Spitfire 4 are Tony Zemaitis, Ian (Vic) Smith & Julian Farrow.
They play (what they call for want of a better name) Garage Blues... a fast mix of blues, R'n'B, garage, rock 'n' roll and blues, influenced from growing up in the Medway Towns and listening to punk rock, blues & garage bands.
Singer/guitarist/songwriter, Tony Zemaitis, has been in a few Medway bands over the years like The Heroes and Johnny Gash & The Sweet Smell of Success (a Johnny Cash tribute band before tribute bands were even thought of! But they weren't a great 'tribute' as they played everything too fast!). His dad made guitars for a living so Tony was always going to end up playing guitars!
Ian Smith (aka Vic Templar) bangs the drums. Vic's played in many bands including the Dentists and Armitage Shanks (the last British punk band!) and has around 20 records to his name. He's also a writer, having produced a number of books and plays - the last one was on BBC radio.
Bass player, Julian Farrow, is an ex Medway publican – Alexandra & Tap ’n’ Tin. His early musical influences were playing harmonica with Ralph McTell on his father’s honeymoon, meeting Dr John in a toilet, and John Lee Hooker in his kitchen. He failed at playing bass with Soft Machine (too complicated) & Dave Stewart (not enough money). Julian also once went out with a girl who lived next door to the bloke who threw Frank Zappa from the stage at the Findsbury Park Rainbow!
In 2008, Sean McDonough (original bass player) decided to take a sabbatical due to personal commitments. Julian had stood in for Sean a few times so was the natural choice to take over to try and keep the band in time.
Just to let you know, if you are interested, that my second album comes out on the 2nd Feb. To 'launch' the album, called somewhat cheekily 'File Under Carnal Knowledge' there will be a free launch type gig at The Man Of Kent in Rochester on the 1st of Feb, with Kris Dollimore joining me for some guitar based antics, as well as Jim Riley on the gob harp and regular collaborators a-plenty. Would be great to see you.
