The Band

John Brunsdon

Lead guitar/vocals

Influenced initially by the fingerstyle guitar of Mark Knopfler, and later by country, folk and blues greats such as Richard Thompson, Jimi Hendrix, Albert Lee, Jerry Donahue, Brent Mason and Chet Atkins, John has played in a variety of bands playing both his own material and covers.

John is a big fan of all things Fender-shaped and for Dire Streets plays a self-built guitar based on Knopfler’s famous red Fender Strat, a custom-built replica of the Alchemy-era sunburst Schecter Dream Machine Strat, a steel resonator rebuilt by Brook Guitars, a Godin Multiac electro-nylon and a ’99 Gibson Les Paul Standard. John plays through a Kemper Profiler amp.

John says: “Dire Streets is about playing some of my favourite songs to an audience who want to hear them – and hopefully doing the songs justice and giving the audience a good time.”


Graham Twist

Drums

Graham has been playing drums since the age of 14, performing 1000s of gigs over the years, including in tribute bands such as Whole Lotta Led, Noasis, John Lennon Tribute UK and Pure Purple, to name just a few.

Some of the best moments of his career include recording at Abbey Road, and playing live at The Cavern in Liverpool and The Astoria in London.

In tandem with playing drums professionally, Graham also runs his own music school, Rhythm Hub, in Gloucester. He plays Pearl drums and Zildjian cymbals for the Dire Streets gig.


Tom Goble

Guitar/backing vocals

After leaving the Royal Air Force, UK-based artist Tom Gene followed his true passion as a professional musician. Tom works with many artists from a wide spectrum of genres, with an emphasis on playing Country guitar for UK-based acts. Highlights have included playing Europe’s biggest Country music festival, Country2Country 2018, with Jeannine Barry and headlining at the iconic Bath Pavilion with Soul and Funk Artist ‘Clyve’


Gaz Keenan

Bass

Gaz started his Dire Streets stint on guitar before returning on bass after a short break. As well as fronting his own tribute bands, Gaz has played thousands of gigs up & down the UK, with highlights including supporting The Subways & sharing a stage with The Magic Numbers. Gaz is a keen multi instrumentalist and enjoys experimenting in the studio but is most at home on stage playing in front of an audience.


mark

Mark Dryden

Keyboards

Mark has been a professional keyboard player since 1988, working across the UK and Europe, including a stint as part of GMTV’s Rustie Lee’s band, and has played with Dire Straits’ legendary drummer Terry Williams.

He has been involved in theatre shows, residential holiday parks bands/duos and various cabaret backing bands and also traveled the UK as a solo keyboard/vocalist and with Jumping Jacks dueling pianos UK tour.

Mark is the Welshest member of Dire Streets, hailing from lovely Llanelli. Coincidentally, his second cousin is called Dai R Straits.

steve

Steve Wiltshire

Saxophone/Flute

Steve was classically trained from an early age and turned professional in 2000. He has travelled extensively with orchestras, big bands and rock bands, enjoying wind instruments of all shapes and sizes! He has recorded in many studios as a session player appearing on various albums. Based in Devon, Steve can be heard playing at his local church creating textures of sounds on his array of instruments. He teaches saxophone, clarinet and flute privately at his home and at local schools in his area.

A big fan of Dire Straits Steve loves the emotion that this tribute band can bring with the amazing dynamic created in the extended versions of the songs.