his body to be a temple and has perfect pitch. Combining these seemingly disparate attributes he has managed to tune all his bodily functions to the key of E flat!

Shunned by the major record labels, Marcus became a DJ and toured the world, at least the part of the world that was within a bus ride of his house in Ware. Feeling the need to return to live music he joined electro-pop band Phenol on bass, a band that he was forced to leave prematurely due to well documented scandal related to his 9-5 job as MP for Scunthorpe South.

YANNICK SAYS! Marcus is pitch-perfect and word-perfect, a sort of 18th century gentleman (yes, he is that old)! Marcus loves to trash it up with the crudest jokes imaginable.

His days in the musical wilderness were short lived though, as shortly after the restraining order was lifted he received a call from colleague Karen asking him to play bass for Twin & Tonic.

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Jonny graced the stage for the first time aged 6, taking the lead part in Wessex Infants Schools critically acclaimed adaptation of  The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Despite rave reviews from his mum, he decided to take a break from the performing arts to concentrate on learning to read and write.

JONNY FACT! Jonny has travelled to some of most remote corners of the world having been to both Timbuktu and Stoke Newington!

Playing trombone in a variety of wind bands and orchestras at the local music centre, Jonny met percussionist and all round musical wizard Christian McNally, who invited him to play keyboard in his new band Fabulous Polyester. It was here that Jonny met Karen, who would many years later invite him to join Twin & Tonic.

YANNICK SAYS!"Jonny is Mr Smooooooth- but I hate his beard when we kiss!"

After Fabulous Polyesters demise due to musical and fashion differences, Jonny moved to London and started learning blues piano. After a brief stint in panto he got his fingers working again as the keyboard player for friends’ indie band The Red Stars, before receiving the phone call that was to reunite him with Karen as the piano player for T&T. The rest is history!

MAX SAYS!"Jonny is a suave ladies man with a quick wit, a girl's liver, and a cheeky grin!"

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Born many years ago in Paris, Yannick Muet is amongst the most enduringly popular drummers of the modern era. Showing prodigious ability from his earliest childhood, he composed his first song on a tambourine at the age of three (something about his mum being the best mum in the world) and went on performing in various indie/punk bands on guitar, drums or keyboards.

YANNICK FACT! Yannick has published two books of history and seemed promised to a bright academic career in Paris, before finally coming to his senses and opting for a life of mindless fun and debauchery in London.

MAX SAYS! Yannick is a sophisticated Frenchman, with a love for the finer things in life: politics, cigarettes, and Tesco finest larger.

He moved to London in the late 90s, where after various attempts with bands like Molotova and Ninotchka (the latter with Karen Holland) he finally achieved fame and financial security with Twin & Tonic.

MARCUS SAYS! Yannick is France's answer to sliced bread. With added drumsticks.

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Although not considering himself a god, Sam doesn’t have a profile as he considers any written representation of him to be blasphemous.

VARIOUS OPINIONS ABOUT SAM FROM THE BAND:

"The Scarlet Pimpernel born into a later era. Someone should tell him it's all in the mind though."

"Total c**t"

"His world would probably fall apart if music were un-invented."

"He's a complete charmer who's impossible to stay angry with"

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